Well, you'd expect that the Professoriate--the Elite, the Educated, the Better Ones--would sign a petition supporting Unrepentant "Bomber" Ayers.
And you'd expect that UW would be represented on that list.
You're right. The very FIRST name:
(they'll all be in red....for the reason you already know...)
Gloria Ladson-Billings
Then the rest.
Rene Antrop-Gonzalez, Ph.D
Ken Zeichner
Taina R. Collazo-Quiles
Brian W. Lagotte
Katy Swalwell
Jen Scott Curwood
Mary Thompson-Shriver
Katherina A. Payne
Ross Colin
Andrew Clement
Vonzell Agosto
Quentin Wheeler-Bell
Matthew Knoester
Donna L. Vukelich
Kerry Kretchmar
Corrin Pitluck
One from Alverno: Desiree Pointer Mace
One from a local grade school, "Escuela Fratney": Dale Weiss
And that's only from the first 850 or so of over 3,200 names.
It's obvious people like you are grasping at straws by harping on this Ayers thing. As Obama said in the third debate, he was part of a board dedicated to education reform, along with the presidents of Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the Chicago Tribune. Most people (including probably those fellow members of the boards on which Obama sat with Ayers) were not aware of all of the details of Ayers past. Why should they be? Do you go around asking whether everyone has a criminal background before you consort with them? No, you focus on the task at hand. In this case is was education. Ayers has written several books on education reform with mainstream, highly regarded publishers, books that were serious about educational reform, and very well written. That is why I signed this petition. I also happened to meet Ayers when he came to the school where I was teaching. Do I support his bombing of statues and the Pentagon in the 60's? No, I don't. Did I know that he had done that when I met him, and when I read his books on education? No, I didn't. Do I agree with his strategies for ending the Vietnam War (even though I was not born yet)? No, I don't. But he's not dangerous, he's not a threat to anyone now, or in the future. The fact that you and the McCain campaign are going after this association demonstrates that you have no real issues to run on, and are depending on the American public to be so stupid as to believe that Obama is somehow tainted (in Colin Powell's words) by this association. The people aren't buying it. Take your purposely misleading robocalls (which insinuate that Obama actually supported Ayers' bombing) and shove them where the sun doesn't shine.
ReplyDeleteMy, my.
ReplyDeleteActually, you do NOT know "Bomber" Ayers.
Those who DO know him will tell you that he not only talks about his background, he actually TRADES on the damn thing.
Obamama knew very damn well who Ayers was, who Dohrn was, and their mindset.
And the "forgive and forget" line only applies to folks who actually ask for forgiveness--which does not include "Bomber" Ayers.
Your mileage may vary.
I don't know how much credibility you would have on this score. Have you read any of the 16 book Ayers has written and published on educational topics? Can you find a single word about Vietnam protest activities or bombing in any of these books on Education? No, you cannot. Only much later, in 2001 (unfortuitously, as it turns out) Ayers decided to make public his protest activities in a memoir he wrote. I admit I was very surprised when I read that book. He hasn't apologized or even expressed much regret, and that's disappointing, in my view (although he did not kill or even hurt anyone, something I also take into consideration. He is not Timothy McVeigh, for example) And that does affect how I now read what he writes on education. But I do not apologize for the fact that I believed then, and I believe now, that what he has written about education is insightful and important and that he's not dangerous now. Obama has done nothing wrong in his limited interaction with Ayers and has nothing to apologize for either. It's obvious you and other McCain supporters must twist facts and logic into a pretzel in order to make Obama look bad.
ReplyDeleteI bet you wouldn't be bothered by the fact that McCain secretly sat down with Chilean dictator Pinochet (without preconditions), and not when he was an official US ally. This is a man who is responsible for the disappearance and death of over 3,000 people during the time he was dictator of Chile? This news was only recently uncovered by unclassified documents:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-dinges/mccain-meets-a-bloody-dic_b_137422.html
This speaks to the principles, or lack thereof, of John McCain.
Frankly, I don't give a rotten damn about Ayers' educational theories. It's public record that he spent $50 million on them and they failed in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteSo much for his "theories."
And since you are deliberately obtuse, let me remind you that Ayers' "theory" of Government happens to be Marxist. It's also public record that his folks would kill about 25 million US citizens if they resist his initiatives.
Obama is NOT running as an "education President."
He's running on theories, and his best pals and mentors happen to be Marxists.
Supporting Marxists is your right. And you're proud of it.
Good for you!
Obama didn't bring up Ayers, McCain did. Obama's also not running on Ayer's ideas, Ayers is not an advisor, or probably influential at all on Obama's thinking or platform (although they probably agree on some things). I don't know if Obama has read anything Ayers wrote. Obama's main educational advisor is Linda Darling-Hammond. If you're actually interested in education you would look at her work, as well as the educational platform of Obama, which, if can be charaterized as anything is probably more conservative than liberal (he supports charter schools, for example, and fully funding NCLB). Ayer's educational ideas Marxist? Like which ones? You don't know what you're talking about.
ReplyDeleteYour assertion about the Annenberg grant is also false and misleading. And what about Ayers parents? Killing 25 million? Do you feel unhinged much????????
ReplyDeleteAnony, it's difficult for me to believe you are so.....ahhhh...slow, mentally, and still teach.
ReplyDeleteAyers, Klonsky, Frank Martin, Dohrn.
It's the POLITICS, stupid!
Come up with documentation about the "falsity" of the Ann/grant assertion, and I'll pay attention.
Charter schools, but not CHOICE schools. Big difference, principally State-sponsorship.
Finally, I'll repeat so maybe you'll get it: I do not CARE about Ayers' theories of education.
Kapische?
Here's a decent place to start if you actually want to avoid a simplistic and misleading analysis:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Annenberg_Challenge#cite_note-Smylie_2003-59