Unfit For The Truth

The Obama campaign has launched a 40 page response to Jerome Corsi's new book as well as a counter-smear campaign against Corsi and I am left with no doubt - thank heaven Corsi is not running for President!

But what about Obama?  Well, one of the points made in Corsi's book is that Obama has been lying by omission in discussing his relationship with unrepentant Weatherman Bill Ayers.  As we have noted before, Bill Ayers co-founded the Chicago Annenberg Challenge dedicated to public school reform in 1995; Obama was the first chairman of the Challenge and the two worked together on this for several years thereafter (Cites: Ayer's resume, Russo Slate article, Russo history of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, for starters; more here, and a strong hint that the Ayers/Obama collaboration on school reform started in 1987 here.)

Since Corsi is not running for anything, let's focus on Obama's lies and attempted cover-up of this relationship.  At the Philadelphia debate last April he was asked about Ayers and described him as "a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago...".  Close, but strangely incomplete, as was the Obama "Fact Check" produced the next day, which also made no mention of the longstanding ties between the two men [nor did Axelrod's chat with Ben Smith of Politico.]

Why the failed memory?  Corsi alleges that Obama has continued his marijuana use, so perhaps this is a useful data point.  KIDDING!  More probably, Obama considers it a distraction to discuss his ongoing relationship with a domestic terrorist which has led to not one but two failed attempts at public school reform.  Hmm, it's hard to believe that soccer moms will be thrilled to learn that when Obama works on schools he gets schooled.  That's change we had better not talk about!

And today, despite forty pages rebutting and refuting Corsi, this is all Team Obama can say about the relationship between Obama and Ayers:

LIE: “Sol Stern, a contributing editor of Chicago’s City Journal, has observed that while Ayers today ‘is widely regarded as a member in good standing of the city’s civic establishment, not an unrepentant domestic terrorist,’ the impression of Ayers’s good citizenship is incorrect.” [p 140]

REALITY: AYERS AND DOHRN ARE MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHMENT WITH TIES TO THE MAYOR

I have no doubt that is true.  In fact, when the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was kicked off the event was a huge photo-op at Washington Irving Elementary School with the Governor, the Mayor, the school commissioner and many of Chicago's leading lights in attendance (excerpts below).   Ambassador Annenberg's daughter presented a big cardboard check for $49.2 million and I have no doubt that someone has commemorated the smiling faces of the Mayor, Ms. Annenberg and Bill Ayers; Chairman Obama may well have been in the picture as well.

Which would confirm Obama's point that Ayers was a pillar of the school reform movement, although we should also note that Ayers has not abandoned his leftist ideology - as Ayers explained to Hugo Chavez (yes, that Hugo Chavez), the purpose of education reform is to get 'em while they are young - "La  educacion es revolucion!". 

And that leaves unanswered my point that maybe we can all do a better job of evaluating the Obama/Ayers relationship if Obama stops covering up the nature of the relationship.  Obama has a plausible story to tell in his own defense.  Stop the lies.

MORE:  The Chicago Annenberg Challenge - excerpts, my emphasis:

CHICAGO -- The Annenberg Foundation today announced a five-year grant totaling $49.2 million to support Chicago school reform, calling Chicago reform "a major breakthrough from which the nation can learn." The grant, part of the half-billion-dollar Annenberg Challenge to the Nation to improve the nation's public schools, will be matched two-to-one by $100 million in local private and public dollars.

The Hon. Walter H. Annenberg, editor, publisher and former U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, designed the Annenberg Challenge to energize and support promising efforts at school reform across the country. President Bill Clinton announced this extraordinary half-billion-dollar gift at a White House ceremony Dec. 17, 1993.

...Mayor Richard M. Daley and Gov. Jim Edgar joined a citywide gathering of children, parents, teachers, principals and school reform and civic leaders at Washington Irving Elementary School for the grant announcement.

...The Chicago Annenberg proposal was developed through discussions among a broad-based coalition of local school council members, teachers, principals, school reform groups, union representatives and central office staff, convened by Anne Hallett of the Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform, William Ayers of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Warren Chapman of the Joyce Foundation. A nominating committee has been formed by the proposal's drafters to create a permanent 20-person Reform Collaborative to oversee the project. The initial networks of schools that are funded will be selected through a competitive proposal process, with specifics of the process developed by the Collaborative.

The Bill Ayers resume notes both the Annenberg Challenge and his role on the Reform Collaborative:

Co-Founder and Co-Chair, Chicago School Reform Collaborative (The Annenberg Challenge), 1995-2000.

When will Obama tell the truth, and why has he been lying?
 

Comments

[Jor]

TM, even if Obama knew Ayers because occasionally there were on the same board or at the same event -- who really cares? Seriously. Stop being an utter hack. *HACK*. You sound as credible as your hero Corsi. I eagerly await your upcoming 9/11 truth posts.

[Jor]

BTW, I also eagerly await your first post explaining why to vote for McCain instead of voting against Obama. In 2004, there was a concerted campaign against Bush instead of for Kerry -- we all saw how that turned out. .

[Topsecretk9]

I eagerly await your upcoming 9/11 truth posts.

We will leave the "9/11 truth posts" to Obama supporter Lincoln Chafee, kay?

