My thought exactly. People already inclined to believe the worst about Obama have had their suspicions reinforced. Ayres is obviously contemptuous of Obama. He could have nipped the whole thing in the bud during the campaign by simply stepping forward and saying truthfully that he barely knew Obama.

As far as I'm concerned he can DIAF.

By  Screamin' Demon, at 10/08/2009 11:43 AM  

SD: "DIAF". I had to look that up. Thats one way to go!

I didn't want to get into it when writing the post, but there are studies that show that reversing an incorrectly held view is very difficult. We get enough false info from the right> Ayres is content to add to that pile of garbage.

By  Quiddity, at 10/08/2009 8:12 PM  

Poor Bill. It must be lonely being still stuck under the bus with Jeremiah Wright after all these months. So many others have been quietly plucked from the wheels. But thump, thump. The tires just keep rolling and rolling. When will Bill get his cabinet post? When will the harsh nightmare end?

"And now I would like the royalties."

Translation: Where's my payoff?

By  Anonymous, at 10/08/2009 8:37 PM  

This will increase the number of people who hold incorrect views of Obama?

That would require that some who currently hold correct views of Obama to change their minds as a result of this story.

So people who so far have seen through every last right-wing lie about Obama are going to read this and conclude that (1) what Ayers said was in earnest, (2) what Ayers said was true, and (3) this somehow reflects poorly on Obama.

Oh, but you say, they won't read the account in the Washington Monthly, they'll hear a distorted version of the story from Limbaugh or Beck or Fox News!

But again, how many Limbaugh/Beck/Fox News consumers who now have an accurate view of Obama are going to believe this particular lie, when they've somehow been immune to all the lies that have come before?

The set of people who will take Ayers' "claim" here as discrediting to Obama on the one hand, and the set of people who've disbelieved all the other lies about Obama to this point on the other hand, are mutually exclusive.

So while the number of untruths believed about Obama will likely increase, the number of people who believe untruths about Obama will not.

For that reason, the real-world impact will be negligible.

Of course this will make no impression on you if you're just collecting reasons to hate Bill Ayers whether they make any sense or not. But in that case I'd suggest that if you're concerned about the spread of hateful, irrational, right-wing talking points, well, change begins at home.

By  Anonymous, at 10/11/2009 3:43 AM  

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