September 9, 2008
Should McCain Be Able to Hold a Rally at a Local Public School?
UPDATE: Point now moot! The rally has been moved amid all the outcry, although no word yet on the new location.
Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have planned a campaign rally at Fairfax High School tomorrow morning, prompting the Post to write about how some people are concerned that the event makes it looks like Fairfax County Schools are endorsing McCain. The county does have a rule against such political events being held during school hours, but Superintendent Jack Dale decided to make an exception for this one because, he said, it's an educational opportunity. He also points out that Sen. Barack Obama held a town hall meeting at Fairfax's Robinson Secondary School in July, although school was not in session then.
So does this bother you? And if it does and you're an Obama supporter, would you have the same problem if the event was for your candidate?
If you're a McCain supporter, you can try to snag a ticket to the rally through your local Republican committee or the McCain campaign — but expect to run into trouble unless you have some connection to the GOP or at least can prove you're a registered Republican. McCain and Palin pretty much only want folks who already support them at this one, with the exception of the invited seniors from Fairfax High.
Photo by Daniella Zalcman
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One option is charging the campaign for every possible operating cost associated with the event, from police overtime to utilities.
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WAMU is reporting that it will no longer be at the school because they couldn't handle the size of the crowd....
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Seriously? Cry about it some more. If I were in school there, I wouldnt care who it was, I would have been psyched to have a candidate come. Good chance for parents to talk real politics with their kids anyway. Oh well, can't have religion or politics messing with our abercrombie/OC/football generation's minds.
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young, impressionable school children shouldn't be exposed to pornography (or scary old men with yellow teeth) at such a young age.
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I know it woulda been kinda cool had the Presidential candidates held a Q&A at my highschool. I would've enjoyed asking to what extent George H.W. Bush was involved in the Kennedy assasination.
But in this case, I think as long as it's held as primarily an educational rally, fine. But if it turns into some kinda Democrat-bashing, Jeebus love fest, I reserve the right to ask Palin whether she appreciates being referred to as "Governor Crotch Clowncar."
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Of course people will have an issue with it if it isn't their candidate.
I think the bigger issue is that it's being held during school hours. I'm sure that some kids might find it an "educational experience", but most will just look at it as an opportunity to get out of going to a few periods worth of class.
If they want to hold it at the school, they should pay for any expenses it incurs, but after school/work hours, when people would be more likely to go anyway.
And if this was my high school and it wasn't someone I supported, I would have raised hell about some windbag promoting their agenda in a public school, especially if I were a student.
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This, from the party that wants parents to be able to decide whether their kids learn about safe sex and STD-prevention. What about the right to choose whether children are subjected to propaganda disguised as education?
What gets me isn't that McCain and Palin are speaking, but that apparently they're screening the audience and only letting in their supporters. If you want to show kids about politics and public service, that's great...but be honest and allow the actual community into the audience, and don't just make it a showcase of party members in agreement. This is a public school, not a party convention.
heisindc, real politics have more than one voice...not everybody supports McCain/Palin, and those voices belong in the school as well. Besides, prior to the RNC, I watched the Republican Platform Committee on C-SPAN. Their official stance is that they want to abolish federal control on education so the states and counties can form their curricula (and insert creationism, intelligent design, abstinence education, and other matters of Christian opinion into the classrooms). They want to eliminate the US Department of Education, but agree not to call for that in their campaigning because they know that most of the public will view that negatively. But they do not want federal support for advancement of education nationwide, except for laws to protect their ability to send kids to private schools away from people of different ethnicities and socioeconomic strata. So given this unwillingness to support public education and improvement of the school system in America, it is all the more absurd that the Republican ticket should be allowed into a public school to brainwash the kids with one-sided hypocrisy, dishonesty, and propaganda.
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I forgot to mention: negatively portraying people who go to good colleges as "elitists" couldn't be the best message to encourage the kids to excel and pursue the best education for their future.
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A debate would be one thing, but allowing 100-year-old Turd Gobbler and White Trash Alaskan Dipshit to hold a rally in a public school is quite another.
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So we should expect Fairfax City Council member Daniel F. Drummond to file another letter protesting the Obama event at Robinson Secondary School? What? Probably not? You don't say!
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Biden gave a speech last week at Maple Point Middle School in Langhorne PA. It was during the school day. I am sure the kids survived.
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VPILF.
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For some reason that photo makes me think of Mr. and Mrs. Claus. (Remember Miss Jessica from "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"?)
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Does that school district have a rule against it, hillvada? Because if they don't, you're comparing apples and oranges.
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Dan tastic,
Robinson and Fairfax are both Fairfax County schools.
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that picture is ripe for a caption contest, dontchathink?
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"yeahhh...you want to get your barracuda on that?!"
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does she have her hand on his ass?
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I would think that this should not be a big deal. It's not like those kids, or at least a vast majority of them, will be elligible to vote come election day.
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This isnt pepsi throwing a private rally. This is an important part of the democratic election process. I think all kids should have exposure to civics in action, irregardless of the party.
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Did someone say PARTY!
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dcustatiumnow - Robinson and Fairfax are both Fairfax County schools.
Actually, the hillvada comment that Dan was replying to was about a school in Pennsylvania, so it's not exactly clear what the point of your Statement of the Obvious is . . .
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I gotta agree that this kind of event is good for the democratic process. If they're worried about political bias, invite the Democrats to do the same. If they refuse, you're in the clear. Bias is about limiting opportunity, not the end result.
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Um, why not? Obama held a rally at a local high school in Indiana. So only Dems are allowed to campaign at schools but not Repubs?
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yes
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Man there's a lot of comparing apples to oranges in these comments.
RTFA, payne12 ... it's a specific policy of the Fairfax County Public Schools against holding campaign events during the school day that's at issue here (if there even is an issue). Why you would expect people who live in and around northern Virginia to care about what happens in a school system in Indiana is beyond me . . .