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Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Neal Boortz :: Townhall.com Columnist
Republicans Get Rolled...And Deservedly So
by Neal Boortz
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Today at noon Barack Obama addresses the nation’s schoolchildren .. or a good number of them anyway. Many students won’t hear the speech because of a rather severe miscalculation from the right. Republican screaming and wailing made it sound as if Hugo Chavez was flying in via Aeroflot to speak to our poor, innocent, unsuspecting angels. School districts reacted … and millions of school kids will sit around picking their noses at noon instead of watching the speech.

So now the speech is out. As of yesterday afternoon you could read it on the Internet. I’ve read it, and if there is anything in there that I wouldn’t want my child to have heard from a U.S. President, I certainly couldn’t find it.

Egad! The speech is innocuous! What are we going to do now? I know! We’ll all claim that Obama changed the speech after the uproar from the right! Well, duhhhhhh. Of course he did! Why wouldn’t he! Well, actually he really didn’t have to change it. It probably wasn’t written by the time conservative boxers bunched up en masse. So Obama’s speechwriters took their cue from the right and made the speech essentially bulletproof from the get-go. One sharp mind in a Republican strategy session could have seen this one coming from the next galaxy.

President says he will give speech to schoolchildren.

Republicans say the speech will be full of leftist propaganda

Parents run in circles flailing arms overhead while screaming and shouting.

Some school officials black out Obama’s speech. (racist comment)

Grinning speechwriters prepare speech with no leftist propaganda. Continued...
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About The Author

Neal Boortz is a talk show host and columnist for Townhall.com as well as co-author of The FairTax Book .

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(369 comments so Far)
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Reply # 1
Date: Sep 11, 2009 - 2:03 PM EST
Oops-wrong forum (Hi clarityseeker...)

The 2 of 2 post was meant for another forum...

BUT if anyone wants to yell at me, the original forum can be found here:

http://townhall.com/blog/g/646528e5-cfa8-42f8-acab-23a2c16d ab92

Cheers
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Reply # 2
Date: Sep 11, 2009 - 1:54 PM EST
Hi clarityseeker. Steve here. 2 of 2

And now you actually have a MASSIVE reason to be outraged. Acorn was setting up a prostitution ring for 14 and 15 year-old girls for crying out loud! I can hardly think of a more outrageous, immoral crime. The problem is - you guys sound like you always have – frothing at the mouth with a pitchfork in one hand and a gun in the other. Words lose their meaning when they’re expressed over, and over, and over again, and with equal indignation. It’s a bit like the Peter and the Wolf scenario.

When you're constantly calling everyone a libtard, or some equally childish label, it eventually becomes self-parody. It's laughable.

Another thing that I regularly see on this site is traitorous, treasonous talks of sedition. But this is of no surprise. There has always been a fine, fine line between extreme nationalism and treason.

And, for the record, I don’t chill with the community theater crowd. I’m an analyst for a major U.S. telecom – just a simple number cruncher.
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Reply # 3
Date: Sep 10, 2009 - 10:08 PM EST
Shoulder Tapping Game
You remember that little game where someone taps you on the right shoulder and pops up on the left? Keep fighting "the gov't" while the corporatists take over your lives all in the name of "capitalism" or "free speech" or whatever argument that you respond to emotionally.

I don't remember any parents acting up when Reagan told school children about the importance of tax cuts. Or G.H.W. Bush touting his education policies. Or George W. Bush (whatever his message was). Be careful about the precedents you set, they may be turned on you in the future.

Encourage your children to respect the office of the President. Encourage your children to think about all sides of issues. Strong and informed minds benefit all of us. If your ideas are great, they don't have to be defended with any manner of over-reacting, over-reaching arguments. Kids know when you are over-reacting.
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Reply # 4
Date: Sep 10, 2009 - 2:35 PM EST
Here is the deal, Neal.
No one ever objected to the speech. The objection was for the accompanying homework prepared by the Dept. of Education which required students to write of ways to serve the President. Sorry, we do not serve public officials. How did public service ever get so twisted? The only fundamental answer to this problem is to abolish the Dept. of Educaation and allow states to take over.
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Reply # 5
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 7:03 PM EST
reporters lack class
when did it get that so many reporters have no class at all. What is meant to be funny ha ha, comes across as lack of manners and good sense. No matter what party you favor, you have to concede Obama has enough going for him to know what kind of speech he should give after the big media frenzy. But don't over look the fact that alot of people in this country don't like what is going on and don't want Obama giving a talk to their impressionable little ones. That speaks loudly.
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Reply # 6
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 7:02 PM EST
David
Obama is not loved, well outside of the black community they think a half-white man is an "African-American" and thus as president just a few steps from being a god..maybe we can call him St. Obama, patron saint of...pick something...blackness?