[liontooth]

REALITY: AYERS AND DOHRN ARE MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHMENT WITH TIES TO THE MAYOR

And 'THE MAYOR' is an anti-second amendment gun control fanatic, and the leader of one of the most heavily taxed areas in the US. Obama thinks this is good?

TM, even if Obama knew Ayers because occasionally there were on the same board or at the same event -- who really cares?

Maybe when Obama answers TM's question which was, "When will Obama tell the truth, and why has he been lying?"

[Pat Curley]

The problem as I see it with the Corsi book is that there is nothing new. I listened to an interview of him on Alex Jones a week or so ago, and it was all Rezko/Auchi/Ayers/Dohrn, etc. Worth covering, but covered extensively in the blogs back in March.

Corsi remarked how he had discovered that Obama attended a Muslim school while in the Philippines. Shocking news I suppose, unless you read Dreams from My Father, in which Obama mentioned that he spent two years at a Muslim school and two years at a Catholic school.

[Jor]

Liontooth -- Playing 6 degrees of separation is a distraction and f'n pointless. Its a nice little republican game to ignore important issues and waste time on things like Britney Spears and Parris Hilton. Obama doesn't want to play TM's hacktacular games. Anyone with half a brain wouldn't want to play them, because TM's sole purpose is to be as shrill as possible when it comes to Obama in any manner possible. There is no point for Obama to play or "tell the truth". IT IS pointless and does not f'n matter 1 bit.

[JP]

Corsi is a 9/11 Truther!! Seriously.

[Sara]

who really cares?

Jor: There are millions of voters out there who remember a time not so long ago when bombs were blowing up America and some of our biggest cities were in flames because of political terrorists running rampant. When Ayers says now that he is sorry they (the Weatherman) didn't do more, we remember, so we care. When Wright screams from the pulpit, "God Damn Amerikkka," we remember those burning cities, so we care.

I realize that it is easy to get complacent and to gradually forget with each new generation what kind of fear these American political terrorists and their bombs caused. I realize it is hard for younger people to even comprehend that Ayers, Dorhn and their compadres are very bad people. And I realize it is hard to believe that someone you have only known as a "pillar of the community" could be something else altogether when the layer of respectability is peeled away.

If you put the politics aside for a minute and really think about the implications of a potential president being influenced by a man who, as Tom notes, told Chavez: "La educacion es revolucion!" and who thinks they didn't bomb/kill enough, I think you will see why we care very much.

Obama's biggest problem is that all his mentors, friends, and advisers fall into the Ayers category. From Obama's earliest influence by Davis, thru the militant Black Liberation Theology of Wright and his mentor, Cone, to the communist revolutionary Ayers, the influences are all counter to America's. Their modus operandi of "get 'em while they're young" is just another way of saying "brainwash them" and then they won't care when the time comes to take over.

[JM Hanes]

So, Jor, why are you supporting McCain?

[Lesley]

Corsi a truther? That fact alone would normally give Corsi instant street cred amongst some of our friends on the left. Anticipating nasty cognitive dissonance meltdown......

[Xenos]

Oh yea, Ayers is so obviously guilty and a terrorist and such a bloody threat, which is why his conviction... wait, his prosecution... wait, it must be all the people killed by his bombs... wait...

Oh, he destroyed a statue honoring the police who caused the Haymarket riot and killed their comrades in the course of firing on a labor rally? Good for him, then! Somebody ought to knock that statue down every May 1, just as a matter of principle.

Enjoy your long weekend, dandelion.

[JB]

REALITY: AYERS AND DOHRN ARE MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHMENT WITH TIES TO THE MAYOR

Barack's plan here is to maintain that "'reality' is what I say it is", THE FACTS be damned.

How well is that going to sway the undecideds?

[kim]

Everytime Obama/Soetoto speaks extemporaneously another dot is connected in the big picture. Corsi's just coloring between the lines. You've got a big fat liar, and a fake, there, Jor. What are you going to do about it?

And Xenos finds precious symbolic comfort in Ayers' pusillanimity. What would it take to impress you? Three thousand dead?
======================================

[Sara]

Oh I will Petunia, but I suggest you do alittle more indepth research into Ayer's organization. Here is just one little snippet from Wiki that also covers his wife, Dohrn, to give you a starting point:

The Weathermen, as they were known colloquially, conducted a series of bombings against the US government throughout the early 1970s, bombing several federal buildings. Dohrn is a principal signatory on the group's "Declaration of a State of War" (1970) that formally declared war on the U.S. Government, and completed the group's transformation from political advocacy to violent action. Dohrn also co-wrote and published the subversive manifesto Prairie Fire (1974), and participated in the covertly-filmed Underground (1976).

