Bill Ayers Asserts Authorship of Obama's Dreams From My Father

So much for getting away from politics, but this one is hot. Blogger Anne Leary, the Backyard Conservative, has done a post (which has grown to an entire series of posts) on running into Bill Ayers at the airport in DC. There, Ayers asserted in a very brief, informal interview that he wrote Barack Obama's book Dreams From my Father. Now it is possible that Bill Ayers was just having fun or that he was lying; he has a long history of trying to destroy society and this might be his latest chapter. I wouldn't put it past him. It is also possible that the man Anne ran into was not Ayers; we all know stories of someone who is often "recognized" as someone else. Nevertheless, this is a dynamite story, a real "must read."

Bloggers are trying to assess Anne Leary's credibility, but with the exception that Anne may not have identified Bill Ayres correctly (she has a picture) or Ayers was lying, I don't doubt the report. In fact, I think the wrong identification can be ruled out, as this is not the first time that Ayers has made the claim that he authored Barack Obama's best seller over the past few days. That leaves whether Ayers was or was not lying, and I simply have no way to tell. Do read the post. (Also the followups to the original, where I might say Anne has outdone herself reporting on herself.)

Only a few people know that a few years back I spent a fair amount of time urging Anne to start a blog. She used to send around emails to a group of friends when a political subject struck her fancy. I thought she should have a wider audience. Which is to say that I have known Anne for a long time, like maybe 20 years. I count her as a friend, and I don't suffer friends who aren't honest or don't speak the truth.

UPDATE: On Saturday, October 10, Anne Leary will be interviewed by Jerry Agar at 4PM, and on Sunday by Tom Roeser at 8PM, both on WLS-AM, 890.