Now before calling me a racist, a term you don't understand, I felt the people who opposed the speech were acting like a pack of lunatics and the speech was good, great even. If a Thomas Sowell had given it they'd be jumping up and down, but because Obama did, it is the work of the spawn of Satan. Crazy people.

Second, this has nothing to do with race, but policies--if Thomas Sowell or Walter Williams or Herman Caine was POTUS most people (outside of the non-"conservatives" here) on TH would be fawning over them and if John Kerry was POTUS they'd be just as upset with him as they are with Obama.
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Reply # 7
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 6:53 PM EST
David in CA
Face it, Obama is loved. And you are a small, racist minority.
_______________________________________________________

Odd calling us racist when it is your guy Obama who had the charges against the 2 Black Panthers summarily dismissed because they were like him, black. Obvious racism.
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Reply # 8
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 6:11 PM EST
You Goopers are too dumb for words...
President Obama's approval rating hovers around 50% and you think "the country has turned away from Obama!"

Remember when 'King Adolph W. Bush' spent the last 3 years of his 2nd term UNDER 50%? 3 YEARS UNDER 50%, and you all still insisted Bozo Bush was doin' great, and people who didn't support him were just this side of Benedict Arnold.

Big deal, maybe 50,000 people come out to teabag, plus a few hundred crackpots screaming Glenn Beck nonsense at townhalls, and you think Obama has been sent a message? Saxby Chambliss actually said yesterday that Obama must show "humility" as a result?

Do you not remember when MILLIONS of REAL Americans protested your boy idiot over the last 8 years, and you just shrugged it off? (Damn, pacifist hippies, right?)

Face it, Obama is loved. And you are a small, racist minority.

8 years. Deal with it. Just try not to pull your old stunts from the 1990's, like blowing up government buildings...

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Reply # 9
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 4:48 PM EST
Obama could say "have a nice day"
And some lunatic would get face time on TV to scream how "frightening it is to live in a country where the president can wish you a nice day. That man has no place telling me or my family to have a nice day." An awful lot of heat and precious little light. Keep turning over those rocks, little conspiracy theorists. That socialist non-citizen Obama is hiding under one of them, with a plan to steal your childrens' souls and euthanize your parents.
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Reply # 10
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 3:54 PM EST
@Jilli
Republicans look like fools?
Please clean up your house of tax cheats before you start lobbing stones.

And this is pretty much IN YOUR FACE:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090909/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_ap_po ll_health_care

By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer Alan Fram, Associated Press Writer – 55 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Public disapproval of President Barack Obama's handling of health care has jumped to 52 percent, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll released hours before he makes his case for overhaul in a prime-time address to Congress.

With his health revamp moving slowly and unemployment edging ever higher, Obama's overall approval rating has also suffered a blow. The survey showed that 49 percent now disapprove of how he is handling his job as president, up from 42 percent who disapproved in July.

The grade people give Obama on health care also has worsened since July, when just 43 percent disapproved of his work on the issue.

------------------------------
Your boy is going down.
nuff said.
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Reply # 11
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 3:54 PM EST
Why can't liberals EVER deal with facts?
We're once again treated to an empty, vapid rant about the evil right, which relies entirely on entirely avoiding the actual facts (the lesson plan, as so many others have pointed out). This is the sum total of the logic and debate skills of the left - "if the facts don't fit their ideology, they're simply not facts". We read about the "healthcare myths" from the slobbering media, which never bother to mention the fact that those "myths" are better called "facts" (yes, as it now stands, the health care bill WILL cover illegals, WILL pay for abortions, and WILL result in health care rationing).

The good news? People are finally waking from their slumber and the MSM is dying on the vine as they abandon the networks and newspapers en masse (with the notable exception of the WSJ, of course).
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Reply # 12
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 3:46 PM EST
Good luck
Good luck trying to talk sense to the lemmings on this site mr. boortz. You'd be better off having a conversation with your dining room table. But then again, they're a product of your making.
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Reply # 13
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 3:39 PM EST
NOW the republicans look like fools?
Republicans look like fools.
---

Oh Mr. Boortz, you're a little late. The republicans shot themselves in both feet a long time ago...

