Fire in the Night (The Weathermen tried to kill my family)

City Journal (NY) ^ | 4/30/08 | John M. Murtagh

[gridlock]

During the April 16 debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, moderator George Stephanopoulos brought up “a gentleman named William Ayers,” who “was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol, and other buildings. He’s never apologized for that.” Stephanopoulos then asked Obama to explain his relationship with Ayers. Obama’s answer: “The notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was eight years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn’t make much sense, George.” Obama was indeed only eight in early 1970. I was only nine then, the year Ayers’s Weathermen tried to murder me.

In February 1970, my father, a New York State Supreme Court justice, was presiding over the trial of the so-called “Panther 21,” members of the Black Panther Party indicted in a plot to bomb New York landmarks and department stores. Early on the morning of February 21, as my family slept, three gasoline-filled firebombs exploded at our home on the northern tip of Manhattan, two at the front door and the third tucked neatly under the gas tank of the family car. (Today, of course, we’d call that a car bomb.) A neighbor heard the first two blasts and, with the remains of a snowman I had built a few days earlier, managed to douse the flames beneath the car. That was an act whose courage I fully appreciated only as an adult, an act that doubtless saved multiple lives that night.

I still recall, as though it were a dream, thinking that someone was lifting and dropping my bed as the explosions jolted me awake, and I remember my mother’s pulling me from the tangle of sheets and running to the kitchen where my father stood. Through the large windows overlooking the yard, all we could see was the bright glow of flames below. We didn’t leave our burning house for fear of who might be waiting outside. The same night, bombs were thrown at a police car in Manhattan and two military recruiting stations in Brooklyn. Sunlight, the next morning, revealed three sentences of blood-red graffiti on our sidewalk: FREE THE PANTHER 21; THE VIET CONG HAVE WON; KILL THE PIGS.

For the next 18 months, I went to school in an unmarked police car. My mother, a schoolteacher, had plainclothes detectives waiting in the faculty lounge all day. My brother saved a few bucks because he didn’t have to rent a limo for the senior prom: the NYPD did the driving. We all made the best of the odd new life that had been thrust upon us, but for years, the sound of a fire truck’s siren made my stomach knot and my heart race. In many ways, the enormity of the attempt to kill my entire family didn’t fully hit me until years later, when, a father myself, I was tucking my own nine-year-old John Murtagh into bed.

Though no one was ever caught or tried for the attempt on my family’s life, there was never any doubt who was behind it. Only a few weeks after the attack, the New York contingent of the Weathermen blew themselves up making more bombs in a Greenwich Village townhouse. The same cell had bombed my house, writes Ron Jacobs in The Way the Wind Blew: A History of the Weather Underground. And in late November that year, a letter to the Associated Press signed by Bernardine Dohrn, Ayers’s wife, promised more bombings.

As the association between Obama and Ayers came to light, it would have helped the senator a little if his friend had at least shown some remorse. But listen to Ayers interviewed in the New York Times on September 11, 2001, of all days: “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.” Translation: “We meant to kill that judge and his family, not just damage the porch.” When asked by the Times if he would do it all again, Ayers responded: “I don’t want to discount the possibility.”

Though never a supporter of Obama, I admired him for a time for his ability to engage our imaginations, and especially for his ability to inspire the young once again to embrace the political system. Yet his myopia in the last few months has cast a new light on his “politics of change.” Nobody should hold the junior senator from Illinois responsible for his friends’ and supporters’ violent terrorist acts. But it is fair to hold him responsible for a startling lack of judgment in his choice of mentors, associates, and friends, and for showing a callous disregard for the lives they damaged and the hatred they have demonstrated for this country. It is fair, too, to ask what those choices say about Obama’s own beliefs, his philosophy, and the direction he would take our nation.

At the conclusion of his 2001 Times interview, Ayers said of his upbringing and subsequent radicalization: “I was a child of privilege and I woke up to a world on fire.”

Funny thing, Bill: one night, so did I.

[gridlock]

John M. Murtagh is a practicing attorney, an adjunct professor of public policy at the Fordham University College of Liberal Studies, and a member of the city council in Yonkers, New York, where he resides with his wife and two sons.

[gridlock]

Just a little reminder about Barack Obama's other hate-filled, anti-American associates...

[Da Coyote]

I know that as an attorney, you would never do such a thing, but if you decided to take this clown out and if I knew about it, I would have no memory of such a thing.

[babble-on]

radical chic: Its cool to hang out with terrorists and firebombers. a frisson of contact with the revolution.

[laotzu]

Can't win at the ballot box? Get a Chevy Bill Ayers!

