Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

~~~

~~~

Monday, September 7, 2009

CAUTION! These Words by the POTUS May Inspire Your Children to Do Well in School.

To all those who trembled in fear with the prospect that President Barack Hussein Obama would indoctrinate their children should he have access to their impressionable young minds, I suggest that if you do not keep them home from school, at least have the sense to send them off with cotton or wax stuffed into their ear canals so they can be protected from hearing horrible, socialist statements from the Kenyan like this:

"But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world - and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
 

Every single one of you has something you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a good writer - maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper - but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor - maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine - but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team."

I can understand why some of you would not want your little ones to hear such propaganda!  Imagine the President of the United States drilling such nonsense into the young minds of our most precious resourses!

But wait, there's more.  And it gets worse:


"And this isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don't do that - if you quit on school - you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country."


Seriously.  Do you want your kids listening to what your parents, teachers, clergy, AND EVEN OTHER PRESIDENTS like George H.W. Bush and Ronald Wilson Reagan told you when you were a kid.  Hell no, I can understand why you wouldn't want these communistic ideas filling their little heads.  Don't let them listen to this:

"Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there's not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life - what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home - that's no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That's no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future."


Seriously, we don't want our American children hearing such politically motivated rot, do we.  Well not your kids, anyway.  
Just the ones we want to succeed.


"...Obama is the leader of this entire nation. It doesn't matter if you voted for him -- or even if your head threatens to explode every time you think about him. He is the president, and, as such, it's a big deal that he's speaking directly to students about the importance of education. (Not teachers unions, you hysterics.) And, whatever one's party registration, the idea that any child should be kept home from class purely so their parents can make a political statement about an apolitical speech is appalling. Is the idea that we should shelter children from any contact with or knowledge of any president we personally dislike? Maybe, during the years our preferred party is out of power, we should just pretend that the president doesn't exist. That's a healthy way to run a democracy.
Admittedly, Obama is smooth. But he ain't smooth enough to wipe away an entire childhood of conservative teachings with one quickie speech about (all together now!) working hard in school. Buck up, all you deep-red wingers: Make the kids watch Glenn Beck afterward if it eases your anxiety. Have them genuflect before a poster of Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. But don't be so paranoid about what might happen if they're briefly exposed to the sinister charms of a liberal president that you drag them down into your foxhole of craziness."   Link


Link to another idiotic school district and its reaction to the speech.

44 comments:

Gordon Scott said...

I'd have to agree with the House Majority Leader and his comment on the president's address to schoolchildren: "This is paid political advertising."

TAO said...

Nope, we don't want a commie loving black liberal talking to our children...and then we also don't want our kids talking to pedophiles...

I wonder who will be the first from the reactionary right to decypher this speech and come up with something evil hidden in betweens the lines? Or maybe if you read it or listen to it backwards it says something totally different?

Lets see how many school districts opt out and or how many parents pull their kids from school and if the total equals more than 25% then kiss this country goodbye and good riddance.

At some point you have to accept reality for what it is: societies that cannot change and adapt become extinct.

A guy named Dave said...

Kind of funny actually, Obama is speaking about "Stay in school", and what is his opposition doing?

Pulling their kids out of school.

Maybe he should tell the wackjobs that they SHOULDN'T go jump off a bridge!

Arthurstone said...

An example of 'paid political advertising' from the speech. Gordon.

One will do.

Thanks!

Arthurstone said...

Forgive me Gordon.

The entire speech is 'paid political advertising'. Right?

What was I thinking?

Boehner certainly know his core demographic.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Actually, Arthurstone, Gordon was referring to the House MAJORITY leader. And I couldn't find the quote on Google.

Gordon?

TAO said...

Gordon slipped during a minute of wishful thinking...

JoeBama "Truth 101" Kelly said...

My Fellow Americans:

I just had to sign a permission slip for my youngest to listen to the President of the United States.

What in the name of Jesus Christ is the matter with this country when a group of people who based on nothing but hatred and lies propigated by right wing commentators can force schools to not allow American children to listen to their President?



But as usual, they forget that they didn't mind when Reagan and Bush I spoke to school kids. That was different. They weren't Democrats.

TAO said...

Ah, they also weren't black...

