ABC anchor Chris Cuomo, perhaps trying to prove he’s not a Democratic flak given his family heritage, keeps coming at William Ayers, the 60s radical who became a bogeyman in the election, in their “Good Morning America” interview. Cuomo clearly wouldn’t take no for an answer to the question, “Was Ayers a close friend and confidant of Obama?” The first question wasn’t even a question, it was an accusation.<\/p>\n
First question: “You did have a meaningful relationship with Barack Obama, didn’t you?”<\/p>\n
Ayers says he knows Obama like thousands of other people know him and wish he knew him better. So Cuomo plows ahead.<\/p>\n
2nd question: “But thousands of people were not asked to start his political career in their home. That’s an intimacy.”<\/p>\n
When Ayers says he was asked by a state senator to host a coffee and that was the first time Ayers met Obama , Cuomo was undeterred.<\/p>\n
3rd question: Cuomo then says that Ayers called Obama a “family friend” and that signifies something of “a closer relationship.”<\/p>\n
Ayers then says that “family friend” alludes not to how he characterized the relationship but how the blogosphere did. Cuomo presses on.<\/p>\n
4th question: “There seems an evasiveness here….Someone’s in your home, you’re introducing them…Certainly, you must have gotten to know Barack Obama before you did that. Didn’t you?”<\/p>\n
Ayers again says no.<\/p>\n
5th question: “But when you’re measuring the content of a man’s character…Certain information about his friendship slash coffee slash association with a man who has the history that you have…You must understand how that can be a concern.” Note how Cuomo accepts the GOP characterization that if Ayers had a coffee for Obama, there must be a closer association. <\/p>\n
Ayers calls the narrative dishonest. <\/p>\n
6th question: Cuomo cuts him off and says, “The relevance here is that Obama is campaigning to be president.” Cuomo then goes on to make the analogy that if McCain had a coffee of the home of someone who had bombed an abortion clinic, “you don’t think that would be relevant?”<\/p>\n
Ayers says no again and that the analogy doesn’t hold.<\/p>\n
7th question: “Clearly you have to understand the sensitivity. You can’t say that someone is a family friend, have them in your house trying to launch their political career and then say this is nothing. Because you make it sound like it’s something by saying it’s nothing.” (Figure that last line out and you win the kewpee doll.)<\/p>\n
Ayers, in again saying he didn’t know him, says you have to admire that Obama is willing to talk to people of different views is a good thing. Another opening for Cuomo.<\/p>\n
8th question: “But then you have to come clean and say that I’m one of those people. Cuomo then goes on to suggest that Obama sought out Ayers to discuss his radical ideas.<\/p>\n
Ayers denies that and then interview ends — and without asking if Ayers still beats his wife.<\/p>\n
If there is any more evidence of mainstream journalism’s descent into the world of Matt Drudge, here it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ABC anchor Chris Cuomo, perhaps trying to prove he’s not a Democratic flak given his family heritage, keeps coming at William Ayers, the 60s radical who became a bogeyman in the election, in their “Good Morning America” interview. Cuomo clearly wouldn’t take no for an answer to the question, “Was Ayers a close friend and… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}