Numerous conservatives have claimed that President Obama's upcoming September 8 speech about "persisting and succeeding in school," along with classroom activities about the "importance of education," will "indoctrinate" and "brainwash" schoolchildren. Conservatives have compared Obama's address to Chinese communism and the Hitler Youth, while also calling for parents to "keep your kids home" from the "fascist in chief."
From: "Conservatives on Obama's stay-in-school speech: "Indoctrination," "brainwashing," Communist China, Hitler Youth" at media matters.org September 02, 2009
On November 14, 1988, Reagan addressed and took questions from students from four area middle schools in the Old Executive Office Building. According to press secretary Marlin Fitzwater, the speech was broadcast live and rebroadcast by C-Span, and Instructional Television Network fed the program “t o schools nationwide on three different days.” Much of Reagan’s speech that day covered the American “vision of self-government” and the need “to keep faith with the unfinished vision of the greatness and wonder of America” but in the middle of the speech, the president went off on a tangent about the importance of low taxes:
Today, to a degree never before seen in human history, one nation, the United States, has become the model to be followed and imitated by the rest of the world. But America's world leadership goes well beyond the tide toward democracy. We also find that more countries than ever before are following America's revolutionary economic message of free enterprise, low taxes, and open world trade. These days, whenever I see foreign leaders, they tell me about their plans for reducing taxes, and other economic reforms that they are using, copying what we have done here in our country.
I wonder if they realize that this vision of economic freedom, the freedom to work, to create and produce, to own and use property without the interference of the state, was central to the American Revolution, when the American colonists rebelled against a whole web of economic restrictions, taxes and barriers to free trade. The message at the Boston Tea Party -- have you studied yet in history about the Boston Tea Party, where because of a tax they went down and dumped the tea in the Harbor. Well, that was America's original tax revolt, and it was the fruits of our labor -- it belonged to us and not to the state. And that truth is fundamental to both liberty and prosperity.
From: "Conservative media take note: Reagan preached tax cut gospel to America’s students" Media Matters.org blog Sept. 03, 2009 by Matt Gertz
Sean Hannity claims without any proof that "parents across the nation (meaning millions one guesses) are concerned Obama is addressing public school children "- he makes it sound like an over-whelming majority of Americans are against Obama speaking to school children.
Michele Malkin and Sean Hannity trash Obama's Speech to School Children.
Michelle Malkin claims the evil liberals and leftists are always using school children as guinea pigs to promote leftist anticapitalist UnAmerican beliefs and political & economic theories. But she forgets George H W bush and Ronald Reagan both republicans did nation wide addresses to school kids.
Malkin of course one assumes doesn't see the antics portrayed for example in the documentary "Jesus Camp" or what goes on in numerous Christian Evangelical camps and schools all over America in which five and six year olds are indoctrinated into this particular belief system which tells young children that they are already sinners bound for Hell unless they accept Jesus and that it is their duty to preach the Gospel and if necessary die for it and that it is their duty to help create a Theocracy in America and banish all the sinners.
Obama Speaking To School children "Creepy," Says Right wing Nut Laura Ingraham- but of course she and other conservatives object because they object to just about anything Obama does. If Obama were to lead the children in the Pledge of Allegiance and in a Christian Prayer maybe then she and other ultraconservatives might approve of Obama.
The Young Turks/Fox Criticizes Obama For Speaking To School kids -Sept. 02
Fox News Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin,. Laura Ingraham,Andrea Tantaros argue Obama's address to school children is a form of propaganda , indoctrination ,North Korea like, or Maoist or Pol Pot, Hitler etc. cultish, a way to hype Obama & the Obama Cult.
Cenk Uygur points out this act is not unprecedented since Ronald Reagan & George H.W. Bush also did addresses to school children.
Watch more at http://www.theyoungturks.com
Even Joe Scarborough & Co. find all the hysteria over this issue rather bizarre . But then they go on to say Obama's approval ratings are down and he has polarized the nation - It is the Republicans ,the Right-wingnuts and the Religious Right who have helped to polarize the country with their ongoing attacks on Obama and their promulgating lies and misinformation as part of their propaganda campaign.
"Silly season": Morning Joe crew criticizes "angry voices" for bashing Obama's stay-in-school speech
From the September 4 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:
Republicans & Fox News anti-Obama antics over Obama's address to school children not supported by the NASCAR crowd ?