Then again they weren't as smart either...Americans do mistrust its intellectuals...

A smart black liberal...whew, that is the reactionary rights worse nightmare....

Arthurstone said...

Truth101-

That is seriously f**ked up. Sorry. On the other hand I like the idea of your not missing a golden opportunity of providing your kid a real teachable moment during this bit of political theatre.

Shaw-

I gave Gordon the benefit of a typo on that.

And while much of the alleged 'liberal' MSM is describing the state of 'crisis' & 'fragility' in Obama's administration I don't think Pelosi has bailed quite yet.

Shaw Kenawe said...

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.”


No comment.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Former First Lady Laura Bush praises Mr. Obama's planned speech:

PARIS, France (CNN) -- Former first lady Laura Bush praised the performance of her husband's successor Monday, breaking with many Republicans in telling CNN that she thinks President Obama is doing a good job under tough circumstances.
Former first lady Laura Bush defended President Obama's decision to address the nation's schoolchildren.

Former first lady Laura Bush defended President Obama's decision to address the nation's schoolchildren.

She also criticized Washington's sharp political divide during an interview covering a range of topics including her thoughts on first lady Michelle Obama, former Vice President Dick Cheney, the situation in Afghanistan and Myanmar, and life after eight tumultuous years in the White House.

Bush sat down with CNN on Monday during a United Nations meeting in Paris, France, where she was promoting global literacy, a cause she trumpeted during her husband's administration.

The typically reserved former first lady defended Obama's decision to deliver a back-to-school speech to students, putting her at odds with many conservatives afraid that the president will use the opportunity to advance his political agenda.

"I think he is [doing a good job]," Bush said when asked to assess Obama's job performance. "I think he has got a lot on his plate, and he has tackled a lot to start with, and that has probably made it more difficult."

Michelle Obama is also "doing great," she said, in part by turning the White House into a comfortable home for her family.

Gordon Scott said...

Oh, sorry. I left off the date of the quote--it's from 1991. It was made by House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, when President George HW Bush was going to speak to the nation's students.

The quote is here.

Gordon Scott said...

A tip of the hat to the hostess, for her allowance of my typo. And a bow of apology as well, since I wrote from memory and didn't get the quote exactly right. That forced her to waste time on a fruitless Google search.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Gordon,

I can't remember what happened in 1991, but was there a rebellion on the part of Democratic parents against what GHWB's talk to the children? Were they demanding that school kids not be forced to listen to George HW Bush? Or was it, as I'm guessing, merely weak political posturing by the opposition?

Do you see the difference between typical pols nipping at whatever the opposition does and what has happened this time?

Congresspeople, pundits, and American adults bellowing that the president, by giving this talk to kids, is indoctrinating them into socialism?

Can we agree that is total insanity and wonder what the hell has happened to this country?

Shaw Kenawe said...

Here's an example, taken from the comment section in the post below this one, of how different and destructive things are today: (And no, if the last president were giving his talk, I would NOT be suggesting that he was trying to turn our precious children into war-mongering torturers.) That's about the equivalent of the lunacy the Right is wallowing in.

Here's an example:

My View said...

The people have spoken and they are saying no to socialist indoctrination speeches for our children.
Obama is going to be speaking to half-empty classrooms around the country. Then lets see what news media says or how they spin that!
Obama seems to be stuck on stupid!

September 6, 2009 10:21 AM

Thayer Nutz said...

Let me get this straight: For the past eight years, it has been the official policy of the Republican Party that the president of the United States is a unitary executive whose powers allow him to violate the fourth, fifth and sixth amendments to the Constitution and decide without judicial review about the application of international law to the (illegal) practice of torture, but apparently does not extend to speaking to public school students about their upcoming school year.

I don't know whether state Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer is stupid, presumptuously partisan, racist or merely cynical for taking this piece of hypocrisy to the national media. I do know that his goal is to diminish President Barack Obama without any real evidence and in a manner consistent with the assortment of hooligans who confuse disrupting town halls with winning elections.

That school districts have decided to cave to this partisan putsch and subject President Obama's speech to prior restraint is, to me, one of the worst civics lessons an educational institution can give its students. What it has done is contribute to a generation of eroding what has become pejoratively referred to as civics-class democracy.