- Selecting Palin as vp candidate
- "The fundamentals of the economy are strong"
-Hiking the Appalachian trail with Sanford, or diapering up with vitter.
- Death Panels
- Tea bag rallies
- Cries of Socialism, Nazism, etc.
- Thinly veiled racism

Oh Mr. Boortz, the reaction to the back to school speech was only the latest reason republicans look like fools.
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Reply # 14
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 3:37 PM EST
Obama Speech
Did Boortz ever even consider that Obama might have written it to appeal to the center, before the mass hysteria? He won the election in part by appealing to centrists and independents. He wouldn't have come up with something that would appeal to the left and anger the right; he wants consensus, and this was just an extension of that.
Too bad some of the morons on the right - and neal - can't see passed their own biases.
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Reply # 15
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 1:55 PM EST
Right on
Repubs remind me of little mice, always scurrying and scared about something.
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Reply # 16
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 11:30 AM EST
Too bad we still have
the 'Department of Education.' It is another useless outgrowth of the Johnson Administration, may it rest in peace & leave us alone.

The next best thing to eternal life is a program or department created by Congress.

Prez-O was praised by the media for his classroom presence. However, when RWR & GHWB addressed school kids there was a huge cry from the sycophants who masquerade as the 'free press' today. Congressional hearings were threatened. Waxman snorted, Kennedy thundered, & the left steamed that it was all 'unfair' & a misuse of 'federal funds.' (As if this crowd ever cared about THAT!)

Boortz is partially off-base on this one, but totally spot-on when suggesting that this was simply another distraction in the 'hide the button' games the left plays.

Prez-O won. It was the country that lost.
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Reply # 17
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 9:23 AM EST
Please Watch This Video
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_13249171?source=most_viewed

This just proves Boortz doesn't have a clue.
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Reply # 18
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 7:16 AM EST
the speech and lesson plans were benign
The truth always wins out. People will see Pres. Obama for what he is- a good President.
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Reply # 19
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 6:53 AM EST
Not Quite Right (Correct :-) Neal!
While the speech was more or less innocuous as far as political content, what you describe as such an overreaction (which it wasn NOT in most cases) had more to do with the suggested pre- and post-speech activities, which came right out of the White House.

Let's not forget that when Bush I gave his address to students (it was also innocuous) the front page of the Washington Post blared that Bush was using students as "props," and Democrats wanted to hold an investigation. So there's overzealous partisanship and stupidity on both sides of the aisle.

Coming right on the heels of the Van Jones debacle and just before the no-win speech he's about to give, criticism of this president and his administration, most of it justified whether from right, center, or left, is going to continue.
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Reply # 20
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 4:48 AM EST
ObamaMan -
ObamaMan - Move over SpiderMan there's a new SuperPower that's taking over the Country

http://chirb.it/yDvrCd
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Reply # 21
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 3:25 AM EST
Only Wishful Thinking
Your article is only Wishful Thinking. It just shows how far removed you are from the truth about the American People. Sorry, you'll have to try again.
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Reply # 22
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 2:47 AM EST
The Speech Was Far From Innocuous
It exalted the cult of the Presidency and taught the nation's children that politicians stand above them as parental figures to be looked up to. To top it off, the President actually stated that the Founding Fathers were products of compulsory state education!

On the flip side of that, parents who send their children to government indoctrination camps deserve what they get.
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Reply # 23
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 12:15 AM EST
Obama to students: F.U.!
Obama Lets Down Students:
Obama's speech to students was a good positive conservative message, but then again even broken clocks are right twice a day.

What galls me about this lying politician is that he comes off all high and mighty delivering a speech to school children some of whom are stuck in failing, violent, and broken down schools because Obama is against school choice vouchers.

If you're poor and want to send your child to a better school via vouchers that's just tough sh*t!

Obama killed the school voucher program because he's beholden to the teacher unions and the last thing they want is competition to force schools to better serve the people.

Obama can take his phoney and dishonest concern for students and shove it.

Vouchers work, they are real hope for desperate parents and students wanting a better education.

