He wants to turn your children black (and once they go black, they’ll never ever go back) 
Holy shit, y’all. Did you hear about what Obama did last week? He gave a back-to-school speech to our nation’s childrenses! And you know what else? He like, totally tried to turn your child into a black person. BEHIND YOUR BACK. (He also pulled the plug on your grandma, but we can talk about that later.)
This aggression will not STAND, man. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the news. Obama addressed a nation of young impressionable children and filled their heads with balderdash and poppycock. (That’s British for BULLSHIT.) He told kids that they should stay in school! And that they should do their homework! And that they should pass on grass!
I mean, what kind of crap is he trying to pull? How dare he tell your children to put down that X Box Virtual 3000 2.0, stop sniffing glue, and open a book? How dare he tell your children that they need to study hard and not give up on their dreams and life in general?
I mean, what’s next? I know I don’t want my kids to go to college.*** Or get a job. Or learn shit. I want my kids to become one of the next generation of idiotic fuckwits, like the ones at the townhall meetings, talkin’ ’bout “Hello, Hitler!”
I’ll tell you what, squeeple: I can’t decide if this shit is hilarious or really really sad. I mean, exactly how stupid are people? I really want to know. On a scale of 1 to fucking idiotic, HOW STUPID ARE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY?
Better yet, how stupid do people think we are? The Hannitys, and Limbaughs, and the Becks. The members of the Washington Asshat Brigade who PRAISED Reagan and Bush when they gave their speeches to students nationwide? Do they really think we’re so stupid? Do they think that we don’t know that the only reason they’re protesting Obama’s speech is because he’s ::gasp:: BLACK!!??
Render unto me a fucking break.
(***I don’t have any kids that I know of. It’s called “creative license.”)
For those who are interested, here’s the absolutely offensive speech that Obama gave, in full, from a transcript reprinted by the Washington Post:
[*] OBAMA: Hello, everybody.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody.
All right, everybody go ahead and have a seat.
How’s everybody doing today?
(APPLAUSE)
How about Tim Spicer?
(APPLAUSE)
I am here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, from kindergarten through 12th grade. And I am just so glad that all could join us today.
And I want to thank Wakefield for being such an outstanding host. Give yourselves a big round of applause.
(APPLAUSE)
I know that for many of you today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten or starting middle or high school it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous.
I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go.
(APPLAUSE)
And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.
I know that feeling.
When I was young, my family lived overseas. I live in Indonesia for a few years. And my mother, she didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. But she thought it was important for me to keep up with American education.
So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday. But because she had to go to work, the only time she could do it was at 4:30 in the morning.
Now, as you might imagine, I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and she’d say, “This is no picnic for me either, buster.”
(LAUGHTER)
So I know that some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.
Now, I’ve given a lot of speeches about education, and I’ve talked about responsibility a lot.
OBAMA: I’ve talked about teachers’ responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn.
I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and you get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with the Xbox.
I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, and supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities that they deserve.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, the best schools in the world, and none of it will make a difference — none of it will matter — unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities: unless you show up to those schools, unless you pay attention to those teachers, unless you listen to your parents and grandparents and other adults and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
Every single one of you has something that you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a great writer; maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in the newspaper. But you might not know it until you write that English paper — that English class that’s assigned to you.
Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor; maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or the new medicine or vaccine. But you might not know it until you do your project for your science class.
Maybe you could be a mayor or a senator or a Supreme Court justice. But you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
And no matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it.
OBAMA: You want to be a doctor or a teacher or a police officer, you want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military, you’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers.
You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to train for it and work for it and learn for it.
And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. The future of America depends on you.
What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies, and protect our environment.
You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free.
You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies, that’ll create new jobs and boost our economy.
We need every single one of you to develop your talents and your skills and your intellect so you can help us old folks solve our most difficult problems.
If you don’t do that, if you quit on school, you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
Now, I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your school work. I get it. I know what it’s like.
My father left my family when I was 2 years old, and I was raised by a single mom who had to work and had struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us the things that other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life.
OBAMA: There were times when I was lonely and I felt like I didn’t fit in.
So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been on school, and I did some things that I’m not proud of, and I got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.
But I was — I was lucky. I got a lot of second chances and I had the opportunity to go to college and law school and follow my dreams.
My wife, our first lady, Michelle Obama — she has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have a lot of money. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
But some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life — what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home — none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher or cutting class or dropping out of school.
There is no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Because here in America you write your own destiny, you make your own future.
That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America; young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas.
Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Neither of her parents have gone to college. But she worked hard, earned good grades and got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to becoming Dr. Jazmin Perez.
OBAMA: I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was 3. He’s had to endure all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory so it took him much longer — hundreds of extra hours — to do his school work, but he never fell behind. He’s headed to college this fall.
And then there’s Shantell Steve from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in the city, she managed to get a job at a local health care center, start a program to keep young people out of gangs, and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.
And Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They face challenges in their lives just like you do. In some cases, they’ve got it a lot worse off than many of you. But they refuse to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their lives, for their education and set goals for themselves, and I expect all of you to do the same.
That’s why today I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education and do everything you can to meet them.
Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending some time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all young people deserve a safe environment to study and learn.
Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn.
And along those lines, by the way, I hope all of you are washing your hands a lot and that you stay home from school when you don’t feel well so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.
OBAMA: But whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
I know that sometimes you get that sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work; that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star.
Chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.
The truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject that you study. You won’t click with every teacher that you have. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right at this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures.
J.K. Rowlings (sic), who wrote Harry Potter — her first Harry Potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published.
Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. He lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life, and that’s why I succeed.”
These people succeeded because they understood that you can’t let your failures define you; you have to let your failures teach you; you have to let them show you what to do differently the next time.
So if you get into trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker. It means you need to try harder to act right.
OBAMA: If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid. It just means you need to spend more time studying.
No one’s born being good at all things. You become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice.
The same principle applies to your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right. You might have to read something a few times before you understand it. You definitely have to do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength, because it shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something and that, then, allows you to learn something new.
So find an adult that you trust — a parent, a grandparent or a teacher, a coach or a counselor — and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you, don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.
It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and they founded this nation — young people; students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon; students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.
OBAMA: So today I want to ask all of you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in 20 or 50 or 100 years say about what all of you did for this country?
Now, your families, your teachers and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books and the equipment and the computers you need to learn.
But you’ve got to do your part, too. So I expect all of you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you.
So don’t let us down. Don’t let your family down, or your country down. Most of all, don’t let yourself down. Make us all proud.
Thank you very much, everybody.
God bless you. God bless America.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Thank you.
END
The speech was wonderfully targeted to his intended audience, and very relatable. How could anyone find fault with it?
I find his intelligence, charisma, and strength to be such a refreshing change from his predecessors’. He’s not just a handsome smile, or a snappy dresser – he is a man of substance. And I adore him. And his family.
it’s puzzling, isn’t it? i can’t find one thing that’s wrong with it. i can’t even find one thing that someone stupid would find wrong with it (and i tried reading it while breathing with my mouth open.)
people need to be lobotomized.
truth.
Well now, one thing in here we might be forgetting: people objected to the speech on account of them not knowing what Prez. O was going to say. The original clamorings were for him to release the speech in advance – not for him not to give the speech at all.
As it happens, love him or hate him, he’s been pretty durn partisan since taking office. And again, love/hate him, he hasn’t stopped campaigning and boy oh boy does he like to assign blame. Now, with a hist’ry like that one, is it any wonder people stood up and said “Hold on just one dig-dang minute here, I wanna know just what you think you’re gonna be tellin’ my chirren”?
Aren’t liberals always on about how government has no right to censor, and about how it’s up to the parents to stop their own kids from absorbing things the parents find objectionable? Now that parents are trying to do just that, y’all say they need to be lobotomized, just because you disagree with their values.
Maybe if Obama had said “I intend on giving a speech to the little’uns … here on paper is what I intend to say,” all of this could have been avoided. People could have known he wasn’t going to use it as a partisan platform, or plug healthcare reform, or call cops stupid … like he has done in situations where those topics were not on the table.
Knowing what a divisive figure he is, he really should have known to do that. And in the end, the speech was pretty harmless … except it turned all the school children black, or something like that.
STM, I rendered judgement on the majority of people in this country as total fucktards years ago, I enjoy the surprise when I’m proved wrong and find the existance of intelligence in our population, people like that confirm my suspicion that Idiocracy is a prophetic tale, not only a comedy movie.
Squee! the anti-stoopid.
Since when in the history of the United States and the Presidency did the POTUS have to have basically a permission slip to speak to anyone? Hell, W. was allowed to read to children on September 11th, 2001 and he cannot properly pronounce half of the words coming out of his pie hole. I’m sure along with George W., Herbert Hoover (who was a notoriously horrible communicator, not to mention he exacerbated The Depression), John Tyler (Who basically supported slavery and South Carolina’s right to secede if it wish AND once elected POTUS opposed everything his adopted party stood for) and Warren Harding (Who was an ineffectual and indecisive leader who played poker while his friends plundered the U.S. treasury.) to name a few (notoriously horrible) Presidents were allowed to speak without a firestorm erupting.
