People Say "Palling Around With Terrorists" Like It's A Bad Thing

Steve Diamond describes the renaissance of Bill Ayers and outlines the history of his educational philosophy.  When last we checked, Mr. Ayers was chatting with a right wing blogger at Reagan Airport in Washington.  And why was he in the area?  To appear at The Renaissance Group education conference in Arlington, where he was joined by two other keynote speakers - Dr. Martha Kanter, Under Secretary of Education, and her boss Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education.

Well - the election is over, so there is no need for Team Obama to keep their distance from Ayers, is there?  And it is not as these were White House officials doing something utterly off the wall like proclaiming Mao Tse Tung as one of their favorite philosophers.  Oh, wait...

Comments

[peter]

Is it "palling" or is it "paling?" Because, seeing it in print, I would pronounce that word to rhyme with falling.

[Jack is Back!]

Talking about terrorists and Chicago citizens, I wonder if she will get a new car when she appears?

[Chris]

Just a guy in the neighborhood. Guilty as he+*, free as a bird! What a country!

With Arne and Billy in charge, America's public schools will be on par with Chicago's in no time.

[bgates]

The last time Palin began a national rollout with a perky, friendly Obama worshipper, she became a national laughingstock. What does she expect from Oprah, the woman who introduced America to the One? This is the stupidest thing I have ever seen her do.

[Captain Hate]

I dunno bgates; she has to endure a trial by fire at some point. Plus she's doing this on her own terms without McLame's idiots handling her. Plus Oprah's already known as being in the tank for Odummy; she's probably already offended a sizable amount of her market just based on that and has to subsequently tread lightly (to coin a phrase). I initially felt the same way you did but am willing to let the chips fall where they will.

[Rob Crawford]

I, for one, hope Palin asks Oprah "So, that church you used to attend with Obama -- what made you leave?"

Never happen, of course, but...

[peter]

bgates, if she can't handle Winfrey, how the hell is she going to handle the oval office?

[Extraneus]

If Obama can't handle Fox News, how the hell is he able to handle the oval office?

[Extraneus]

I always thought it was "palling," too.

[Appalled]

Some questions:

Is this the first time Ayers has been a featured speaker at this conference?

Is this the first time Ayers has spoken at a conference where a Secretary of Education has also spoken?

On Fox, I think the game here is somehow to keep Fox stories on stuff like Acorn and obnoxious things Obama officials say from bleeding out into the rest of the media. Problem is that Axelrod and others were so explicit about their intent on Sunday that they may have hurt themselves. It had me wondering "what are they afraid of, anyway?"

[peter]

It is "palling;" I looked it up. Just looked funny.

[Fresh Air]

I trust you are all up on the latest developments WRT Ayers writing Zero's book. A fellow named "Jim Anderson" commenting at Pajamas on the Thomas Lipscomb piece has it pretty well nailed. This was in the thread last night, but be sure to read it all. It's mmmmm....good.

[Old Lurker]

"If Obama can't handle Fox News, how the hell is he able to handle the oval office?"

Who says he is?

[michaelt]

He can't, Extraneus.

[Neo]

Can you imagine the horror at the White House if a bunch of Young Republicans showed up carrying Mao's little "Red Book" high in the air.

[bgates]

I agree with Extraneus, both times. I didn't want Bush to negotiate with Ahmadinejad, either. Could he "handle it"? Don't care - I didn't want to give Ahmadinejad the legitimacy.

Every time a Republican goes to the so-called "mainstream" venues, they're legitimized as neutral arbiters. We know Fox is biased, because Obama won't talk to them. We know Oprah and The View and George Stephanopolous and Katie Couric must be centrists, because both parties will go on their shows. Then it turns out that Republicans look much worse on those shows than Democrats, despite the fact that we've already established those shows are nonpartisan. What are viewers to think?

[Rick Ballard]

"what are they afraid of, anyway?"

Pretty much everything, I would imagine. Their boy is making Cadillac Deval look like a genius and there is no quick fix for stupid (no long term fix either). I would imagine that reports from their economic braindead trust regarding the outcome of Q4 have them changing shorts on an hourly basis but the threat from Ayers might outweigh even that.

They really need to find a better glue to keep that horn fixed to the jackass'es head - people are beginning to suspect that it might not be a unicorn after all.

