Ayers' Clinton White House connection?

Posted: Friday, April 18, 2008 4:49 PM by Domenico Montanaro

From MSNBC.com’s Tom Curry

FRAZER, Pa. -- Forty years ago Bill Ayers was a leader of a Leninist group called the Weather Underground that carried out bombings of the Pentagon, the Capitol and the New York City police headquarters.

On Wednesday night in Philadelphia, Ayers became the latest celebrity in the spectacle of the 2008 presidential campaign. During the debate between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Obama about his association with Ayers.

What didn’t come up in the debate is that Bill Clinton, too, had a connection to Ayers, albeit an indirect one. David Lytel, who worked in the White House for President Clinton from 1993 to 1996 as the White House “Web master” and helped create the Whitehouse.gov web site, left in April 1996 and formed Democrats Online, one of the earliest political advocacy sites.

During the 1996 Democratic convention in Chicago, Ayers and his wife, Weather Underground alumna Bernardine Dohrn, hosted a fundraiser at their Chicago home for Democrats Online. Lytel said Friday that no one from the Clinton White House showed up for the 1996 event.

He added, “I’m a Clinton supporter, but I think it’s the absolute height of stupidity” and “preposterous” for her to try to use the Ayers connection as a weapon against Obama. “This is an insane way for her to try to define her opponent. I have no reason to think that Ayers is anything other than smart, skeptical American,” Lytel said. “He’s like anyone else who has activities in his past that might be embarrassing to them as a middle-aged person.”

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Comments

I cant help but point out the known fact about all the baggages that the Clintons have and no one is looking at them SEROUSLY and no one really wants to look for new ones as we all know that they have to be somewhere hidden. Hillary Clinton has said so many times to defend herself as in why she's attacking Barack Obama that "the republicans" would focus on those issues. By saying that, is she trying to make the democratic party like a republican party?

Thomas T, Tampa, FL (Sent Saturday, April 19, 2008 11:56 AM)

The Clintons represent all that is ugly about politics: lying, manipulation, distortion, bullying, elitism, conceit and power mongering. They absolutely disgust me. They think they are wealthy, influential insiders who should have whatever they want. They represent the crises in disappearing values and morality in this country. After all Bill Clinton is an adulterer and a liar and an impeached president. That they relate to the poor underclass is a joke. Money equals power in this country and with it the Clinton's are convinced they can do no wrong. Why all Americans can't see through the fact that Hillary wants power for its own sake, at any cost, truly amazes me--she is as inauthentic as all the rest of the dirtbag politicians. Just read her non-verbal communication when she is peddling lies, and tell me that over-extended smile is authentic--she looks like the Joker on Batman--how natural is that? Look, she lied about being under fire in Bosnia, and if she didn't lie, then clearly for her to 'forget' such an important event means she does not have the mental faculties to be President of the United States. Yes, it would be nice to have a woman president one day, but to vote for someone just because she is a female would be just as stupid as having voted for George Bush because you would like to have a beer with him--look where that got us.

Lorrie Graves, Boise, ID (Sent Saturday, April 19, 2008 12:27 PM)

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