IT'S TIME TO CLEAR THE AYERS

Thanks to www.factcheck.org.

In a TV ad, McCain says Obama "lied" about his association with William Ayers, a former bomb-setting, anti-war radical from the 1960s and '70s. We find McCain's claim to be groundless. In a Web ad and in repeated attacks from the stump, McCain describes the two as associates, and Palin claims they "pal around" together. But their relationship was never very close.

McCain says in an Internet ad that the two "ran a radical 'education' foundation" in Chicago. But the supposedly "radical" group was supported by a Republican governor and included on its board prominent local civic leaders, including one former Nixon administration official who has given $1,500 to McCain's campaign this year. Education Week says the group's work "reflected mainstream thinking" among school reformers.

Fact Check Conclusion: "What we object to are the McCain-Palin campaign’s attempts to sway voters – in ads and on the stump – with false and misleading statements about the relationship, which was never very close. Obama never “lied” about this, just as he never bragged about it. The foundation they both worked with was hardly “radical.” And Ayers is more than a former "terrorist," he’s also a well-known figure in the field of education. "

Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the McCain campaign compaign is continuing to bring up William Ayers' name in automated calls to voters in swing states. A recorded voice in the automated call says Obama "worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers."

It's amazing to me that McCain/Palin keep driveling on about this. Over the past 40 years Ayers has become a distinguished university professor. He has dedicated himself to the issue of education all of his life, even when he was a 60's radical violently opposed to the Vietnam War. Back then he was helping to launch Head Start.

People make mistakes, and Bill Ayers has made some big ones. Only court exclusionary findings towards the legality of wiretapped evidence amassed against him saved him from a much worse punishment and fate. But you must ultimately judge a person based on his whole life, and at the end of the day, Bill Ayers has gone far in not only making amends for his past crimes, but build a positive and productive life, his recent ignorant comments to the press not withstanding.