Obama Undeterred by Ayers' Past as a Terrorist

Amanda Carpenter | October 07, 2008 3:12 PM

Hours before Barack Obama is scheduled to square off against John McCain at the second presidential debate in Nashville, Obama's campaign manager disclosed new details about his candidate's relationship with domestic terrorist William Ayers.

According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, Axelrod discussed Obama's friendship with Ayers on a campaign plane ride.

Axelrod said he did not know the "exact moment" Obama discovered Ayers had plotted to bomb the Capitol and the Pentagon, but it was sometime during their initial meetings. It did not deter Obama from participating in educational projects with Ayers.

As Obama did in previous denials about Ayers ("I was only eight") Axelrod used Obama's age as an excuse for associating with the criminal.

AXELROD: "I mean the fact is, like a lot of people who, you know, didn't live through that era, particularly who didn't live through that era in Chicago, it just wasn't, I mean, when he came to Chicago, Ayers was advising Mayor Daley on school reform issues and that was his profile was that he was an expert on education issues."