Philadelphia, Pa., Apr 17, 2008 / 20:04 pm
While countering charges he was closely connected to a former domestic terrorist, Senator Barack Obama compared the former Weather Underground member William Ayers to a pro-life Senator who proposed considering the death penalty for abortionists, Cybercast News Service reports.
In Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential candidate debate, Senator Barack Obama was pressed about his alleged connections with Ayers. George Stephanopoulos, ABC News political analyst and former press secretary for President Bill Clinton, asked the Illinois Senator about an early planning meeting for Obama’s 2001 campaign for a state legislature seat. The meeting was held at Ayers’ house.
Ayers had been a member of the Weather Underground, a radical group that between 1970 and 1975 bombed the New York City Police Headquarters, the U.S. Capitol Building, the Pentagon, the U.S. State Department, and other targets.
Though Ayers surrendered to authorities, he was never charged in the attacks and went on to become a university professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. In a September 11, 2001 edition of the New York Times, published before the day’s terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Ayers was quoted as saying, “I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough.”