Battle lines: Reid and McConnell choose strategies
Grumpy old men: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY-left) and Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV-right)
The dies is cast for the political strategy for the midterms. Things aren’t gonna get much better, or more bipartisan, so both sides appear to be settling in, hunkering down, and preparing to fight it out, with distinct strategies emerging. Read more
Stay classy, GOP
It took about one minute for Indiana Congressman Mike Pence’s GOP Thanksgiving address to shift from “support the troops” and “give thanks,” to “Attack President Obama.” Per Raw Story:
“We have much to be thankful for,” Pence began. But his holiday sentiments quickly turned into an attack on President Obama’s recent announcement of a “jobs summit,” to be held in December to address the problem that “the economic growth we’ve seen has not yet led to the job growth that we desperately need.”
And if your heart wasn’t warmed enough by that, Pence had more to say:
Pence went on to claim that “the Obama administration and the Democratic majority in Congress have taken our economy from bad to worse with their failed economic agenda and big government plans. And if all this wasn’t enough, Democrats in Washington continue to push for government-run insurance.”
Pence concluded his message by calling for solving the problem of joblessness through tax cuts and “fiscal responsibility.”
Meanwhile, the president kept it classy in his address, acknowledging the struggles people are facing this Thanksgiving, without attacking the rogues gallery on the other side of the aisle that got us to where we are, and vowing to turn the jobs picture around. Watch the two addresses. They couldn’t be more different.
Thank you, Joe Scarborough
I’m normally not a huge fan of Joe Scarborough, the Ronald Reagan and self-obsessed ego who drives MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” But sometimes, Joe just gets it right. In the overheated political climate we’re in, it’s hard sometimes to remember that between the extremes, most people are pretty rational and normal. And for every crowd like this, there are regular people who believe what Joe spells out in this well-written Huffpo piece:
Count me as one conservative who is disappointed that President Obama’s hometown will not be hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.
Chicago is a beautiful city that would have made a perfect backdrop for the Olympics. The President was right to fly to Copenhagen to try to land the games, not for the sake of his city, but for the good of his country. The fact President Obama failed makes me respect him more for taking the chance, and the fact many right-wing figures opposed the President’s mission shows just how narrow-minded partisanship makes us all.
Read the rest here. Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune has more inside scoop on how the last-ditch Obama Olympic pitch fell short.
Arlington speech snub excuse sounds familiar
You’ll recall that my two older children’s charter school defied the district-wide order and failed to show President Obama’s speech to fifth period students last week? Well apparently, the explanation given to me by the principal, and the proposed solution, could have been written in Arlington, Texas:
Arlington Superintendent Jerry McCullough issued a statement Friday apologizing for how the district handled President Obama’s live speech on Tuesday.
The decision not to show the speech live to school children became particularly controversial after it became known that the district had previous plans to bus about 500 fifth-graders to attend an event with former President George W. Bush. The event, which is scheduled later this month at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, will be an announcement about a volunteer initiative for the 2011 Super Bowl.
“In retrospect, I can see how the district’s decisions concerning these two events could be seen as favoring one event over another,” McCullough said in his written statement. He later said, “I apologize that my decisions on behalf of the district have disappointed or hurt people.”
The district allowed students to miss half a day of school on Tuesday if they wanted to watch the event live elsewhere and recorded the speech for later use. McCullough noted that he is encouraging teachers to use Obama’s speech in their classrooms when and how they deem appropriate.
… Arlington officials had said they opted not to show the speech live so as not to interrupt the planned school day. An Arlington church showed the event live and drew about 100 parents and students.
In my case, I was told by the principal of the school that teachers were given latitude to decide for themselves whether to show the speech, and both my children’s teachers claimed that they opted not to do so “so as not to disrupt their planned lessons.” And the principal said he had instructed the teachers to incorporate the speech as appropriate in their lesson plans going forward. A day later, my son was shown the speech in his civics class (the teachers who refused to show the speech are Hispanic, Cuban I think more specifically, while the civics teacher is Black. Coincidence? Maybe, if you consider that Cuban-Americans tend to be very much Republican. And I spoke with another Black parent at the school, who said that she wasn’t surprised that the speech wasn’t shown, which doesn’t say terribly good things about the school, or a significant number of the parents who send their kids there. I’ll just guess that if Jeb Bush or Charlie Crist wanted to televise a speech to kids at this particular school, his speech would air. Let’s just put it that way.
I’ll post my letter to the District superintendent tomorrow. I’ll also be sending the letter to the Miami Herald and Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.
Oh HELL no! My kids’ charter school refused to air the Obama speech
About this post? Major edit. My two older children attend a charter school in Broward County which apparently, despite the blanket decision made by the county school superintendent (which contained no opt-out order, though who knows whether that applies to charter schools…) decided NOT to air the president’s stay in school message today. To put it mildly, I am not amused. I have a call in to the principal and will definitely be at the PTSO meeting tonight. Any other Somerset Academy parents out there? Holla at your girl. Read more
Is Laura Bush the last sensible Republican in America?
Well … maybe her and Collin Powell… The first lady comments on today’s school address by President Obama, and shows why she is indeed George W. Bush’s better half:
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