Did William Ayers ghostwrite Obama's memoir, 'Dreams From My Father'?
Indeed, stopped by a relative stranger after attending an education conference in Arlington, Va., Mr. Ayers revealed for the very first time that he did write — page-for-page — “Dreams From My Father,” the best-selling memoir of Barack Obama’s life.
Aha! Mr. Ayers, the 1960s radical whose ties to Mr. Obama have been mined for years now, has finally confirmed his intimate knowledge of the president’s entire life and affirmed the conspiracy whipping around the blogosphere. Mr. Ayers’ ghost-writing was recently reinforced by details in the incredibly authoritative book on the Obamas’ marriage by their extremely close BFF, Christopher Andersen...
... But then, uh-oh. Read Jonah Goldberg, no slouch in the conservative world of writers and bloggers, who deflates this amazing airport revelation by unearthing a little post from the National Journal magazine last week: “It sounds like Ayers is jerking some chains.”
He cites:
From National Journal (link w/ subscription):
Inside Washington
Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009
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Who actually wrote Dreams From My Father? The book cover says Barack Obama, but one corner of the right-wing blogosphere thinks Obama had a ghostwriter—and that it was Bill Ayers, onetime Weatherman, current academic, perpetual radical. National Journal caught up with Ayers at a recent book festival where he was exhorting a small crowd of listeners to remember that they are citizens, not subjects. “Open your eyes,” he said. “Pay attention. Be astonished. Act, and doubt.” When he finished speaking, we put the authorship question right to him. For a split second, Ayers was nonplussed. Then an Abbie Hoffmanish, steal-this-book-sort-of-smile lit up his face. He gently took National Journal by the arm. “Here’s what I’m going to say. This is my quote. Be sure to write it down: ‘Yes, I wrote Dreams From My Father. I ghostwrote the whole thing. I met with the president three or four times, and then I wrote the entire book.’” He released National Journal’s arm, and beamed in Marxist triumph. “And now I would like the royalties.” —Will Englund