When Bush spoke to students, Democrats investigated, held hearings

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

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.'"

Democrats did not stop with words. Rep. William Ford, then chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate the cost and legality of Bush's appearance. On October 17, 1991, Ford summoned then-Education Secretary Lamar Alexander and other top Bush administration officials to testify at a hearing devoted to the speech. "The hearing this morning is to really examine the expenditure of $26,750 of the Department of Education funds to produce and televise an appearance by President Bush at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, DC," Ford began. "As the chairman of the committee charged with the authorization and implementation of education programs, I am very much interested in the justification, rationale for giving the White House scarce education funds to produce a media event."

Unfortunately for Ford, the General Accounting Office concluded that the Bush administration had not acted improperly. "The speech itself and the use of the department's funds to support it, including the cost of the production contract, appear to be legal," the GAO wrote in a letter to Chairman Ford. "The speech also does not appear to have violated the restrictions on the use of appropriations for publicity and propaganda."

That didn't stop Democratic allies from taking their own shots at Bush. The National Education Association denounced the speech, saying it "cannot endorse a president who spends $26,000 of taxpayers' money on a staged media event at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, D.C. -- while cutting school lunch funds for our neediest youngsters."

Lost in all the denouncing and investigating was the fact that Bush's speech itself, like Obama's today, was entirely unremarkable. "Block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart," the president told students. "If someone goofs off today, are they cool? Are they still cool years from now, when they're stuck in a dead end job. Don't let peer pressure stand between you and your dreams.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/...s-57694347.html

[HAL 9000 96]

[Mark&Steph 0]

I'm a democrat. I didn't care about a presidential speech to school kids then. I don't care about it now. I don't care about anyone who does care about it. I just don't give a rat's ####.

[alienlovechild 75]

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.

That settles it. Bush was black and a Democrat which explains all of the hoopla in 1991. He did have an "I pledge" video to go with it?

[Peikko 1,575]

I'm a democrat. I didn't care about a presidential speech to school kids then. I don't care about it now. I don't care about anyone who does care about it. I just don't give a rat's ####.

You need to care, you need to denounce the Democratic hypocrisy and denounce Obama for spreading his socialist agenda. Anything else is anti American - you might as well burn a flag

[Ban Hammer 14,567]

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.

funny how the left forgot about this.........

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The Democrats in Congress were questioning whether George H.W. Bush had done this as re-election campaigning and using office of presidency to do so. They weren't accusing him of indoctrinating school children with Nazi ideology which is what some hypocrites like Florida's GOP leader Jim Greer are accusing Obama of doing (Socialist agenda). There was no public outcry and no parents keeping their kids out of school.

[HAL 9000 96]

The Democrats in Congress were questioning whether George H.W. Bush had done this as re-election campaigning and using office of presidency to do so. They weren't accusing him of indoctrinating school children with Nazi ideology which is what some hypocrites like Florida's GOP leader Jim Greer are accusing Obama of doing (Socialist agenda). There was no public outcry and no parents keeping their kids out of school.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh

CONTEXT!!!

There's that magical word again!!

Imaginative (selective) outrage detected in the OP.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

1991 would have been an election season, what with Clinton getting in in '92.

Presidential elections seem to make people crazier than the average bear.

But there's your explanation.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The Democrats in Congress were questioning whether George H.W. Bush had done this as re-election campaigning and using office of presidency to do so. They weren't accusing him of indoctrinating school children with Nazi ideology which is what some hypocrites like Florida's GOP leader Jim Greer are accusing Obama of doing (Socialist agenda). There was no public outcry and no parents keeping their kids out of school.

No facts, please. They may disturb the outrage.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

But Bush wasn't intelligent enough to speak to students.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

But Bush wasn't intelligent enough to speak to students.

The one on the right can speak intelligently.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Quite true. I was just being a wise guy to get the Republicans in an uproar.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[spookyturtle 9,466]

What was he looking at? Three are looking to their left and ole W was looking to the right.