[bad]

Bad would NEVER pal around with terrorists.

You can take that to the bank.

[Fresh Air]

Even really hot ones, Bad?

[Gabriel Sutherland]

Chris Matthews just one minute ago...

"Only 20% of Americans identify themselves as Republicans. That's the lowest figure since 1983."

His source is the Washington Post/ABC News poll that is now reported as "a clear majority" support a public option. This despite the fact that the 57% support is down from 60% in May.

NBC is owned by organized labor.

[hit and run]

BTW, Breitbart/BigGovt comes out with the next installment of ACORN Loves Criminals tomorrow.

Philly.

[Fresh Air]

Chris Matthews is a true idiot. The internals of the poll don't make it a poll of the citizens, the registered voters or the likely voters. In fact, he has inadvertently revealed what all of us who are paying attention already knew: that poll is a piece of crap.

Honestly, there are house plants at Home Depot with more brainpower than TIngly Boy.

[matt]

we should start a campaign of sending copies of the little red book to the White House. I can get them wholesale in China in a wide range of languages.

[Gabriel Sutherland]

Matthew had Chris Cilizza on to talk about the 20% Republicans poll. I've asked Cilizza almost a dozen times if he would answer this basic question.

What data point do YOU use to substantiate party identification?

He just won't answer it.

[Rick Ballard]

"Chris Matthews is a true idiot."

No news there, FA. Rasmussen has the Reps increasing in the generic Congressional and barely slipping in the party affiliation. The current quarterly trends favor the Reps and bodes ill for the horned jackass.

Matt - could you get the cover title changed to Dreams From My Chairman?

[bad]

Jake Tapper's gonna get labeled as a terrorist, a racist, or something else I just haven't figured out what yet.

How dare he question the WH as to why they can say FOX is not a news organization.

[Extraneus]

It may be that Sarah Palin has decided to use this Oprah appearance to innoculate herself from accusations that she's afraid to appear on lib shows. She does this Oprah appearance, then the book comes out and she segues into a bunch of appearances, such as Mark Simone on the radio, maybe Hannity's TV show for an extended interview, and even Rush.

I'm sure she's smart enough not to walk into the same trap again, and I'd bet she can handle Oprah just fine.

[Gabriel Sutherland]

Oh joy. Ed Schultz now on MSNBC using the word "dictate" to summarize what policy he thinks the President should adopt to recharge lending.

[glasater]

Duane Patterson writing at Hewitt Blog debunks the ABC/WaPo poll:

Hoaxes And Busted Polling. Just Another Day In MSM

If you use likely voters, the spread between Democrats and Republicans gets even tighter as Republicans in general tend historically to be more likely to vote than Democrats. That is, unless you are involved with ACORN, in which case you are likely to vote several times, and encourage all the illegal brothels you've assisted to do the same.

I am so glad I joined our local Chamber group a few days ago. At first I was concerned they would be too liberal but if they've taken this stand against Zero well good for them.

[hit and run]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/2009/10/pols-polls-and-pushback.html>ABC's pollster's on the poll.

[hit and run]

"pollster's *take* on the poll"

[narciso,]

If anybody is wondering how I feel about it, I'm of two minds about it. It's about
going to be about her life, which is an inspiring story all it's own that many people didn't get to here about during the
campaign, including many of the couch potato crew. On the other hand, I don't like the centrality of this particular interview, but that was probably the publisher's doing. FWIW.

[Gabriel Sutherland]

Ed Schultz told the truth!

The Vikings are 6-0, but they haven't played anyone.

Finally I can change the channel.

[bad]

If Oprah is unable to find anything about Sarah Palin to admire, she is much stupider than I've given her credit for.

[Extraneus]

I think it's hard to believe the publisher could push her into something like that, narciso. If there's one thing she has to remember from 2008, it's what happened after the decision to go on Couric and Gibson, and how those decisions were made. Next time, I'd bet she challenges Obama to go on Mark Levin before she does that again.

[Rocco]

Is this the first time Ayers has spoken at a conference where a Secretary of Education has also spoken?

A president beats a secretary every time.

And here Ayers wishes Arne Duncan well, sort of.

