I know Bill Ayers: That makes me a Terrorist!

Oct 07

I know Bill Ayers: That makes me a Terrorist!

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According to Sarah Palin, I’m a terrorist!

The whole bogus issue of the McCain Campaign has raised the "associations" of candidates. As anyone with more than an ounce of brains and a memory longer than a slug will remember John McCain’s association with domestic economic terrorists like the folks that brought you the S&L bailout that we are still paying for. I guess a better classification might be calling them domestic economic traitors.

Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn in Chicago

Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn

I lived in Chicago during the 90’s working as a photojournalist covering politics, news and the arts for folks like the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek and many others. I had the chance to photograph Bill Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn at their home on Chicago’s southside. He had just published a book about his years in the Weather Underground. Both he and his wife are professors at the University of Illinois-Chicago and Northwestern, respectively.

I had to photograph them for an editorial piece that he was doing for the NY Times that eventually ran on Sept 11, 2001…very unfortunate timing. None the less, he was warm, engaging and passionate.

We discussed the recent Bush coronation of 2000 and my impression of him is this is a guy that is so far removed from the 1960’s as to be absurd. Living in a brownstone and working with local charities and good work for his community, he was a civic minded and engaged person doing more than I was to be involved in his community and trying to give back to his city.

During those same years I had to occasionally cover Barack Obama in Chicago, but to be honest, as a young state senator, he was often in the background of some of the bigger blow hards on the southside. Between Jesse Jackson, Rep. Bobby Rush, and John Stroger, don’t get in between them when any microphone would appear. Someone like Obama was left standing in the back row of the people at the podium.

St. Patrick’s day was always a laughable chirade with folks like Bobby Rush or Jesse trying to stand the closest to Mayor Daley to get in the view of cameras…It’s Chicago verison of the old Kremlinology days of watching the May Day ceremonies to see who was next in line to lead USSR. Obama was always the more thoughtful, quiet one behind who was actually getting things done.

I hope that no one believes this lame attempt to tie Obama to Bill Ayers.

See the NY Times article here.