I’m really sad to say this, but I think this country’s ignorant are just not willing to accept a black or even half black president. Not to mention the high number of Obama’s opposers don’t even really know why they are opposing him and his administration because they’re “buzz word” thinkers. The only thing they hear are buzz words “Black” “Raise” “Taxes” “Socialist” and not only that it’s that “everybody’s doing it.” I call it the NASCAR Syndrome. It makes no sense, it’s terribly boring and unnecessary, but it’s taken over the country like a plague.
i’d like to meet the parents that disagree with the values espoused in obama’s speech, and yes, have them lobotomized.
i think the “he’s been partisan” argument falls flat on its face. politics is, but its nature, partisan. i find it interesting that whenever democrats are in office, it becomes important to be “bipartisan” but when republicans are in office, that requirement seems to go out the window. americans overwhelmingly elected obama. he won indiana, for the love of cheese. screw bipartisanship, TMIMO. he needs to quit worrying about what the republicans think and do the shit he was elected to do by democrats and independents and not an insignificant number of republicans. he’s letting the fringe overrun the debate. the republican leadership has said that their MO is to oppose whatever he does. make healthcare his Waterloo. vote against the healthcare bill without even reading it. why is he even still talking to them? they’re not interested in bipartisanship. why should he be? they’re too busy whining about socialism. he needs to put them on “mute” and go about pleasing the people who elected him. we’re starting to get pissed. and 2010 is starting to look scary.
thanks for reading!
cheers,
stm
also, saying “he’s campaigning” is one of those things that makes it sound like you’re saying something when you’re really not. we’re talking about politicians, after all.
cheers,
stm
(as it so happens, that commenter is a friend of mine. for all you lurkers out there. i don’t bite. unless i know you.)
The way I read it, it didn’t seem to me that “it’s been partisan” was intended as a criticism. I could be wrong there. It’s my nature to take everything with a grain of salt, and assume people want to find common ground.
As for me, I do not have strong political opinions about really anything. You guys know I don’t give a crap for anything about it, with the exception of rhetoric. (From that approach, let me say that I want to make out with Obama’s speechwriter.)
I thought the speech was very good, but I did find fault with it. I was a sensitive, helpful, responsible kid, and the part about “you’ll let your country down” makes me nervous for other kids like I was. It may have been more strongly worded that it needed to be for the young bunch, who don’t automatically temper those messages. I’m sure some will react extremely positively to it; that’s subjective.
And on the flip side, I think it’s easy for some people to feel paranoid about the s-word, thanks to the constant discussion of it – the fact that it’s being discussed so often lends it a legitimacy that it probably doesn’t deserve (and I only say probably because I haven’t researched how socialist countries begin to form, so I can’t officially back up any word stronger than ‘probably’). But if listeners will take a step back and get a little perspective, they are likely to realize that if such statements came from someone they supported and trusted, they would consider it touchingly patriotic. What’s being said IS patriotic. But people are so conditioned to wonder what they’re being sold, and I don’t fault anyone for that. We all know politics itself isn’t sincere – it’s a spectator event. I wish people would stop supporting politicians, and take them word by word. Be able to say, I support this message, I don’t support that message. But that seems too much to ask of the public.
If you replaced the references to country and education with references to other things that people place value on – like church, for instance – it would sit wrong. It would sound like a hard sell. That’s why people don’t like it – because to them, they think their child has to choose loyalties. They worry that if Obama makes sense in any way, that their kid will stop thinking and tow (toe??) the line. Obviously that’s ironic since most of these objectors are towing some line themselves.
What people have essentially forgotten is that it’s safe to support your country. It’s safe to be a patriot. It’s safe to teach your kids to love their country and even sacrifice for it. They have entirely forgotten that they agree with and support the premise. I don’t mean to call them traitors, but if they are, it’s unintentional on their part. I don’t fault people for wanting to monitor what messages their children are receiving. There IS too much paranoia, which is something that could go either way… it may create terrified children, or it may create revolutionaries.
And in case I was unclear anywhere – I like the speech a lot. If I had kids, I don’t care if it was God herself coming down on a cloud to speak directly to my children with the light of love and truth – I would want to wait until we could all listen as a family so we could discuss how it was impacting their little hearts and minds.
I really apologize in advance for speaking my mind on this. I like to stay far far away from these topics.