[narciso,]

She was much more trusting about a great many things, about the media, the legal/
ethical system (re; the Stevens matter)
then she is a year later. I'm cautiously
optimistic

[Ann]

Consevatives4Palin have not confirmed her appearing on Oprah yet, but Howard Fineman has this snark:

After its modestly successful way-way-out-of-town tryout in Hong Kong, The Sarah Palin Show is getting ready to hit the U.S.A. next month. To coincide with the release of her ghost-assisted book, Going Rogue, Palin and her advisers are planning a careful TV and Web rollout in mid November, to be followed by paid speeches to business, civic, and college groups. Assembled with the advice of her Washington lawyer, Bob Barnett, and her speech agency, Washington Speakers Bureau, Palin's junket will go light on the free-ranging, traditional hard-news venues and heavy on personality: one major stop will be Oprah.

The good news is we haven't heard about her showing up for "The View" of mean twisted sisters.

[PeterUK]

This time Sarah Palin is not standing for office. She doesn't have the drag anchor of the RNC or McCain to hold her back.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

The last time Palin began a national rollout with a perky, friendly Obama worshipper, she became a national laughingstock. What does she expect from Oprah, the woman who introduced America to the One? This is the stupidest thing I have ever seen her do.

She has to be able to hit big-league pitching eventually if she hopes to play in the majors.

[Porchlight]

"Only 20% of Americans identify themselves as Republicans. That's the lowest figure since 1983."

Let them be monumentally dense enough to believe that the weights WaPo/ABC assigned to the sample is the same thing as asking respondents to identify their affiliation. It will just mean they're that much more unprepared for the coming elections.

I want a Dem party so complacent they have no idea what's about to hit them.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

If Obama can't handle Fox News, how the hell is he able to handle the oval office?

Have you seen any evidence that he can?

[Porchlight]

bgates, imagine the appearance beginning with a few attempts by Oprah to bait her guest, which the guest expertly twirls to her advantage, progressing into a poignant, intimate conversation in which the guest displays her many charms, and then the guest and Oprah embracing as the audience claps wildly........for Sarah Palin.

The power of Oprah leveraged to Sarah's advantage. It would be huge.

[bgates]

She has to be able to hit big-league pitching eventually

Oprah isn't that, which means the only possible responses will be "big deal, it's only Oprah" or "she can't even handle Oprah". Obama didn't have to "hit big-league pitching" (and we know he can't get it over the plate either), didn't hurt him any. Why play by their rules?

[PD]

The good news is we haven't heard about her showing up for "The View" of mean twisted sisters.

Or Letterman. And I hope any invitations by Mr. Loathesome go unanswered.

[matt]

Mr. Loathsome was also the one who made the nasty comments about Palin's daughter, wasn't he? Invite her hubby to smack him down. It would be great television.

[jorod]

Bill Ayers has gotten a bum rap... In another era he would be considered one of the "brain trusters."

Free Sacco and Vanzetti!!

[PeterUK]

"Free Sacco and Vanzetti!!"

Thanks,but I have a pair already.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Oprah isn't that.

In your dreams, perhaps. Get a look at her actual Nielsens sometime.

[Ann]

Well, I probably would have advised her to sweet talk the curmudgeon IMUS first but if you want to sell a book, Oprah is another place to do it.

Knowing Oprah and Katie Couric are buds makes me cynical enough to believe Levi Johnson will be waiting in the wings for a surprise visit. I hope not.

Sarah will be fine if she has a good contract for editing and ambush control. (ha, is there such a thing?)

[Captain Hate]

Why play by their rules?

I think she's playing by her own rules. I think her political instincts are very savvy; the only trouble she's gotten into was being associated with the Mav's stooges. The more I think of this the more I think she's playing this well and has Oprah Inc. backed into a corner: This will be a ratings bonanza and if Oprah tries to ask a bunch of snarky questions she runs the risk of either looking like a spiteful harpy or getting pwn3d if SP can sweetly skewer her ginormous ass (and I think SP should be able to anticipate the worst questions pretty easily). Maybe I'm looking at it too much from a "glass half full" perspective but I'm pretty confident she knows what she's doing.

[Fresh Air]

Invite her hubby to smack him down.

