Bill Ayers: Obama’s ghostwriter?
Why some conservatives think Ayers really wrote Obama’s 'Dreams From My Father'
William Ayres, co-founder of the Weather Underground
(San Francisco Chronicle/Brant Ward/Corbis)
“Birthers, meet ghosters,” said Steve Benen in The Washington Monthly. Certain “right-wing circles” believe that Bill Ayers ghost-wrote Barack Obama’s book Dreams From My Father, and as with "the rest of the bizarre conservative conspiracy theories, reality doesn’t much matter.” The funny thing is, a “surprising number of conservatives” were taken in by Ayers’ clearly tongue-in-cheek Dreams ghostwriting confessions to National Journal and a conservative blogger.
Who has Ayers “duped so far”? said David Weigel in The Washington Independent. “Jonah Goldberg, his mother Lucianne Goldberg, Tom Maguire, Dennis Byrne, Carol Platt Lieblau, and a bunch of other conservatives.” Some of them “try to split the difference” a bit, but really, “how embarrassing.”
Okay, maybe Ayers “was just having a joke with us,” said James Simpson in American Thinker. But he’s “playing with fire” here, because it’s “pretty clear that Ayers did write most or all of the book for Obama.” This is probably Ayers’ idea of a “smear campaign”—those who speak the truth will be “castigated, like people who question Obama’s eligibility.” But this “blockbuster story” matters because it “completely discredits Obama’s carefully crafted image.”
“I disagree,” said Ed Morrissey in Hot Air. Even if Ayers did ghost-write Dreams, what does that prove? “It’s hardly an earth-shaking revelation that politicians use ghostwriters for memoirs”—see Palin, Sarah—and if you wanted to prove he is a radical literary fraud, the time to do it was during the campaign. We have “plenty to criticize about his performance” now without obsessing about his past.
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32 Comments
Posted by Probus, Thursday, October 8, 2009, 12:46 pm This reminds me of the toilet paper shortage. During the gas shortages of the late 70s, some jokester on the Tonight Show dressed up like an expert and predicted an imminent shortage of toilet paper. Hordes of people bought as much TP as possible and soon there was a real shortage. Google it, this actually happened. The rabid right is grasping at straws as they realize how irrelevant they have become after driving the country into a ditch for the last 8 years. I'm tired of hearing their wild cries, and I wish the media would stop covering them.
Posted by Lin, Thursday, October 8, 2009, 2:41 pm Apparently NO ONE has actually read Obama's book, or even looked hard at it in the bookstores. The title is Dreams From My Father, and no one, until the idiocy right now, has ever questioned the authorship. Since Obama is smarter and more literate than 99 percent of the country, this latest attempt at a smear is pitiful.
Posted by Parah Salin, Thursday, October 8, 2009, 3:47 pm James Simpson, of the ironically names American Thinker, makes no sense: Ayers was making a joke, but it's not funny because it is actually true? And the people who speak the truth about Obama's eligibility, even though it's a lie? oh, the mind reels. . . .
Posted by truth, Thursday, October 8, 2009, 4:13 pm Obama is a liar! There is nothing about him that is authentic, he is like a product, an image made created by David Axelrod, and bought by George Soros. The smart people are waking up now about him, hope its not too late. Of course Ayers wrote the book for Obama, this was his pack with the devil.
Posted by JB, Thursday, October 8, 2009, 5:37 pm Lin is correct. Those who question this book's authorship obviously have not read it. I read Dreams From My Father in the summer of 2008. It was difficult finding a copy in the library or at Barnes Noble, Borders and other bookstores because they were sold out. I had to wait three weeks to get my copy because the backorder was so long. You can bet I read every word of it, and so did the 5 or 6 people I loaned it to afterward. I agree with the Economist, it is one of the best political autobiographies ever written.
Posted by kam, Thursday, October 8, 2009, 6:02 pm Love the comment...obama is smarter than 99 percent of the country. WHO told, informed or spread that information? Why, it was obama himself. The only information we have about obama's past and present is obama in his two books. we still have no childhood or high school records, no college records...except that he attended...no state senator data...can't find it or voted present...little to no national senator records...busy campaigning for pres. Obama is a tabla rosa that his toadies project a personality upon. 99 percent dimocrats...maybe...
Posted by kam, Thursday, October 8, 2009, 6:15 pm Does anyone really care who wrote the two books? They are both about him, him, him. In the books obama tells us who he is and who he wants us to think he is. He makes sure that no data or proof is available to back up or deny what he writes. Obama is the most narcissistic person I have ever observed. Count how many times obama says I or me or mine whenever he speaks. It is truly fascinating. Hope to be alive when the true man behind the curtain is revealed to be the great and glorious oz or humbug that he is.
Posted by Shannon, Thursday, October 8, 2009, 7:11 pm Kam: You're great at repeating talking points you hear elsewhere I'm sure you feel that Obama is the most narcissistic person you've ever observed, but an analysis of Obama vs GWBush vs Clinton shows BUSH used the personal pronouns at a much higher rate than Obama. Google Factchecking George F Will one more time.
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