Obama "poisons" young mindsPosted by Chan Lowe on September 4, 2009
It's hard for reasonable people to even wrap their minds around the ugliness of thought that would cause a parent to prevent his child from being exposed to the words of the President of the United States.
One should at least have enough respect for the office to listen to its occupant before disagreeing.
It would be an excellent civics lesson, it seems to me, to talk to one's child after hearing the president speak and explain to him that it is all right not to agree with everything--or anything--he says. But all this does is teach children to hate, rather than listen to, those with whom we disagree. A variation, I suppose, on the Bush "we don't talk to our enemies" doctrine.
The other stuff, that he's trying to poison young minds with his socialistic, communistic dogma--well, if you really believe what Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck et al feed you, then I'm not going to waste further keystrokes trying to talk you out of it.
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For purposes of documentation, here is the genesis of this latest round of GOP lies, manufactured to spew for as long as possible for the sole purpose of discrediting our President.
"From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August." ----
Andrew Card, 2003September 1, 2009Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer Condemns Obama's Attempt to Indoctrinate Students ---RPOF Press Release
Tallahassee- Â Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer today released the following statement condemning President Obama's use of taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda.
"As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology. The idea that school children across our nation will be forced to watch the President justify his plans for government-run health care, banks, and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other President, is not only infuriating, but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power.
"While I support educating our children to respect both the office of the American President and the value of community service, I do not support using our children as tools to spread liberal propaganda. The address scheduled for September 8, 2009, does not allow for healthy debate on the President's agenda, but rather obligates the youngest children in our public school system to agree with our President's initiatives or be ostracized by their teachers and classmates.
"Public schools can't teach children to speak out in support of the sanctity of human life or traditional marriage. President Obama and the Democrats wouldn't dream of allowing prayer in school. Christmas Parties are now Holiday Parties. But, the Democrats have no problem going against the majority of American people and usurping the rights of parents by sending Pied Piper Obama into the American classroom.
The Democrats have clearly lost the battle to maintain control of the message this summer, so now that school is back in session, President Obama has turned to American's children to spread his liberal lies, indoctrinating American's youngest children before they have a chance to decide for themselves."
September 2, 2009Fla. GOP: Obama to spread socialism in schoolsThe head of the state Republican Party has attacked President Barack Obama's plan to give a back-to-school address to the nation's students next week, saying the president wants to push a "socialist" agenda on children.
Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer issued a press release Tuesday headlined, "Greer Condemns Obama's Attempt to Indoctrinate Students." In it, Greer says, "As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology" and "I do not support using our children as tools to spread liberal propaganda."
Obama plans to deliver a televised speech to the nation's school children on Sept. 8. Schools will have the option of airing the remarks in classrooms.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan has sent a press release to school principals billing the event as the first time a president will directly address the nation's students.
"The President will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning," Duncan wrote. "He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens."
Greer predicted that children will be "forced" to watch the speech and said the president was "bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power."
September 4, 2009Florida GOP head moves Obama attacks to right.....
It's common to hear such assertions from extreme critics of President Barack Obama: Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin.
But those words came from Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, who runs the party headed by Florida's supposedly moderate Gov. Charlie Crist. Greer has suddenly become a fountain of some of the harshest anti-Obama rhetoric around.
That's happening at the same time that Greer is nurturing ambitions for a high-level position in the national Republican Party.
It's also the same time that his political patron, Crist, is having increasing problems with the conservative base of his own party in his campaign for the U.S. Senate.
Greer's latest salvo, on Obama's planned education address, has suddenly put him in the national spotlight: He was scheduled for four national nightly news appearances Thursday.
Greer denies his rhetoric is an attempt to reconcile himself or Crist with the conservative base. He says he's simply voicing legitimate criticisms of Obama's policies and expressing the fears of ordinary citizens.
"From what I'm seeing and hearing in e-mails and calls today, parents are thanking us for raising this issue," he said Thursday.
Some analysts see other motives, however.
"There definitely seems to be a repositioning going on, whether that's for Greer or for the governor," said University of Central Florida political scientist Aubrey Jewett.
"Maybe this is a way for those two guys to shake the image that they're not aggressive enough against Obama, particularly after Crist's apostasy of supporting Obama's stimulus plan."
Greer is an Orlando businessman who got Crist's nod for chairman when the governor took office in 2007.
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September 5, 2009State GOP chief Jim Greer rips Obama -- but pushes Republican views at schoolsThere once was a political operative who loved to tell crowds he had a simple way of explaining to children the difference between Republicans and Democrats.
"Republicans get up and go to work," he would tell his son. "Democrats get up and go down to the mailbox to get their checks."
This man not only talked to his son about Republican values, he went into public-school classrooms and talked about them as well.
That man is Jim Greer — the same Jim Greer who, as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, just threw a nationwide hissy fit, claiming that the classroom is no place for politics and Barack Obama's "indoctrination."
One Seminole County mother, Barbara Wells, remembers the day Greer spoke to her son's sixth-grade class. "My son said he made some sort of Hillary Clinton joke," she recalled.
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There's no longer any question: Greer is a hypocrite.
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Late Friday, I caught up with Greer, who said he has no regrets about accusing the president of spreading "liberal lies" before Greer even knew what Obama was going to say.
In fact, Greer actually believes that, had he not called Obama out, the indoctrination would have taken place.
And he didn't see any fair comparison between his own school visits and the president's. The main difference, Greer said, is that he didn't have the Department of Education organizing lesson plans meant to idolize him the way he's convinced they would have for Obama, had Greer not stopped him.
But Jim, Thursday night on Hardball you said: "Before anybody talks to my children from a political perspective, I want to know what they have to say." And yet you didn't run your opinions by any of the parents before you started molding young minds, did you?
"That was different," he said. "I wasn't using lesson plans."
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So I ran Greer's extremist statement by four high-profile Republicans: Gov. Charlie Crist, U.S. Rep. John Mica, State House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon and Orange County GOP leader Lew Oliver.
I chose conservative leaders whose positions I respect. And Crist, too.
I just wanted to see whether a single one had the guts to call Greer out and take a stand for mainstream values and rational debate.
Not a one of them did.
And that is even scarier.
(To contemplate that Greer's premeditated lies about Obama's intentions were created merely to burnish Greer's and Crist's conservative *credentials* with their own base in Crist's upcoming senate campaign, and Greer's own ambition to rise in the Party structure, is the view of a hardened cynic such as myself. Disrespecting a sitting president in the national media for partisan political gain, you see, is not beyond this diseased Party.)
September 7, 2009Florida GOP Chair on Obama's Speech to Students: "It's a Good Speech, I'll Let My Kids Watch"ABC News' Steven Portnoy reports: The Florida Republican party chairman who last week accused the president of trying to “indoctrinate America’s children to his socialist agenda” now says he’ll let his children watch what he calls a “good speech,” one the president “should give.”
“It’s a good speech,” Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer said Monday. “It encourages kids to stay in school and the importance of education and I think that’s what a president should do when they’re gonna talk to students across the country.”
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“The speech that’s out today is one that he should give, and I’m pleased to see that the White House has made changes to what was gonna happen.”
Despite his conciliatory tone today, Greer says he has no regrets for issuing a statement last Tuesday, in which he said he was “absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology.” The statement also accused the president of “bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power.”
Now that he’s read the text of the speech, Greer says he’ll gladly let his own children watch it – if their school chooses to participate.
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Seven days. That's the life span of this particular round of GOP lies.
But, for the GOP, it's *Mission Accomplished*.