Dual duels: In the undercard bout: Chrissy Matthews versus Zell Miller. I would pay significant money to watch Zell Miller reduce Matthews on live video. Same goes for Todd Palin, though not as much. I don't know why, but David Letterman just doesn't beg for it the way Matthews does.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Curious thing about that ABC post. I just ran the numbers.

It turns out that the variance of the different Democrat affiliation numbers is only about 0.7, σ=0.8; for GOP, v=7.7 σ=2.8, and Independent v=44.4 σ=6.7!

From this we get two points: either their methods are hosed or for some reason we're down to the "yellow dog" Democrats in that figure -- a very stable population of people who would never ever consider changing their affiliation; and that the 20 percent and 42 percent numbers are much more questionable.

(Notice by the way that the ABC "statistician" starts by throwing out all the polls that give a high value, so there's sample bias there as well. If we were to include the Rassmussen and Gallup numbers, the average would be more like 25 percent.)

[Charlie (Colorado)]

By the way, speaking of Rasmussen, the Presidential Approval index is down to -12.

[sbw]

Howard Fineman: "the release of her ghost-assisted book"

I fisked a Fineman book once. He could have used ghost assistance.

[Ignatz]

The revolting thing is Couric and Okrah actually are what passes for major league pitching these days.
Other than having heads that are small pieces of cork wrapped in string and covered in leathery hide it's hard to see the resemblance.

[PD]

Right you are, Charlie, and it's only one day shy of tying the longest string of double-digit negatives.

[hit and run]

From Georgia:

http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/photos-of-the-day-tenth-amendment-meets-a-stimulus-project> src=http://www.unitedliberty.org/images/stockstim2.gif>

[PD]

I hate to endorse vandalism, but this time I'll make an exception.

[PD]

No decision on Afghanistan yet?

Isn't this the President who's always talking about "taking bold action"?

[Fresh Air]

PD--

Zero is still trying to decide how to publicly rebuke Secy. Gates for telling Axelgrease to stay out of military matters. He's not really interested in any of that troop-buildup stuff. Zero's idea of "bold" is wearing his bicycle helmet without his chin-strap fastened.

[Buford Gooch]

As I told my wife a little bit ago, Oprah is not one to do really hard hitting "journalism". This will be an opportunity for Palin to show up in an adversarial situation and come across as a nice, intelligent, well-versed person.

[PD]

Alert: Liz Cheney's on Hannity right now.

[PeterUK]

Zero's idea of bold is wearing his shirt outside his underpants.

[bgates]

Howard Fineman: "the release of her ghost-assisted book"

Which she's made no secret of, right?

Of course, if she'd phrased it as inelegantly as Fineman, we'd see Haley Joel Osment in Tina Fey's wig for ten weeks in a row.

[hit and run]

BREAKING: Obama has authorized the deployment of 40,000 additional troops.

...

Against Fox News.

(stolen from twitter, though I can't remember from whom)

[Jane]

I'm not worried about Sarah. And I don't think she is planning to run for president.

I've been wrong before.

[narciso,]

What happened on the show today, Jane

[hit and run]

(stolen from Leno, it would appear)

[Ann]

Zero's idea of bold is wearing his shirt outside his underpants. ROFLMAO PUK

If you were an American soldier, isn't this the last person you would want to see with his thumbs up salute. ::spit:: (Where is his hair dresser and who the heck ironed pleats in his pants?)

[Fritz]

Why does Sarah's husband need to take on Letterman? Does anyone serioulsy not think she could handle that meterosexual wimp on her own?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Isn't this the President who's always talking about "taking bold action"?

Exactly: he's always talking about taking bold action.

[narciso,]

She could stuff him and mount him on the wall of her new office with ease, but why reward him with her presence.

Great sending Kerry to Afghanistan, after he voted 'present' on supporting thetroops. Not surprisng that he would turn out to be a particularly fraud.

[PD]

but why reward him with her presence.

Exactly. Ignore his irrelevant self.

[PD]

Who were we talking about? Letterman? Who's that?

[glenda]

Ya'll are cracking me up, tonight! My side is hurting...but it's very sad there are many so-called journalists lying and passing propaganda as truth to anyone who can turn on a tv. And that the White House thinks witchhunts pass for doing the job of governing!

[PD]

Tapper questioning the witchunt.

[matt]

can someone toss Kerry out at 2,000' like he alleges Americans did during Vietnam?