After the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion, the accidental detonation of a bomb being made that killed three of the members, all members of Weatherman went underground and the group took on its last and most famous title, the Weather Underground. The Weathermen and Weather Underground were suspected in various bombings — police cars, the National Guard Association building, the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon. Dohrn allegedly participated in many of the group's revolutionary activities.[9]

In late 1975, the Weather Underground put out an issue of a magazine, Osawatamie, which carried an article by Dohrn, "Our Class Struggle", described as a speech given to the organization's cadres on September 2 of that year. In the article, Dohrn clearly stated support for Communist ideology:[10]

[Sara]

And your description of blowing up a statue doesn't even begin to describe the activities of the group that Ayer's was running with and participated with:

In June 1969, the Weatherman took control of the SDS at its national convention, where Ayers was elected "Education Secretary".[4]

Later in 1969, Ayers participated in planting a bomb at a statue dedicated to police casualties in the 1886 Haymarket Riot.[7] The blast broke almost 100 windows and blew pieces of the statue onto the nearby Kennedy Expressway.[8] The statue was rebuilt and unveiled on May 4, 1970, and blown up again by Weatherman on October 6, 1970.[9][8] Built yet again, the city posted a 24-hour police guard to prevent another blast.[8] He participated in the Days of Rage riot in Chicago that October, and in December was at the "War Council" meeting in Flint, Michigan.

The following year he "went underground" with several associates after the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion, in which Weatherman member Ted Gold, Ayers' close friend Terry Robbins, and Ayers girlfriend, Oughton, were killed when a nail bomb that was under construction exploded. Kathy Boudin and Cathy Wilkerson survived the blast. Ayers was not facing criminal charges at the time, but the federal government later filed charges against him.[1]

While underground, he and fellow member Bernardine Dohrn married, and the two remained fugitives together, changing identities, jobs and locations.

Despite your snark, these two were not just kids playing with fireworks. Theirs was serious business with every intention of killing and destroying as much as possible. For pete's sake, they declared war on the United States.

[Xenos]

Reds under the bed! Ooooooh! Scary!

Does Obama, outside of whatever limited association he has with local political types, indicate in any way that he is a communist, or an anarchist, or get out and support these movements? He knows these people because they are active in his community - association with them is unavoidable.

If Obama is a crypto-commie he has got to be the most pathetic, milquetoast version of lefty that it is beyond a joke.

And my point is not that Ayers' radicalism is OK because it is so weak he can not be bothered to kill anyone, you dolt. The point is that he is really not very radical at all, except in the fevered musings of ill-informed fools like yourself.

[kim]

Oh, that's right, I forgot; he actually did try to kill people.
====================================

[kim]

Under the bed? No, that's the CO2 monster. The reds are on the internet. Next is the Russian troops. Then the irregulars to rape and pillage. Look to your kit.
===================

[Xenos]

"For pete's sake, they declared war on the United States."

Political theatre is just lost on some people, I suppose.

Why, do you think, the FBI never prosecuted these people? Could it be, just maybe, that there was too much evidence of agents provocateurs who were doing most of the bombings that the WU were accused of?

[kim]

Heh, Xenos doesn't object to Obama/Soetoro's run to the muddle.
=========================================

[kim]

Xenos, a recent thread featured testimony from the child of an enlisted man whose folks were at the Ft. Dix dance. You oughta read it. The ice you are on is thin. Obama has already fallen in and is thrashing, I say death panicked, in his search for identity.
=========================================

[kim]

There are witnesses to leftist outrages of that time, just as there are witnesses to Kerry's behaviour, in the Delta, in the US, and in Paris.
===============================

[kim]

With Stalinism loosing holocaust, AGAIN, it is the wrong time to bring up Obama and milquetoast and leftism.
======================================

[Pagar]

Good Morning to All!
Those who don't see any connection to Communists when they look at Obama's record
might want to try to figure out why the Communist Party of the USA is so solidly behind Obama?

[kim]

Besides, this race, or the next, is going to focus on education, anyway. It's about time.
==========================

[kim]

They are kinda lickin' their chops, aren't they, P?
==============================

[Xenos]

Obama has fallen in? Wishful thinking, there.

If all you guys have is "his stepfather is a radical" (hint, Kim, our country was founded by anti-colonial radicals, based on political theories that were, for their time, even more radical than that of Ayers, Obama Sr., or Soetero), then this is going nowhere for you.

Talk up Corsi all you like. The man is a professional liar, as is his publisher. There is pushback this time, and it just won't take.

[Xenos]

P: the white supremacists all support McCain. That proves McCain is a racist? I think not.

More guilt by minimal, or even non-association.

[Sara]

Xenos, I was on a college campus where the SDS and then the Weatherman were active. A few years later we were a military family when the Weather Underground was blowing things up and killing people.

You are the uninformed one and the one who sounds like the dolt to make light of Ayers, Dorhn and their radical agenda.

As to Obama's communist roots, they start with his communist parents and work their way thru his whole socialist agenda.

What is scary is that there are people like yourself that are so blind and have so little connection to history that you don't get it.

The fact that he got off on a technicality doesn't change the fact that he and his wife should be serving life sentences not given a platform to brainwash those like yourself.

But since you are nothing but a "talking point" troll, I don't think you are here to take advantage of what you could learn if you were serious. It is all moot anyway because your guy won't win.

[Soylent Red]

the white supremacists all support McCain.

Actually almost none do. McCain isn't tough enough on immigration.

Find me the website where a white supremecist org mirrors one-to-one the views of McCain, as does the CPUSA for Obamessiah.

Who, BTW, is possibly a Muslim and whose wife hates whitey.

