Terry Gross of Fresh Air has an interview with William Ayres, the bogeyman of the McCain/Palin campaign, about his days as a member of the Weather Underground and his role in the election. Whatever you think of his politics, this is one smart, articulate, thoughtful man. The interview is absolutely worth 45 minutes of your time.
12 Responses to Weatherman
Help Daniel
Heard this today as I was driving back.
Definitely worth a listen.
Thank you, Paula! I listened this morning. I can’t find much to disagree with Mr Ayres about.
Uh, how about he HATES America?!!!!!!??!
How about he WON’T APOLOGIZE for trying to take down “the man”?
IRE: as soon as I get my chance to take down the “man”, if caught I sure as hell won’t apologize for it.
IRE – I know you are being funny, but he does talk at length about the alleged refusal to apologize in the interview, and it’s a fascinating and thought-provoking explanation.
Yeah I haven’t heard it. I had a hard time believing right-wingers when they claim someone is amoral.
What does he say? Gist of it.
IRE. I think you would do well to listen to it. He does a good job of framing the Vietnam era mood.
He says that he wishes he had done more to end the war sooner; that there are many others from the era that could be asked to apologize as well; that blanket apologies don’t mean much.
Having lived during that era, with two brothers who were members of the SDS, and parents who were anti-war I found this 45 minutes very compelling and almost sentimental.
IRE, just need to listen to the whole thing. It’s hard to encapsulate since he doesn’t speak in sound bites (shocking, I know). He talked about the wide range of responses that people had to the war and notes that even now it’s hard to say what the “right” thing to do was, and that if you ask him for an apology for his efforts in trying to stop the war, then you should also ask McNamara, Kissinger, and the entire U.S. Senate for their apologies as well for their efforts in perpetuating the war.
My take away from the interview was that President-elect Obama should pal around with more people who are this smart and passionate (although Ayres also takes apart the “pals around” charge on several grounds for being completely dishonest).
“Uh, how about he HATES America?!!!!!!??!
How about he WON’T APOLOGIZE for trying to take down “the man”?”
He’s done so much to help educate people in this country and fight for the underprivileged, I think it’s asinine for a thinking person to think he “hates america.” Maybe his actions as a college kid were wrongheaded, but as far as I know he has not committed crimes since and is a respected educator.
Seriously, some Americans are so nationalistic they make the Chinese look like anarchists.
Zaid – Take a few deep, cleansing breaths. I’m pretty sure that IRE was just joking. It is admittedly hard to tell at times, though.
I hope he’s joking. I’m just mad because I feel Ayers was unfairly maligned during the campaign, actually a number of Obama’s and McCain’s friends were.
I’m totally serial.
Always Paula. Seriously.