RUSH: Now, Michelle Obama has an open letter from the White House blog to parents following the tragedy in Tucson. Now, I don’t know if she got the message that her husband attempted in his inimitable, exclusive and brilliant manner on Wednesday night. Posted by First Lady ‘Moochelle’
‘Dear Parents: Like so many Americans all across the country, Barack and I were shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act of violence committed in Arizona this past weekend. Yesterday, we had the chance to attend a’ pep rally (ahem) ‘memorial service and meet with some of the families of those who lost their lives, and both of us were deeply moved by their strength and resilience in the face of such unspeakable tragedy,’ and we made sure they all got Together We Thrive t-shirts. ‘As parents, an event like this hits home especially hard. It makes our hearts ache for those who lost loved ones. It makes us want to hug our own families a little tighter.
‘And it makes us think about what an event like this says about the world we live in — and the world in which our children will grow up. In the days and weeks ahead, as we struggle with these issues ourselves, many of us will find that our children are struggling with them as well. The questions my daughters have asked are the same ones that many of your children will have — and they don’t lend themselves to easy answers.’ Well, what are the questions? Dawn, you have two daughters. Did they ask you any questions about this? I’m not saying that children won’t ask parents about it, but what were the questions, Michelle?
I mean, the questions your daughters have asked are the same ones? What are their questions? ‘[T]hey don’t lend themselves to easy answers’? What’s so hard to answer about this? Why did this happen? Because there are crazy people in the world. That’s why it happened: There are crazy people in the world. You might want to add, ‘There are crazy people in the world who don’t yet realize the brilliance of your father,’ but there are crazy people in the world. This is Moochelle, back to the letter: ‘But they will provide an opportunity for us as parents to teach some valuable lessons — about the character of our country, about the values we hold dear, and about finding hope at a time when it seems far away.’
What lessons? Moochelle says that the questions that kids ask ‘provide an opportunity for us as parents to teach some valuable lessons.’ What lessons would those be? About the character of our country? The values we hold dear, about finding ‘hope’? She wants us to believe that families are huddled en masse in the corners of their homes, fearful to even turn on the lights, and their children say (child impression), ‘Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! What happened? What do we do? Mommy! Mommy! How do I…? Mommy, we’ve lost hope! Mommy! Mommy! What are the core values of America? Mommy! Mommy! What do we do?’
The answers are very simple: There are crazy people in the world that need to be institutionalized. You might want to throw in that the Republicans made ’em that way if that makes you feel better, but just throw in that there are some crazy people and they need to be institutionalized. ‘We can teach them the value of tolerance — the practice of assuming the best, rather than the worst, about those around us. We can teach them to give others the benefit of the doubt, particularly those with whom they disagree.’
What has any of this got to do with children being afraid because of what happened in Tucson? See, Michelle did not get the memo. I guess she wasn’t even listening to her husband make the speech. He said all this doesn’t matter, ‘but…’ He did have a ‘but’ in there. He always has a ‘but,’ which cancels out whatever has preceded the ‘but.’ Most kids are on Facebook. ‘We can teach them the value of tolerance — the practice of assuming the best, rather than the worst, about those around us.’
‘Mommy! Mommy! I really hate the people on the street but Mrs. Obama says we should love the people down the street! How can I…? How can I like the people down the street instead of thinking poorly about ’em? Mommy! Mommy! And Mommy? Why are we huddled in the corner? What does this have to do with what happened in Arizona?’
‘We can teach them to give others the benefit of the doubt, particularly those with whom they disagree.’
‘Mommy? Mommy? What does that have to do with Arizona?’
So we can help our children by giving them the criminally false impression that the healthy political debate in this country led to this bloodshed? Is that what Mrs. Obama is continuing to say here? We can teach them to give others the benefit of the doubt, particularly those with whom they disagree’? They’ve gotta assume’ the best, rather than the worst, about those around us’? Anyway, this is just a portion of it: An open letter to parents from Moochelle Obama following the tragedy in Tucson.