What does Obama care, his children go to private school, the rest of us can eat cake.
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Reply # 24
Date: Sep 9, 2009 - 12:03 AM EST
Neal...you lose
Neal, when Gibbs claims it's silly season, the administration does not get access to my kids.

When Jones says conservatives are azzholes, the administration does not get access to my kids.

When DHS says that my service in Iraq makes me a right-wing extremist, the administration does not get access to my kids.

When the White House website states that the broadcast information is directed to the superintendents, media, teachers, and administrators, and refers to the students as our children, but fails to mention the parents...the administration does not get access to my kids.

When the administration says that I am a loon because I believe that abortion is morally wrong, the administration does not get access to my kids.

When the left wing refers to my outrage over their over-reaching takeover of the private sector as a mob action, the administration does not get access to my kids.

Neal...are you reading me? I don't give a flying phuck what you think or say...the administration does not get access to my kids.

UNDERSTAND?
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Reply # 25
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 10:33 PM EST
Agree with Jane
Neal...

Love ya like a brother and have for many years, but this time we disagree. WHAT Obama had to say wasn't the point. The fact that he was THERE, in the class room, WAS the point!

No President belongs in our classrooms to pump up the attitudes of our kids toward education. That's my and my wife's job #1. After that, it's their local school's job; the teachers, counselors and administraters who hang with the kids every day.

Hopefully, many of the the kids, themselves, will see education's importance will also see it as their job.

The fact that any President, Obama, Reagan or Bush, sees fit to jump in to the classroom is just not right. This time I see your opinion as wrong. Sorry, but Neal didn't get it on this one.
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Reply # 26
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 10:32 PM EST
FOX News Guarding The Hen House
Without FOX News and Glenn Beck,we would all be living in LaLa Land with the liberals,thinking all was well and good.

We would never know we have a Den Of Thieves and commies in the White House. I know soon,one of the czars will try to get rid of the only channel with any integrity.

Eat your hearts out,lefties!!!FOX will be there guarding the henhouse when your chickens come home to roost!!!
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Reply # 27
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 10:28 PM EST
Boortz, you might be right
about the Obama regime's speechwriters leaving out the leftism in response to the American peoples' concerns, but I don't think you're right about conservatives looking foolish. Frankly, I think most people don't trust this regime.

Have you considered the hysteria the hard left put us through when President George H.W. Bush spoke to the schools? They even had Congressional hearings, for crying out loud! President Bush is an honorable man who would refuse to politicize the speech, unlike the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
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Reply # 28
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 10:25 PM EST
I HEAR YOU HAL
THE REPUBILCAN BIGGEST WEAPON OF CHOICE IS FEAR
AND EXTREMISM. THINK ABOUT IT HAL, FAR-RIGHT TALK
RADIO CANT EXIST WITOUT FEAR AND LOATHING.

RUSH,SEAN,ANNE AND LAURA(NO LAST NAMES NEED TO
BE MENTIONED)ARE FEAR MERCHANTS IN THE HIGHEST ORDER. ALSO HAL, THIS IS THE ALLEGED CHRISTIAN SIDE OF THE AISLES. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THEIR
FAITH IN JESUS. INSTEAD OF EXIBITING UNWAVERING
TRUST IN GOD, THESE MISGUIDED INDIVIDUALS PREFER
TO SUBMIT TO DEMONIZATION. I'VE TALKED TO
ATHEISTS WHO'VE SHOWN MORE CIVILITY.

WELL NEAL, NOW YOU KNOW HOW KATHLEEN, PEGGY
AND BILLY OREILLY ARE TREATING BY THIS FAR-RIGHT
MOB WHEN YOU DISAGREE WITH THEM.

THESE PEOPLE NEED IMMEDIATE HELP. THEY ACCUSE LIBERALS OF BEING UNCOUTH

MY RESPONSE, IF YOU LIVE IN A STRAW HOUSE, DON'T PLAY WITH MATCHES

CONSERVATISM BY DEFINITION BRAZEN HYPOCRISY
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Reply # 29
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 10:21 PM EST
Oh, the negativity!!!!

It took me to the last line to figure out where the * - * you were going with this one Boortz.

Republicans did not "get rolled" as you say.

Heck, Republicans in higher places are struggling to keep up with the average American Citizen off the street. We're on to Obama, thanks to our own eyes, and ears. The Republican leadership has failed us, and now we're doing our own research and following the REAL Information Train. We don't need the Republican leadership, just like we don't need the MSM.

