Here's an average McCain supporter taking candy away from kids on Halloween.

She's a school teacher

BSR - You make some valid points, but I learned a long time ago it's just not worth the argument. The folks on the left are every bit as closeminded and hateful as the folks on the right. It's the human condition, I'm afraid. Just fight what you feel is the good fight and keep going.

Chill-Trick, first of all, just curious, did you read Cory the Driller's entire letter?

I'm wondering how is it that you can be so sure that the average McCain supporter and/or Republican is a bigot? How many NRA members do you know personally? how many pro-lifers? What makes you think that their fears of Obama's plans for gun/ammo control and re-legalizing partial-birth abortions are really just thinly-veiled racism? What exactly did Cory the Driller say in his letter that revealed him to be a racist, sexist homophobe? What did I say in my post(s) that convinces you that I'm a bigot? And why is it that Obama's and Biden's opposition to gay marriage is like water off a duck's back to you? You make all these ugly accusations without much, if any, supporting evidence. That's why I accused you of bigotry.

Explain to me how it's racist to accuse Obama of terrorist ties? William Ayers bombed the Pentagon, bombed the Capital, and dedicated one of his books to Robert F. Kennedy's assasin. He is clearly a domestic terrorist. Yet Obama has never denounced Ayers as he (finally) did with Jeremiah Wright. In fact, in 1997 Obama wrote a glowingly favorable blurb about one of Ayers' books. It's not like Obama and Ayers are blood-brothers or anything, but no way in hell will you ever hear me saying a favorable word about a domestic terrorist, and I sure as hell don't want a president who does. Obama's ties with Rashid Khalidi are quite a bit closer, with the Khalidis and Obamas socializing and having dinner at each others' homes often. That Khalidi was (is?) a spokesman for the PLO in and of itself doesn't bother me, although some Jews argue that friendship with Khalidi is indeed a terrorist tie. But that Obama didn't get up and leave that dinner when Khalidi and company started condemning Israel and damning it as a terrorist state troubles me. I don't care if he is your friend; there has to be a point where you draw the line.

Are you sure about the "kill him" thing? The problem with that story is that the MSM, in all its infinite journalistic integrity, parroted the story without independent confirmation. But the head of the Secret Service detail contradicts the claim, reporting that no one member of the Secret Service detail nor any other law enforcement official present heard such a thing. In another incident, apparently someone did scream, "kill him!" but it was in response to Bill Ayers, not Obama. Obviously, the Secret Service takes their job extremely seriously. If someone did indeed scream "kill him!" about a presidential candidate, that nutjob would at the very least be taken into custody for questioning by the Secret Service, yet no one has.

By the way, TRL, the reason my response came a few days after Chill-Trick's post was that I was angry as hell and probably would have posted a nasty overemotional response, just the kind of ugliness that makes people avoid the P&R category altogether. So I exercised some discretion by not responding. When I read Cory the Driller's letter a few days later, it provided a basis for me to respond in a more reasoned and reasonable way.

Chill-Trick, all I'm asking for is some supporting arguments for your accusation that the average McCain supporter and/or Republican is a bigot. Calling someone a bigot is some pretty harsh stuff, although no doubt some deserve it. But you better be pretty damn sure before you cross that line.

BoxSox, do you live in a bubble? Take a look at any crowd shot of the two candidates. With McCain, I may see one face of color in a sea of white. At Obama rallies, I see a rainbow of color. People of every race and creed. I wonder why that is? Maybe it is sheer coincidence. Maybe just bad camera shots. Just stating the obvious. You draw your own conclusions. Oh, and edited to add that Obama was EIGHT YEARS OLD when Ayres was involved in the Weathermen Underground, or whatever the name of the organization was. What were YOU doing when you were 8? Probably the same thing Obama was. And yes, darling, he was indeed born in Hawaii, when it was one of the 50 states of the United States of America. I just thought I'd beat you to the punch on that tired "talking-point" of Faux News.

I clicked the link and started to watch the video of him first, but saw it was a story on Faux News, so I immediately clicked it off…..sorry, I don’t do that.



Well, there’s these things out called radios, tvs, newspapers, and internets…perhaps you’ve heard of them?



I’m sorry, can you point out where I said you were? No? Didn’t think so.



Again, can you point out to me where I said it was “no big deal”? Nope. Obama and Biden may not support it, and I wish they did, however, they will not legalize discrimination like Palin said she would



Yes, he did, when Barack was riding a Big Wheel at 8 yrs old.



I’m shocked….shocked I tells ya.



Again, that tv, radio, newspapers, internets thing…

You gotta watch something other than Fox News Rudy, other news stations actually show when BOTH sides of the political spectrum screw up, unlike Fox.

Chill-Trick, your post reveals a complete rejection of personal responsibility. Your sweeping generalization of "average Republicans" as racist/sexist/homophobic assh*les is a patent display of bigotry. Yes, I took your remark personally, because I consider myself to be a very average Republican. If you made some effort to open up your mind and actually get to know some of us personally, you would be quite surprised as to just how different we are from your preconceived notions. But I guess it's just so much easier to take your marching orders from Liberal Groupthink Headquarters.

