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Monday, November 17, 2008 12:00 AM

Bill Ayers talks back

Sarah Palin called him a terrorist, Barack Obama called him an acquaintance. A Salon editor who knew Ayers back when talks to the ex-Weather Underground member turned Republican talking point.

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  • Monday, November 17, 2008 08:25 AM

    Quick correction for ideefixed and Zoltan

    Both of you appear to be laying the blame for the deaths of an armored car guard (Paige) and two police officers (O'Grady and Brown) during a robbery, at Ayers feet. The problem is, Ayers was not at all involved. In fact, of the bombings the Weathermen were involved in, only their own members were killed.

    The Brink's robbery occurred in 1981, committed by members of the BLA and the May 19 Communist Organization. Not only had the Weathermen begun to splinter in the early 1970s, it had dissolved completely by 1976. Ayers and his wife had turned themselves in to the police in 1980, a full year before the robbery.

    The only link between Ayers and that robbery is the fact that some members of the May 19 group were, years before, Weathermen.

    I have no problem with people making up their own minds about how they view Ayers and his actions. I'm certainly not going to argue that blowing up buildings, empty or not, was anything other than the wrong thing to do. However, if you are going to revile someone, do it because of their actual behavior, not because of a list of fictitious wrongs.

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