Facts About Obama

8/14/2019 Facts About Obama

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Verifiable facts about Obama complete with sources and references

Background: William Ayers was a member of the Weather Underground, a radical leftist group that from 1969 to the mid-'70s

conducted several bombings of government institutions. Ayers served on the group's Central Committee. The Weather Undergroundbombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, military installations, and police stations. In all, seven people were killed. In 1981, two

police officers and one security guard were killed by members of the Weather Underground in the robbery of a Brinks truck in NewYork state. After Ayers married Bernardine Dohrn, also a member of the Weather Underground (who was described by FBI Director

J. Edgar Hoover as "the most dangerous woman in America"), they settled in Chicago.

Fact: Bernardine Dohrn had this to say in response to the Charles Mansonmurders, which she romanticized as a revolutionary coup at a Flint, Mich.,Weatherman War Council in December 1969: "Dig it! First they killed those

pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved afork into the victim's stomach! Wild!" Dohrn later stated this was meant as a

"joke."

Fact: In 1969, Bernardine Dohrn and other members of the Weather

Underground traveled to Cuba and met with representatives of the NorthVietnam and Cuban governments.

Fact: In 1970, Ayers explained what the Weather Underground was all about:"Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the

revolution home; kill your parents; that's where it's really at."

Fact: Both Ayers and Dohrn lived on the run from authorities from

approximately 1970 to 1980. The case against Ayers and Dohrn was droppeddue to illegal wiretaps and prosecutor misconduct. The FBI was conducting

"black bag jobs," or illegal break-ins, in their pursuit of the WeatherUnderground. Some of these black bag jobs were authorized by Mark Felt,

later to be known as "Deep Throat" of Watergate fame.

Fact: Shortly after turning themselves in, Dohrn and Ayers became legalguardians of the son of former members of the Weather Underground, Kathy

Boudin and David Gilbert, after they were convicted of murder for their rolesin a 1981 armored car robbery. Two police officers and one Brinks guard

were killed in the robbery.

Fact: Starting in the mid-'90s, Ayers and Obama served on the board of theChicago Annenberg Challenge Project. They served together on the board for

approximately seven years. Ayers and Obama were tasked with the oversightof a $100 million budget. The board, under Obama's chairmanship the

Annenberg project gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Bill Ayers'

projects promoting alternative schools.


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["Anderson Cooper 360," CNN, Oct. 6, 2008]

Fact: From 1984 to 1988, Bernardine Dohrn was employed by the prestigious

Chicago law firm Sidley Austin. She was hired by Howard Trienens, the head

of the firm at that time and someone who knew Thomas G. Ayers, Bill's father.

However, Dohrn's criminal record has prevented her from being admitted toeither the New York or Illinois bar. "Dohrn didn't get a [law] license becauseshe's stubborn . . . She wouldn't say she's sorry."

[Chicago Tribune, May 18, 2008]

Fact: In 1991, Dohrn was hired by Northwestern University School of Law in

Chicago, as an adjunct professor of law, with the title "clinical associate

professor of law." Thomas Ayers was a long-time member of theNorthwestern Board of Trustees, and was named life trustee in 1987.

[Source: Feb. 7, 2008 speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC]

Fact: In 1994, Dohrn was quoted on her political beliefs: "I still see myself asa radical."

[Chepesiuk, Ron, "Sixties Radicals, Then and Now: Candid ConversationsWith Those Who Shaped the Era," McFarland & Company, Inc]

Fact: In 1995, Obama's first autobiography is released. In it he writes of hisyears in college, associating with radicals. "To avoid being mistaken for a

sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active blackstudents. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and

structural feminists and punk rock performance poets . . . When we groundout our cigarettes in the hallway carpet or set our stereos so loud that the

walls began to shake, we were resisting bourgeois society's stifling

constraints. We weren't indifferent or careless or insecure. We were

alienated."