Alisa Smith-McMahon in her article chimes in on the issue representing a more reasonable and rational voice.
"NASCAR drivers support President Obama's address to school children" by Aisa Smith-McMahon at Examiner.com Sept. 4, 2009
Some of the most popular NASCAR drivers have made a PSA (public service announcement), in support of President Obama’s message to America’s school children. They are encouraging children to have the drive to win, the drive to stay in school, and for parents to help our children succeed in their educational goals. It’s an amazing message that should be applauded and supported by all parents of school aged children and citizens of our country.
It is unbelievable that people are making a stink out of the upcoming Presidential address to our public schools. As stated by ED.gov, “During this special address, the President will speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.” And yet, there are people who are questioning the President’s motives and calling his address “a very troubling turn of events, giving rise to the very legitimate fears of political and social indoctrination.”
The Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has sent a letter to schools with suggested “classroom activities” so that students can begin preparing for the President’s address. Some of these activities include things like making posters setting out “community and country” goals, and encourages kids to read books about past presidents and President Obama. Can someone please explain to me how these are BAD things?
Not only have our children been addressed by past presidents, they were addressed by two Republican presidents, and one with a political message. President George H.W. Bush did so in 1991, and President Ronald Reagan was the one who talked politics with students in 1988. But, some people are still saying this is unprecedented and an unacceptable thing for a President to do.
It is absolutely shocking to me that people are turning a positive “stay in school, study hard, and learn everything you can” message, into a partisan fight about possible indoctrination. All I can say is that if the indoctrinated message to my children is “stay in school, study hard, and learn everything you can about your government, your country and our history,” I’m all for promoting that indoctrination.
Let’s get serious people. Our President, like all presidents in the past, is simply trying to inspire our children to learn as much as they can and do their best in school. He is trying to show them that they too, can rise up from any situation and possibly become President of the United States of America. There is no way you can convince me that’s a bad message for our children to hear.
And Tony Perkins of the Religious Right claims Obama's speech is unprecedented because there are before and after activities included such as writing a letter to say what the student could do to help the president -it sounds pretty hum-drum and not very radical. Perkins erroneously claims Obama has done nothing to improve public schools in America but as Matt Corley points out early on Obama began his initiative to make improvements to public schools. Of course the problem here for Perkins is that he is no supporter of public schools and prefers vouchers and tax breaks so parents can home school their kids and teach them Christian Evangelical Fundamentalists values and become proficient in such subjects as Creation Science or send them to private religious schools where they would be free from Godless liberalism or Secular Humanists beliefs.
Fearmongering About Education Speech, Perkins Claims Obama Hasn’t ‘Pushed Any Educational Reform Issues’ by Matt Corley at Think Progress Sept.3,2009
For the past few days, conservatives have been freaking out over President Obama’s upcoming speech to schoolchildren on the first day of school. Though Obama’s speech will be about “persisting and succeeding in school,” the right wing is claiming it is about “school indoctrination” just like “what Chairman Mao did.”
On Fox News this morning, NPR’s Juan Williams defended Obama’s effort as “innocuous,” saying that “on the face of it, it seems to be almost patriotic…you should hear the president speak about the value of education, staying in school, hard work.” But Family Research Council President Tony Perkins wasn’t convinced that the speech would be benign. To buttress his argument, Perkins asserted that “the president really hasn’t pushed any educational reform issues yet in his administration”:
PERKINS: It is unprecedented in the fact that there’s a worksheet attached with this, that there’s homework involved here. And Juan has to admit that the question of write a letter to yourself on how you can help the president does raise some questions as to whether or not he could have gotten into the policy issues. The president really hasn’t pushed any educational reform issues yet in his administration. He’s been busy with other controversial things. But you know, going to elementary kids to talk about drop out. What about high school kids? That is a little — it raises some questions.
Tony Perkins claims Obama 'hasn't pushed any educational reform issues yet.'
In this audio clip Glenn Beck's fill in Mr. Gray begins talking about the dangerous situation of having Obama indoctrinating school children in his address and then goes on to talk about this all being part of Obam's conspiracy to create a regime and a nation similar to that of Adolph Hitler.
Beck fill-in Gray approves Nazi rhetoric, advances "exoskeleton" conspiracy theory
From the September 4 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program:
and so it goes,
GORD.
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