Bill Ayers - Hiding In Plain Sight

Something can be the truth even if reduced to a joke.

MORE:  Jack Cashill, father of the Ayers as author theory, explains the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.  However vast we may be, apparently we are kind of picky:

In the case of Dreams, some media on the right have been willing to entertain the theory of Ayers's involvement from the beginning.  These include American Thinker, WorldNetDaily, The Rusty Humpries Show, and Breitbart TV among others. The support of these media, however, triggered no opening of the locks down the conservative stream.  Each media outlet, I have found, makes its own decisions for its own reasons.  The Van Jones story and the ACORN stings moved so quickly downstream because they were so visual, accessible and undeniable.  The Dreams exposé is neither visual nor easily accessible.

Despite the caterwauling on the left, the more established of the conservative media -- Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, National Review, the Weekly Standard -- are prudent to the point of paranoid about embracing theories from up the conservative communication stream.  Not a one of them gave me a tumble before the election, and they remain stingy with their acceptance even after the Andersen revelations.  Without their imprimatur, and without even mention by the mainstream media, the national talk radio jocks are understandably hesitant to explore, let alone endorse the increasingly obvious fact that Bill Ayers is the principal author of Dreams From My Father.

Well, I think the Dreams story is pretty accessible - Ayers is Obama's ghost-writer.  It just sounds wildly improbable, probably because people think of Ayers as a bombmaking bugaboo of the right rather than an accomplished, published writer.  There is also the little matter of proof - Van Jones had published quotes and signatures on petitions, Acorn had video, "Dreams" has some suggestive matches of words and phrases.  And now a book.

Cashill closes with as good point - the media bashing Sarah Palin for having a ghostwriter (and how can the poor dears resist?) may be stepping on a land mine.  I still believe that Presidential historians will sort this out eventually, although I don't expect to live long enough to see it (C'mon, I'm already in my fifties...).

ROUND 'EM UP:  The greatest trick Bill Ayers ever pulled was convincing the world he did not write "Dreams".

TO WHICH I WOULD ADD:  The PowerGuys are skeptical of the whole Ayers/Dreams concept, which is fair enough - I think this old post of mine could be read as skeptical, too (one might even say "derisory").  However, the PowerGuys give no shrift at all to the new Andersen book which took some inspiration from Cahill but does claim to have the full story of Obama solving his problem with writer's block by dumping his notes, thoughts and outline in Ayers' lap.  [OOPS.  MY BAD: OK, "no shrift at all" except where Scott specifically shrifts it:

Cashill has reiterated and elaborated on his thesis on several occasions since his original column. Most recently, while citing Cashill, Christopher Andersen provided additional evidence to support Cashill's thesis in Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage. Ronald Radosh summarized Andersen's contribution here.

A clear failure of vision on my part.]

IF I HAD TO GUESS RIGHT NOW:  I think Mr. Andersen is reporting what people told him when he writes that Ayers played a role in turning Obama's project into a book.  I would start with, why would he make that up?  His audience for a valentine titled "Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage" is going to be Obama fanboys (and girls!), not their critics - why make up discordant details about Their One?

At Amazon right now the people who bought the Andersen book also bought "The Clinton Tapes" by Taylor Branch, Speech-less - Tales of a White House Survivor by Matthew Latimer, Mama Dearest (a fiction book), True Compass, the Kennedy memoir, and High On Arrival, a Mackenzie Phillips bio.

Rounding out the top ten, "Bobbie and Jackie - A Love Story" is at 6; "Going Rogue" by Sarah Palin is at 9, trailing the Patrick Swayze bio but edging Serena Williams.

I don't think that is an audience that leans right.

As to the rest, the fact that Obama has shown no literary talent before or since can't be dismissed.  

And the scenario described by Andersen is utterly plausible - Michelle knew Bernardine Dohrn, Ayers' wife, from their law firm; she knew Bill Ayers from her time at Mayor Daley's office when he was working on eduction reform; Michelle knew her hubby was stuck on his book and she knew they needed the money they would collect when he submitted it.  Why is the next step, that she enlisted the aid of a friend and published writer, so unlikely? 

Set against that, one might think that a fellow from Harvard Law School working in Chicago would know plenty of people with writing ability.

Comments

[PeterUK]

One indicator that Obama was not the author of "Overdrawn at the Sperm Bank" is that Obama would never have got round to finishing it.

[Jane]

Perhaps Mr. Ayers is feeling thrown under the bus. Afterall, his resume isn't any worse than most of the other Czars.