[Obama, Barack, "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance,Random House,Pages 100- 101]

Fact: In 1995, Ayers and Dorn opened their Chicago Hyde Park home to host

a political coming-out party for Barack Obama, when he ran for the stateSenate. Someone who was at this party for Obama wrote that Ayers andDohrn were launching him, "introducing him to the Hyde Park community asthe best thing since sliced bread."

[Politico.com, Feb. 22, 2008]

Fact: From 1999-2002, Ayers and Obama served together on a secondcharitable foundation, The Woods Fund. While at the Woods Fund, they gave

money to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church, which Obama attended, and achildren and family center, where Dohrn worked.

["Anderson Cooper 360," CNN, Oct. 6, 2008]

Fact: In a 1996 interview, one year after hosting Barack Obama's coming-out


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party in their home, Ayers and Dohrn were profiled by "The NewsHour" on

PBS. Ayers was asked, "Looking back, would you do it differently now?" Hestated, "I doubt it . . . probably not."

Fact: Question to Obama in 2000, during his run for the U.S. Congress:

"What is your argument, based on the one term that you served in the [Illinois]Senate so far, that makes you prepared for the Congress?"

Answer: "I would argue . . . my experience previous to elected office equipsme for the job . . . I've chaired major philanthropic efforts in the city, like theChicago Annenberg Challenge that gave $50 million to prompt school reform

efforts throughout the city."

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-45A6I-N5I&NR=1]

Fact: In 2001, Ayers made a $200 campaign contribution to Illinois state Sen.

Barack Obama.

Fact: In promoting his book "Fugitive Days" Ayers told The New York Times

on Sept. 11, 2001, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough."When asked if he would "do it all again," he said, "I don't want to discount the

possibility."

Fact: Just days after 9/11, Ayers was quoted in The New York Times

Magazine: "This society is not a just and decent place . . . We're living in acountry where the election was stolen, and we didn't have a mass uprising.

It's incredible. We're all asleep. The pundits all pat themselves on the back:'God, what a great country'. . . It makes me want to puke."

Fact: In 2001, Ayers posed for a photographin Chicago magazine, accompanying a profileof his book, which shows him stepping on anAmerican flag.

[www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-2001/No-Regrets/]

Fact: In a 2001 profile, a writer quotes Ayers as saying, "I think there will be

another mass political movement, because I believe that the kind of injusticethat is built into our world will not go quietly into the night."

[Chicago magazine, August 2001 online edition]

Fact: In his 2001 memoir, "Fugitive Days," Ayers writes of the time he took

part in bombing the Pentagon. "Everything was absolutely ideal on the day Ibombed the Pentagon. The sky was blue; the birds were singing. And the


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bastards were finally going to get what was coming to them."

Fact: In 2008, Ayers again denies he was ever a terrorist, writing on his blog:"The September 11 attacks were acts of terrorism, and the U.S. bombings inViet Nam for a decade were acts of terrorism. Terrorism is never justifiable,

even in a just cause . . . I've never advocated terrorism, never participated init, never defended it. The U.S. government, by contrast, does it routinely and

defends the use of it in its own cause consistently."

[billayers.wordpress.com/2008/04/page/2/]

Fact: In the 2008 presidential race, Obama downplays his association withAyers, saying that he is just a "guy who lives in my neighborhood."

[The Washington Post, Oct. 7, 2008]

Fact: David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, attempted to downplay the

Obama/Ayers relationship: "Bill Ayers lives in his neighborhood. Their kidsattend the same school . . . They're certainly friendly; they know each other,

as anyone whose kids go to school together."

[Politico.com, Ben Smith, Feb. 26, 2008]

Fact: Obama's children never attended school with the Ayers children.Obama's children are ages 9 and 6. Ayers and Dohrn have two adult children,

and they adopted a son from their fellow Weather Underground terrorist KathyBoudin. That son was born in 1981.