-Reinforced bumpers: perfect for ramming government buildings
-With the top down everyone can see you giving the finger
-Oversized trunk can fit up to 800 lbs. of nail bombs.
-Room for 18 standard-sized bumper stickers
-Tires made of reclaimed sandal soles: great for spreading a message of peace as you plow through a police barricade
-All models are mirrorless because alternate views are meaningless
-Only comes in communist red with a yellow interior
-Runs on bong water
-Built in bullhorn
-Only turns left
-No money down and your daddy pays the rest!

[WayneS]

What a wonderful first-hand account which brings home exactly how EVIL these people were (and still are).

I take exception with only ONE part of this essay. Mr. Murtagh wrote: “Though never a supporter of Obama, I admired him for a time for his ability to engage our imaginations, and especially for his ability to inspire the young once again to embrace the political system. Yet his myopia in the last few months has cast a new light on his “politics of change.” “

It’s NOT myopia, sir. It is his BELIEFS. Those who do not understand that by now is deluding themselves.

[donna]

Considering how crazy Obama supporters are, it was brave to write this article.

[WayneS]

Sorry!

...ARE deluding themselves.

[CedarDave]

Tagline is especially relevant for this article...

[Jeff Head]

Bill Ayers is an unreprentant domestic terrorist and treasonous traitor bastard to this nation. In any sane world, he would have danced on a rope years ago.

This is yet another example, and a unbelievably striking one, of Barack Hussein Obama's disgusting judgement and character to be in any way associated with such a man.

How many more would he exhibit such poor judgement with, if elected, in his cabinet, with foreign leaders, as nominations for judges, etc.?

Sorry Barack, but your whole presidential aspiration package wont hunt.

THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH - BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY AND OBAMA'S CHURCH

THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH - OBAMA'S CIRCLE OF FRIENDS AND SUPPORT

THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH - BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA

[roses of sharon]

Bump......Hussein's creepy friends alert!

p.s. Don't try to read Obama’s heart, take him at face value, I do. And the evidence proves he has no instincts to protect his country, from danger or slander.

[george76]

.

[BenLurkin]

Bttt

[gridlock]

For some reason, people still need to be polite and pretend that Obama is something other than an empty suit who will do anything, say anything, or support anyone to get ahead politically.

The whole Hope & Change thing was just a smokescreen. At the end of the day, all you have left is a sense of entitlement and ambition that makes even Hillary Clinton look relatively normal.

[laconic]

The fortunate event is that the three bomb-making Weather devils blew themselves up that spring (1970) along with the Manhattan townhouse where they were making their scummy terrorist plans (one of them, Diana Oughton, was Bill Ayers’ then girlfriend). What were they doing? They were assembling nail bombs with dynamite to set off that very evening at an Army NCO function at Fort Dix, NJ (the use of nails was to maim and kill as many as possible). My brother was an NCO at Fort Dix at that very time. Thank God these rich terrorists (now literally, toast) were idiots when it came to handling explosives.

[Sioux-san]

I think this is way beyond style - Obama learned at his mommy’s knee (whenever she took the time to actually be with him) a very radicalized world view. He is in total sympathy with Ayers/Dohrn and his fiery ol’ uncle/pastor - this is just a big show for the great herd of sheep - anything to get elected, and let the real games begin.
B. Hussein Obama is out there so far left, that the only reason he doesn’t get a perfect 100 on his Liberal scorecard is the lack of legislation that would get him there. He is left of Kennedy, Kerry, Hillary, and all those fellow travelers. The not-so-lovely Michelle would also score a perfect 100 were she in public office. These people are working right out of the Communist infiltration playbook. It is that BAD.

[2nd amendment mama]

My thoughts exactly! Especially considering that Ayers has publicly stated that “I don’t want to discount the possibility.” when asked if he'd do it again.

[roses of sharon]

(he made a consious decision to fool white people from his real thoughts)

OBAMA ON HOW TO TALK TO WHITE PEOPLE
Quote

In the good, old tradition of revolutionaries, Obama hides in plain print.

It’s worth while to note the following passages from his autobiography:

On p. 94-95 he describes an effective tactic to deal with White people:

It was usually an effective tactic, another one of those tricks I had learned: People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves. They were more than satisfied; they were relieved - such a pleasant surprise to find a well-mannered young black man who didn’t seem angry all the time.

[gridlock]

p.s. Don't try to read Obama’s heart, take him at face value, I do. And the evidence proves he has no instincts to protect his country, from danger or slander.

I don't see why so many people seem to feel this deep need to rehabilitate Obama, as if there is some nugget of great value buried underneath all of this that is worth saving. I don't get it. Once you discard all that is bad, there is nothing left.

[WayneS]

I agree 100%.

This man is the most dangerous individual who has EVER been a serious contender for the presidency of this nation.