[PD]

Remember, Christmas is coming up.

[glasater]

Zero Bible covers? Give me a break!

Two new tweeters I found this evening:

http://twitter.com/LordMonckton

Who is a newbie but would like followers. And I found this fellow:

http://twitter.com/senatorkopp

A state senator from Colorado who Lord Monckton is following.

[clarice]

Kerry is in my opinion one of the most loathesome creatures in this town of vipers.

[glasater]

If anyone is curious what Spengler looks like check out this Kudlow panel.

[PD]

Tim McCarver: "Who says you need a glove?"

Interesting comment from a former catcher.

[narciso,]

We've speculated before on the Octopus, one of those players, tied to events from the Gitmo detainee circus, to the Washington &
Minnesota elections, to events in Anchorage
and the Wasilla project. Not surprising that
Anita Dunn is tangentially tied to this, in the LUN

[PD]

Some wag's comment on the BHO Bible cover (he's thinking of Tina Fey):

"I can see heaven from my throne room."

Another:

"My two favorite people in the whole world, together in one book!"

[Charlie (Colorado)]

A state senator from Colorado who Lord Monckton is following.

Mike's a good guy — he organized a bloggers panel Steve Green and I were on a few months ago.

[Ann]

PD, OMG!

James Lewis at AT came up with what I think is the best sound bite this year. (Paraphrasing) Liberals sabotage common sense!

But they have so "jumped the shark".
LOL, What exactly does it mean to say: Prayer Changes Thing? (I absolutely hate it when he says "his people" or "folks" but I will leave it up to others to define thing. )

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Okay, that particular verse is II Chronicles 7:14:

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

In context, that's just downright creepy.

[narciso,]

OMG,Ann, they not only 'jumped the shark' they jumped the megalodon, is that like the definition of blasphemy

[PD]

Ann, wow, I didn't even notice that "prayer changes things" is missing the "s" at the end.

Whoa! Can I get my money back? :-)

[Dave (in MA)]

It only took $150M of OPM for the Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers to worsen the Chicago public schools. Imagine what he can do to the health care system with a whole Treasury full of OPM at his disposal.

[PD]

Charlie, creepy indeed.

Whoever thought this is has either got a serious case of wrongly directed adulation, or is really cynical about the devotion Obama's followers bear for him.

Either way, it's sad there's so much "Jesus junk" for sale.

[PD]

s/thought this/thought of this/

[McCloud]

Just some enterprising outfit trying to make a buck off Barack, like the Chinese guy with "Oba Mao" shirts. At least somebody is out there making money without depending on stimulus funds. Of course, that's an assumption.

BTW, "Prayer Changes Thing" appears to be attributed to the president. Maybe that's why we've yet to see the college records!

[Ann]

PD, No money back quarentee but it helps if you read this: Brain-Dead Conservatives Obsessed with ‘Freedom’

It is kinda of like a logic thing. That prayer might help!

[hit and run]

McCloud:
Just some enterprising outfit trying to make a buck off Barack, like the Chinese guy with "Oba Mao" shirts.

Hey, anybody want a http://twitpic.com/mbcgw>Che-bama hat?

[cathyf]

Ok, I'm bored... I posted this over on the dead thread... Check out this link to a commercial on marriage commissioned by the government of Singapore and produced by Malaysian director Yasmin Ahmad. It's one of those laugh-til-you-cry moments.

[Frau schugesch]

"we should start a campaign of sending copies/ of the little red book to the White House."

Can we then begin sendng shoes? Or we could throw them over the fence of the WH and go to the slammer together. Clarice could bring us treats. (I hope)

Watch out Sarah! Remember that Okrah hugged Dubya but mouthed "Vote for him" as she hugged the Goracle.

[narciso,]

You know it's interesting that the same loathsome G.Q magazine, with their fulsome flattery of the new regime, has a piece by Robert Draper, on Obama's ambitions to be
a writer, they kind of work around thewhole
writer's bloc and the Ayers thing

[Frau Schugeschaeft]

I guess Barry really was part of the pinko group in Chicago that endorsed him.

Now, who will find out the name of his 'non-African American' girlfriend with whom he lived in Chicago prior to attending Harvard Law?

N.B. Jake Tapper is a national treasure.
Nite all