Are Republicans, in general, hypocrites? To answer that question, we have to take a closer look at the recent flap over Pres. Obama's attempt to indoctrinate school children by speaking to them and hypnotizing them with his x-ray eyes.
The Orlando Sentinel's Scott Maxwell:
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.
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."
In fact, Wells didn't even think much about Greer's foray into her son's classroom until she saw him on TV complaining about Obama.There's no longer any question: Greer is a hypocrite.
Late Friday, I caught up with Greer ... he didn't see any fair comparison between his own school visits and the president's. The main difference, Greer said, is that he didn't have the Department of Education organizing lesson plans meant to idolize him the way he's convinced they would have for Obama, had Greer not stopped him.
But Jim, Thursday night on Hardball you said: "Before anybody talks to my children from a political perspective, I want to know what they have to say." And yet you didn't run your opinions by any of the parents before you started molding young minds, did you?"
That was different," he said. "I wasn't using lesson plans."
I'm honestly not sure whether Greer really believes what he's shoveling. But I know I'm not alone in thinking his divisive rhetoric is beyond the pale. Conservative talk-show host Joe Scarborough labeled Greer's comments "insane talk."
So I ran Greer's extremist statement by four high-profile Republicans: Gov. Charlie Crist, U.S. Rep. John Mica, State House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon and Orange County GOP leader Lew Oliver. I chose conservative leaders whose positions I respect. And Crist, too.I just wanted to see whether a single one had the guts to call Greer out and take a stand for mainstream values and rational debate.
Not a one of them did. And that is even scarier.
The Orlando Sentinel's Scott Maxwell:
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.
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."
In fact, Wells didn't even think much about Greer's foray into her son's classroom until she saw him on TV complaining about Obama.There's no longer any question: Greer is a hypocrite.
Late Friday, I caught up with Greer ... he didn't see any fair comparison between his own school visits and the president's. The main difference, Greer said, is that he didn't have the Department of Education organizing lesson plans meant to idolize him the way he's convinced they would have for Obama, had Greer not stopped him.
But Jim, Thursday night on Hardball you said: "Before anybody talks to my children from a political perspective, I want to know what they have to say." And yet you didn't run your opinions by any of the parents before you started molding young minds, did you?"
That was different," he said. "I wasn't using lesson plans."
I'm honestly not sure whether Greer really believes what he's shoveling. But I know I'm not alone in thinking his divisive rhetoric is beyond the pale. Conservative talk-show host Joe Scarborough labeled Greer's comments "insane talk."
So I ran Greer's extremist statement by four high-profile Republicans: Gov. Charlie Crist, U.S. Rep. John Mica, State House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon and Orange County GOP leader Lew Oliver. I chose conservative leaders whose positions I respect. And Crist, too.I just wanted to see whether a single one had the guts to call Greer out and take a stand for mainstream values and rational debate.
Not a one of them did. And that is even scarier.
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