[clarice]

Apparently, that's the case, Jane .

Cashill discusses why despite all this evidence the MSM won't touch this story:
"Despite all evidence to the contrary, Alger Hiss will always be innocent in their eyes. Margaret Mead's Samoa will always be a sexual paradise. Rachel Carson's science will always be sound. Alex Haley's Kunta Kinte will always be real. Edward Said will always be a Palestinian refugee. And Obama will always be a literary wunderkind. Those who choose to say otherwise do so at their peril."
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/how_the_vrwc_really_works.html

[Captain Hate]

And Rigoberta Menchu, along with Dan Rather, was fake but accurate. Commies: Who needs the steenking truth?

[One of these days, Alice; To the Moon.]

Ayers is pissed that he doesn't have the Secret Service protection that he needs.
=================================

[Jane]

Clarice,

Oh they are just all on vacation (or getting ready for my niece's wedding this weekend). I'm sure they will get around to it.

Meanwhile hopefully the lack of attention will urge Ayers on.

[rse]

If I recall what Steve Diamond has said correctly, Ayers would have written Dreams when Obama's political dream was to be Mayor of Chicago.

It makes sense that Ayers would help him pursue that goal.

It must be galling for Ayers that a major qualification to be US President later turned out to be his skill with words and ability to craft a vision.

[clarice]

I think it must be even more galling for Ayers to find himself under the bus and not in the office of the Secretary of Education.

[Sue]

I hope it galls Ayers enough that he starts talking.

[Sue]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/ayers_admits_writing_dreams_1.html>Ayers Admits Writing Dreams

Looks like he has started talking. I wonder if he will claim it was a joke?

[Fresh Air]

Ayers is one of the few people in this country with enough credibility as a radical to not have his house firebombed for exposing Zero. Lots of people know what a phony he is; they just don't want to come public with it out of both personal fear and a desire to not to do him political damage. The babysitter story from last fall is a case in point. So I pin my hopes on the idea that Ayers's ego exceeds his personal cowardice.

But there is no doubt in my mind that he wrote most, if not all, of Dreams. Cashill has him nailed. If Zero ever wrote anything of substance, he has kept it hidden in Al Capone's vaults.

[MayBee]

Wait. Kunta Kinte wasn't real?

[Ranger]

Looks like he has started talking. I wonder if he will claim it was a joke?

Posted by: Sue | October 07, 2009 at 10:09 AM

Unfortunately, no video of the conversation. If someone could get him on video saying it, it would get huge fast once it hit.

[Rocco]

Morning

Just a thought...I didn't hear this myself but someone said O'Reilly was asked to lay off Ayers. If the long arm of the law is breathing down Ayers neck, maybe he feels his only way out is to drag the prez into it?

[Shakes]

It does have all the elements of a crazy conspiracy. The main stream media will not only not cover it, they will laugh at it if it is ever brought up. I wish someone would ask Gibbs the question. Calling Jack Tapper...

I believe Cashill. I also agree that history will be the judge. This will one day come out.

[clarice]

Obama won't do anything to help him, unless Ayers can manage to join the Black Panthers.

[Fresh Air]

Rocco--

I honestly don't believe the SF bombing case is really going anywhere. Ayers was never a bomber; he was an enabler. There may some interest in going after Dohrn, but I really just don't see it after all these years.

Shakes--

The only way this thing develops legs is if Ayers holds a press conference with proof that he wrote the book OR if someone has the guts to ask Zero directly in a one-on-one, who wrote it--and that would have to be a really harsh, 60 Minutes-style probe, where you could see clearly the beads of sweat forming on his temples.

[Keep him around; the best argument evah for vouchers.]

If Ayers isn't discredited, he's going to singlehandedly destroy public education. Who'll want their kids educated by his fellows?
=====================================

[Pagar]

" someone said O'Reilly was asked to lay off Ayers" My guess is there is a definite effort being made to get Fox converted to a arm of the Leftist Propaganda Machine.

"
At a time of tension between their organizations, White House senior adviser David Axelrod met with Fox News chairman and chief executive officer Roger Ailes two weeks ago, sources tell POLITICO. "

Link

"The Extreme Makeover of Fox News: Analyst Marc Lamont Hill [far left radical]"

LUN

It's only a matter of time till Fox News defending America is just a memory, IMO.