[Sara]

BTW, changing the subject to blame the messenger isn't a successful strategy on this blog.

[kim]

Xenos and his 'for their time'. You get a flag for that one.
================================

[DebinNC]

Mrs. Obama on "pie" redistribution:

"The truth is, most Americans don't want much. Folks don't want the whole pie.Most Americans feel blessed to thrive just a little bit. But that's out of reach for them." The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so someone else can have more."

[kim]

Keep your fork, there's pie.
=================

[Sara]

So those who work hard because they want more than a little bit should have to give over what they earned so that those who only want a little bit can get theirs too? WTF?

[Jane]

Wow - some of you guys are really up early - or late as the case may be. Did you spend the night watching the Olympics? By 1:00 AM I'm so hepped up I can't get to sleep.

At any rate, it's Friday, a time when all those tales people don't want noticed seem to come to light.

I can hardly wait!

Good Morning everyone - time to get up and enjoy the day!

[Xenos]

Maybe I am confused... when did Ayers get off on a technicality? Granted, he was a fugitive, but when the Weathermen killed three people in the armored car heist he and his wife had already been purged from the group for not being radical enough.

Did Ayers plant bombs? Yes. Were these bombs intended to hurt people, and did they in fact hurt people? No. Is he a political extremist? Of course.

But how does that attach to Obama? Their association, such as it is, looks pretty innocent. Obama regularly engages with people he does not agree with, in order to promote reconciliation. He does it on the right, he does it on the left. Big deal.

As for Obama's father and stepfather, please. His father was an anticolonial academic, a pretty heroic figure in his field because he was prescient about the stupidity of "African Socialism" and thereby ruined his career by being politically incorrect. His step-father was an executive in a nationalized oil company. Obama's mother was an anthropologist/communist! Ooh! Are you suggesting he is some sort of manchurian candidate from the academic left?

[Captain Hate]

Obama doesn't want to play TM's hacktacular games. Anyone with half a brain wouldn't want to play them

Was Jor's point that Obama only has half a brain? That would explain a lot.

[kim]

You're fooling with intent, Xenos. Just the sort of flim flam we've come to expect from Obama. Flim. Flam.
===============================

[R C Dean]

Generally speaking, whenever I hear that someone is part of the Chicago establishment and has close ties to Mayor Daley, the next words I expect to hear generally have something to do with grand juries or bail being set. This may not be the best way to reassure voters that Obama is all that.

[Crook County]

If Xenos/Jor is the best poster that the Obama camp can pay for then our muslim community organizer with the properly inflated tires is in big trouble!

[Xenos]

Maybe I am just a fool, but that fact that someone does not kill anyone is pretty good evidence that he did not intend to kill anyone. You claim some better source of understanding what his intent was.

Lets paly this game with McAin, shall we? His list of murderous associates runs quite long, I assure you.

[Jane]

Maybe I am just a fool

Ahhhhhh grasshopper - now you get it!

[Xenos]

Or how about Corsi's associates? Like professional liar Bud Day? Or the white supremacists and cryopto-kkkers at the Council of Concerned Citizens?

Enough with harassing you mooks.

[qrstuv]

"Maybe I am just a fool, but that fact that someone does not kill anyone is pretty good evidence that he did not intend to kill anyone."

The law sees it a bit differently. If you try to kill someone, the charge is ATTEMPTED MURDER.

You are a fool. Moreover, you're incoherent.

[kim]

I bid you Bud Day, Sir.
==============

[kim]

qrstuv, I wuz gonna swear I never touched him; he just fell down.
=======================================

[centralcal]

Jor: "There is no point for Obama to play or "tell the truth". IT IS pointless and does not f'n matter 1 bit."

Then what are YOU doing here, son? It is all so POINTLESS and does not f'n matter 1 BIT!

Yep, that pretty much sums you up.

[Rick Ballard]

Maybe all Captain Zero has is a 'C' squad? The ObamaJugend do not impress. Peddling the Copperhead brand is a really tough row to hoe when the ground is reality.

[bio mom]

You miss the point lefties. The most potent charge against Obama IS that he is just a pol who is from the corrupt Chicago political machine! So if you use ties to the mayor as your argument that Ayers is mainstream, that really underscores the point, doesn't it?!

I have donated to the Right to Life committee and hope they use it to run ads against Obama over his infanticide support.

[Pagar]

I think there is plenty of evidence that Ayers and his supporters main focus was and is to destroy America, getting others to do the destroying is simple the Communist way.

" An unrepentant terrorist heads a key division of a leading U.S. education research association that has immense influence over what our children's teachers study in education school.

William Ayers, the unrepentant former SDS Weather Underground bomber of the 1960s, was recently elected by the American Education Research Association (AERA) as vice president and head of its division of curriculum studies."

LUN

Ayers and his supporters know they can't destroy America by their selves. That is why I believe they spent all their efforts in subverting the youth of America.

LUN

[kim]

P, that is the pressure point of coming politics. Ayers role is going to bring huge change, but ironically, in reaction to his curricular excesses. Public education is a mess, and it's a scandal because it was one of the City on the Hill's finest edifices.
===============================

[Appalled]

The Obama response looks like a classic case of respond what you want to respond to, and by the volume of reponses, suggest that your response is complete. What TM and other GOP leaning blogs) might want to do is read the book, read the Obama responses, and publicize the book charges not specifically responded to. Reminds me of debate -- if the opposition did not respond to a point, you were deemed to have carried it.

