Boy Scouts of America distances itself from partisan politics after Trump speech

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico




By POLITICO STAFF 07/25/2017 09:27 AM EDT

The Boy Scouts of America issued a statement distancing itself from partisan politics after President Donald Trump used his speech at the National Scout Jamboree to criticize former President Barack Obama, his former campaign rival Hillary Clinton, fake news and pundits.

“The Boy Scouts of America is wholly non-partisan and does not promote any one position, product, service, political candidate or philosophy,” the group said in a statement Monday night, according to news reports. “The invitation to visit the National Jamboree is a long-standing tradition and is in no way an endorsement of any political party or specific policies.”

Trump broke with eight decades of tradition Monday when he criticized rivals and others at the National Jamboree, which gathers tens of thousands of young people from across the world to discuss values such as serving your country and exchanging ideas.

During the speech, Trump attacked Obama, slammed “fake media” and trashed Clinton for not campaigning enough in Michigan. He also told a rambling story about a home builder, William Levitt, who “went personally bankrupt, and he was now much older. And I saw him at a cocktail party, and it was very sad because the hottest people in New York were at this party,” according to news reports.

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Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/25/boy-scouts-of-america-trump-speech-national-jamboree-240929

[Suburban Warrior]

1. Not good enough!

[Ahpook]

3. Not even close

How could they not expect something like this with that bag of shit on stage

[sdfernando]

2. Thats it?!?!?!?!

A wholly inadequate statement! Lost opportunity to educate their members and remind them what scouting is all about. This is the weakest tea they could have offered.

[lark]

4. Weak tea!

This is so insufficient, I'm so glad my son never wanted to join BSA.

[Old Vet]

5. Iam giving the Scouts a pass on this one..........

Nobody but nobody can forsee what this asshole(45) may spout.....

[FakeNoose]

8. Cheeto had no right to turn the BS Jamboree into a Trump rally

It was completely uncalled for and it shows how unhinged he really is.

You can give them a pass, maybe they didn't see it coming. But this can never happen again.
Now they know!

These innocent children had no idea what they were cheering for, and that's the only way he can get an audience now.

[NotMyFuhrer]

13. Not So Fast to Excuse the Leadership

Just look at the enablers (ie: henchmen) who are standing behind him . . . THEY ALSO INVITED . . . Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price.

They must all agree with what Hitler Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach has said:

"We do not need intellectual leaders who create new ideas, because the superimposing leader of all desires of youth is Adolf Hitler."

"Your name, my Führer, is the happiness of youth"

"He who serves Adolf Hitler, the Führer, serves Germany, and whoever serves Germany, serves God."

[Sunlei]

19. Rick Pe (RR)y, the new Slaughte(R) tza(R) back up deplorable speech to children.

[sarge43]

15. The audience composed of scouts and scout leaders booed a former president.

A bleeding from the eyes apology by the leadership is in order.

[sarge43]

24. Forgot to mention, they also booed a former scout.

In the best traditions of ... Classy.

[Duppers]

32. But yes we do have considerable ideas...

regarding "what this asshole(45) may spout." He cannot control himself.

And why the applause and booing Pres. O and HRC?

[SCVDem]

6. The BSA turned into a tRump campaign mob!

America cannot abide a national political group movement made of children.

Look at any group like Al Queada or ISIS. Indoctrination starts when they are young. We don't need trump youth or his version of orange shirts.

Ban the BSA! Pull their charter!

[Pacifist Patriot]

7. Because no one could have seen that coming.

[defacto7]

9. Distance itself??.

IT CAN'T! It's a done deal. Unless they denounce Trump and his speech categorically, the BSA own it.

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. They especially own it now with this weak response.

America, at least the one we knew, actually is gone.

Russia and Vlad will make sure it never comes back.

We are in the middle of a coup, yet most of us are not acting like it.

