The Double Standard - Again!

After much wailing and gnashing of teeth over the weekend about how awful and misguided those of us on the right are over the Obama attempt to indoctrinate school kids, this little gem comes to light - from Byron York over at the National Examiner:

Unlike the Obama speech, in 1991 most of the controversy came after, not before, the president's school appearance. The day after Bush spoke, the Washington Post published a front-page story suggesting the speech was carefully staged for the president's political benefit. "The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props," the Post reported.

With the Post article in hand, Democrats pounced. "The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students," said Richard Gephardt, then the House Majority Leader. "And the president should be doing more about education than saying, 'Lights, camera, action.'"

Democrats did not stop with words. Rep. William Ford, then chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate the cost and legality of Bush's appearance. On October 17, 1991, Ford summoned then-Education Secretary Lamar Alexander and other top Bush administration officials to testify at a hearing devoted to the speech. "The hearing this morning is to really examine the expenditure of $26,750 of the Department of Education funds to produce and televise an appearance by President Bush at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, DC," Ford began. "As the chairman of the committee charged with the authorization and implementation of education programs, I am very much interested in the justification, rationale for giving the White House scarce education funds to produce a media event."

Unfortunately for Ford, the General Accounting Office concluded that the Bush administration had not acted improperly. "The speech itself and the use of the department's funds to support it, including the cost of the production contract, appear to be legal," the GAO wrote in a letter to Chairman Ford. "The speech also does not appear to have violated the restrictions on the use of appropriations for publicity and propaganda."

That didn't stop Democratic allies from taking their own shots at Bush. The National Education Association denounced the speech, saying it "cannot endorse a president who spends $26,000 of taxpayers' money on a staged media event at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, D.C. -- while cutting school lunch funds for our neediest youngsters."

Right. I am sick of the hypocrisy of the loonie left, but we are obviously stuck with it as long as you have nutcases like these two: (warning, before clicking "play," have barf-bucket handy)

You're right, Mr. Olberman - it's all racist on our part! In your "reporting" you failed to mention the investigations and the hyper-ventilation of the left. Nice work on your part too, Mr. Alter - "whiter, more conservative, and stupider..." Is this what passes for civil discourse now?

Now maybe we have to print it in large print in order for them to understand this. The problem with the Obama speech is not "the President speaking to school kids and encouraging them to stay in school." The problem is a) the study guide - Keith, you omitted the parts about "what are the three most important words in the speech," and "what resonated with you..." AND b) the overall creepiness of this administration - from the continued use of the logo on everything (note to file lefties, the Office of the President has its own logo) to the sing alongs being performed in our schools already:

We know the teacher's unions are firmly in the Obama camp, but to see them actively promoting this sick cult of personality is revolting. You put it all together and it points to this:

I am not opposed to the President giving our children words of encouragement. I have read the speech and it is fairly innocuous. The issue I have with it is that this is a highly sensitive time. The country is on edge and deeply divided about the deficits, the spending, the healthcare fiasco etc. etc. We are all worried about how much money Washington is printing and what will happen to our taxes if half of Obama's agenda gets passed. It may have been entirely innocent, but it like most things Obama does, you can't listen to the words, you have to watch what he does. This was a dumb, tone deaf mistake on the part of an administration that really believe they do have a "partnership with God." They really do believe that they had some enormous mandate. They really do believe that they can continue to con this Chicago street hustler to the top. They really thought that America's parents weren't watching. America's parents are watching and we are sick to our stomachs at the thought that for the first time in the history of this nation we will not pass on a better country to our kids than the one we inherited from our parents.