October 30, 2009 6:10 PM

William Ayers Visited White House – No, Not That One

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
White House
(AP Photo/ABC)
The Obama administration has released a preliminary list of White House visitors as part of its promise to release to the public a record of people who came to the White House as well as "when they came, how long they were here, and who they met with."

The list, which is here, includes the names "William Ayers" and "Jeremiah Wright." But the White House says they aren't the Ayers and Wright that are known to the public.

"A lot of people visit the White House, up to 100,000 each month, with many of those folks coming to tour the buildings," White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement. "Given this large amount of data, the records we are publishing today include a few 'false positives' – names that make you think of a well-known person, but are actually someone else."

"In September, requests were submitted for the names of some famous or controversial figures (for example Michael Jordan, William Ayers, Michael Moore, Jeremiah Wright, Robert Kelly ("R. Kelly"), and Malik Shabazz)," he continued. "The well-known individuals with those names never actually came to the White House. Nevertheless, we were asked for those names and so we have included records for those individuals who were here and share the same names."

Among the names on the list that appear to not be "false positives" are Bill Gates and George Clooney.

The White House told CBS News that it has social security number records that show that the Ayers who visited and the controversial William Ayers whose connections to Mr. Obama were brought up several times during the campaign last year are not one in the same.

It's unclear why the White House is including the names of people who went on White House tours with their listing of those who have come to the White House on official business. It may be news to those who have gone on the tours that a record of their visit will be released to the public.

The White House announced in September that it would release the records of visitors from the previous 90-120 days every month, "aside from a small group of appointments that cannot be disclosed because of national security imperatives or their necessarily confidential nature (such as a visit by a possible Supreme Court nominee)."

Those releases begin in December. The White House had also said it would release information about visitors prior to the beginning of the disclosure program in response to specific requests. This release is in response to such requests, 110 of which the White House says it has processed. It covers specific requests about visitors between January 20, 2009 to July 31, 2009.

Add a Comment See all 11 Comments
by actornaught October 31, 2009 11:01 AM EDT
In recent months, one of my few visits to foxnoise was rewarded with hannity STILL yapping on&on with his ayres/wright irrelevance. I think fox needs to prove that it wasn't one of their tea-sacks that signed the log with a fictitious name. Sounds like a felony...
Reply to this comment
by solidoak October 30, 2009 8:33 PM EDT
William Ayres and Jeremiah Wright. If they weren't the same ones we understood them to be during the campaign, then let the White House prove it. It really doesn't matter, but we do need to know if this administration tells the truth.
Reply to this comment
by ToolMangler1 October 30, 2009 9:46 PM EDT
spoken like a true 'repug'
What the 'H' does it matter???
maybe they came by to apologize for the trouble they caused..
Or... JUST Maybe, they are 'not' the real ones at all...

Call 911 for the repugs, I think they just fainted..
by IL-Independent October 31, 2009 3:10 PM EDT
by ToolMangler1 October 30, 2009 9:46 PM EDT
spoken like a true 'repug'
What the 'H' does it matter???
maybe they came by to apologize for the trouble they caused..
Or... JUST Maybe, they are 'not' the real ones at all...

Call 911 for the repugs, I think they just fainted..

I'll tell you why it matters, Ayers was a domestic terrorist in the 60's and Wright, said GD America. Great friends
by us_1776 October 30, 2009 8:05 PM EDT
This is much better than the cloak-and-dagger paranoid-secrecy of Bush/Cheney and their back-room dealings with big oil, big coal, and of course Halliburton, their conduit of choice to syphon trillions from the public treasury.
Reply to this comment
by mrleme October 30, 2009 7:40 PM EDT
Why does the media give attention to inconsequential information is beyond me except to stir controversy. I would like to go one day with the prez not on the tube or the papers. If it's true Bush didn't give enough presence, Obama is uncomfortably saturating!
Reply to this comment
by earlysaid October 30, 2009 7:36 PM EDT
President Obama can have anyone he wants visit the Whitehouse. It doesn't matter to anyone all that much. The real issue is if certain people who are suspicious return several times and are trying to buy influence.
Reply to this comment
by earlysaid October 30, 2009 7:29 PM EDT
President Obama can have anyone he wants visit the Whitehouse. It doesn't matter to anyone all that much. The real issue is if certain people who are suspicious return several times and are trying to buy influence.
Reply to this comment
by earlysaid October 30, 2009 7:29 PM EDT
President Obama can have anyone he wants visit the Whitehouse. It doesn't matter to anyone all that much. The real issue is if certain people who are suspicious return several times and are trying to buy influence.
Reply to this comment
by erich_1-2009 October 30, 2009 7:14 PM EDT
"The White House told CBS News that it has social security number records that show that the Ayers who visited and the controversial William Ayers whose connections to Mr. Obama were brought up several times during the campaign last year are not one in the same."

That means that someone took the time to get the "real" Professor Ayer's, and the "real" Rev. Wright's social security number to prove that the "fake" ones were not the "real" ones.

I think that your wright! comment is justified...LOL!
Reply to this comment
by payback108 October 30, 2009 7:00 PM EDT
wright!
Reply to this comment
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