Mayor Sorry for Kids' Obama Chant, Pens Editorial

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Editor & Publisher/AP

BOISE, Idaho The mayor of an eastern Idaho town where second- and third-grade students on a school bus chanted "assassinate Obama!" after the Nov. 4 election has publicly apologized, saying there's no excuse for such behavior.

Rexburg Mayor Shawn Larsen wrote in a guest editorial sent Tuesday to local newspapers that he was saddened by the notoriety his community had received over the incident, both across the United States and abroad.

Larsen told The Associated Press that a formal response to the incident in his city was sorely needed.

"When people don't stand up and say, 'That's not appropriate, that's wrong, and those are hateful remarks,' it's almost like they are saying that it's an OK thing to do. And it's not," he said. "The mayor doesn't have any authority over the school system, but I do think it reflects upon the community."

In his editorial, Larsen recounted seeing Barack Obama speak in Washington, D.C., in early 2006 about his faith and how his upbringing had influenced his policies and his priorities. Larsen said he left the event inspired.

Read more: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003892763

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Good for you Mayor Larsen. You're a stand-up guy!

[singingbiscuit]

1. Again, time to end the ugly season

from an earlier thread:

Ending the Ugly Season

Time to stand up and call foul! You know when it happens, and you know how that silence feels when it falls.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

4. Yes yes yes annnnnd YES!!!!!

the lack of courage in the media to censure Sarah Palin after she gazed approvingly at the hate chants, post election is another example of the problem.

BUT events like this, all of this garbage is stirring up the sediment--and we are in a time now where more people are ready to look at that sediment, and decide to clean it up!

Welcome by the way, and I love your screen name. :hi:

[singingbiscuit]

11. Speaking Up

Thanks, Blanche! Check out this letter yet? Also about speaking up at the right time... http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4494436">Wasilla Teen Letter

Cheers me right up!

La Biscuit

[proud progressive]

2. WTF!!!!!!!!!! 2ND, 3RD GRADE KIDS!

yelling what?!?!
parents like this are why this country will always be paranoid and war-mongering. these kids will grow-up to be our next generation of haters. god bless them because we will need them to fight in our next crusade.

[MindPilot]

3. Yeah, thanks but --those kids did not think of that on their own.

There is an adult who is a) responsible for starting it, and b) responsible for letting it continue.

[proud progressive]

6. of course! that was my point.

i will leave god out of it and try to be a little more obvious next time

[melody]

5. There in eastern Idaho, a primary hatchery for the "master race"

There's a surprise.

We should go in, rescue the Democrats and good Republicans, and condemn the place.

[proud progressive]

7. funny! ....but wait...... what about the potatos? or is it potatoes?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Mayor Larsen = vile scum, slightly redeemed. Rexburg = cesspool? What's in the water there?

Noteworthy is that the kids got into it, meaning that there is something completely sickeningly disgusting about the way their parents are raising them in Rexburg.

[Puzzler]

9. Methinks it should be the parents that are to blame...

... I'm sure 2 graders didn't think of this all on their own.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. I was wrong. Larsen did not lead the students. Kudos to him for standing up. . . nt