Consequences

First, I will apologize (again) for getting political in my little space of the Internet. I generally try to keep politics to a minimum here, because I believe everyone has a right to their opinion, and I don't like feeling like I am stepping on any one's toes. But ... this is something that I have thought a lot about, lately, and, since this is my house, I have decided to write about it. Feel free to agree - or disagree - with me in the comments. I enjoy a good debate. All I ask is that everyone keeps it civil. I am not looking for a flame war.

I heard a discussion this morning, on a local radio station, about William Ayers. One of the hosts stated that his terrorist activities occurred 40 years ago - and was water under the bridge. Her reasoning was that Ayers did all those things when Obama was eight years old, thus Obama shouldn't be held accountable for Ayers' actions. I don't blame Obama for Ayers' actions. I question his judgement of character, or lack thereof.

William Ayers hasn't changed. In an interview with Chicago Magazine, August, 2001, he said he had no regrets about his past. Here is the direct passage from the article, including Ayers' direct quote:

This—violence, death, and white-hot rhetoric—is his past and Ayers insists he has no regrets. "I acted appropriately in the context of those times," he says. But it's hard to reconcile this quick-witted man with that revolutionary. Today Bill Ayers seems too happy to have ever been so angry.

This picture, which is posted with the Chicago Magazine article, shows Ayers standing on a US Flag that has been thrown down in an alley. Take a good look at it. I think it speaks volumes about the type of man that Ayers is.

From the NY Times, 9/11/01:

''I don't regret setting bombs,'' Bill Ayers said. ''I feel we didn't do enough.''

So, would Mr. Ayers do it all again, he is asked? ''I don't want to discount the possibility,'' he said.

As for Obama's association with Ayers, there was a three year relationship as a paid director of the Woods Fund:

Deborah Harrington, president of the Woods Fund, a philanthropic organization in Chicago, said Obama was a director from 1994 through 2001. That overlaps Ayers’ time as a director by three years. It also means Obama served with Ayers for the final months of 2001, after Ayers made his comments to the New York Times.

There are also numerous other indications that the association was long-term and more than "just casual". For example, in 1995, Ayers hosted a "get-to-know-you fundraiser" for Obama. Some say that Ayers is the one that is responsible for Obama's meteoric rise in Chicago politics, and that fundraiser was the event that launched his career.

And it isn't just Ayers ... Look at Tony Rezko, Chicago thug machine politics man Mayor Daley, Rev. Wright, Father Pfleger ... the list goes on and on. There is no doubt in my mind that these people have had a filtering affect on the lens that Obama looks through, and an affect on the judgement processes that his mind goes through to analyze situations and interpret solutions.

There is an old saying ... If you lie down with dogs, you will rise with fleas.

The fact that anyone appears to hate America as much as some of Obama's mentors do, scares the heck out of me. He can throw them as far under the bus as he wants to ... the damage has already been done. He can't tell me that he disapproves of their message and tactics now, when he provided the approval of friendship over several years, in some cases 20 years or more.

Thanks for listening.

Until next time,

-Voice of Reason-