The J Mopper said...

I lost faith in our news broadcasting years ago but it would be refreshing to see a segment on this subject entitled "Why is America so afraid and misinformed?"...though this would need to be a running segment due to the overabundance of material.

Pamela Zydel said...

Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need.

I don’t know about anyone else, but the above quote from the speech left me with a lump in my throat. Does anyone else find it horribly distressing that there ARE MANY children out there who do NOT have support from their parents? Does anyone else find it terribly heartbreaking that tens of thousands of children are abused and mistreated and feel all alone? If Obama makes even a few of THOSE children FEEL cared for, doesn’t THAT account for SOMETHING?

This speech isn’t about political agendas or views, as far as I can tell. It’s a message to the children about education and personal responsibility. Personally I don’t think Obama is stupid enough to make it political. IF it IS, it will be the death of his political career. He may like to be on camera, he may like to give speeches…whatever…but if this speech prevents even 1% of American children from dropping out of school, then in my opinion, it's worth it.

Gordon Scott said...

We don't know what sort of speech was planned before the controversy erupted.

Shaw,

The internet in its present form didn't exist in 1991, so there wasn't the kind of information sharing and networking we have today. Yet the Democrats in Congress held hearings to suggest that it was a partisan political speech (the FEC ruled it wasn't).

But things are indeed different today. And people have seen this president stand up and say, over and over, things that simply aren't true--such as his claim that people who like their plan get to keep it. Or when he claims that the public option won't lead to single-payer--yet congressmen and women from very blue districts are telling their supporters that oh, yes, that's exactly what the public option is going to do.

They've also seen a president who demands that bills be passed that haven't even been printed in final form. They see a president who slaps his creepy logos on everything. They see federal funds being disbursed to organizations which then use them to promote the president's agenda.

They've seen the administration and its friends deride them as crazed, ill-informed nutcases because they have the temerity to speak up to their elected representatives. They've seen union thugs intimidating citizens who just want to speak.

They've seen a president who promised transparency, who promised an administration with no lobbyists, who promised to reach across the aisle--and they've seen each of those promises forgotten as if they were never made.

You have claimed that no other president has had to deal with such criticism so early. Perhaps that's because no other president came in the door demanding that his agenda be passed without debate or deliberation.

They don't believe him--not anymore.

Shaw Kenawe said...

"They see a president who slaps his creepy logos on everything."

That's a subjective opinion. You see it as "creepy;" people who like Mr. Obama do not.


"They see federal funds being disbursed to organizations which then use them to promote the president's agenda."

You mean like Bush's Faith-Based Organizations?

You seem to have the same sort of blinders on that you accuse the Dems of wearing when it comes to looking at what the party in power does.

IIRC, the Dems were accusing the Reps of slamming through legislation without benefit of committee hearings, readings, etc. Tom DeLay wasn't called "The Hammer" for no reason. He became known as "The Hammer" for his enforcement of party discipline in close votes and his reputation for taking political retribution on opponents, The Dems.

DeLay was also noted for involving lobbyists in the process of passing House bills. One lobbyist said, "I've had members pull me aside and ask me to talk to another member of Congress about a bill or amendment, but I've never been asked to work on a bill — at least like they are asking us to whip bills now."

That was going on during the Bush administration.

dmarks said...

Gordon: "The internet in its present form didn't exist in 1991"

It had existed at least since the early 1970s. Long before Al Gore was in Congress (and puts the lie to Gore's exact statement that he created it while in Congress).

Arthurstone said...

Not surprising Laura Bush turns out to be a closet socialist.

She reads books.

Gordon Scott said...

Well, yeah, DMarks. And I was on it back when most of the commenters here weren't even conceived. VM/CMS, anyone? Ever suffer the heartbreak of stumbling on the way to the mainframe and dropping your deck? Does alt.soc.xxxx have any meaning for you?

in its present form could actually be shorthand for "blog-laden, Twitter-happy opinion-and-news free-for-all."

Gordon Scott said...

shaw,

DeLay was the whip. It was his job to enforce party discipline.

And Bush's Faith-based Initiative was really, really bad. Which is why President Obama has increased funding to the program.