Bottom line: it wasn't the message, it's the messenger. No trust earned, no trust there.
Zero, Zip, Nada.
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Reply # 30
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 10:10 PM EST
Obama speech
Neal, you have missed the boat on this one. No matter what Obama said, it was the recommended teacher activities on the US Dept of Education website, which by the were changed, that were patently offensive. The door was opened for teacher led discussions about the president-favorable or unfavorable. How often are we going to beam him up in the classrooms? Our children are not captive audiences and this was just one more over-reaching, power grabbing, self agrandizing stunt.
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Reply # 31
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 10:01 PM EST
Consider the Source
What the heck is wrong with you, Neal? You spent half your show today bashing listeners who disagreed with you about the Obama Indoctrination Speech and the other half blowing smoke up your own butt about this wonderful article you wrote. Listen here, numbnutz--I don't care how good the message was, you have to consider the source. Hitler gave some good speeches, but he was still a racist arrogant demented socialist zipperhead that shouldn't have been in charge of a country. Same applies to Obama. Thank God Barrow County didn't show the speech (and yes we do have schools here). I didn't have to take my children out of school. It's bad enough I have to deprogram them daily, much less have our socialist president telling them that if they stay in school they could grow up to be JUST LIKE HIM!!!
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Reply # 32
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 9:56 PM EST
Conservatives have lost it
This bogus controversy has beautifully demonstrated the fraud that calls itself conservatism. Conservatives have no credibility anymore. They have turned into cry-babies with no clue as to what is good. And they don't seem to care. I thought the last election might wake-up the few rational conservatives. But the opposite has occurred.

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Reply # 33
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 9:26 PM EST
Akagi
I don't think I asked for your advice on how we got rolled. I will stick with my story and if you disbelieve it,who cares?

You have a very high opinion of yourself,which I do not share. You seem to think you are here to double-check everyone and set them straight.

I skip your posts unless they are directed at me,which I prefer not to happen. I see many others have a problem with your superior attitude,also.Have a great night!!
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Reply # 34
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 8:56 PM EST
Akagi,
Of course a student *could* lie to a teacher and tell him/her what he/she wants to hear, but what is the value of that?

Try to get your idea that there are some people in the world who simply do not find the story of a man who was raised in liberal privilege, educated by the Ivy League, and entered Chicago machine politics particularly inspiring.

In fact, I can't offhand think of ANY politician whom I find even moderately inspiring.

There is a friend of mine, a humble welder, who cheerfully gave up his retirement to spend the time he wanted to travel and be active to care for his wife when she was struck with a disease that left her nearly blind, unable to walk more than a couple steps, incapable of caring for her personal hygiene, and on dialysis. His devoted care for the woman who is the other half of his soul as he lives out his marriage vows without a thought of doing it any other way is truly an inspiration.

Any my mother-in-law, who at 82 is in constant pain from arthritis, is an inspiration about how to grow old and how to keep on doing the things she loves even as she humbly accepts her increasing limitations. That's inspiring.

But I don't need a larger than life national figure for inspiration. I've already got a God, after all.
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Reply # 35
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 8:36 PM EST
Are Conservatives too Predictable?
I've read the text of the speech. It actually looks, for the most part, as if a conservative wrote it. Funny, coming from a man who has not only preached relying on the government, but has actually helped enforce it as well.

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, I wonder if it's possible that someone on team Obama actually planned it like this; announce a controversial speech, wait for the predictable, knee-jerk reaction from the conservatives, then write the speech exactly the opposite of what they anticipated, making them look like fools.

A long shot, to be sure, but possible.

We need to learn to think first, then act. Knee-jerk reactions are going to be the death of us.
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Reply # 36
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 8:14 PM EST
A little background and context please
Other readers have talked about 'the syllabus' so I won't. However, a basic point is that the public money is being used as an electioneering opportunity constantly by this administration. That is wrong. Some people may be overreacting; however, when Prez and his Congress are so interesting in increased control over health care, major industry and most relevant to this conversation MEDIA, there is cause for concern. The Fairness Doctrine, government regulation of the Internet, the 'fishy e-mail' solicitation, Eric Holder's crusade against our intelligence community and other events all came before the row over this speech and accompanying syllabus, peer pressure on teachers and other faculty, etc. Finally, if the protests were so overwrought, why so much maneuvering by the White House? Bush #41 should not have done this either. However, the context and actions of Obama make any comparison with Bush #41's speech invalid.
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Reply # 37
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 8:12 PM EST
Mother of 4
You could write how Obama inspired you even if you don't like his policies, coming from his background his story is inspiring and it does show despite what the race pimps think, anyone can achieve success in the US.