Fact: Chicago's Hyde Park residents speak of Obama and Ayers'

relationship. "Neighbors said it's only natural that Obama would know Ayers

and Dohrn, who often open their homes for gatherings filled with livelydiscussions about politics, arts, and social issues. Obama and his wife 'arepart of our neighborhood and part of our social circle,' said Elizabeth

Chandler, a neighbor of Ayers'."

[ChicagoTribune.com, April 17, 2008


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Background: The drivers license issue emerged in September 2007, when then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer ordered New York officials to

grant drivers licenses to illegals. During the Oct. 30, 2007, Democratic primary debate at Drexel University, Sen. Hillary Clintonfumbled a question from the late Tim Russert over whether she supported Spitzers plan. As for Obama, he has supported drivers

licenses for illegals since his days in the Illinois Senate, and continues to maintain that training illegals to drive, and insuring them,enhances public safety.

Fact: Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff called then-Gov. Elliot Spitzerin October 2007, warning his plan to grant drivers licenses to illegals wouldundermine federal plans to enhance security. Spitzer withdrew the plan twoweeks later.

[Source: The New York Times, Oct. 31, 2007]

Fact: During the Democratic presidential debate held in Las Vegas inNovember 2007, moderator Wolf Blitzer asked Obama if he supported drivers

licenses for illegal immigrants. Obama answered: Yes.

[Source: Debate transcript, Nov. 15, 2007, Las Vegas]

Fact: Obama also addressed the licensing of illegals during the October 2007debate. Asked if he favored Spitzers plan, Obama replied: I think that it is

the right idea. And I disagree with [Sen.] Chris [Dodd], because there is a

public safety concern. We can make sure that drivers who are illegal comeout of the shadows, that they can be tracked, that they are properly trained,

and that will make our roads safer. That doesnt negate the need for us toreform illegal immigration.

[Source: Debate transcript, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 30, 2007]

Fact: The 19 terrorists involved in 9/11 obtained 13 drivers licenses, as well

as 21 federal or state-issued ID cards. Eight of the 9/11 terrorists wereregistered to vote.

[Source: Wall Street Journal column by John Fund, Nov. 2, 2007]

Fact: The day Gov. Spitzer withdrew his drivers license plan, Clinton


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released this statement: I support Governor Spitzers decision today to

withdraw his proposal. His difficult job is made that much harder by the failureof the Congress and the White House to pass comprehensive immigration

reform.

As president, I will not support drivers licenses for undocumented people,

and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of theissues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing ourbroken system.

[Source: Hillary Clinton statement dated Nov. 14, 2007]

Fact: A full 77 percent of American adults oppose granting drivers licenses to

people who are in the United States illegally.

[Source: Rasmussen Reports, national telephone survey, November 2007]

Fact: There are 203 million licensed drivers in America, according to theFederal Highway Administration. Approximately 1 in 5 fatal car accidents

involves a driver who, for whatever reason, does not have a valid driverslicense.

[Source: Outrageous! Cracking Down on Illegal Driversby Michael Crowley, Readers Digest, September 2008]

Fact: Sen. John McCains online policy statements do not specifically

address drivers licenses for illegals. McCain is on record, however, opposing

any benefits for those who have come here illegally and broke our laws.

In one speech he pledged, It would be among my highest priorities to secure

our borders first, and only after we achieved widespread consensus that ourborders are secure, would we address other aspects of the problem in a way

that defends the rule of law and does not encourage another wave of illegal

immigration.

[Source: Feb. 7, 2008 speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC]

Fact: In February, Obama told ABCs David Muir, If [McCain] wants to try toparse out this one issue of drivers licenses, an issue of public safety, my

response is that we have to solve the overall problem and this drivers licenseissue is a distraction.

[Source: Obama Defends Illegals Drivers Licenses, ABC.com]

Fact: When he served as a member of the Illinois state Senate, Obama voted

to train, insure, and license illegals to operate motor vehicles in order toprotect public safety.


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