The Backlash Against ABC

"Bill Ayers long ago settled into a life of quiet respectability as a well-regarded professor of education and a much-published activist for better schools. With his Ivy League doctorate, 48-page curriculum vitae and liberal politics, he fits comfortably into Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood. But Ayers' unquiet past as a leader of the violent Weathermen during the Vietnam War has been thrust into the Democratic presidential race because of his relationship with a neighbor, Barack Obama."

Among those praising Ayers: Mayor Richard Daley.

Here's another example, from the L.A. Times: "Laura S. Washington, chairwoman of the Woods Fund, called it 'ridiculous to suggest there's anything inappropriate' about Ayers and Obama serving on the nine-member board of directors."

The Boston Globe says the Obama-Ayers link first surfaced on a liberal Chicago writer's blog in 2005:

"When Obama became a presidential contender, it was conservatives who picked up on the story. On Feb. 2, conservative British writer Peter Hitchens mentioned Ayers in a piece titled 'The Black Kennedy: but does anyone know the real Barack Obama?' in the London Daily Mail. A week later, a mention of Ayers appeared in an anti-Obama blog known as Rezko Watch.

"Soon, the story turned up in the mainstream American press: in the Bloomberg news service, a Washington Post blog, and the New York Sun. An overview of the Ayers-Obama connection, published on Politico.com on Feb. 22, circulated widely on the Internet."

Ayers, by the way, is defending himself on his own blog. But he still doesn't say he regrets the bombings.

Finally, another reminder that for a journalist, blog posting--especially if you brag about being drunk--can cost you your job.