I don't see much of an issue here. Seems many of you are suffering from a high degree of paranoia.
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Reply # 38
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 8:05 PM EST
Anne
No I saw the name and thought that was you--tell me if you saw Akagi would you pay attention to the state.

I should have known though, as I said the Florida Anne is far too rational to be you. My mistake for thinking you had actually gone sane.

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Reply # 39
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 7:46 PM EST
What is HILLARIOUS about this column
he goes on railing on something he himself is a part of fostering... He admonishes the "right" for the baseless scare tactics about the speech...

The actually goes on to write:
"The danger that this man and his congressional sycophants presents to this country is far from over. Obama will be doubling his effort to destroy much of America's private economic sector, starting with the seizure of the 18 percent of our economy represented by health care."

Neal, you dumb dope, you ARE the problem. Keep spouting this stuff though, to guarantee that there continues to be no serious opposition to progressives.
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Reply # 40
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 7:29 PM EST
Aaah yes, angry, deranged akagi!

Yeah, you read too fast and INACCURATELY, as usual.

Calm down, and try just once to be civil. You never know, you might like it... And heaven knows, you might even get some friends.

Probably doubtful, but you never know.

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Reply # 41
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 7:24 PM EST
Kimberli,
Good heavens!

Enough of America's political figures already act like a pack of spoiled children. You actually believe that "involving" 9yos in politics would be an improvement?

High school students should study civics so that they will understand their rights and their responsibilities as citizens and so that they understand the founding principles of our country. I did just that with my homeschooled teens.

But elementary kids deserve their innocence.
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Reply # 42
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 7:22 PM EST
Anne
I stand corrected that was one from Florida. I read too fast, I should have known that a comment that rational couldn't have come from your fingers. That makes my Sherman comment moot though...oh well.

Terry:

The doctrine of separation goes back a long long time...it is as they say settled law or Stare decisis. You may not like where the courts came down on the issue when it became settled, but that's life, eh?

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Reply # 43
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 7:12 PM EST
John,
Starting off with a bald-faces lie is a very poor way of persuading people to agree with you.

Conservatives most definitely DID object to the official lesson plan rather than the content of the speech -- the lesson plan was the only thing that was released last week and it caused the furor.

Additionally, it might help if you actually answered the questions. You ducked the elementary school written pledge to "help" Obama completely. They you rewrote my question completely, saying, "You ask what might happen if a high school kid stood up and opposed Obama." Problem is, the lesson plan asked, specifically, for them to discuss how Obama inspired them, not if they agreed or opposed.

Finally, I didn't ask about Palin encouraging kids to "stay in school and work hard" either. I asked what if she'd followed Obama's official lesson plan and asked about her requiring a written pledge of support and mandatory discussion about how inspiring she was.

I have not intention of watching any video propaganda piece you link to. Your shifty dodging and bald-faced lies expose EXACTLY what *you* are like.

And if your allies don't denounce your post and provide straight-up answers to the questions I actually asked then I'll know what they are really like too.
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Reply # 44
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 7:09 PM EST
Wow
I am (not so) surprised at how dense most of these comments are. Boortz is CLEARLY being extremely sarcastic in this article, which, by the way, I think is nothing short of GENIUS. I do not consider myself an Obama fan, but I do think that the uproar about Obama's speech is ridiculous. Perhaps if we involved our youth in politics or even in the act of thinking for themselves every once in a while then they would be more informed and capable voters when they get older?
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Reply # 45
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 7:01 PM EST
Akagi
The republicans better hope you are correct. I am still hopeful they will nominate Palin for the 2012 race though. You say republicans in general are not as stupid as those on TH. However living in TX I know quite a few republicans, and they are indeed stupid enough to nearly swoon with joy over the thought of Palin heading the 2012 ticket. I think the TH type idiots have driven nearly all sane people out of the republican party.
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Reply # 46
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 6:40 PM EST
Rowly
"The Republicans got rolled when we allowed the left to pick our candidate for 2008. We let all parties vote in open primaries and that's how we wound up with probably the worst candidate we could have. John Sidney McCain."