[PeterUK]

The biggest giveaway is that Obama has stopped writing.Authors,in general,are not like that. They may never recapture their initial success,but they keep writing.
It is as if Obama was fulfilling a wish list,lawyer,writer,Senator,president,?.

[Rocco]

Fresh Air

I sure do hope your wrong. Larry Grathwol isn't giving up.

Two efforts are being made to rectify this situation. One is pursuing the possibility of criminal prosecution of Bernardine Dorhn and others. It is a matter of public record that the Park Station bombing case has been re-opened. Evidence continues to be sought and collected. More needs to be done. And that is why we are asking FBI director Robert Mueller to exercise his independence from the Administration and make sure he does everything possible to facilitate FBI assistance to those authorities continuing to investigate the Park Station bombing case.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

The Powerline guy is ignoring the strongest evidence for Cashill's theory. Proof actually; the statistical improbability of the description of Obama's white, green-eyed, dark haired girlfriend's family estate fitting almost exactly with that of the Oughton estate in Illinois.

The odds are literally millions to one against that kind of coincidence. Unless Obama can produce the name of the girlfriend and the location of her family's estate, the argument is over, in favor of Cashill.

[clarice]

I thought Scott's presentation at Powerline was weak and was happy to see Jonah Goldberg taking back his poo-poo of Cashill's theory at NRO.
What is so unusual about a pol having a book ghost written? And why wouldn't Obama have relied on his neighborhood pal and ideological ally, Ayers?

I read every word Cashill wrote and though I began as a sceptic I was in the end convinced that he was right. Every time O opens his mouth unscripted I am further convinced there's no way this third rate mind wrote a well-written book on his own.

[Fresh Air]

Patrick--

The Powerline guy is ignoring the strongest evidence for Cashill's theory.

Sadly, this is not unexpected from a Clean Toga Lawyer. You have massive statistical support for Cashill's analysis. A mathematician can see this immediately, which is exactly why squishy liberal arts types cannot.

[sylvia]

Yes there is no hard proof that Ayers wrote it and that's why the MSM is not running it. There would need to be an on the record confession from someone or some documents. Comparing handwriting styles, while it convinces me, is not enough for the hard news.

[sylvia]

And the MSN won't even touch the idea that
Obama grew up a Muslim. His mother married two Muslim men and enrolled him in a Muslim school in Indonesia. What more do you want? So they def won't touch the Ayers story.

Someone said to me once, well his mother's family was from Kansas and they don't have Muslims there. But I replied, even in Kansas, people can convert.

[Jane]

Rush started out talking about Ayers - saying - "Well now it is out there".

Indeed - altho that may be Ayers point - to make anyone who runs with the story look like a truther.

It would actually be funny if no one said a world and he had to get more vocal to get attention.

[clarice]

For those who say he was only joking with the blogger, remember this egotist has also proudly confessed to his weatherman crimes adding a neener neener about how his rich daddy dan the system for him and gort him off.

[clarice]

8"ran the system for him and got him off"***

[Sue]

Jane,

http://hotair.com/headlines/?p=55118#comment-660505>National Journal (Hot Air link) asked him straight up if he wrote the book. He is going to pretend now that it was a joke, admitting it. I figured he would. Either that or would deny the conversation with the conservative blogger.

[Porchlight]

Sue,

Based on everything we know about Ayers I'm not surprised he'd play it this way. He had to figure after Andersen's bio came out, that someone was going to ask him point blank.

I think the truth will out, but proof is going to be very difficult. How long did it take Ted Sorensen to admit to Profiles in Courage?

[Geek, Esq.]

I heard Bill Ayers used his birth certificate to conduct a controlled implosion at the WTC too.

Well, there's just as much evidence for that as there is for this nutjobbiness.

[I can't get no satisfaction.]

Ruh roh. Who let the Geek out. Sounds like Ayers is resentful about the lack of respect.
==============================

[clarice]

Who do you suppose were Anderson's sources for the claim that Ayers wrote Dreams and did so at Michelle's urging?
Given that we are dealing with a passel of egotists all of whom are surely chafing at the thought that their lights are under the Obama bushel, we have a numbner of possibilities, not excluding michelle and Bill.

[Sue]

The Dohrn lady. She has to be pissed that someone she considered inferior (based on intellect, not color) to her has succeeded beyond their wildest imaginations, merely by marrying the right man.

[Elliott]

The toga candida has never shone so spotless and resplendent:

Obama will be President until at least January 2013, and his policies and record of governance is really all that’s relevant. By the 2012 election, we will have plenty to criticize about his performance without worrying about his background.