Honestly, you make my point for me. Nancy Pelosi promised an ethically squeaky-clean Congress. Obama said he was gonna change things and make it sweet, kind and full of hopeychange.

She hasn't delivered, and he hasn't. Why are you annoyed with me? You should be directing your ire toward the folks for whom you and yours gave money, time and effort, believing that they meant it when they said they were different.

For me, they're just bad politicians with bad ideas.

But they betrayed you.

Arthurstone said...

Al Gore!!!????

Funny how the monomaniacal Conservative dynamic duo around here can summon up a bit of campaign boilerplate (imagine, a politician taking credit for gov't initiatives he helped fund) while ignoring real whoppers:

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."
- Dick Cheney, August 26, 2002

"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons."
- George W. Bush, September 12, 2002

"If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world."
- Ari Fleischer, December 2, 2002

"We know for a fact that there are weapons there."
- Ari Fleischer, January 9, 2003

"Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent."
- George W. Bush, January 28, 2003

"We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more."
- Colin Powell, February 5, 2003

"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have."
- George Bush February 8, 2003

"So has the strategic decision been made to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction by the leadership in Baghdad? I think
our judgment has to be clearly not."
- Colin Powell, March 8, 2003

And Gordon thanks. for as always, keeping things simple. I've yet to meet ANYONE who seriously believed the mess we find ourselves in would be tidied up in a few months. The only disappointment I feel is that after all this time (and all evidence to the contrary even making the effort) we still have congressional Democrats (and too often the President) trying to work in a 'bipartisan' manner.

Shaw Kenawe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shaw Kenawe said...

Betrayed moi?

No. Like a lot of my conservative friends, you like to do my thinking for me.

In fact, Mr. Obama has done quite a lot of what I had hoped he would:

His administration established a credit card bill of rights.

He expanded eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs and ensured that these programs would continue to serve their critical safety net function."

Supported increased funding for the NEA

Appointed an assistant to the president for science and technology policy.

Funded a major expansion of AmeriCorps.

Worked to overturn Ledbetter vs. Goodyear.

Appointed at least one Republican to the cabinet.

Extended unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits.

Reversed restrictions on stem cell research.

Directed military leaders to end war in Iraq. Promise: On "my first day in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war".

Granted Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send money to Cuba.

Those are just some of the promises he made and kept that meant something to me.

You blanket assertion that he "betrayed" me is wishful rhetoric on your part, and, really, with regard to me personally, has no basis in fact.

You don't like him; I do.

He is not perfect, and he will disappoint me, and I will disagree with him.

IOW, I'm not a cultist. I can and will speak out when I disagree.

I disagree on his wavering on the public option. I want one. It's not clear yet where the administration will go on this.

I disagree on his expansion of the war in Afghanistan. I don't believe it will win anything.

I don't believe he should try to kiss up to the Republicans. They want him to fail at everything, and they do not work with him in good faith: See Sen. Grassley.

rockync said...

Pam - I just finished listening to his speech and it was just what the WH said it would be.
Like him or not, he is a decent orator and hopefully, a child was inspired today.
I agree with you; it is distressing to think there are children out there who have no adults to look up to, no one who encourages them or cares about what happens to them.
When one of my sons was getting ready to apply to colleges I took a week off from work just to sit down and fill out all the financial paperwork as well as help him organize his college apps.
I also ended up helping a couple of his friends do their paperwork simply because there was no one at home who could be bothered.
I've been spending less time in the bloggerhood so I can devote more time to community based pursuits. All the endless arguments have just worn me out.

dmarks said...

Arthur said: "Al Gore!!!????"

Actually, a politician who takes credit for government initiatives he helped fund is STILL a liar when he says that he created something that existed before he was on the seen.

Then you gave a list of only conservatives making quotes about Saddam having WMD. Is it any surprise that you left out this quote, which short-circuits that entire line of your argument:

"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
-- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

Shaw Kenawe said...

dmarks,
From Snopes.com

1. snopes.com: Al Gore Invented the Internet •••
Did Al Gore claim that he 'invented' the Internet?
...Quotes --> Internet of Lies Internet of Lies Claim: Vice-President Al Gore claimed that he "invented" the Internet. Origins: Despite the...


