Reaction to Obama’s school speech is tragic, sinister and sickening (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)

[jefferson_dem]

Reaction to Obama’s school speech is tragic, sinister and sickening
By BOB RAY SANDERS

Parents are talking about keeping their kids home from school this week.

Some so-called leaders are expressing grave concern "for the children" in fear of an impending disaster.

And the provocateurs who commandeer broadcast microphones on a daily basis continue to warn of a serious contagion that the nation must fight "by any means necessary."

I could understand it if these folk were worried about the H1N1 ("swine flu") virus, but that’s not their concern.

The infection they are afraid of is the president of the United States and his possible influence on America’s children.

<SNIP>

Unfortunately for a growing number of frightened, misguided and hate-filled Americans, this president should not and must not be a role model for their children. Therefore, their young sons and daughters should not be in class — or perhaps even in school — if there’s a remote possibility that the plague-spreading left-wing devil called Obama will speak to them.

They’ve labeled him the Antichrist who is set on desecrating the Constitution, destroying the country and annihilating their children’s futures.

It is theater of the absurd, being played out in exaggerated dramatic fashion on stages large and small — in offices, backrooms, broadcast studios and on the World Wide Web.

I would find it laughable if it were not so tragic, so sinister and so sickening.

<SNIP>

http://www.star-telegram.com/242/story/1590670.html

[polichick]

1. Tragic, sinister and sickening indeed.

k&r

[bjb]

47. unpatriotic

How dare the right censors the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!!!

[Ishoutandscream2]

2. Ft. Worth Star Telegram. Take note

[jefferson_dem]

6. Not exactly a liberal bastion.

Thanks for reminding me. I popped that in the subject line.

[Ishoutandscream2]

13. Bob Ray - a sane voice in a mad world

He's been around for awhile. He's a breath of fresh air.

[TexasProgresive]

15. The Late Great Molly Ivins home paper

I'll have you know.

[booksenkatz]

18. She used to call it the 'Startlegram'

I was born in FW, spent the first 27 years of my life there. I still go back to visit a few times a year and I read that old rag at my parents' breakfast table. It hasn't changed, but it's nice to see some sense every now and then.

God, how I miss Molly! Even *she* would not believe this bullshit. But she'd know exactly what to say, wouldn't she?

[lillypaddle]

19. I miss Molly, too

She would have brought a ray of sunshine to all the shit going on right now. She could always make me laugh. K&R

[TexasProgresive]

23. She's not channelling Molly but Susan DuQuesnay Bankston

at www.kissmybigbluebutt.com is a lot of fun. Admittedly some of her stuff is very local but she hits the nail on the head every time. And I am convinced that she is turning her very red district blue- cobalt blue.

[lillypaddle]

24. Good stuff

Thanks for the link.

[PSzymeczek]

37. This is great stuff.

And props to her for giving a shout-out to our very own Nance Greggs!

[Not Sure]

35. But compared to the Dallas Morning Snooze...

It's a candle in the darkness.

You should read the LTTEs in both the FWST and the DMN. Amazing that most of the people writing in can even find the on button on their computers.

This town (the DFW Metrosprawl) is the movie Idiocracy for real. It's nice to read something enlightening here once in a while. Thanks, Bob Ray.

[justabob]

44. DMN had a similar editorial

I was shocked.

[MichiganVote]

3. Its disgraceful

[liberalmuse]

4. How perfect.

I'm absolutely appalled. Words can't express the disgust and distaste I feel towards these nasty, hateful people. My god, it's gotten out of hand, and there are not many strong, sane voices in this country even attempting to put an end to this insanity. It is so easy to see how The Holocaust happened. The smears against President Obama are not much different than the smears against the Jews. These people will not be satisfied until they have innocent blood on their hands. Lots of it. Their kind of hatred demands a body count, preferably liberal bodies.

[mix]

5. How do you fight against this ignorance and insanity?

It is clear that the right-wing and its media allies want to destroy this presidency, someone needs to start fighting back against these loons before they destroy our democracy as well.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

43. This IS the ultimate question

Owning a media network would be a great start.

"Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture"-- Allen Ginsberg

[Cha]

7. Yeah, and they're overplaying their

tragic, sinister and sickening hand.

