Kurt Nicklas
2008-10-10 00:24:32 UTC
When did Obama know about Ayers terrorist background? My search for
Ayers and Dohrn
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/10/abcs_jake_tapper_tries_to_pin.html
By Lynn Sweet on October 7, 2008 6:09 PM
NASHVILLE--Since the McCain campaign has resurfaced the matter of
Barack Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers--the former terrorist now
Chicago education professor---there are some matters I am curious
about. I say this as one who has explained time and again in print and
on television Ayers, by the time Obama met him in the 1990s, was a
respected academic who was welcome into Chicago's civic life.
On Monday, Obama chief strategist David Axelrod said Obama was not
aware of Ayers' terrorist background when he attended a political
coffee at Ayers Hyde Park home at the beginning of his state senate
race sometime in the fall of 1995. Ayers and Obama first crossed paths
in 1995 while involved in the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a
foundation dealing with urban education issues.
So the question is--I'm just curious and I wonder about this as one
who has defended Obama's association with Ayers, the education expert
(not Ayers, the terrorist)---when did Obama finally learn about the
Weather Underground background of Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn?
As a young reporter working in Chicago, I was well aware of the
Weather Underground couple on the lam from the law; Ayers father ran
the local electrical utility company and was a big shot in the city.
But this was years before Obama came to Chicago. As a rookie at the
Sun-Times I tried to find Ayers and Dohrn working some connections,
but nothing ever panned out and eventually they surrendered in Chicago
in 1981.
I asked Obama chief strategist David Axelrod on Tuesday afternoon here
when and how Obama learned about Ayers and Dohrn and their days with
the violent radical 1960s group.
Axelrod offered no details and needed to move on to his next
interview, since he was in high demand in the media filing center at
Belmont University, where the second presidential debate will be held
between Obama and John McCain.
Turns out ABC's Jake Tapper was also curious about when Obama learned
about Ayers violent past and pressed Axelrod on the subject during a
Tuesday interview.
"Not that there's been any clear explanation of this relationship
forthcoming from the Obama campaign," Tapper wrote on his ABC blog,
Political Punch.
"So, when did Obama find out that Ayers had been a member of an
organization the FBI called a "domestic terrorist" group, and had
been, for years, a fugitive from the law?
"I don't know," Axelrod said and Tapper reported.
"I mean it was sometime after their first meetings. And you know, he
became aware of it. I don't know the exact moment."
He wasn't aware of who "Ayers" was?
"Yeah," Axelrod said, "I mean, the fact is that like a lot of people
who, you know, didn't live through that era -- particularly those who
didn't live though that era in Chicago -- It just wasn't. I mean, when
he came to Chicago, Ayers was advising Mayor Daley on school reform
issues, and that was his profile, was that he was an expert on
education."
So, did he know who Ayers was when he went to his home in 1995?
"My understanding is that when he went there, he did not," Axelrod
said.
Reporters noticed that clause -- "my understanding is" -- and pressed
further. Did Axelrod ask Obama if he knew Ayers' history when he first
met with him?
"Yes," Axelrod said.
And he did not know?
"Yes," Axelrod said. "That's what I've said -- I answered the question
when I was asked the other day. But no one's suggesting that he never
knew. I mean that's not -- we weren't offering that. I wasn't offering
it -- I was asked a question that you just asked me and just answered
it. I wasn't making an argument about it."
I'm not arguing either. I'm just curious.
Ayers and Dohrn
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/10/abcs_jake_tapper_tries_to_pin.html
By Lynn Sweet on October 7, 2008 6:09 PM
NASHVILLE--Since the McCain campaign has resurfaced the matter of
Barack Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers--the former terrorist now
Chicago education professor---there are some matters I am curious
about. I say this as one who has explained time and again in print and
on television Ayers, by the time Obama met him in the 1990s, was a
respected academic who was welcome into Chicago's civic life.
On Monday, Obama chief strategist David Axelrod said Obama was not
aware of Ayers' terrorist background when he attended a political
coffee at Ayers Hyde Park home at the beginning of his state senate
race sometime in the fall of 1995. Ayers and Obama first crossed paths
in 1995 while involved in the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a
foundation dealing with urban education issues.
So the question is--I'm just curious and I wonder about this as one
who has defended Obama's association with Ayers, the education expert
(not Ayers, the terrorist)---when did Obama finally learn about the
Weather Underground background of Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn?
As a young reporter working in Chicago, I was well aware of the
Weather Underground couple on the lam from the law; Ayers father ran
the local electrical utility company and was a big shot in the city.
But this was years before Obama came to Chicago. As a rookie at the
Sun-Times I tried to find Ayers and Dohrn working some connections,
but nothing ever panned out and eventually they surrendered in Chicago
in 1981.
I asked Obama chief strategist David Axelrod on Tuesday afternoon here
when and how Obama learned about Ayers and Dohrn and their days with
the violent radical 1960s group.
Axelrod offered no details and needed to move on to his next
interview, since he was in high demand in the media filing center at
Belmont University, where the second presidential debate will be held
between Obama and John McCain.
Turns out ABC's Jake Tapper was also curious about when Obama learned
about Ayers violent past and pressed Axelrod on the subject during a
Tuesday interview.
"Not that there's been any clear explanation of this relationship
forthcoming from the Obama campaign," Tapper wrote on his ABC blog,
Political Punch.
"So, when did Obama find out that Ayers had been a member of an
organization the FBI called a "domestic terrorist" group, and had
been, for years, a fugitive from the law?
"I don't know," Axelrod said and Tapper reported.
"I mean it was sometime after their first meetings. And you know, he
became aware of it. I don't know the exact moment."
He wasn't aware of who "Ayers" was?
"Yeah," Axelrod said, "I mean, the fact is that like a lot of people
who, you know, didn't live through that era -- particularly those who
didn't live though that era in Chicago -- It just wasn't. I mean, when
he came to Chicago, Ayers was advising Mayor Daley on school reform
issues, and that was his profile, was that he was an expert on
education."
So, did he know who Ayers was when he went to his home in 1995?
"My understanding is that when he went there, he did not," Axelrod
said.
Reporters noticed that clause -- "my understanding is" -- and pressed
further. Did Axelrod ask Obama if he knew Ayers' history when he first
met with him?
"Yes," Axelrod said.
And he did not know?
"Yes," Axelrod said. "That's what I've said -- I answered the question
when I was asked the other day. But no one's suggesting that he never
knew. I mean that's not -- we weren't offering that. I wasn't offering
it -- I was asked a question that you just asked me and just answered
it. I wasn't making an argument about it."
I'm not arguing either. I'm just curious.