September 8, 2009 9:03 AM
When Bush spoke to students, Democrats pounced
Breaking - Byron York has done some homework:
When Bush spoke to students, Democrats investigated, held hearings
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
09/08/09 7:11 AM EDT
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.Unlike the Obama speech, in 1991 most of the controversy came after,
not before, the president's school appearance. The day after Bush
spoke, the Washington Post published a front-page story suggesting the
speech was carefully staged for the president's political benefit. "The
White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a
television studio and its students into props," the Post reported.With the Post article in hand, Democrats pounced. "The Department of
Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the
president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students," said
Richard Gephardt, then the House Majority Leader. "And the president
should be doing more about education than saying, 'Lights, camera,
action.'"
Read complete text at the Washington Examiner (great paper - and free!)
Posted in Media Bias, Obama Nation, Propaganda, Public schools | Permalink
