Sen. Hillary Clinton in the debate tonight said:
I also believe that Senator Obama served on a board with Mr. Ayers for a period of time, the Woods Foundation, which was a paid directorship position. And, if I’m not mistaken, that relationship with Mr. Ayers on this board continued after 9/11 and after his reported comments, which were deeply hurtful to people in New York and, I would hope, to every American, because they were published on 9/11, and he said that he was just sorry they hadn’t done more.
When I heard this, I understood Clinton as saying that Ayers said he was sorry that Al Qaeda had not killed more people.
Turns out Ayers published a book called Fugitive Days and an interview was published on September 11, 2001.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E1DE1438F932A2575AC0A9679C8B63
Here’s what he said in the article:
“I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.”
The timing is weird, just like it was weird for models to be asked about Pearl Harbor on DC television just before reports of planes hitting the World Trade Center.
Weird timing, but how can Hillary Clinton honestly blame Ayers for the timing?
Clinton did not technically lie, and I may have missed where this was explained earlier. Still, I think many heard it as I did–Ayers saying more people should have died on 9/11.
Robert Parry heard it this way and says it better:
Stephanopoulus’ question:
“I want to give Senator Clinton a chance to respond, but first a follow-up on this issue, the general theme of patriotism in your relationships. A gentleman named William Ayers, he was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol and other buildings. He’s never apologized for that. And in fact, on 9/11 he was quoted in The New York Times saying, “I don’t regret setting bombs; I feel we didn’t do enough.”
Still, Clinton made her comment later and all I heard was “9/11” and “they should have done more.”
The bigger issue is the question being trivial, offensive, and diversionary to begin with, I know. This isn’t much of a diary, but I was really bothered by this and appreciate being able to state that here.
Stephanopoulus misleads by not making it clear that the article was published on 9/11 by coincidence. Another impression I was given was that Ayers’ views were sought after the attacks and that he made those statements on 9/11.