Ayers Tells D.C. Crowd He Was Demonized by GOP

William Ayers, the anti-war activist who found himself in the middle of the presidential campaign, pushed back against Republicans and a political culture that he blames for trying to demonize him.

Ayers, speaking before packed pews Monday at All Souls Church in Northwest Washington, said he sought to avoid his celebrity status, which he found “stupid and superficial.”

“This narrative that I’ve been silent is not true,” he said. “I’ve been speaking at universities; I’m in the anti-war movement. What I haven’t done is that I haven’t wanted to give a sound bite to the sound bite culture.”

Ayers called Republicans’ portrayal of him, particularly by Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a “profoundly dishonest narrative” and called the “creation of me as a fearsome person” as entirely false.

“Somehow I’ve been violent,” he said. “Somehow I’ve killed people. All of it false.”

Ayers has previously admitted he participated in the 1970 bombings of New York Police Department headquarters, of the Capitol in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972. Ayers, as part of a group called the Weathermen, claimed responsibility for 12 bombings.

He pointedly spoke of McCain and Palin, saying, “Every time Gov. Palin or Sen. McCain mentioned my name, their poll numbers dropped. I think that’s great. I think that’s a tribute to common sense. It’s a failure. We should take some pride in that it didn’t work this time