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False equivalence of the day

September 08, 2009 12:50 pm ET by Jamison Foser

With Glenn Beck and various other lunatics complaining about President Obama's speech to schoolchildren about the importance of education, despite the fact that previous Republican presidents also spoke to schoolchildren, some reporters knew just what to do.

That's right: it's time for a round of news reports suggesting that the complaints from conservatives like Beck are just like complaints from Democrats when George H. W. Bush spoke to school children.

Here's Byron York in the Washington Examiner:

The controversy over President Obama's speech to the nation's schoolchildren will likely be over shortly after Obama speaks today at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. But when President George H.W. Bush delivered a similar speech on October 1, 1991, from Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington DC, the controversy was just beginning. Democrats, then the majority party in Congress, not only denounced Bush's speech -- they also ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate its production and later summoned top Bush administration officials to Capitol Hill for an extensive hearing on the issue.

Politico's Ben Smith offered a lengthy excerpt of York's piece, as though it is deeply meaningful.  And last Thursday, NBC's Mark Murray made the comparison explicit:

The more things change...

Posted: Thursday, September 03, 2009 10:42 AM by Mark Murray

From NBC's Mark Murray
... the more they stay the same, we guess.

As it turns out, a controversy over a president giving an education speech to students isn't new.

One, George H.W. Bush gave a speech to students back in 1991. And two, Democrats criticized him for it.

I'm not really in the mood to mince words today, so I'll just say that this is absolutely idiotic.  Anyone who thinks that criticizing the president for spending taxpayer money on a speech to schoolchildren is equivalent to criticizing the president for "indoctrinating" schoolchildren and comparing him to Mao and Hitler should give serious thought to resigning so someone who is competent can have their job.

Tags: Byron York, Washington Examiner, The Politico, Ben Smith, MSNBC.com, First Read, Mark Murray

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    • Author by Victor Colorado (September 08, 2009 12:56 pm ET)
      4  
      What's more, Reagan actually did talk policy to schoolchildren in '88.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by pointofview (September 08, 2009 1:04 pm ET)
        1 7
        This just shows the double standards the left uses, and how anything Obama and the dems do must be good. The loonly left actually held hearings when Bush 41 gave a speech to children. It is as simple as this: The left has no shame!!
        Report Abuse
        • Author by mustardman (September 08, 2009 1:14 pm ET)
          3 1
          Only if you sniff too much glue!
          Report Abuse
        • Author by NG_Officer (September 08, 2009 1:16 pm ET)
          4 1
          do you even read the articles before you post your drivel?

          Holding a hearing over the funding of the speech and denouncing an unpublished speech as indoctrination do not equate.

          And just so you know, I think it was idiotic for there to be hearings on GHWB's speech.
          Report Abuse
        • Author by Victor Colorado (September 08, 2009 1:23 pm ET)
          6  
          There was absolutely no outcry in '91 and '88 over then Presidents having access and speaking to schoolchildren. It. Just. Didn't. Happen.
          Report Abuse
        • Author by SAR (September 08, 2009 1:32 pm ET)
          2  
          And then people claim drugs don't have harmful effects.

          POV, did the Democrats back then compared HW Bush to Mao or Hitler? Did they accused him of indoctrinating school children before the speech? Honest questions. And please back up with some evidence.
          Report Abuse
        • Author by hailystar7880 (September 08, 2009 1:34 pm ET)
             
          Really? "The double standards," and no shame," used by the left? Boy that's a real hoot! If the republicans had any standards at all they probably stole them from someone else. Oh, that's right they did. What's more is we got a load of GOP's borrow and spend standards under George Bush jr. And lying us into a war we didn't need to engages in. Talk about NO SHAME! They are shameless hypocrites on every level imaginable.
          Report Abuse
        • Author by The_Cat (September 08, 2009 1:39 pm ET)
          3  
          As I have pointed out elsewhere, pointofview, the outcry over Bush Sr.'s speech revolved around his use of Department of Education funds to pay for it. Some Democrats, Gephardt among the leaders, protested that this was essentially a campaign speech and that it was wrong to pay for it with scarce Dept. of Ed. funds.

          Bush Sr. was not accused of indoctrinating children. There was no outcry before the speech was given. The cases are completely different except insofar as they both involve a POTUS talking to school kids.

          As Victor Colorado correctly points out, Reagan expounded on the virtues of tax cuts during his talk with school kids.
          Report Abuse
        • Author by dr. matt (September 08, 2009 1:50 pm ET)
          4 1

          POV must have annihilated her knee from that huge knee-jerk reaction.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by pointofview (September 08, 2009 1:56 pm ET)
            1 5
            Harley

            Come on, you can do better than that
            Report Abuse
            • Author by dr. matt (September 08, 2009 2:14 pm ET)
              3  

              Hi Kettle.


              Report Abuse
            • Author by jediknight65 (September 08, 2009 2:26 pm ET)
              4  
              you didn't do much better. not a single cogent point about the problem of the current president's speech when his predecessors have done the same.

              oh wait. president reagan actually had a speech that pushed his tax cuts.......wait a min. thats a political message......

              the current president is encouraging kids to stay in school and do well. and nothing else.

              any other noise is just noise and lies.
              Report Abuse
            • Author by political_left-religious_right (September 09, 2009 12:46 pm ET)
                 
              Come on, you can do better than that

              Wow, pointless, you've had many people here who responded to your asinine post, and the only thing you can do is post that?

              That's not shameful, that's pathetic. But frankly, I don't know if you can do better.
              Report Abuse
          • Author by bintx (September 08, 2009 2:03 pm ET)
            2  
            I don't think she understood the subject of the piece since she used "false equivalency" in her post.
            Report Abuse
        • Author by bintx (September 08, 2009 2:02 pm ET)
          4 1
          Bush 41's speech was protested because it was seen to be a WASTE OF MONEY [as a conservative, it ticked me off that taxpayers' dollars were being used for the President's political campaign, which is, in fact, what was going on]. Quite different from the ridiculous protests of Obama's speech claiming that the students were going to be indoctrinated and that Obama would be preaching his "socialist" agenda.

          As the title of this piece said, "false equivalency."
          Report Abuse
        • Author by congero6189599 (September 08, 2009 2:10 pm ET)
          2 1
          You tried to push the same lie at another story and was rebutted now your trying to peddle it here. Damn man have you no shame! Do you have any respect for the truth? You weren't even smart enough to try and peddle your lie on another site, YOU picked the same site! What you thought no one would notice? What kind of fool are you? How pathetic you must be to get some kind of pleasure posting insults anonomously from your computer. Get the facts and get a life jerk!
          Report Abuse
        • Author by jediknight65 (September 08, 2009 2:24 pm ET)
          3  
          you are correct that there is a double standard but are incorrect in the application.

          never has a president until now been subjected to this. it would be unthinkable of any previous administration to be scrutinized to this degree.

          those you support are the ones with no shame. they have made it plain and clear that they will do anything they can to derail our current president no matter what good he may do.

          yeah about those hearings. they never took place. they were called for but there was no outpouring of hatred against the president. unlike now.
          Report Abuse