What I look for in Obama is simply this -- what has he done to futher the ideas of unity, harmony, etc that he has pressed in his campaign. It still eludes me that he has done anything. That's why I am interested in Anneberg -- it was something where he took an interest, and it is generally believed to be a flop.

[Rick Ballard]

"it is generally believed to be a flop."

Appalled,

Here are the results of ISAT testing for the period of 2001 - 2007. At the completion of the Annenberg challenge 42.8% of Chicago's 8th graders met or exceeded state standards. Six years after standard testing was introduced, 74.6% of Chicago's 8th graders met or exceeded state standards (based upon the 8th grade composite scores).

I think we can safely drop "generally believed" and just say that Annenberg was a flop, full stop. If you want to take the time to examine the schools within Obama's state senate district, you'll find that "flop" is far too kind. For his constituents, it was a freaking disaster.

Uncle Tony did pretty well during Obama's tenure in the legislature though. Obama's care and feeding of slumlords cannot be faulted.

[Sue]

My goodness, Tom, you must have touched a button here. I get the feeling the argument is "so what?". Does that argument really work? Guess we'll see.

[huxley]

"Maybe I am just a fool, but that fact that someone does not kill anyone is pretty good evidence that he did not intend to kill anyone."

Xenos -- You are uninformed, if not an outright fool. Several of Ayers's Weatherman friends were working on nail bomb to kill servicemen at Fort Dix. The bomb accidentally exploded, destroyed the town house they were living in, and killed three of the Weathermen--including Ayers's girlfriend Diana Oughton.

After Oughton's death, Ayers became involved with Bernadine Dohrn, his current wife--also a friend of Obama--who had this to say to an SDS audience after the Manson killings:

"Dig it! Manson killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they shoved a fork into a victim's stomach."

Bill Ayers was not acquitted; his case was dropped due to the government's misconduct against the radical political groups. As Ayers himself explained, he was "guilty as hell and free as a bird."

[Vaquero]

LOLs, JOM is going to be a tough place for the Obama Jugend. They are swarming out of the hive to protect their queen and are becoming very aggressive, I'm wondering when some BHO surrogate is going to go ballistic and literally take shots at Corsi or other critics?

[sbw]

Reposted from the I Know The Secrets That You Keep thread:

I really don't think this [the Secrets] thread has been infested by Ruskies, but I do find the skyrocketing of entries on this particular threat and their tone to be worthy of note. The intent has been to dull the focus, deflate the impact, and direct the interest elsewhere.

Whether of not one cares a whit about Corsi, it's as if strategically the Obamabots were unleashed to see that Chicago history does not enter into the campaign.

All the more reason to redouble efforts to see what might be worth hiding.

[I'll double post this on the current -- thank you TM for redoubling the efforts -- Obama/Chicago thread.]

[kim]

Unfit for Debate! Anybody see the youtube of the debate coaches?
========================================

[section9]

It appears to me that the Obama Freikorps have made a huge and costly blunder.

All he has done, all he has done, is to insure that sales of Jerome Corsi's book will go up. People who never heard of Jerome Corsi, Ph.D., have now heard of Jerome Corsi, Ph.D..

All of this is because of the fact that Obama has bought into the bogus narrative that Democrats told each other about the Swifties. Axelrod and Company told Obama that the Swifties lied about Kerry. That's not true. I know the guy who put together the ads. They were based on a true narrative of John Kerry's conduct in Indochina during his four month tour of duty.

And Jerome Corsi wasn't primarily responsible for the book on Kerry; a fellow Swifty, John O'Neill was.

The Swifty thing exploded when the Kerry people tried to silence the Swifty attempts to place an ad in Ohio, iirc. That's when the fundraising started to come in from the hinterlands and from Vietnam Vets who just couldn't stand Kerry. It's not that the Kerry Campaign never reacted to John O'Neill and the Swifties early on; it's that they overreacted when the ad ran in a small market by threatening to take legal action. It made it look as if the Kerry Campaign was being a bully. Only after the Kerry Campaign tried to bully the Swifties did the money start to flood in.

These facts were washed down the Stalinist Memory Hole of the Democratic Party's Media Narrative. And so, Obama isn't picking up on what happened and how to avoid making the same mistake.

By attacking Corsi this way, he's doing Corsi a huge favor. Barack Obama will become Jerome Corsi's biggest book peddler.

Just another example of the Young Jesus' questionable judgement.

[Pofarmer]

Obama regularly engages with people he does not agree with, in order to promote reconciliation. He does it on the right, he does it on the left. Big deal.

Really? I'd love to see some examples of that.

[Crimso]

"Did Ayers plant bombs? Yes."

Then you won't utter a peep when I do so, will you?

"Maybe I am just a fool, but that fact that someone does not kill anyone is pretty good evidence that he did not intend to kill anyone."

It's not "pretty good evidence" at all. This is a breathtakingly foolish assertion.