...Al Gore did not claim he "invented" the Internet, nor did he say anything that could reasonably be interpreted that way. The "Al Gore said he 'invented'...
...reasonably be interpreted that way. The "Al Gore said he 'invented' the Internet" put-downs were misleading, out-of-context distortions of something he...


To read the entire piece go here so you will stop repeating that old canard. Please read the entire entry so you'll see how wrong you are. Thanks.

Also your quote by Al Gore on Saddam misses the point. Al Gore did not vote to allow GWB to invade Iraq.

Gordon Scott said...

"Al Gore did not vote to allow GWB to invade Iraq."

Neither did David Bowie, Cindy Crawford, or my cat. Then again, all of the above weren't in office at the time.

dmarks said...

Shaw: I read that. I also read the definition of "create". When someone says they created a new piece of technology, it is so close to them having said that they invented it that:

1) Claiming any sort of meaningful difference is splitting hairs.

2) It is a rather fair paraphrase.

"The "Al Gore said he 'invented' the Internet" put-downs were misleading, out-of-context distortions."

Not misleading at all. And when you look at the context, Gore specifically said that he created the Internet when in Congress.

Let's look at the word "create". Look at the synonyms:

"actualize, author, beget, bring into being, bring into existence, bring to pass, build, cause to be, coin, compose, conceive, concoct, constitute, construct, contrive, design, devise, discover, dream up, effect, erect, establish, fabricate, fashion, father, forge, form, formulate, found, generate, give birth to, give life to, hatch, imagine, initiate, institute, invent, invest, make, occasion, organize, originate, parent, perform, plan, procreate, produce, rear, set up, shape, sire, spawn, start"

No matter how you look at it (create, beget, invent, spawn, originate, etc), Gore did not create it. It was there before he got on the scene. Nothing Snopes said can change the actual timeline, Gore's actual quotation on CNN, and the meanings of these words.

Defending Gore's lie that he invented the Internet is like defending the grammar "where wings take dream" statement.

As for the WMD thing, My quote of Gore was dead-on, and fit into the subject of Arthur's quotes.

Gordon: Good point.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Sorry dmarks,

I don't accept your argument.

Let's take Snopes' example of Dwight Eisenhower. He "created" the interstate highway system. Do you believe that also means he invented it?

I'm going with Snopes on this because you're basing your argument solely on your anti-Gore bias.

Gordon,

Very funny.

But you know what I was getting at.

Gordon Scott said...

I'd say it was a fair attribute to say that DDE invented the interstate highway system. During World War II he admired Germany's autobahn system, and how it enabled the Germans to move troops and resources very quickly from one front to another.

He made it a priority of his administration to create a similar high-speed highway system for the US. That's why the official name of the system is, "The National Defense and Interstate Highway System."

Because the US system differs somewhat in purpose and capabilities from Germany's, I'd say it's fair to say that Eisenhower invented the system.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Gordon,

If DDE got the idea from Germany, then he didn't "invent" anything.

in·vent (n-vnt)
tr.v. in·vent·ed, in·vent·ing, in·vents
1. To produce or contrive (something previously unknown) by the use of ingenuity or imagination.

He used someone else's contrivance to make an American system of interstate highways.

Gordon Scott said...

Perhaps a hot oil treatment would be appropriate.

dmarks said...

Shaw: I am basing my explanation on the fact that others created the Internet years before Gore got involved in any way whatsoever.

Anti-Gore bias has nothing to do with it. Any bias comes up against the cold hard fact that Gore took credit for creating something that others created long before he got involved.

Arthurstone said...

dmarks typed:

'As for the WMD thing, My quote of Gore was dead-on, and fit into the subject of Arthur's quotes.'

Not really dmarks. The subject of the quotes I provided was you and your highly-partisan sense of the 'truth'. In this case the theme was lies in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Lies the past administration perpetuated for their own political ends and with which you remain perfectly comfortable while taking offense at a bit of campaign boilerplate regarding the internet.

Funny what winds people up. Thousands unnecessarily killed and hundreds of billions squandered? Who cares? The important thing is Al Gore didn't 'invent' the internet.



1.) Al Gore didn't invade Iraq.