Cashill’s work might make for a good academic-interest story, but politically, it’s rather meaningless.

[clarice]

Ayers regularly plays games, revealing the truth and then denying he said that:
Here from Wiki is a single example:
During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, a controversy arose regarding Ayers' contacts with then-candidate Barack Obama, a matter that had been public knowledge in Chicago for years.[52] After being raised by the British press[52][53][54] the connection was picked up by blogs and newspapers in the United States. The matter was raised in a campaign debate by moderator George Stephanopoulos, and later became an issue for the John McCain presidential campaign. Investigations by The New York Times, CNN, and other news organizations concluded that Obama does not have a close relationship with Ayers.[55][56][57] In an op-ed piece after the election, Ayers denied any close association with Obama, and castigated the Republican campaign for its use of guilt by association tactics.[36] In a new edition of his memoirs, Fugitive Days: Memoirs of an Anti-War-Activist, he added a new afterword describing their relationship as "neighbors and family friends".[58] But in an interview with Good Morning America, Ayers said the afterword was "describing there how the blogosphere characterized the relationship."[59]

[Porchlight]

Elliott,

That post by Ed Morrissey is truly idiotic. I've been frustrated with his clean toga-ness before (thanks again to clarice for that fantastic phrase) but this takes the cake.

[clarice]

Yes, Elliott,Ed M is the world class holder of the toga candida award.

[Elliott]

The quote cited in my last post is here.

[Elliott]

Would he touch the Swiftboat story today? Adscam?

[clarice]

No doubt JOM posters played a key role in this--NOW has finally awakened and slammed Letterman for being a pig:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/07/letterman.now/

[clarice]

Here's the Ayers' quote I was searching for to show his contempt for the law (and the truth):
"Guilty as hell, free as a bird. What a country."

[Gregory Koster]

PeterUK, the lack of further books isn't absolutely conclusive. US Grant wrote the single best book ever by a Prez, PERSONAL MEMOIRS, and nothing else, largely because he kicked the bucket four days after he finished it. There was talk that Grant's publisher, Mark Twain, wrote the book, but the handwritten manuscript blew that notion up---just as The Once could blow it up by showing his his manuscript. That won't happen for the same reason he won't release his birth certificate: he can use the chained bulldogs of the press to smear his enemies as loonies.

It's true, some Prezs wrote numerous books but they tended to be a) abnormally energetic (T. Roosevlet) or b) have a day job that required them to write (Wilson, the college professor.) Closer to your own shores, Disraeli is an example of c): he needed money badly. This is true of The Once too, but he had Rolo to rake in dough for him.

Clarice, I think you are right that The Once won't help Ayers. This makes me think that Ayers is Anderson's source. Why? Well, if pressed, Bill can smile with that toothpick in his mouth and say, I was only funnin'. Or he could confirm it. I think you are right that he is sore at being a character in the Christian fiction series LEFT BEHIND, but he also wants dough. It would be interesting to compare the amount of dough The Once reported on his income tax returns versus what the publisher paid out. I have a notion that The Once hogged the bulk of it. This wouldn't matter so much when it was originally published, but when The Once became a star and started making real dough from "his" book. Ayers got sore. So this jerks The Once's chain too, saying Pay me, or else. I have no doubt that in a few days there will be news accounts of Ayers being found tied underneath some Chicago bridge, his nose taped shut, and a roll of hundred dollar bills crammed in his mouth, with a pinhole in the center for him to breathe through. It's the Chicago Way.

I'm a bit skeptical of your notion that "pols have their books ghostwritten all the time." When DREAMS was published, The Once was still a year away from the Illinois State Senate. He could HIRE a ghostwriter, but that would mean he would have to pay out dough. Ayers could be guilt tripped into doing the job for a token, as most other writers of The Once's acquaintance, could not.

[Gregory Koster]

Whoops, posted prematurely. You may all be wondering why this is coming out now. Let me tell you in a scoop for JOM:

WORLD EXCLUSIVE

My sources have put me in possession of the following postcard, which explains why Ayers's authorship is boiling up now. The postcard is postmarked Geneva Switzerland:

=========================================

Dear Bill:

Long time no see. Remember that statue of limitations thingie you told me about, when you were showing me how to make a pipe bomb? Well IT DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK!!!! I wanna get outta here. You gotta get His Holiness to pardon me. That'll work, you got the connections. Just remember who got you all those sweet young girls, the young girls that judges want to f--, that juries want to f---, that Bill Ayers wants to f---- Weren't those girls sweet? Just remember, that statute of limitations thingie DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK. Cut yourself in on some gravy, man, and watch those 'ludes.

