It’s axiomatic that you can judge a person by the friends he keeps, and, by extension, the enemies he makes. Whether it’s the Bush Doctrine (the enemy of my enemy is my friend) or the people with whom we choose to associate in everyday life, those who serve as peers and mentors reveal a great deal about our character. It works the same in politics.
We’ve already learned about Barack Obama’s fiery, America-hating, race-baiting pastor of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright. Reverend Wright, however, is not the only unsavory character in Obama’s circle of friends who is worth mentioning. There are others, such as Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.
For a refresher, Ayers and Dohrn founded a left-wing terrorist organization known as the Weathermen back in 1969 (chronology adapted from “The Limbaugh Letter,” July, 2008). In July of that year, Dohrn met with representatives of the North Vietnamese and Cuban governments in Havana. Three months later, the Weathermen organized the “Days of Rage” Chicago riots. In December of that year, Dohrn advocated “Get into armed struggle” at a “War Council” meeting, exclaiming “[Charles] Manson killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they shoved a fork into a victim’s stomach. Wild!”
In March, 1970, the Weathermen constructed a bomb they planned to detonate at an Army dance at Ft. Dix, N.J., which instead exploded in their Greenwich Village townhouse, killing three of their comrades.
Two months later, Dohrn read “A DECLARATION OF A STATE OF WAR … We’ve known that our job is to lead white kids into armed revolution … Revolutionary violence is the only way … We will never live peaceably under this system.”
Also that year, Ayers urged “Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, kill your parents, that’s where it’s really at.”
In June, 1970, the couple bombed NYPD headquarters, with Dohrn making the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted.
The next year, they bombed the U.S. Capitol.
In 1972, they bombed the Pentagon. In his book “Fugitive Days,” Ayers remembered “Everything was ideal on the day I bombed the Pentagon. The sky was blue. The birds were singing. And the bastards were finally going to get what was coming to them.”
Through 1974, the Weathermen claimed responsibility for one dozen bombings, although news accounts place the actual number at more than twice that figure.
In 1975, Dohrn informed Weathermen leaders “We are building a communist organization to be part of the forces which build a revolutionary communist party to lead the working class to seize power….”
Five years later, Ayers and Dohrn surrendered, although charges against Ayers were dropped due to government surveillance violations. “Guilty as sin, free as a bird,” he later bragged. Dohrn plead guilty to aggravated battery and bail jumping, receiving three years probation and a $1,500 fine. In 1982, she served seven months in jail after refusing to testify against ex-Weathermen in an armed robbery case.
In 1995, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, described by the New York Times as “unrepentant members of the Weather Underground,” hosted a meet-and-greet for Barack Obama at their home in order to introduce the up-and-coming politician during his first run for the Illinois Senate.
Two years later, Obama made a joint appearance with Ayers at a University of Chicago panel that was organized by Michelle Obama, then Associate Dean of Student Services. Ayers was invited by the Obamas to discuss “Should a Child Ever Be Called a ‘Super Predator.’”
In 1999, Ayers joined the non-profit Woods Fund of Chicago, where he served as director alongside fellow board member Barack Obama.
While touting his memoirs “Fugitive Days,” Bill Ayers was photographed stomping on the American flag.
On September 11, 2001, Ayers reminisced “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.”
Five days later, Ayers remarked “The pundits [say]: ‘God, what a great country….’ It makes me want to puke.”
In 2002, the Woods Fund made a grant to the Northwestern University law school’s Children and Family Justice Center, where Bernadine Dohrn was employed. Later that year, Obama and Ayers appeared together as panelists to discuss “Intellectuals in Times of Crisis” at a University of Illinois-Chicago conference where Bernadine Dohrn was serving as a panelist.
The next year, Obama, Ayers, and Dohrn attended a party for Rashid Khalidi, a reported PLO operative and Arafat apologist. Khalidi is another piece of work. He has referred to Israel as a racist state, and co-founded the Arab-American Action Network, to which the Woods Fund gave tens of thousands of dollars while Obama was a board member. The Obamas have been regular dinner guests at Khalidi’s Hyde Park home, and Khalidi says he supports Obama “because he is the only candidate who has expressed sympathy for the Palestinian cause.”
Finally, on April 16, 2008, when confronted about his 13+ year relationship with Bill Ayers during a primary debate, Barack Obama attempted to downplay their friendship, asserting “This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who’s a professor of English in Chicago who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He’s not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis. And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn’t make much sense.”
Unfortunately, the facts of Barack Obama’s relationship with left-wing terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn suggest that he and Ayers are more than just two guys living in the same neighborhood. Obama may not have received an official endorsement from the former Weatherman, but he doesn’t need one. Ayers may have engaged in “detestable acts” 40 years ago, but he remains unrepentant and defiant, and seems to hate the United States as much as ever. While Obama cannot be held accountable for the crimes committed by his comrades, he can be held accountable for who his comrades are, and it leads one to wonder just how many America-haters can be numbered among Barack Obama’s friends and associates.
That’s how the Mets’ announcer described the Phillies-Mets contest last night moments after Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge got Carlos Delgado to ground out to end the game. For eight innings, the Fightin’ Phils could do nothing against Mets’ ace Johan Santana. With first place in the National League East at stake, and the Mets leading 5-2 going to the ninth inning, the Phillies offense erupted for six runs off four different Mets’ relievers, and 
