Why do Florida Republicans hate education?

Is Jim Greer high? Seriously. I want to know. Is he making bad choices once again fueled by late-night hanky pank and too much booger-sugar?

How else would you explain this rant, rated “Pants on Fire” by PolitiFact, for so obscuring what is, at heart, a positive message from the President of the United States to schoolchildren about the importance of getting a good education?

Check it. This is part of what Greer had to say:

“The idea that schoolchildren across our nation will be forced to watch the president justify his plans for government-run health care, banks, and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other president, is not only infuriating, but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power,” he added.

This detour into Glenn Beck-Land is not surprising. Under Jim Greer’s embarrassing leadership, the Florida Republican Party is about to implode under the weight of financial improprieties, possible tax evasion, maybe even campaign fraud.

Greer fucked up. Big.

So why would anyone now follow his lead regarding our kids’ education?

Yet we are.

Pinellas and other counties in Florida are under attack from small groups of mouth-breathing hysterics, under Jim Greer’s influence, fresh from town hall performances this summer, who now want our kids, yours and mine, shielded from the President’s *socialist* message.

President Obama is going to talk about education, dipshits.

When did working hard in school become an exclusively left-wing value? Don’t get me wrong. I’ll take it. I’m just surprised, that’s all, that Republicans would so easily cede to us the importance of staying in school.

They believe their children don’t need to hear such a message.

School districts, as always, are a huge disappointment. Caving into irrational parental fears, many are now allowing students and parents to “opt out.” They are taking the decision to air a presidential address and making it a decision about politics, forcing parents and teachers to pick a side more in line with their ideology than to support the idea of coming together as a nation and encouraging kids to stay in school.

The percentage of high school students dropping out every year humiliates this great nation and yet conservatives are encouraging children to skip school that day rather than hear the President address it.

Unbelievable. Like so many other issues – national security, rising health care costs, and torture, to name only a few – when Republicans can’t apply reasoned debate to the topic, they use fear and intimidation to create a scene, fog the issue, and manipulate a populace that should know better.

And they call us fascists.

You’re probably thinking that my liberal leanings are why I want students to watch President Obama.

But you’d be wrong.

Douchebag.

As a teacher, I bribed my students all the time with extra credit points to watch President Bush’s news conferences or televised speeches. Few took me up on it. You see, I didn’t want them to read about others’ opinions the next day or take a pundit’s word for it on Fox News.

I wanted students to see for themselves the buffoon this country elected – twice.

Which begs the question: What are Republicans afraid of? What don’t they want their kids to see for themselves?

As this story gains traction in other parts of the country, I’m sad for conservatives and Republicans who are against education and the importance of working hard in school.

As right wingers fall further and further behind and back into the foggy domain of the unknowing where they are forever influenced by the loudest and rudest bully on the block because they haven’t bothered to search for answers themselves (Lost is on, for Christ’s sake!)…

I can’t help but wonder- will we miss them?

Tags: Florida Republican party, Jim Greer, Jim Greer cocaine, President Obama's speech to school children, repulicans hate education