[kim]

section 9, that is an excellent point. In this case, unwarranted belief in the narrative, that the Swifties and Corsi lied, have led them into this poor strategy. For one thing, all those who've read 'Unfit for Command' are already inclined to be persuaded by Corsi. What's up with that, PoFarmer?
===========================

[Pofarmer]

The problem that Kerry had with Unfit for Command was that he couldn't refute it. All he had to do was release the relevant records, he didn't. Kerry is a hack. Obama?? Obama is going to try to refute this seven ways from Sunday(I hope) and it's gonna snowball on him.

How's the COLB thing going??? Been busy.

[DebinNC]

Have the "smear" fighters" responded to David Freddoso's book? If not why not, if setting the record straight is the object? Team Obama must be thrilled to be able to target Corsi, ignore Freddoso, and pray to Allah others do too.

[Sue]

Kim,

I watched it. I never really knew what the debate was about other than who can scream the loudest and curse the most. My favorite line from the shaggy haired coach was "debate in an appropriate manner", after he had mooned the other coach.

[MikeS]

There is certainly no question that Ayers and Dorn are scumbags. There is no question that Tony Rezko is a scumbag, or that Rev Wright is a scumbag.

There is no question that Obama was involved with these scumbags in some political schemes in Chicago.

Without question one of these schemes was a plan to spend $49.2 million to purchase "reform" in Chicago. Apparently, though that $49.2 million was spent, no reform was acquired for Chicago.

Obama is now involved in a plan to use federal funds to purchase "hope and change."

Any questions?

[section9]

Understand something about Obama's greatest weakness that I have figured out: he is a trial attorney with only a surface understanding of history.

-Of Course Barack Obama believes the Democratic Narrative about the Swift Boat ads: it's what he's been told by all the Right People with whom he sits down to dinner. Including John Kerry.

-Of Course Barack Obama believes the Democratic Narrative about the Surge: it's what he's come up with from other Democrats and Republican Party "wets" like Lugar and Jim Leach.

Do you all remember that photo of him carrying Fareed Zakaria's latest bit of Conventional Wisdom about the "Post American" world? Do you think that was by accident? I don't. It was deliberate, as if to say to upscale voters: "Look at me, I'm an intellectual like you: I read All the Right Books." That was a huge tell for me: Big Ass Phony.

Look at Obama's unwillingness to budge on his core convictions about the efficacy of the Surge; its a Rosetta Stone for understanding this guy. He's like a flipside version of Donald Rumsfeld, only without a tenth of Rumsfeld's experience or talent. So he has his talking heads come out and peddle the notion that the Sunni Awakening would have done it all in Anbar without the Surge, so that the Chosen One's convictions can be proven right and confirmed all along.

His life narrative was slapped together by David Axelrod and Obama. Now Corsi is putting out something different, especially about his time as a rising young man in the Chicago Democratic Organization. That's something different, and Obama and his people believe, very threatening.

I believe they've made a mistake by overreacting.

[Porchlight]

DebinNC,

Good observation. Freddoso's book is #12 on Amazon and (I think) #5 on the NYT bestseller list. If Obama teams up on Corsi, that just opens a bigger hole for Freddoso to nip through the defensive line.

[DebinNC]

How does Obama's refusal to "engage" McCain in joint town hall meetings square with the contention "Obama regularly engages with people he does not agree with"? He seems to only be willing to "engage" McCain face to face in the obligatory 3 debates. He certainly showed after PA that he couldn't survive another bout with "Rocky" Clinton.

[kim]

Those waving fields of vociferous grain.
=========================

[Barney Frank]

Not sure if anyone noted this in the thread but the reason Ayers was not prosecuted was not because he was innocent or merely some poser. It was because the lefties' favorite G-man, Mark Felt (aka Deep Throat)was caught and convicted for illegal tactics in investigating Ayers and his cronies so prosecuters threw in the towel.

[Rick Ballard]

Section9,

While I do not possess unbounded love for trial attorneys, I would take issue with your description of Obama as being one. Obama could not litigate an exit from a phone booth to a successful conclusion. He does not possess the acumen required nor is he in any manner a master of the requisite communication skills.

Obama is a purely political attorney of relatively mediocre talent. IOW - while in the pond of the South Side he may have sounded like a bullfrog, on the national stage he resonates as a pipsqueak.

[kim]

Mark Felt, the Jack Eckenrode of his time.
==========================

[cathyf]

If nobody cares about it, why is Obama lying about it?

[Rick Ballard]

Section9,

I hit 'post' before I was finished. I wanted to add that I agree with the rest of your statements. Obama is the essence of superficial, whether in knowledge or in politics.

Peel back the veneer and there ain't nuthin' under it.

[kim]

The veneer is burled Barack, the interior, Soetoro sawdust.
=================================

[Ranger]

Maybe I am confused... when did Ayers get off on a technicality? Granted, he was a fugitive, but when the Weathermen killed three people in the armored car heist he and his wife had already been purged from the group for not being radical enough.