Talk to me, man, talk to me.

The warder's here, gotta go.

Love xoxoxoxox<

Roman P.

=======================================

This, and not some lurid conspiracy theory explains it all to you.

[clarice]

Start with Kennedy's Profiles in Courage to the present and name those pols who wrote their own books without ghostwriters,please.

IIRC O got the advance for Dreams when in law school and didn't perform. After he was miracolo! elected head of the HLR the publisher substantially upped the advance. For a nobody really..Someone took a chance on his becoming a political figure and helped him out..

[clarice]

Now was O as generous to Ayers as Kennedy was to Sorenson? I bet not

From wiki:
"Questions have been raised about how much of the book was actually written by Kennedy and how much by his research assistants. Some time after April 1957, journalist Drew Pearson appeared as a guest on the The Mike Wallace Interview[1] and made the following claim live on air: "John F. Kennedy is the only man in history that I know who won a Pulitzer Prize for a book that was ghostwritten for him."[2] Wallace replied "You know for a fact, Drew, that the book Profiles in Courage was written for Senator Kennedy ... by someone else?" Pearson responded that he did, and that Kennedy speechwriter Ted Sorenson actually wrote the book. Wallace responded: "And Kennedy accepted a Pulitzer Prize for it? And he never acknowledged the fact?" Pearson replied: "No, he has not. You know, there's a little wisecrack around the Senate about Jack ... some of his colleagues say, 'Jack, I wish you had a little less profile and more courage.'"[2]

Joseph Kennedy saw the broadcast, then called his lawyer, Clark Clifford, yelling: "Sue the bastards for fifty million dollars!"[2] Soon Clifford and Robert Kennedy showed up at ABC and told executives that the Kennedys would sue unless the network issued a full retraction and apology. Mike Wallace and Drew Pearson insisted that the story was true and refused to back off. Nevertheless, ABC made the retraction and apology, which made Wallace furious.[2]

However, years later historian Herbert Parmet analyzed the text of Profiles in Courage and wrote in his book The Struggles of John F. Kennedy (1980) that although Kennedy did oversee the production and provided for the direction and message of the book, it was clearly Sorensen who provided most of the work that went into the end product.

In May 2008, Sorensen in his autobiography, Counselor, largely confirmed allegations that he had done much, if not most, of the writing. Sorensen wrote that he "did a first draft of most chapters," "helped choose the words of many of its sentences," and "privately boasted or indirectly hinted that [he] had written much of the book." Sorensen claimed that in May 1957, Kennedy "unexpectedly and generously offered, and I happily accepted, a sum" for his work on the book. The sum Kennedy paid to Sorensen exceeded half the book's royalties from its first five years of sales and led Sorensen to inform Kennedy that he was disinclined to push for recognition of his participation.[3]"

[clarice]

Note the chutzpah of Kennedy--demanding and getting a retraction of a claim that was TRUE.

[Fresh Air]

dan the system for him and gort him off.

Dan the system! Full steam ahead! We'll gort them in their sleep!

I kind of like this new "JOM Esperanto" Clarice is sporting.

[Fresh Air]

Clarice--

Dick Nixon is about the only politician who wrote a book worth a crap in the past 40 years.

[clarice]

FA, I got a new keyboard and cleaned up my computer but the fingers never changed.

[Janet]

((Cashill’s work might make for a good academic-interest story, but politically, it’s rather meaningless.)) from the Ed Morrissey article.

I am disgusted. How can the fact that Obama lied about his close ties to Bill Ayers be meaningless. It is not only that he had a ghost writer, but that the ghost writer was Bill Ayers, and he made up his life story.

Is it meaningless for the American public to know what a fraud Obama is?...because he IS a FRAUD.

Stanley Kurtz at NRO did great work uncovering Obama's past in Chicago...but I guess it was just a good academic-interest story. So much for truth.

[Porchlight]

Ed's argument is basically: we in the "New Media" all know he's a fraud anyway, so how can proof make any difference? It's old news.

I don't know how one gets any more clueless. Seriously.

[Unsafe at Any Speed is a good read.]

