Laura's youth initiative (Passport to Manhood) gets off to a GREAT start

[underpants]

First lady Laura Bush addresses a class entitled 'Passport to Manhood' during an appearance at the Boys and Girls Club of Germantown in Philadelphia Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005. In Wednesday night's State of the Union address, President Bush (news - web sites) described a new three-year youth initivative which will be led by the first lady. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)





http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=705&/

[burythehatchet]

1. I can see her connecting with those young men at a very personal level

holler!

[Oreo]

3. Do you mean

because she's married to some one with the intellect of a 2nd grader?

[burythehatchet]

8. not really

lets just say that the First Lump may not have shared many common experiences with those guys.

[L.A.dweller]

45. WOOT WOOT!!!!

LOL

[Oreo]

2. Poor Kids!

Make her stop looking at me like that!!!

[onebox30]

4. Its wonderful to see

the delighted smiles of children as one of their most beloved heroines comes to share her hard-earned wisdom with them. God bless America and God bless our President and his lovely wife. :puke:

Kids like Kool-Aid, Laura.... just not THAT kind.

[MuseRider]

5. Those pictures say it all.

Funny. What would Laura know about Manhood? She is married to a child, when has she actually had any experience with Manhood? Can you imagine having to sit through that? Ewwwwww, it just creeps me out. I guess it could be worse, it could be Cheney.

[Mad_Dem_X]

55. LOL - I was just going to say that

She has had *zero* experience with manhood, so how can she lead a class on it? The name itself is ridiculous: "PASSPORT To Manhood." WTF?

[Cronus Protagonist]

6. She's a real leader

Who would have known such an uneducated hick could ever lead anything?


http://bushspeaks.com/home.asp?did=195


http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13
Buttons for brainy people - educate your local freepers today!

[goclark]

32. Are they kissing or what!

The close body language is odd to me.

Usually Bush does not get that close to anybody - man or woman.

LIEberman is a Republican.

[ewagner]

7. Those kids KNOW THE SCORE!!!

They know they're being used and they don't like it one bit!!!!!

She just made a whole lot of new enemies in that room.....

[ultraist]

9. No shit

They are making FOOLS of out themselves by claiming Laura KNOWS the black male culture so well that she can 'help put these boys' lives on the "right" course'. Those boys obviously sense something evil about her. Kids have good instincts.

Laura needs to take some ethnic sensitivity training and educate herself on the black culture before she sits for photo ops that give the righty whities an opportunity to spread images of black boys that show them as poor and misdirected.

This really pisses me off. How FUCKING condescending and we know what their real intent is.

IF they REALLY wanted to help blacks, they would pass some REAL legislation that promotes equal opportunity and they would hire experts to work this program. NOT parade Laura for photo ops.

I am OUTRAGED by the Repukes empty gestures to woo the black vote: Tokenism by appointing minorities and photo ops with poor black boys. GET FUCKING REAL.

[ewagner]

12. Well said my friend!

Condescending is exactly what is being portrayed here..........

[underpants]

16. You mean find out why black males have shorter expected lifespans

instead of using it as a talking point?

BTW- Krugman blew that whole thing away by citing the evidence of the 2 1/2 times infant mortality rate of blacks compared to whites, higher number of violent deaths at younger ages, BUT upon reaching 60 years old blacks, on average, reach 74 years of age while white males reach, on average, 76.

[jmm]

40. Her hubby gave Condi and Colin jobs.

Isn't that helping black people?

Seriously the only thing they care about helping is their public image. They just want to pacify their supporters see themselves as caring about blacks because they bought Thriller in '82.

[Fleshdancer]

10. So when will the Passport to Womanhood force me into the kitchen?

and what does Laura know about manhood? She's not a man, she's not married to a man...I don't get it.

[ultraist]

28. Really! A WHITE WOMAN for Passport to MANhood for BLACKS?

OOOPS! I guess they didn't think this one through too well, did they?

[patdem]

34. ultraist..that is my question too...a WHITE woman of PRIVLIDGE telling

poor inner city black kids how to be a MAN? WOW..talk about your 'We create our own reality' crowd! AMAZING...truly AMAZING!!!

[eridani]

52. Yeah, right.

Reminds me of a book I saw in the fifty cent been a few years ago--The Art of Being a Woman, by some male PhD in psychology. I thought his wife might be the author of the next book in the series How It Feels to Get Kicked in the Balls by a Horse.

What in bleeding hell is Pickles thinking? As if she could possibly have a fucking clue. Want to bet this doesn't last for more than 6 weeks?

[killbotfactory]

11. The "stop being so uppity, silly negroes" tour

They didn't give a shit about gangs until the culture started spreading to suburbia.

[musette_sf]

13. wtf was that all about last night??

So * was rambling on about "young men" in "our cities" and all their problems. And I thought, wow, I know a lot of "young men" in "our cities" who have jobs, houses, lives, families, etc etc etc.

Is there something that was missing in that description where, um, further qualifications for "Passport to Manhood" were described? Or are we all supposed to surmise that ALL young men in ALL cities are fvcked-up?

[underpants]

15. The "Passport" thing is what gets me

If they didn't feel on the outside before they sure do now. They need a passport to get to manhood? Like a foreigner needs a passport to get into this country*?

*-supposedly

[zann725]

31. Knowing Laura, they'll be stopped at the 'border' by Abstinence.

And never get to manhood.

[LeftyMom]

38. "Young men in our cities" means scary black gangsters

who will steal your car and knock up your daughter. It's one of those code words designed to scare the shit out of the base.