2.) US citizens and our representatives were lied to:

Al Gore october 18, 2004:

"And in one of the speeches a year ago last August, I proposed that one reason why the normal processes of our democracy have seemed dysfunctional is that the nation had a large number of false impressions about the choices before us, including that Saddam Hussein was the person primarily responsible for attacking us on September 11 th 2001 (according to Time magazine, 70 percent thought that in November of 2002); an impression that there was a tight linkage and close partnership and cooperation between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, between the terrorist group al Qaeda, which attacked us, and Iraq, which did not; the impression that Saddam had a massive supply of weapons of mass destruction; that he was on the verge of obtaining nuclear weapons, and that he was about to give nuclear weapons to the al Qaeda terrorist group, which would then use them against American cities; that the people of Iraq would welcome our invading army with garlands of flowers; that even though the rest of the world opposed the war, they would quickly fall in line after we won and contribute money and soldiers so that there wasn’t a risk to our taxpayers of footing the whole bill, that there would be more than enough money from the Iraqi oil supplies, which would flow in abundance after the invasion and that we would use that money to offset expenses and we wouldn’t have to pay anything at all; that the size of the force required for this would be relatively small and wouldn’t put a strain on our military or jeopardize other commitment around the world. Of course, every single one of these impressions was wrong. And, unfortunately, the consequences have been catastrophic for our country…"

Now once Cheney, Bush & Rumsfeld admits to their mistakes I'll be as happy as the next to forgive them.

After they've served their sentences.

dmarks said...

Arthur said: "In this case the theme was lies in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq"

That could not have been the theme, since the statements were truthful (as at least 50 WMD were found in Iraq after the invasion. Just one WMD found is enough to prove that there were WMD there, and to put the lie to all the claims that there were none. And Gore's statement was truthful, like that of many other Democrats who said the same thing as the Republicans you quoted.

Stopping a major terrorist kingpin is a wise investment.

On to Al Gore's speech, the White House did not claim that Saddam caused 9/11. And yes there was indeed a positive linkage between Saddam and Bin Laden. His "the impression that Saddam had a massive supply of weapons of mass destruction" is a way to weasel words, but at least he is not claiming, as some do (ahem) that none were found. " ....the rest of the world opposed the war" is not true, as there was a large coalition of many nations that supported retaliating against Saddam.

Not surprised that while Gore can make some true statements every once in a while, his lies about foreign policy only mean we are all the more fortunate that he lost the election in 2000.

Where Gore stops lying and makes some valid points is when he talks about the "rosy" predictions concerning the war and how far off they turned out to be. But it is easy to armchair quarterback most wars.

Bush, Rumsfeld, and Cheney took the wise course, and thankfully we don't put people in prison for correctly doing their job.

Pamela Zydel said...

Rocky: I’m not surprised that you are helping your community and other children, besides your own. I could tell from some of your posts and comments that you are a concerned mom. I commend YOU!

After Obama’s speech, I heard comments like “He didn’t say anything I haven’t told my own children.” Or “What he said was common sense.” And while I can relate to those, I also realize that there are tens of thousands of children out there who DON’T have parents who tell them ANYTHING. Or what about the thousands of parents who are more concerned with their jobs, drugs, alcohol or their next boyfriend or girlfriend to be worried about their child let alone an important message like stay in school because it’s important for your future and because I care!

Some people just can’t see outside their own little world to realize that there are so many children today living in single parent households with a parent who is sometimes too tired or too angry and the child is neglected. The reality is that Obama gave a message to ALL the children and yes, some may NOT need the message, but SOME may have needed it desperately. THOSE are the children that I hope he reached. Maybe those are the ones who will say, “Wow, President Obama cares about ME. I won’t quit school because he said I shouldn’t.” As I said before, and I’m sure you agree, isn’t that a good thing?

Arthurstone said...

dmarks typed:

'Bush, Rumsfeld, and Cheney took the wise course, and thankfully we don't put people in prison for correctly doing their job.'

Of course we don't. This is America.

The bigger the crime the less likely anyone will be held responsible. Unless you're a guard at Abu Ghraib or some other small fry. Interesting stories about Lt. Calley & the 40th Anniversary of My Lai last month.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2092877/lt_william_calley_haunted_by_memories.html?cat=37

Yet another proud chapter in our nation's history.

dmarks said...

Good change of subject. To one I probably agree with you on

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