Powell asks: 'Why do we keep talking about Ayers?'

Here's why...

Colin Powell on Meet the Press, Sunday, said that McCain’s negative campaign was one of the main reasons he’s backing Obama. Powell told reporters that the thought of attacking Mr. Obama for Mr. Ayers was “over the top.”

"This Bill Ayers situation that's been going on for weeks became something of a central point of the campaign," Powell said. "But Mr. McCain says that he's a washed-out terrorist. Well, then, why do we keep talking about him?"

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I'll try and answer that question for you, General Powell. It's because the Bill Ayers mania goes way beyond the election campaign. In fact, if anything, it has turned off most voters, including yourself. The real victim of the witch-hunters is academic freedom and democratic education, things I know you value.

Case-in-point: the banning of Ayers from attending an education research, school-reform meeting at the University of Nebraska last Friday.

University officials claimed they were receiving death threats against Bill Ayers’ and cancelled his scheduled speech on small schools and urban education, at a research conference at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Nebraska’s Republican Gov. Dave Heineman—not a big believer in academic freedom or the First Amendment—went even further:

"Bill Ayers is a well-known radical who should never have been invited," Heineman said Friday. "The people of Nebraska are outraged."

Hopefully, he will find out what the people are really outraged about, come election day.

Heineman, won the Republican primary in 2005 with a demagogic immigrant-bashing appeal to rural voters and support from the NRA. He’s already cast some doubt on the supposed death threats excuse, making it pretty clear that Ayers was banned purely for political reasons.

Heineman, appearing on Fox News late Friday, said he was pleased with the decision and skeptical about the stated reason behind it. “I’m not saying I’m buying into it either,” he said. “But the bigger issue is we wanted this event cancelled.” Heineman had called on NU President J.B. Milliken and Chuck Hassebrook, chairman of the NU Board of Regents, to tell Ayers to stay home.

Hassebrook called Heineman’s move “crass opportunism to try and jump on board and look good.” Chancellor Harvey Perlman also defended Ayers' selection, noting UNL, like any university, makes an effort to host speakers of a variety of political opinions.

"In this instance, it is unfortunate that a lecture directed toward an academic subject has become implicated in a political campaign. However, Professor Ayers is clearly regarded as a national expert in his field and can contribute to the understanding of this topic for our faculty and students. Nothing in his presence suggests that the university supports his personal or political philosophy or condones any of his former conduct."