Ayers ‘Admitted’ Writing Obama’s Book Before!

Imagine lots of caps and hysterical run on sentences with the build up to this from Dave Weigel:

Jonah Goldberg steps back from the “Bill Ayers wrote Obama’s memoir” conspiracy after catching an Oct. 3 writeup of an Ayers speech. It appeared in National Journal, behind a pay wall, so few people saw it as Annie Leary’s “scoop” flitted around the blogosphere.

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.”

Ayers is messing with conservatives. People he’s duped so far: Jonah Goldberg, his mother Lucianne Goldberg, Tom Maguire, Dennis Byrne, Carol Platt Lieblau, and a bunch of other conservatives, some of whom try to split the difference by suggesting that Ayers is revealing a little bit of truth behind the sarcasm. How embarrassing.

One reason that I suspected Ayers of messing with people? He’s done it to me. In 2001, I met him at a book signing, joined by a few fellow college students who were attempting to nail him on the then-hot controversy of his comments that he wished he’d made more bombs–comments that happened to appear in the 9/11/01 edition of the New York Times. Ayers messed with us, joking back and forth, giving us a map of Afghanistan, and signing my copy of the book with a happy left-wing message.

Scott Turow long ago explained such interpretations in Presumed Innocent:

“Your Honor,” says Nico, “the man admitted the crime.”

“Oh, Mr. Delay Guardia,” says Judge Lyttle.  “Really!  You see, that is my point.  You tell a man he’s engaged in wrongdoing and he says, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’  Everyone recognizes that’s facetious.  We all are familiar with that.  Now, in my neighborhood, had Mr. Sabich come from those parts, he would have said, ‘Yo’ momma.'”

There is broad laugher in the courtroom.  Larren has scored again.  He sits on the bench, laughing himself.

“But you know, in Mr. Sabich’s part of town, I would think people say, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ and what they mean is ‘You are wrong.'”  Pausing.  “To be polite.”