Didn't that Bills quarterback write a good one?
==========================

[Janet]

It makes a difference because of the "ridicule factor" that Bill Whittle talked about. The LOL with Obama's logo in the O. A regular Joe American, that isn't a political junkie "gets it" concerning a bull shit artist. Really, Obama is a bigger fraud than most people know, and it needs to come out.

[Jane]

I think Bill Ayers is a much bigger devotee of Sun Tzu than Obama. So when investigating his motives, I would keep that in mind.

[Rocco]

I think we're all fluent in Clarice by now. I can't imagine this place without her!

Here's a more recent article by Kincaid on the possibility of prosecuting Ayers and Dohrn with a petition at the end. Keep your fingers crossed.

[Jane]

Imagine the blackmail that will occur if Ayers gets indicted.

[bgates]

Geek, if you're still around, which do you think provides a better glimpse of Obama's budding literary genius:
Breaking the War Mentality
The more sensitive among us struggle to extrapolate experiences of war from our everyday experience, discussing the latest mortality statistics from Guatemala, sensitizing ourselves to our parents' wartime memories, or incorporating into our framework of reality as depicted by a Mailer or a Coppola. But the taste of war - the sounds and chill, the dead bodies - are remote and far removed. We know that wars have occurred, will occur, are occurring, but bringing such experience down into our hearts, and taking continual, tangible steps to prevent war, becomes a difficult task.

or Underground:
Under water grottos, caverns
Filled with apes
That eat figs.
Stepping on the figs
That the apes
Eat, they crunch.
The apes howl, bare
Their fangs, dance,
Tumble in the
Rushing water,
Musty, wet pelts
Glistening in the blue.

[Porchlight]

Imagine the blackmail that may have already occurred. Honduras especially comes to mind....

[Porchlight]

Heh bgates, it's hard to decide which of those horrible items is worse. The poem at least is sort of funny.

[Fresh Air]

Bgates--

I haven't seen so many subordinate clauses since the last PoMo Satire Contest. Is that English? Mailer and Coppola--fiction writers. Why is that not surprising? Something tells me Grant's memoirs were never on Zero's bedside table.

Jane--

Yes, the reason this whole thing is matters is not just because he is a fraud and a liar. It's because Zero's mythical accomplishments are piled on top of one another, much like Chauncey Gardner in Being There, each larger than the last but even more fraudulent. Consider just getting into Columbia was probably unlikely, then the even more unlikely entrance to Harvard Law. Then the election to the HLR presidency based upon his race (or putative race, anyway) and the fact that a bunch of African Studies rabble-rousers were agitating at the very moment on campus.

Then we collect his literary reputation on the basis of a book he didn't write. Zero got a small amount of press when he was elected to the HLR post, but the book was what launched him, and is the first pillar in his mythical temple of accomplishments.

The second pillar was his speech at the Mediacrat convention. If he actually believed any of what he said, he hasn't shown it.

The third pillar is his election to the U.S. Senate, which was only possible by the implosion of his Democrat and Republican opposition, helped by the unsealing of Jack Ryan's divorce records.

That's it. There's nothing else there. No writings, no scholarly papers, no major legislation. Nada. And the guy never would have gotten up to bat in the Illinois Senate race if it weren't for the publicity he got from that stupid-ass book.

[Jane]

Imagine the blackmail that may have already occurred.

Indeed.

Fresh, yeah I agree altho like a broken record I still think AA in the 80's was so rampant it would have been hard for him not to get admitted at those places, especially with a couple of interesting recommendations. Same with the law review thing: "Just imagine how fantabulous it would be to elect the first black editor to the law review - and such a spectacular non-threatening bloke to boot."

It was like that in the '80's in Boston.

[Pagar]

".but I guess it was just a good academic-interest story."

Janet, it appears that is all any of the efforts to get stories to the attention of Americans from the right side of the debate amount to.

Right now, the Big Government site has several different stories that ought to close the Democrat propaganda machine down for good and yet there don't seem to be a hundred people that even care. American Thinker, Michelle Malkin, JOM and dozens of other conservative sites kick out block buster stories every day that no one seems to pick up on. Glenn Beck is able to get some attention, but as soon as he does Sen Graham or one of the other RINOs jumps up and claims that he is hurting the image because he wears his hair funny, or some other BS. I just don't see how things get better.

I keep hearing about 2010 but 2010 is only weeks away and I don't see much activity.
Over at Atlas Shrugs there is a very inspiring post by Lt Col West from Fla, but I don't hear any talk elsewhere in the blogs.
Pamella Geller from Atlas Shrugs writing at Biggovernment has a blockbuster story about ACORN throwing out Republican voter registrations. It seems to me that there is enough proof that ACORN influenced the voting enough to change the outcome of the 2008 presidential election, but it is not making headlines.