“If you replaced the references to country and education with references to other things that people place value on – like church, for instance – it would sit wrong. It would sound like a hard sell. That’s why people don’t like it – because to them, they think their child has to choose loyalties. They worry that if Obama makes sense in any way, that their kid will stop thinking and tow (toe??) the line. Obviously that’s ironic since most of these objectors are towing some line themselves.”
TMIMO, that’s sort of like saying “if obama had said something other than what he said, it might have been problematic and a little bit socialist.”
i’m focusing on what he DID say. and i can’t find a single thing wrong with what he DID say.
you should never apologize for speaking your mind!
The original clamorings were that Obama was a socialist bastard who was about to indoctrinate the kids. The Republican Party dingus in Florida (Jim Greer) was all pissed because the DOE released some lesson plans for teachers. One suggestion was “have students write a letter to themselves about how they can help the President.” Then the repubs were all “OH MAI GAWD HE IS SPREADING SOCIALISM!” Looking at the lesson plan it was clear it was talking about not dropping out and being responsible for your education. You know, like the entire speech was about.
Anyone who says this shitstorm wasn’t borne of purposeful misapprehension and baseless fear-mongering isn’t paying attention. Republicans are just trying to sucker-punch their way to the next election (hello death-panel) – and it hurts the nation as a whole.
But as long as we get to demand early speeches: I want the State-Of-The-Union address released early so I can decide whether or not to make it a movie night. That shit pre-empts everything!
Yes, it’s because he’s black. That’s the reason we don’t want our children to be a captive audience to the most liberal POTUS ever, Yes, it’s because he’s black that we think it odd that the POTUS would have a self-proclaimed communist and 911 truther that wants to destroy the constitution as an advisor, Yes, it’s because he’s black that we think that the POTUS shouldn’t appoint a guy as a regulation czar who thinks that animals have the same rights as humans and that the 2nd Amendment doesn’t mean what the Federalist Papers and the authors of the Bill of Rights says it does. Yes, it’s because he’s black that we don’t trust someone who has lied straight to our face about his previous associations in order to get elected and continues to do so today. Just because he black.
You know, you racists really are simpletons.
Fox News! Strikes again!
I love it.
Sarcasm doesn’t really work when everything you’ve just said is wrong.
I’ll award you one point for your last sentence. That was the only sensible thing you said.
@stopthemadness: No, no! Let me say that if that had been what I meant, it would have been offensive and wrong – you know I’d lose sleep if I didn’t explain. Please allow me to try to clarify. I didn’t mean it is or would be problematic. I meant I objectively saw how it would be perceived as problematic. As is my tendency, I’m leaving actual right and wrong out of the equation, because I rarely find it relevant. Some people have tiny comfort zones, and even tinier ones for their children. They just can’t or won’t see other angles. It’s allowed. Different people; different boundaries. Different levels of understanding and reasoning.
I don’t ever excuse name-calling or generalizing, nor do I wish to encourage any venomous acts. For me, I believe it’s necessary to examine the situation carefully, bearing in mind that the human condition is common to all of us. Maybe we can understand getting irrational when we feel threatened, feeling threatened by something harmless, feeling dismissed, or jumping to the worst conclusions about unknowns.
@HolyChow: Misinformation is intentional when it comes to media and other for-profit mouthpieces. I agree. The shitstorm was (and usually is) baseless fear-mongering. That said, I don’t pay enough attention and I wouldn’t be able to speak knowledgeably about many current affairs including this one. But the large groups of people who support the “other side” can’t all be bad people. It feels unfair to assign motivations, and I can’t pass up a chance to point it out. Just because they’re sheep it doesn’t make them baa-d people.
at a certain point, in my opinion, being the elitist san francisco values liberal that i am, the failure to educate oneself about issues, and the continued persistence in swallowing and perpetuating the lies that one is being told by the media (like those spewed by our new friend tarlene up there) absent any attempt whatsoever to figure out what’s going on for oneself DOES make one a bad person. i have no stomach for ignorance and stupidity. (this is in no way an indictment of you or any squeer or lurker here and i do not intend it to be. i’m just being brutally frank.)
it’s an extreme point of view, granted, but as barney “brutally” frank said, arguing with such people would be like arguing with a table. i have no desire to do it.
i had a mini argument just today with a person who is conservative and whom i consider a friend. he just believes things that are different than what i believe. yet the points he was making weren’t borne of utter racism and contempt for other people. and that’s why i still respect him as a person. the points he was raising are vastly different than the shit being sold by hannity, limbaugh, and co. i’m not referring to reasoned rational conservatives as bad people. i’m talking about the people who will yell “heil hitler” out of one side of their mouth, and “keep the government out of medicare” out of another. and, to a lesser extent, i’m talking about people who make outlandish claims like “obama is the most liberal potus ever” when such claims are demonstrably false.
perhaps tarlene has reasons for the claims she made. given the tone of the comment, however, i doubt it. sounds more like a list of talking points she got straight from fox news.
cheers,
stm
correction: i shouldn’t say demonstrably false until i know what her standard of liberal is. but if it’s obama’s tax policies (which is often the basis for such claims) then yes, it’s demonstrably false.