[defacto7]

33. exactly

[Mickju]

10. Pathetic response

[Tom Rinaldo]

11. "But, you know, he's President so he can say whaever he wants to our kids" n/t

[Sunlei]

21. the president ruined WH easter egg roll for children too.

Republicans love him, bet they don't let their kids near him.

[Achilleaze]

12. Weak as water. Not good enough by a long shot.

Honor? no
Respect? no
Kindness? no
Courtesy? no
Honesty? no

the BSA FAILS bigly on all of the values it claims to represent.

[Marthe48]

14. email to Dowling today

trump's horrifying speech

I am writing to let you know that trump’s speech was deplorable on so many levels, I won’t get too specific. That Scouts booed a former President speaks to a troubling lack of traditional Boy Scout training. Had traditional Scout guidance been in use over the last decade or so, Boy Scouts true to the motto would have remained silent. Instead of cutting the mike, you allowed trump to share his personal sexual behavior with 80,000 MINOR children. How is that possible?

Are you going to issue a rebuttal? Are you going to send each and every person who attended the Jamboree a personal message about booing a President, and warning signs of grooming for sexual abuse? If you don’t take personal steps to mitigate the damage this speech created, you may as well close down the BSA.

My oldest brother was a Boy Scout. I was hoping my grandson would be a Boy Scout. But unless I see some sort of strongly worded statement from BSA about unacceptable behavior from both the attendees and the speaker, I will never mention BSA to my grandchildren, ever.

[Blue Idaho]

16. PR Spin - they need to actually APOLOGIZE.

This wasn't the Scouts - this was a Hitler Youth Rally. The Scouting leadership could have easily seen this coming and avoided the whole mess but let's face it - a certain percentage of the leadership are Trump fanatics. The rest just stood by and let it happen. That's not leadership - and that's not the Scouts.

I earned my Eagle Scout badge in 1969 and I will no longer call myself a Scout. They are no longer worth supporting,and I sure as hell wouldn't send my kids there.

[Paladin]

17. That's nice. Fuck the BSA, anyway.

You boo my presidential candidate, you earn my active and likely permanent opposition.

[Sunlei]

18. this p(R)esident shouldn't be allowed to speak to childrens groups. perhaps the religious family val

(R)eligious family values "charities" will help with this issue? They spend billions to help their causes don't they?

[UpInArms]

20. BSA is a sham of an organization

Which has promoted intolerance and now ... has allowed tRump to "rally" them?

And they "booed" Obama?

This is yet another thing which has just made me sick ...

[Politicub]

22. The Boy Scouts culture is about 15 years behind

They stayed homophobic when homophobia was no longer socially acceptable. Why would they be any different now?

[VigilantG]

23. Wtf! That is BSA's response?

I would be pulling my boys out immediately! I already ranted on what Drumpf said to these Boy Scouts on another post but, seeing this pathetic response is just eye-opening to the what the real leadership of BSA must be now.

Wow! So disturbing! I'm beyond furious and sadness right now.

[geek tragedy]

25. Too little, too late. By failing to disavow what Der Fuhrer did, BSA owns everything he said.

They're the Tr*mpjugend now.

[Blue_Tires]

26. Bullshit... That ain't "distance", that's "washing their hands"

[The_Casual_Observer]

28. Show how irresponsible the BSA leadership is. They should have allowed him to have a pre recorded

message and had the right to edit it.

[Lifelong Protester]

29. Too late!

It was supposed to be a speech to inspire, not to proclaim his 'greatness' at the expense of others.

[Freethinker65]

30. Yep. Trump managed to kill the BSA.

There is no way for them to go back to any semblance of bipartisanship after this. If they denounce the speech, they lose ....if they say nothing, they lose... is they support the speech they lose.

PR nightmare. What an ass.

[Duppers]

34. "If they denounce the speech, they lose"

How so? By offending RW Trumpsters?

[Squinch]

31. Yeah... no. After your members booed a former president and cheered the smearing of a dedicated

servant of the people, that's just not going to do it.

[BigDemVoter]

35. Too fucking late.