Following Michelle Obama's “Open Letter to Parents Following the Tragedy in Tucson,” Gateway Pundit blogger Jim Hoft expressed outrage and disbelief that tolerance was listed among the values that "[w]e can teach our children." From a January 13 post titled “Michelle Obama: We Can Use the Tucson Shootings to Teach Our Children Tolerance ...Huh?”:

How did these far left loons ever get the keys to the White House?

(AP)
Some disturbed mental case goes on a shooting spree at a Safeway after months and years of bizarre behavior and Michelle Obama wants your kids to be more tolerant?
That's so not right.

Hoft was referring to the following line from Michelle Obama's “Open Letter to Parents Following the Tragedy in Tucson” from the White House blog (emphasis added):

In the days and weeks ahead, as we struggle with these issues ourselves, many of us will find that our children are struggling with them as well. The questions my daughters have asked are the same ones that many of your children will have - and they don't lend themselves to easy answers. But they will provide an opportunity for us as parents to teach some valuable lessons - about the character of our country, about the values we hold dear, and about finding hope at a time when it seems far away.

We can teach our children that here in America, we embrace each other, and support each other, in times of crisis. And we can help them do that in their own small way - whether it's by sending a letter, or saying a prayer, or just keeping the victims and their families in their thoughts.

We can teach them the value of tolerance - the practice of assuming the best, rather than the worst, about those around us. We can teach them to give others the benefit of the doubt, particularly those with whom they disagree.

We can also teach our children about the tremendous sacrifices made by the men and women who serve our country and by their families. We can explain to them that although we might not always agree with those who represent us, anyone who enters public life does so because they love their country and want to serve it.