One commenter has already made the accusation and I’m seeing it pop up here and there on Twitter, so let’s knock this down before it spreads and more people embarrass themselves. The White House released its visitor logs in response to 110 disclosure requests this afternoon; among the requests, unsurprisingly, were Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright. Also unsurprisingly, both of them turned up in the logs. Why is that not a surprise? Because:

There’s an important lesson here as well. This unprecedented level of transparency can sometimes be confusing rather than providing clear information.

A lot of people visit the White House, up to 100,000 each month, with many of those folks coming to tour the buildings. 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). 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.

Scroll through the records and see for yourself. “Jeremiah Wright” checked in at the visitors’ office, no doubt as part of a tour. So did one of the two William Ayerses; the other one has a different middle initial than Obama’s bombmaking pal from Chitown. Even without that information, though, just think: Why would The One needlessly risk a PR nightmare by having that turd over to the White House? If there was something he wanted or needed to chat with him about, that’s what telephones (and intermediaries) are for. I realize some people are extra, er, “credulous” about all things Ayers, but come on.

Do take a moment to skim the visitor logs, though. I haven’t double-checked, but according to Patrick Ruffini, the name that appears most frequently on there is — surprise — demagogic SEIU thug-in-chief Andy Stern.