I just don't see the Obama administration letting 2010 slip away from them, without a whole lot more action by Conservatives. IMO, we need to get the Conservatives working together at the the blog level, at the candidate level, and if we can't stop the voter fraud at the 2010 election it'll never be stopped.

LUN

[Fresh Air]

Chin up, Pagar. We're a lot more fired up than liberals, and we outnumber them in every state in the union.

[Janet]

I'm sad to say, but I agree Pagar. The "game" seems rigged. Between the media bias, the selective outrage, the voter registration fraud,...

[JM Hanes]

I suspect Ayers has been disappointed over the paltry return on his long years of mentoring and decided to make a little noise on his own. A President who will throw any and everybody but a union pal or two under the bus doesn't seem likely to be offering Ayers much in the way of carrots. Obama's former father figure is probably discovering, as we speak, that the Chicago machine which has protected him so long is now protecting Obama.

[JM Hanes]

Looking at Ayers' admission to National Journal, it sounds like he was being deliberately provocative to me, knowing that the soon-to-be-labeled Dreamers, would eat it up.

When he finished speaking, we put the authorship question right to him. For a split second, Ayers was nonplussed. Then an Abbie Hoffmanish, steal-this-book-sort-of-smile lit up his face. He gently took National Journal by the arm. “Here’s what I’m going to say. This is my quote. Be sure to write it down: ‘Yes, I wrote Dreams From My Father. I ghostwrote the whole thing. I met with the president three or four times, and then I wrote the entire book.’” He released National Journal’s arm, and beamed in Marxist triumph. “And now I would like the royalties.”

Elliott:

Morrissey's pontifications have grown increasingly tedious. Would that he had an editor who could suggest he just leave out his last paragraphs. In "Ghost writers and relevance," however, he has missed the point entirely!

The real problem is not just that Obama had an unacknowledged, radical, ghost writer whose style he putatively claimed as his own. It's that Obama claimed pieces of Ayers' biography as his own. When Obama was elected almost entirely on his bio alone, Ed is beyond obtuse to dismiss the potential blowback. He's simply previewed the Obama defense.

[bgates]

it sounds like he was being deliberately provocative

Quite a life. This is the second time he's gone on record to say, "Yeah, I did it", knowing there's nothing anybody can do about it. Every word of what he said to the National Journal is as true as "guilty as hell, free as a bird".

[YP2K]

Wow, is it a great feeling to be that far out?

[bad]

The grooviest, man....

[Fresh Air]

JMH--

Morrissey is a decent enough guy, I suppose. But he writes poorly and just doesn't have the razor-sharp instinct for opposition politics. He should cover plant shows and state fairs. He would do great describing azaleas and talking about soil nutrients.

[bad]

Powerline has updated their article and links Tom Maguire.

[JM Hanes]

I doubt a YP2K can dig it, bad.

[JM Hanes]

Fresh Air:

I wouldn't consign Ed to the style page, although I agree that his political instincts aren't exactly finely tuned. His off key conclusions wouldn't even bother me all that much, if he weren't so quick with his oughts & shoulds.

Allapundit is the one who wins the prize, IMO, for losing both his political edge and the scorched earth wit that made him so entertaining on virtually any subject.

[daddy]

Well if somebody does get a hold of Bill Ayers, since he hasn't yet published "Dream's Of My Daughter's", would you kindly ask him to let Michelle and Barrack know whether or not daughter Malia was diagnosed with meningitis or not?

[rea]

Proof actually; the statistical improbability of the description of Obama's white, green-eyed, dark haired girlfriend's family estate fitting almost exactly with that of the Oughton estate in Illinois.

You know, this business about Diana Oughton being Obama's girlfriend would be a bit more convincing if she hadn't died in 1970, when Obama was 9.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

rea: huh? Wasn't Oughton Ayers' gf? The description is supposed to be of Obama's gf's home, but is really a description of Ayers' dead gf's home.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

rea, Diana Oughton was born in 1942 and Ayers in 1944. No one disputes that they were boyfriend/girlfriend, least of all Ayers.

[Ranger]

I remember when they used to say that W. was a guy born on third base who thought he hit a triple. Then wouldn't that make Obama he guy who scored on 4 straight walks, and thought he hit a home run.