Posted by: Xenos | August 15, 2008 at 07:40 AM

Yes, you are confused. Ayers got off because the evidence against him consisted of wire taps that were done without warrant. The Justice Department had concluded that since the Weathermen, as well as several other radical organizations, were essentially waging war against the United States, surveillance of their activities was an act of national defense, not an act of criminal investigation. A member of one of these groups appealed his conviction and won, with the court declaring that even if United States citizens engage in armed rebellion against the government, the fact that they are domestic groups means the 4th amendment still applies to them. That decision came down while Ayers was awaiting trial, and it resulted in his charges being dropped because the government could no longer use the evidence they had against him.

You are also confused about his wife. Though she was not convinced of participating the armored car robbery, she was convicted of criminal obstruction of justice for refusing to testify to the fact that she had provided information that the robbers had used to obtain driver licenses which they used to rent the getaway cars for the robbery. She was denied admittance to the Illinois State Bar because of that conviction.

By the way, both of them became "members in good standing" in the Chicago political circles because Ayers' dad was the chairman of the Commonwealth Edison, the electric power generation company that supplies all the electricity to Chicago and the suburbs. His position of influence in the community and his vast wealth bought the couple their "forgiveness", which is why they both feel perfectly safe in their very vocal un-repentance of deadly violence.

[Barney Frank]

It's sometimes useful to ponder a hypothetical role reversal.

Imagine John McCain having a twenty year working relationship with a fellow who lives in his own neighborhood (and according to a recent poster who also claimed to be a neighbor of Obama's, were close enough to have this chap and his wife babysit their kids)and has had dinner at this chap's house and this charmer has raised funds for and hosted fund raising events for McCain. And imagine McCain continues this friendship today.
Now imagine this man and his wife were at one time members of an extremely violent revolutionary pseudo Nazi, white supremacist organization which killed bombed and robbed its way through America 40 years ago. The wife was in fact convicted of assisting a murderous crime and the only way the husband avoided prosecution was through investigative stupidity.
Now, even though these two maggots presently had respectable jobs they were not only unrepentant about their insane and murderous ideaology and what they had done, they boasted about it and they still advocated it.
The question of course is, would McCain be able to survive this revelation as a presidential candidate and the related one of just how disinterested would the media be in this relationship. The answer to the first is no because not only would this close and continuing relationship alone quite properly have killed any chance of the nomination he probably would never even have been elected senator in the first place.

[jimmyk]

Obama regularly engages with people he does not agree with, in order to promote reconciliation. He does it on the right, he does it on the left. Big deal.

I seem to have missed those associations with "the right." Can you cite a couple? If there's one for ever ten on the left I'll be surprised. And let's not count those times he's crossed the aisle only for the purpose of double-crossing his opponents.

[section9]

No, no. Do not underestimate Obama's skills as a politician. He is superb. Emil Jones and the Chicago Democratic Organization recognized this early, which is why they fronted him in Springfield and sent him to DC. They think of him as a rainmaker for Federal Pork.

The fact that Obama had no client list at his law firm raised suspicions, but he may have been a rainmaker for his firm, and a political project for same. That said; I do not underestimate his legal mind; after all, the reviews by Volokh and others of his law class show no demerits. He was simply just passing through on his way to bigger and better things.

Obama's projects are simple: Obama. He's far more like Bill Clinton than Democrats would have you believe. It's all about power and ambition.

[Rocco]

Did Ayers plant bombs? Yes. Were these bombs intended to hurt people, and did they in fact hurt people? No. Is he a political extremist? Of course.

Political Extremist? Even the NYT's called Weather Underground member Susan L. Rosenberg an Ex-Terrorist after Clinton pardoned her. She was responsible for the murders of a security guard and two Police Officers during a 1981 Brinks Robbery.

An unusual combination of New York political and law enforcement leaders have condemned former President Bill Clinton's pardon of Susan L. Rosenberg, a one-time member of the Weather Underground terrorist group who was charged in the notorious 1981 Brink's robbery in Rockland County that left a guard and two police officers dead.

[section9]

Which, I should add, is why Clinton can't stand Obama. Bill recognizes a fellow artiste when he sees one. The minute Bill Clinton heard the Iowa acceptance speech, he understood that his wife was toast.

[Porchlight]

OT but good news - Rasmussen has McCain ahead in Colorado for the first time in seven months. According to the article this is part of a national trend "showing statewide results becoming more consistent with recent electoral patterns." (e.g. 2004)

The stage is set for Denver.

[Semanticleo]

"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century," the president said. "Only Russia can decide whether it will now put itself back on the path of responsible nations or continue to pursue a policy that promises only confrontation and isolation.

"To begin repairing relations with the United States, Europe and other nations and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must respect the freedom of its neighbors," Bush said.

The key phrase, "Only Russia can decide..."
makes it clear Putin is now under---
DOUBLE-SECRET PROBATION!

Putin's Labyrinth trembles.

[Sue]

Good grief, another bomb Russia lefty. The world has really turned upside down. Until the bombs start, anyway. Then it will be back to the old order.

[Ranger]

The funny think is, all this discussion of what Ayers did is really a distraction from the fact that Obama deliberately lied about his relationship with Ayers. At this point, that really is the key issue, and the Obama campaigns response clearly avoids answering that issue by turning back to the 'so what if they know each other, Ayers is in tight in Chicago.'

Its the cover up, not the crime.

