Bill Ayers defends Obama, criticizes "guilt by association" smear campaign

Yesterday, William Ayers appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" program and finally spoke out on the controversy surrounding his alleged relationship with Barack Obama.

Ayres, of course, was a co-founder of the 1960s radical anti-war group The Weather Underground, but is now a distinguished college professor in Chicago, and has served on some boards with Obama. Therefore, despite the fact that Ayers has redeemed himself since the '60s, and is now a respected educator, he was the inspiration for Sarah Palin's criticism of Obama for "palling around with terrorists."

On GMA, Ayers downplayed his relationship with Obama:

I knew [Barack Obama] probably as well as thousands of other Chicagoans.

And he zeroed in on the fact that he was villainized and then used by the McCain campaign to smear Obama:

I'm talking there about the fact that I became an issue, unwittingly and unwillingly, in the campaign.

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It was such a profoundly dishonest narrative.

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I don't buy the idea that guilt by association should be any part of our politics.

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So the assumption that if two people share a cup of coffee, or take a bus downtown together, or have a thousand other types of associations, that that somehow means that they share politics, outlook, policy, or responsibility for one another's actions.

Later in the interview, Ayers made more excellent points:

What I'm saying about the guilt by association which, as you know, has a long and tragic history in this country, what I'm saying is that every one of us actually should talk to lots and lots of people, and especially our political leaders. Far from being a demerit on his record, the fact that he's willing to talk to a lot of people, from a lot of different walks of life, listen to a lot of opinions, and still have a mind of his own, is something we should honor and admire.

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This idea that we need to know more, like there's some dark, hidden secret, some secret link, is just a myth, and it's a myth thrown up by people who wanted to kind of exploit the politics of fear. And I think it's a great credit to the American people that those politics were rejected. The idea that we should continue to be frightened, and worried, and, you know, barricaded, is falling down. And it should.

Amen.

>> Watch a video of the interview.