[CakeGrrl]

8. They need to become the face of the Republican party

The R's are doing their best to create this monster; make them own it.

[kayakjohnny]

9. Maybe this is the enema the country seems to be looking for.

I hope the sheer innocence and decency of the speech causes the haters to wonder what it is that they hate so much. But not holding the breath.

Maybe we actually need Civil War 2.0.

Shame. All of it so shameful and regressive.

People are still the same old reptilian bastards they've always been.

Color me not very surprised.

[ThorDem]

36. I don't think we need a civil war

but I do think we need to split the union up. It's time.

[MadMaddie]

39. You know I have been saying that for a long time.

Let's give them 3 or 4 states and let them have at it. They will soon find out that they will not be living the paradise they so long for. We can wall them off and then watch from the outside as they deteriorate in to chaos.

[ThorDem]

48. I'd be willing

to give them Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, North/South Carolina and even Virginia, though I realize tons of progressives call northern Virginia home (used to live there once upon a time in Herndon). I'd part with West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri - have at em.

[MadMaddie]

49. Ha..ha..IL know there are Progressives there

there would be an amnesty for those that want to move to the real US and then the seperatist US.

Forgot to say welcome to DU!!:hi:

[ThorDem]

50. Many thanks :)

[Paladin]

51. You'd Give Them Arkansas---and You Live In Hot Springs?

Yeah, OK. Enjoy whatever time you have here at DU......

[BlueJazz]

10. Can you imagine someone coming out of a Coma and asking what is going on? ..something like this>>

Hi: Boy, feels good to "be back in the world again"
Nurse: We were worried about you for the 3 weeks but you're going to be fine.

What's happened in the past 3 weeks?

Nurse: Sorry to say.. We have a huge Crisis...the President is going to speak to ALL our School Children.

Ah...I'm not sure I heard you right...maybe still in a fog...

Nurse: (exasperated) I said: THE PRESIDENT IS GOING TO SPEAK TO THE SCHOOL CHILDREN !!!

.Ah..umm..Yeeeah...and..I mean..am I really Awake?...is he going to hurt the kids or wh... (Nurse cuts him off)

Nurse (Sobbing uncontrolably)..The President is going to tell them to study and...sob..sob..work HARD..!!!!

Patient..thinking to himself.."Jesus Christ..Did I wake up in the fucking Crazy House"???

[kayakjohnny]

12. You've got some screenplay writer in ya!

Heehee... ya pulled me in there, BlueJazz. Pulled me right in.

[BlueJazz]

14. LOL..thanks...you know, I wish Saturday Nite Live would write and do a skit...

...about this whole ridiculous thing.. :)

[jefferson_dem]

11. Just in: UT's Repug Gov. steps up - supports Obama's address (AP)

Guv backs letting students watch to Obama speech

Updated: 09/05/2009 07:16:21 PM MDT

Republican Gov. Gary Herbert supports President Barack Obama's plan to deliver a televised back-to-school speech to the nation's students on Tuesday, saying he sees "nothing but good coming out of this."

Herbert said he favors letting students listen to the speech, and he thinks it will foster a dialogue between parents and their children.

"I think it's great. To hear from the president of the United States is an important thing," he said Saturday. "I'd like to hear what he has to say.

"I hope parents will take the opportunity to discuss the issues with their children, hear what the presidents views are and what his vision is for the future of America. If they agree, then explain that. If they disagree, explain to their children why. I see nothing but good coming out of this," he said.

The governor, who has grandchildren in the Utah school system, said he can't imagine that they wouldn't watch the speech.

Conservative critics have charged that the speech is an underhanded attempted at political indoctrination.

White House officials say the 15- to 20-minute speech is about getting students to work hard and stay in school.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13278256

[PSzymeczek]

41. Nice to know the Utah Governor is sane.

Seeing as they share a border with us.

