I find the crazification of the Republican Party both depressing and sad. The latest rightwing freakout about President Obama speaking to schools started with Jim Greer, the chair of the Florida Republican Party:
Apparently in the midst of some kind of breakdown, Florida’s Jim Greer is throwing a tantrum over this.
The chairman of the Republican Party of Florida on Tuesday issued a statement to “condemn President Obama’s use of taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s children to his socialist agenda.”
Jim Greer also accused President Obama of “using our children as tools to spread liberal propaganda.”
Greer’s hysterical press release, which doesn’t appear to be a joke, went on to argue that the president will force children to “watch the President justify his plans for government-run health care.” The Florida GOP chairman called Obama’s speech “infuriating” and “an invasive abuse of power.” He added that the president “has turned to American’s children to spread his liberal lies.”
Yes, the Republican Party’s worst nightmare has come true. We have a president who is not only a Democrat and who can sell Democratic ideals, but one who is also black. I don’t know how else to explain the extreme freakout and hysterical reaction. They want to make sure the kids aren’t “infected” or something.
Well, maybe Greer is so afraid of Obama indocrtinating schoolchildren because that’s what he does. Yes, that’s right, Greer has spoken to schoolchildren about the differences between Democrats and Republicans (you’ll find this incredibly charming):
Obviously, for sane people, the claim itself is ridiculous. What we didn’t know at the time was that it was also remarkably hypocritical. The Orlando Sentinel’s Scott Maxwell had an important column today.
There once was a political operative who loved to tell crowds he had a simple way of explaining to children the difference between Republicans and Democrats.
“Republicans get up and go to work,” he would tell his son. “Democrats get up and go down to the mailbox to get their checks.”
This man not only talked to his son about Republican values, he went into public-school classrooms and talked about them as well.
That man is Jim Greer — the same Jim Greer who, as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, just threw a nationwide hissy fit, claiming that the classroom is no place for politics and Barack Obama’s “indoctrination.”
One Seminole County mother, Barbara Wells, remembers the day Greer spoke to her son’s sixth-grade class. “My son said he made some sort of Hillary Clinton joke,” she recalled.
But you know what? Wells didn’t pitch a fit. She didn’t call up the local TV station to scream about Republican indoctrination. Instead, she advised her son: “Whatever you are told in life, remember there are two sides to every story.”
Greer argued on Thursday, “Before anybody talks to my children from a political perspective, I want to know what they have to say.” Of course, the administration is letting school districts know exactly what the president will say the day before his remarks. And how about Greer? Did he run his pro-Republican message by parents and school officials before he talked to school kids?
“That was different,” Greer said.
Yes, Jim Greer, IOKIYAR! It’s o.k. if President George H.W. Bush speaks to schoolchildren about his administration’s education policies and even asks them to write a letter about how they can help the president.. It’s o.k. if President Ronald Reagan talks to schoolchildren about the importance of low taxes. What we’re seeing is called projection.
I’m not sure why we’re supposed to take Republicans seriously as a party right now. They seem to be dedicated to making sure that nothing gets done and projecting insane fears to the American people. I understand that some people are afraid during this era of change. I don’t understand why Republicans would want to make things worse by feeding this fear. I guess they think it will help them electorally but just once could they actually try to put country first?