[DebinNC]

Overview of Obama's">http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/700499,CST-NWS-Obama-law17.article">Obama's trial experience
..................................
How did he function in court without David Axelrod there to put words in his mouth?

"A review of the cases Obama worked on during his brief legal career shows he played the "strong, silent type" in court, introducing himself and his client, then stepping aside to let other lawyers do the talking."
..........................................
Obama's humble opinion of himself:

"I was an associate, and a lot of my work was in the research and writing," Obama told the Sun-Times on Sunday...."I was one of the better writers. I ended up doing the more cerebral writing, less trial work," Obama added.
............................................

"He wrote lots of substantial memos, but he didn't try any cases," said Judson Miner, a partner in the firm who was Obama's boss.

[Pagar]

For those who believe that the Pumas haven't noticed Obama's tactics, taking his opposition out by kneecapping them instead of defeating them at the ballot box. I offer this input by Uppity Woman in response to reports that Obama has decided to allow what would have been automatic in any previous DNC convention--HRC
to be placed in nomination at the DNC

"Thanks, Comrade Barky. Especially considering placing names of primary runners in nomination has NEVER been a problem at any Democratic Convention in history—except for this year, because you are nothing short of a Chicago Thug and a sack of crap.

You are the only candidate I have seen in my not so short life try to pull off having nobody but your own sorry ass in nomination. Even Teddy had his name placed in nomination with only 1,150 primary delegates. Kennedy was not even close, Barky. Jesse Jackson got his name placed in nomination twice, once with 1218 delegates and once with 485 measley delegates. But then again, they were men, right Barky? Wink…wink, you bag of shit.

And of course, you are accustomed to removing competition from the ballot before they defeat you, right Barky? Does the name Alice Palmer come to mind? How about your competition in your US Senate race? You had no problem keeping Alan Keyes on the ballot though, since everybody knows even a cockroach could beat Alan Keyes. Oh wait a minute……a cockroach DID defeat him…."

It doesn't sound to me like she believes that Obama is the right person for the Democrats/Communists to be promoting to be President of the USA. That tactics that worked in Chicago, where everything political is corrupt are right for America.

I look forward to the day when every American realizes that Obama is not the right person to lead America. I hope it starts in Denver.

LUN

I apologize to those who think the speaker should have called Obama a "sack of" carp
instead of the word she used .

[Ranger]

The key phrase, "Only Russia can decide..."
makes it clear Putin is now under---
DOUBLE-SECRET PROBATION!

Putin's Labyrinth trembles.

Posted by: Semanticleo | August 15, 2008 at 11:14 AM

No, that is a response to the Russians saying we have to decide between them and Georgia as allies. This statement is telling the Russians, 'we've decided to stick with the Georgians, now you have to decided if you really want to start a new cold war.'

[Porchlight]

'Cleo, never fear, President Obama will show up that weak sister Bush and make "cowboy diplomacy" look like a middle school production of Oklahoma. I'm sure Putin is shaking in his boots just thinking about it.

[ROA]

If Obama was one of the better writers, why didn't he ever publish any law review articles during his time as editor of the Harvard Law Review, or as a professor at the University of Chicago?

[Semanticleo]

"Until the bombs start, anyway. Then it will be back to the old order."

Count on it if Bush bombs Latvia ('cause
that's where the Russkies train) instead of
'where they actually are', you know, in Georgia.

[Porchlight]

More OT - McCain's July fundraising numbers, per Byron York at The Corner:

McCain Fundraising [Byron York]

Campaign manager Rick Davis just told reporters that McCain raised $27 million in July and had $21.4 million in cash on hand at the end of the month.

MORE: Davis says the RNC raised $26 million in July and has $75 million in cash on hand.

STILL MORE: As far as the campaign's money is concerned, Davis stresses that since McCain is accepting federal funds, he will have to spend all his primary-season money by the time he gets the money next month. "We are definitely on a decline curve where we will be spending more than we are raising now," Davis said.

[Captain Hate]

I ended up doing the more cerebral writing..

The audacity of unbelievably high self-regard

[Jane]

Can he spend it out into the future - for example can he purchase an ad buy now for October?

[MikeS]

DOUBLE-SECRET PROBATION

Double Probation will include providing Georgia with man portable anti aircraft and anti tank weapons. Russia's armor on the mountainous roads of Georgia would make attractive targets.

[clarice]

The Annenberg fortune was ill-gotten--loansharking in Milwaukee. I would not be at all surprised that the education contributions to Ayres and Obama were made to funnel money to Daley and his friends and no one expected or even dreamed it was to actually make a change in Chicago's education system. Thieves all around.

[clarice]

**not be at all surprised TO LEARN that the education contributions to Ayres and Obama were made to funnel **

[Tom Maguire]

TM, even if Obama knew Ayers because occasionally there were on the same board or at the same event -- who really cares?

Maybe when Obama answers TM's question which was, "When will Obama tell the truth, and why has he been lying?"

How can I (or anyone not a Kool Aid consumer) evaluate their relationship when I don't even know what it is, but I do know that Obama has been covering it up?

I am pretty sure that Obama working with Ayers for at least five years, or maybe from 1987 to 2000 on public education reform with nothing to show for it is a lot more substantive than "on the same board or at the same event".