Nice story but the facts don't back this up.

McCain won the closed primaries too and he didn't win all the open ones--he lost Georgia and Alabama for example.

In Florida, a closed primary state, McCain won. The charges of Democrats crossing over in large numbers (most notably by Twinkie Girl) is pure non-sense, look at the numbers who voted in the Democrat primary and compare it to the GOP one.

McCain won because the right-wing vote was split between Huck and Romney. Many of Hucks voters refused to vote for Romney due to his Mormonism and Huck even played this up asking did Mormons think Satan was the brother of Christ. When Romney pulled out he backed McCain and most of his supporters followed.

It was also made clear by some in the Huck camp that they wouldn't support A VP candidacy for Romney.

McCain won in short because there was no serious moderate candidate besides him. McCain's traction in NH coupled with Rudy's decision to bet it all on Florida and neither Huck or Romney had emerged as the single right-wing candidate, the right vote was split, the moderate vote was not and McCain won. By the time Romney dropped out, McCain was couldn't be stopped.
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Reply # 47
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 6:35 PM EST
the speech
There were no issues with the speech. However, the uproar was actually caused by the media. I am one of those right-wing conservatives and I would not have wanted my children watching the speech but for my own reasons, not the ones the media gave. The media tends to paint all Republicans as far right. I am not dumb. I know the majority of Americans are less conservative than I am however, the media created this frenzy. I also would choose not to make a big deal about it and just went on my happy way. BTW, I don't care what color skin the president has so please don't call me a racist. I believe it is a sin to be racist. My objections to President Obama have nothing to do with his skin color and everything to do with his ideology.
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Reply # 48
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 6:29 PM EST
A Chinese philosopher, Sun Tzu wrote
a) learn to understand both the enemy and yourself, to seek out his weaknesses and your own strengths, and act accordingly, b) make ample use of subterfuge and stratagem in order to defeat or disarm your adversary, and c) use outright violence only when absolutely necessary in the belief that political struggle was more effective than military struggle.
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Reply # 49
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 6:13 PM EST
paranoia
It is cynical to think they waited for the hysteria to write the speech. It could be true. But the paranoia was discomforting. Maybe a lot of people should be apologizing to the president. He had a rough summer. What he needed was a neutral speech to give encouragement to work and be responsible to a large group of citizens who need that pep talk. If he shoots himself in the foot by politicizing a speech that should be given most years, then it becomes a teachable moment. He did exactly what I thought he should do and now the credibility of the right is shattered in the ears and eyes of the moderates and independents. Challenge the president on his words and policies, not your fears of what is next.
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Reply # 50
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 5:52 PM EST
Seperation of Church and State
In the 1971 case Lemon v. Kurtzman the Supreme Court established what is known as the "Lemon Test." For a governmental action to be constitutional it

1. must have a secular legislative purpose;
2. must not have the primary effect of either advancing or inhibiting religion;
AND
3. must not result in an excessive government entanglement with religion.
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Reply # 51
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 5:36 PM EST
Utah
Just because the school in Utah chose to show that video, a video that I don't agree with, doesn't mean people should connect that with the President's speech. I can understand parent's concern. But, wouldn't it be more logical to want to preview the material or transcript before the speech before calling it indoctrination?
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Reply # 52
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 5:35 PM EST
William

William
Location: WA
Reply # 338
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 5:04 PM EST Rowly, you harm your cause by such
unthoughtful mumbling as appeared in your last post.

You have a slight interest in a Party that needs more than 55 million citizens who agree with its largest aims. You have a slight interest because you represent only 7 million of the necessary number.

You and yours exhibit the philosophy of the Shaker religion. "We will not grow ourselves out of our own". You abhor the values of the larger number who called themselves Republicans. You and yours are on the ice pack and the wind is blowing.
**********************************************
Is that all you can say? Is what I say not true? Of course it is. A decent candidate could have beaten Obama even with all the cheating it took him to win.

Foreign unaccounted,illegal money. ACORN vote tampering.Public Relations campaign by the mainstream media. Still he did not win big. It should have been a landslide with all the dirty tricks others did for him that helped him win.

Sooner or later, we will learn who and what he really is. You will also. I hope when that happens you will be man enough to come back to Townhall and apologize to those of us who tried to warn people like you who just would not see.
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Reply # 53
Date: Sep 8, 2009 - 5:32 PM EST