[centralcal]

JMH - dead on target with Allahpundit.

Ed Morrisey - hhhmmm - he's rather plodding, doesn't really like to engage. I think he is too stuck on being s "nice" guy at times, and too reticent at being forthright in going on offense.

[clarice]

JMH, dead on target on everything tonight...and most nights, frankly.

[Terry Gain]

This is what I wrote at Hot Air in response to Morrissey's putrid post (over my pen name Basilsbest)

If Ayers wrote Dreams it means nothing, except:

1. Obama is not the genius the media (in the person of Chris Buckley and others) assumed him to be.
2. The Obama narrative is a lie.
3. Obama lied to the nation when he said Ayers was just a guy in his neighborhood.
4. Obama did pal around with an unrepentant domestic terrorist.
5.Obama is susceptible to being blackmailed by Ayers.
6. Obama is a facile liar.
7. There are no longer any standards.

This is easily Ed Morrissey’s worst post.

[JM Hanes]

Ed's single most annoying tic -- as opposed to weakness -- is, IMO, that he says "testicular fortitude" because he apparently doesn't have the balls to say balls.

[Rick Ballard]

Terry,

Dunno about "worst". I'd need to reread some of his clean toga hysterics before I could decide.

And that ain't never gonna happen in this universe.

[clarice]

Some jokester:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/ayers_admitted_authorship_to_n.html

"guilty as sin, free as a bird" --or is he sending a message to The Once?

[nr]

Are you deleting comments from liberals?

[Elliott]

When Obama was elected almost entirely on his bio alone, Ed is beyond obtuse to dismiss the potential blowback. He's simply previewed the Obama defense.

JMH, it certainly fits the MO of Axelrod and staff. The initial protestations ("Ridiculous! How dare you!") are followed by reverence for the unshakable foresight of our Churchillian leader ("As the President has stated clearly on many occasions..."), which, should someone have them dead to rights, gives way to the realization that the matter is, after all, of startling inconsequence ("This is a distraction fanned by those who know they cannot win a debate on the issues.").

[bgates]

nr, the hosting software has a bad habit of eating comments sometimes. Do a search of the site for the term "TyphusPad" and you'll find any number of regular commenters who agree with the host on most things complaining that they've had to retype something that vanished into the ether.

By the way, you guys aren't "liberals", a word which means people with the honorable goal of reducing the pernicious influence on government. You're statists, progressives, totalitarians. Don't take my word for it, ask one of those Europeans you guys like so much.

[bgates]

Pernicious influence *of* government, that is.

[clarice]

I forgive lgf for its present state because charles did such a super job on rathergate; I foregive Ed's clean toga frothings because he did such a great jonb on Canadian corruption and swiftboats; I forgive allah's weirdness now because in his early days he did some of the best photo cartoons I've ever seen. Blogging burns out a lot of people fast, but we shouldn't overlook some really great contributions nor epect that they can be sustained for years.

[Elliott]

Clarice, please don't ever succumb to the false allure of clean togacity.

[clarice]

Never.
Niters

[JM Hanes]

I'd certainly have to admit to much similar admiration, Clarice. I've never managed more than a couple months of continuous output on my own blog. I'm not gonna forgive the testicular fortitude though.

[Elliott]

Yes! My heart, if it does not soar like the hawk, certainly leaps like Arion!

[PD]

There was talk that Grant's publisher, Mark Twain, wrote the book, but the handwritten manuscript blew that notion up---just as The Once could blow it up by showing his his manuscript.

What counts as a "manuscript"? Some kind of physical representation of the book? I doubt that occurs much any more. I know I've never submitted anything physical for any of my books - everything's files sent as attachments via email.

[Elliott]

Obama's "legend" certainly is unraveling more quickly than I had expected. "Faster, please!" even if only for my academic interest.

[Elliott]

"I'm not gonna forgive the testicular fortitude though."

JMH, if you're up for a false-flag op, I have an inkling that a few emails taking him to task for employing language 'far outside the bounds of decency' and asserting that he thus 'sets a dreadful example for young Hot Air readers' would induce him to abandon the phrase.

[Pofarmer]

Speaking of ACORN, there's a move afoot now in MO to have "early voting" for 17 days before the election. I can't think of a single better way to encourage vote fraud.

[eatmeconservatwats]

How frigging insane/stupid ARE you people? Please crawl back into your sod houses and caves, and continue to live in the Middle Ages. You will become "...the refuse of history." Oh, and Obama won! Neener, neener...