We talked a lot of about this on the show on Friday and I'm going to bring it up today and get your thoughts about an email I received. A listener said I was wrong and nasty to say that the caller who took his kids out of school for the speech was a" bad father" and that I have no right to tell people what is and what is not good parenting? I'm sorry, but he's producing the people who will go out and either foment bias or stop it in the future, and that does affect me. Anyway, I'll read it and we'll talk about it.
The White released the speech the president will give today to students which Republicans -- who had not read it -- claimed was radical socialist indoctrination,. Here's The gist of it:
“If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.....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.”
I've now realized this is indoctrination into something foreign to the Republican mindset: Actually studying and finding out the truth about the world and moving on from there with hard work, rather than: a) being rich and getting Daddy or Mummy to get you a job (i.e., Mary and Liz Cheney, Jenna Bush, Jonah Goldberg, and on and on); or b) being not-so-rich and being deprived a good eduction because of Republican policies and, in your ignorance, then believing whatever some emotion-based, exploitative smear artists (whether politicians or part of the insurance industry) tell you about who caused your problems instead of actually studying and getting the facts. Yes, that is really radical!
By the way, Republican Party chair Jim Greer, who you'll remember I debated a few times in CNN, says he still believes Obama may slip in a different speech. I kid you not. Shameless.
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