William Ayers appeared on the chat show Good Morning America today, talking about the fairly hysterical accusations that Barack Obama “launched his political career” in the Ayers living room.
Campaign Boogeyman William Ayers Talks to GMA is how ABC News headlines its story, and it’s hard to tell whether that’s being ironical, aggressive, or just telling it like it is. Perhaps it’s always hard to figure that these days.
The Chicago Tribune has actually better full quotes from the talk. Ayers defends quite firmly his violent opposition to the Vietnam War:
“I think the dishonest narrative is one to demonize me,” he said. “Let’s remember that what you call a violent past, that was at a time that thousands of people were being murdered by our government every month, and those of us who fought to end that war were actually on the right side. So if we want to replay that history, I would reject the whole notion that demonizing me or the Weather Underground is relevant.”
And regarding that living room:
“I was asked by the state senator to have a coffee for Barack Obama when he first ran for office,” Ayers said. “We had him in our home, and I think he was probably in 20 homes that day… It’s not at all true that he sought me out to listen to my radical ideas, or that I sought him out.”
An 8-minute-long video recap of his appearance is available with that ABC story.