The election's over, so it's a moot point, but in 1997 when Obama was thirty-six years old, he gushed with praise over one of William Ayers' books. No, I can't tell you what I was doing when I was eight, but I can say with absolute certainty what I did NOT do when I was 36, or at any other point in my adult life, and that is sing the praises of a man who unrepentantly bombed the Capital, bombed the Pentagon (but liberals support the troops!), and dedicated one of his books to Robert F. Kennedy's assasin.

Rudy,
Obama praised the book. He didn't praise the author....there's a difference. You can praise the work of someone without actually praising the person.

I'm still confused how a gay person can be a republican, it really confuses me....but that is their opinion and that is ok with me...However, how you go off and defend Palin and the right wing portion of the party after everything they have done and still want to do against gay people is just pure ignorance. You can be a republican, and there's nothing wrong that, but to be a gay right winger?

This thread seemed like the appropriate place to mention that some schools are giving K-12 kids the option to opt out on Obama's speech on education so long as they have their parents permission - and in the case of one school they will not have the option of hearing the speech at all.

Perhaps there is an argument that it is "politics" for any politician to address vulnerable kindergarteners, or even elementary school children. But high school kids? Aren't they already deciding whether to experiment with sex and drugs with or without their parents permission?

Could the president's address on education be that dangerous? I doubt he'll talk about controversial issues like sex education or evolution in such a speech.

So what are they afraid of? Or is it just "principle"?

History suggests that the very things that parents least want their kids to know are the things they are most likely to make every effort to find out. Indeed President Pied Piper could have an advantage here.

Perhaps this banning of the presidential address on education will work better than banning condoms and pot.

Whatever happened to challenging students by looking at/listening to current events, having a healthy debate afterwards in the classroom, & letting the students make up their own minds?

...Now I know this country is certainly headed down the tubes when parents won't allow their children to listen to the president give a speech on education, of all things! ...Oh yeah, real dangerous that education stuff can be & it can pollute one's mind.

...I swear, then we wonder why the world often laughs & is perplexed by the paradoxes in this country. On the one hand, we are the leaders of the free world (& FREE THINKING), yet we are surrounded by buffonish characters, literally!

Edit:

Also saw this article.

Just read this article. Quite interesting to say the least.

Well Arizona's visionary and impartial schools chief has weighed in. God, I love my state. I think it's time for Tucson to secede.
From a newspaper in Phoenix:

State schools chief Tom Horne said materials distributed to schools in preparation for Obama's speech next week "is not good educational policy."
"Students should be taught critical thinking skills," said Horne, state superintendent of public instruction. "Whoever wrote the White House materials is very worshipful toward the president."
Horne, a Republican, said he has not offered any directive to Arizona's schools regarding the speech or watching it.
"I don't have the power to direct them," he said.

Now, that bold quote is a F**KING JOKE. Yeah, hold back your children from making up their own minds, but yet you have the f**king nerve to even argue that the children should be taught "critical thinking skills." Yeah right you f**king hypocrite.

...Critical thinking skills involves exposing ALL students to opposing views & ALLOWING each one to make up their own minds. Holding back children from the president's speech is brainwashing as far as I'm concerned--they only are exposed & taught to agree w/ one point of view, opposing the president's view. & for God's sakes, he's gonna talk about the importance of education.

...But unless, of course, you are taught the world & universe is only roughly 6k years old & that Noah's Ark contained T-Rex's. Well that's another "truthful" story that children should be taught in school.

A talking head on one of the news channels made the interesting point that most school board members in this country are elected.

So does that mean they shouldn't address students?

Now these wacko GOP conservatives are using the evil gays to try to scare people.
A quote from an article in today's Arizona Daily Star: "In the Amphitheater Public Schools, Superintendent Vicki Balentine said she's heard similar concerns (about the speech having a hidden political agenda) from about two dozen people. Much of it, she said, stemmed from misinformation. Some callers thought the purpose of the speech was to sell kids on health care, or to address students about homosexuality."

These wing-nuts scare me more and more every day, because they actually believe this crap. I wish Obama and other liberals would start fighting back with just as much vigor and not retreat any time some conservative whines about EVERY move the president makes. Who cares if they're offended? They're never going to support Obama anyway and will find fault with EVERYTHING he does.

Now we can understand why the Dept. of Homeland Security said there would be a serious uptick in the area of domestic terrorism. These people are using fear as a motivator that the President is pushing an agenda, or trying to brainwash their kids, or to try to campaign. Its getting scarier by the week. Out here in my area the Arayan Nation is trying to recruit, as flyers from them have shown up recently in yards in Coeur d' Alene, Id., and in the city of Spokane Valley.

The unhealthy and heavyhanded extremism on the right may cause them to collapse under their own weight.

I would've held kids out of school from listening to Reagan and Poppy Bush.

There are, of course, legit reasons to distrust Obama, eg, he's the president. Teach that.

A literal translation of "Barack Hussein Obama" might be "blessed, handsome, slightly bent" - reason enough for anyone who wanted to not to trust him I suppose.