No matter how blue Illinois and Chicago are, plenty of Republicans and Independents live there. Out of those groups, a few know Bill Ayers and are aware of his past. Though get this, they know that terrorism innuendos (or outright charges of being a pal of terrorists) John McCain and Sarah Palin are peddling is complete crap. The McPalin campaign is grasping at straws to get back in the game and now even this previously debunked story can be beaten over the head with a 2x4 again.
From NPR:
It is beyond silly, the attacks are ridiculous and as we've seen with Palin and McCain, it has brought out the worst in people. Neither Republican can either talk or win on the issues, so character assassainations is the name of their game. I expect as much tonight when McCain goes head to head with Obama at their second debate. McCain is running from the topics that matter to people but that doesn't mean he should expect them to buy the fear card he's selling.The Obama campaign says he first met Ayers in 1995, when Obama became chair of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a $50 million fund that awarded grants to groups trying to implement new programs to improve inner city education in Chicago.
Walter Annenberg, a lifelong Republican and former ambassador who was appointed by Presidents Nixon and Reagan, funded an ambitious program to reform urban education in many cities in the mid 1990s. Ayers was an important member of the group that developed and wrote the grant proposal to the Annenberg Foundation.[...]
"I don't remember ever hearing anyone raise concerns or questions or concerns about [Ayers'] background," says Anne Hallett, who has worked closely with Ayers on the Annenberg Challenge grant and with Obama on education and other community and legislative matters. "And that included everybody I was engaged with," including prominent Republicans, and corporate and civic leaders in Chicago, Hallett adds.[...]
Hallett calls this attack on Obama's association with Ayers and the Annenberg Challenge by further association, "a smear campaign. It's a political diatribe that has no basis in fact. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was an extremely positive initiative. It was well-vetted, thorough, and the fact that it is now is being used for political purposes is, in my opinion, outrageous."[...]
"It was never a concern by any of us in the Chicago school reform movement that he had led a fugitive life years earlier," said former Illinois state Republican Rep. Diana Nelson, who worked with both Obama and Ayers over the years. "It's ridiculous. There is no reason at all to smear Barack Obama with this association. It's nonsensical, and it just makes me crazy. It's so silly."
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