[Colobo]

16. Excellent read. This country is bizarre.

[TomCADem]

17. Thank you for a media outlet calling BS on the GOP efforts to politicize a stay in school speech..

[FlaDem83]

20. Racism

is a scourge I'm afraid we'll never escape. Emancipation and the end of slavery didn't end racism. It flourished, through Jim Crow, through segregation and the sixties, through the ideas, beliefs and reactions parents reveal and pass along to their children. I really though the election of the first black president marked a turning point - a turning point for good, but unfortunately I think it has just exacerbated the fear and prejudice that many harbor, whether they know it or not. That they ARE intolerant. That African-Americans and other minorities are just "ok" so long as they are seen, not heard - so long as they...know their place. Now that the racial make-up of this country is changing - evidenced most prominently by a black president - these folks just cannot take it anymore. It really isn't their America. Their leave-it-to-beaver America. It is a melting pot - with different food, backgrounds, ethnicities, opportunities for all. But they just can't handle it. It is that simple. They can't, and they don't want to handle it because to handle it would require them to come to terms with their racist beliefs and reactions - and that is very uncomfortable, I'm sure. So they rant, and rave, about socialism, and health insurance, and argue so vigorously against their own interests that they convince themselves they're doing the right thing - and so it just perpetuates. And it is extremely disheartening and leaves me feeling sad for my country. It is tragic and telling.

[Douglas Carpenter]

21. KICK AND RECOMMEND!!!

[Peacetrain]

22. It is sad to see people so engulfed in hatred...

[saltpoint]

25. There is a sinister aspect to the objections to the president's address to

school children.

One wonders if all presidential addresses should be similarly distrusted. Should Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg then be yanked from school curricula coast to coast? I mean, we just can't take any chances.

Or might it be an impulse to withdraw access to just those presidents with dark skin? Richard Nixon, a president with white skin, was found to have mobilized arms of the federal government to act against its own citizens. How is that ok but Obama's remarks on personal responsibility not ok?

The Far Right is passing the batshit crazy zone on the way out of Reality.

[YvonneCa]

31. "The Far Right is passing the batshit crazy zone on the way out of Reality." Your words...

...are perfect. Question is, why do they keep getting coverage?

[democracy1st]

26. K & R

[Paladin]

27. Thank You, Bob Ray Sanders.

Nice to see you haven't lost your touch after all these years........

[Peregrine Took]

28. Yes, I think these descriptive words are much more appropriete than "silly"

which was Arne Duncan's weasel word today.

Its like when they used to say Limbaugh was an "entertainer" and not a hate monger - weasels!!

[Julius Civitatus]

29. The "Comments" section would make you lose faith in humanity.

The hate over there is beyond the level of rational speech. No crazy conspiracy is ridiculous enough for these morons to embrace.

[Skittles]

30. K&R

[mnhtnbb]

32. Can you imagine how Molly Ivins would have reacted to this?

[jayschool]

33. Joseph Welch

We need a nationally televised Joseph Welch moment:

"Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

[GinaMaria]

34. Their actions don't say anything about Obama

They are saying something about themselves, in very clear language. Let them keep exposing themselves. I'd rather know these peeps are, so please allow them in front of cameras crying about their children listening to a speech by the POTUS about staying in school, about keeping their kids home from school over a 15 minute speech and let them tell the rest of us what fearful, small people they are. Seriously? Wouldn't you be embarrassed to say something like this on national news or even in public or even outloud? I'm sorry these people have children to influence with their fear and loathin

Every four years around election time, school children participate in a mock election. I've heard the results of this mock election are a good predicter of the actual outcome. Kids know alot. Last time around the kids' choice was Obama. Kids like this guy and they may be more inclined to take his message to heart. Which would be a great thing... of more kids stayed in school and continued their educations longer.

[freddie mertz]

38. K & R. Tragic, sinister and sickening...

That pretty much sums it up.

[Kajsa]

40. Ignorant, fearful and disgusting!

The older I get, the less patience I have with these
&*^% idiots!

Right now, I have NONE!

:grr:

[Nothing Without Hope]

42. Very scary. "Fight by any means necessary" is code for assassination to all too many

This is widely known. The power of hate and ignorance has been unleashed. The monster is loose. Many challenges ahead, and too many politicians and media spokespeople are knowingly stoking these destructive fires. They don't care what horrors they bring about - they want their way no matter what.

[NecklyTyler]

45. President Obama wants to inspire people to return this country to greatness

President Obama wants to inspire the people, and especially our youth, to return this country to greatness. It seems that the right wing only want our President to fail

[NecklyTyler]

46. K&R