Wow, Tarlene, it must be really hard to live in your world. Think of all the trouble you must have parking – because you don’t know how to back shit up. I started going through and de-bunking all your inanity, but then I thought, oh yeah, s/he probably isn’t interested in the truth.
STM: maybe he is the most liberal, but he is certainly not the most socialist.
excellent point, holychow.
i was reacting to claims made that he was the most liberal senator when he clearly was not.
If y’all think Obama is a socialist, I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts on FDR and the New Deal.
Gottdamn.
the only thing i got from that speech was that obama’s still bitter about having to get up at 4:30 in the morning to read “horton hears a who” for the fifth fucking time. quit your bitching obama, it’s been forty years.
Tarlene. Guess what? I don’t want my child to grow up to be a close-minded, uneducated, overly religious sheep. You will never guess what I do in order to prevent this happening. I let her listen to all sides. Yes. There you have it. I am not afraid to let my child listen to views that oppose my own. I know she is smart enough to figure out the truth for herself.
What is the extreme far right in this country so afraid of? Are they afraid that their rhetoric will start to sound like complete hogwash in the light of reason? Everyone should strive to get a good education. Everyone is entitled to health care. I do not understand why either of these issues are a sore point for anyone. Obama does not talk about health care to children and, unfortunately, he does not talk about education to adults.
It’s very interesting that Tarlene calls us “racists.” It kind of reminds me of another troll, a few months back, who called herself “extreme feminist” and then was obviously not, on an obviously feminist post. It’s like our trolls are calling themselves out! Weird!
In fact, Jimmy, with regard to “firestorms erupting”: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/When-Bush-spoke-to-students-Democrats-investigated-held-hearings-57694347.html
I thought that this kind of treatment was limited to Obama because he’s black? It appears not. The Democrats held hearings after George H.W. Bush spoke to the kids, for the love of Pete.
And really? John Tyler? Have you done the research on this?
I think there’s a fairly big qualitative difference between the protests that came BEFORE Obama’s speech and the investigations that were begun AFTER Bush Sr.’s speech. In my opinion, the former were essentially fabrications, not based on any notion of what Obama was about to say. The latter were undertaken after the fact and weren’t so much about what Bush Sr. said, but instead about the cost coming out of the DoE’s budget.
I do agree that all politicians are self-interested and will always look for ways to promote themselves and their ideas. But fabrications and fear-mongering seems to be considered by many Republicans to be a suitable substitute for concrete and reasoned discussions of opposing ideas.
agreed, whomee. i appreciate the point, PO(W)B, and i appreciate that you provided a link to “back that shit up” (as HolyChow put it), but it’s just night and day.
ha! get it? moving on…
also, i bet you six donuts that there will be no hearings because what’s the GOP gonna say? “HE TOLD MAH CHILLUNS TO STAY IN SKOOL!!”
also, i really have to address your divisive point: claiming that obama is the most divisive president we’ve had in a long time is completely farfetched, TMIMO. ignoring the last eight years, let’s look at clinton. he who was responsible for the GOP’s resurgence, Lewinsky, Whitewater, Hillarycare, not to mention shutting the federal government down TWICE, once for almost a month if i recall correctly. he was so divisive his own VP disowned him during the 2000 election.
the only reason the conservative talking heads are saying obama is divisive is because they don’t like him and they don’t like his policies. but the same is true of every opposition party throughout the history of everything. if they liked and agreed with each other, they’d be in the same party, non?
cheers,
stm
What does it even mean to be the *most* divisive? Is there some sort of measure, however fuzzy, of divisiveness?
I’ve recently read that FDR didn’t give a crap whether the minority party agreed with his policies and signed into law a number of bills that were vociferously opposed. His legacy is the FDIC, the SEC, the TVA and Social Security. It seems to me that he’s even more divisive in comparison, considering that Obama often wants to hear and validate opposing points of view.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/opinion/03smith.html?_r=1&em
Only the losers complain about unfair conduct.