So When Exactly Did Bill Ayers and Barack Obama Meet?

 "After that gathering, Barack and Michelle began to see a great deal more of not only Bill and Bernardine but also their three closest friends, Rashid and Mona Khalidi and Carole Travis."  Rashid Khalidi was a Palestinian native of radical bent then living in Chicago.

 

Jack Cashill  "In his massive new biography about Barack Obama's pre-presidential years, Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, Pulitzer Prize-winner David Garrow makes hash out of the lie that preserved Obama's candidacy in 2008.  That said, he pulls back from the implications of his own revelations to protect what remains of Obama's literary reputation.

"In the way of background, during an April 2008 presidential primary debate on ABC, George Stephanopoulos said about Bill Ayers and pals, "They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol, and other buildings.  He's never apologized for that."  He then asked Obama, "Can you explain that relationship for the voters and explain to Democrats why it won't be a problem?"

" 'This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood," said Obama dismissively of Ayers.  "He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from [sic] on a regular basis."

"The question fueled what the L.A. Times called a "storm of criticism."  The rage was directed not at Obama for his dissembling, but at Stephanopoulos for his effrontery.  How dare he ask Obama about an "obscure sixties radical"? asked Michael Grunwald of Time.  The media chose not to follow up.  If they had, Hillary Clinton would have won the nomination.

"Garrow has come along nine years too late to do Clinton any good.  But after ten years researching this book and interviewing a thousand people, he reveals just how strong was the relationship between Ayers and Obama and how deep was the lie that protected it.  Unfortunately, there is an element of that lie Garrow himself insists on protecting." . . .