[musette_sf]

48. um, well, yeah, totally!

which is why I couldn't believe the words, knowing the underlying content. eeeeeuuuwwwwwwww. :grr:

hey, even "midnight basketball" went over better than this...

[displacedtexan]

14. BWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kids had those same expressions when Nancy told them to JUST SAY NO!

[L.A.dweller]

46. Reagen and Bush both have husbands

who are Right wing wacko shills. It is appropriate that the role of the wives are to not make much of a significant impact on policies.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

51. Stepford wives...

"men" like that can't handle real women. We scare them.

[Bluebear]

17. I remember my "Passport to Manhood"....

I was about 11 when I started to have these feelings..... oops never mind.

[thebigidea]

18. at least we don't have to listen to her speak

that awful, grating, smoking-for-decades, prematurely-old-sounding croak. ughghghghg.

[Connie_Corleone]

19. What does Laura Bush know about manhood??

When will the Chimp appoint Dick Cheney to head the Passport to Womanhood program?

[underpants]

20. (insert joke about Cheney's LESBIAN daughter)

I won't go there.

[hector459]

21. These kids look a hell a lot wiser than most voting Americans.

I hope they get a chance to become activists citizens and not a sad statistic.

[Stinky The Clown]

22. I can't wait for the pictures of Pickles playing a little

roundball in the 'hood. A "shirts and skins" game, maybe?

[paineinthearse]

23. Didn't Jacko try to run a similar program? nt

[quiet.american]

24. These kids look positively UPSET.

My goodness, what was going on in that classroom? These kids look so angry to have to sit through this -- (and what's with the porn title -- Passport to Manhood - ??!! -- I thought it was a joke!

[cybildisobedience]

25. the program should be called "procurement for cannon fodder"

That's what this is really all about -- getting these young kids to enlist for "educational opportunities" and "financial security."

Sorry for being a bit cynical....

[MountainLaurel]

26. Who is this crazy broad? n/t

Love the expression on that first kid's face. Looks like he's afraid she's gonna do something to him.

[Emboldened Chimp]

27. Man, they're just THRILLED to be there, aren't they?

Pictures do speak louder than words....

[smirkymonkey]

29. Passport to Becoming Cannon Fodder in the Middle East is

more like it.

This makes me sick. I can't believe people fall for this garbage.

[BronxBoy]

30. LOL

Are you fucking kidding me?? I read about this gang bullshit in another thread and didn't give it much thought. We need to show these pics to all those Black folk who think that the republicans are THE answer to Black America's problems. Yeah real inspiring! I guess they couldn't slip them the zoloft in time.

Is it me or have the republicans really been playing the race card lately?

[goclark]

33. Does she get that they don't like her?

Nice looking kids.

They are way too smart for her - LOL !

[KG]

35. nice of georgie to give her someting to do other than sitting around

the WH chain smoking and popping pills.

[Amaya]

36. Pathetic

How sad these kids have sit through this bullshit. Wtf does she know about a "passport to manhood"... come on, I mean really.... ?
If this weren't so fucking pathetic, it would be funny.

Btw, these kids look so excited, don't they :eyes:

[Malva Zebrina]

37. this is shit

she is tight as a drum and looks way out of her league.

What the hell is going on with this? She has no more idea of what manhood is than the man in the moon.

This has got to be one of the more stupid propagandist ophoto ops things she has been assigned to perform by her husband andhis ministry of propaganda. There is nothing gracious or outstanding about this at all.

Passport to manhood, indeed. Are all these kids absent a father who cannot show them what the role of manhood is or what the rights of passage are?

Why the hell do we have a stupid , vacant and unaccomplished woman, who has worked about five of her years before she married, and never worked another day in her life,prefering to enjoy the life of the elite luxury in Kennebunkport, and gossiping amongst the Huston Ladies Garden club, appearing before these youngsters and attempting to tell THEM how to be a man?

This is sick.

[Johonny]

39. Is the passport

one of those highly restricted ones. You know it will only be good to Iraq, Iran and Syria?

[neebob]

41. Passport to Manhood?! Is that the name of her initiative

or the name of the class she visited? Because if her thing is called Passport to Manhood, that's offensive as hell. I don't like it regardless of whose program it is - it's based on the assumption that (a) manhood is something that can be defined by whoever chooses to define it and (b) it's being defined for you (boys). And what about girls? Ugh! I hate it, either way.

[rooboy]

42. "Passport to Manhood" sounds like a Skull & Bones initiation...

of course, we wouldn't want to mention how GW used to beat Laura up during his drinking days. Not much of a passport to manhood there.

[Dude_CalmDown]

43. Yup, these pics are definitely going in my "What a Fucking Idiot" folder.

Smart kids. They know evil when they see it.

[journalist3072]

44. Is it just me........

Or do those poor kids all look like they'd rather be at the dentist's office, having a root canal, than listening to Pickles.

[_NorCal_D_]

47. Best. Pictures. Ever.

I have never seen such enthused kids! :D

[deadparrot]

49. Holy crap, look at those faces.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

[Eric J in MN]

50. Thanks. LOL (nt)

nt

[American Tragedy]

53. Republicans often have a hard time pretending to be socially conscientious

especially since it tends to involve the very programs that they seek to tear down.

The first thing I thought when I saw the "Passport to Manhood" images was how they stood in stark contrast to Lady Bird Johnson and Head Start.

[diamond14]

54. laura knows all about raising children (PHOTOS from Betty Bowers)

it's so bizarre to have the failure laura telling OTHER PEOPLE how to raise their children....my guess is that many Americans do much better than laura has done with her own children....


thanks to Betty Bowers
http://www.bettybowers.com

[ucmike]

56. bizzaro world. that is surreal.