*OK, I'm paraphrasing. The actual headline is:
Florida Republicans To Michelle Obama: Stay Out Of Our School
Republican members of the Miami-Dade School Board in Florida -- a heavily contested battleground state this November -- sent a message to First Lady Michelle Obama Tuesday: Stay out of our school.
According to the Miami Herald, two GOP board members urged that a campaign event at Barbara Goleman Senior High in Miami Lakes be cancelled and questioned its legality.
Well, now. Let's think this through. Before I start throwing around the racism card, perhaps I should make sure that there isn't some unrelated, perfectly reasonable argument for not wanting the First Lady of the United States to hold a campaign event at the school.
It can't be due to concerns about disruption of the student body, since it's a summer event--school is out of session.
Hmmmm....
Perhaps this is simply a case of enforcing a local or state-wide ordinance against political campaigning at public schools?
Miami-Dade school board attorney Walter Harvey said the district's policy allows all groups, including political ones, to lease facilities.
Oh. Hmmm...well, never mind that. Maybe they're complaining about the cost of the event to the local taxpayers?
He said the Obama campaign was paying $2,351 to rent the school for the event.
Hmmmm. Um...ok, then; maybe the Obama and Romney campaigns have some sort of secret "Gentlemen's Agreement" not to campaign in public schools?
The complaint came as Republican Mitt Romney was set to hold a campaign event at a public high school in Colorado.
Hmmm...well, OK, I guess I've proven that this is a blatant double-standard where IOKIYAR, but am I
sure that this is actual
racism? That is, maybe the Florida GOP is being dicks to ALL Democrats, not just the black ones? Granted, that would be horrible in and of itself, but it wouldn't technically be racism if they "only" discriminated against Democrats in general, not just...
11/4/2006: POMPANO BEACH, Florida (AP) Former President Bill Clinton called on Democrats to rid the United States of "the most special interest-dominated government in my lifetime." He was among big political figures who were headlining the last-minute pushes to get voters to the polls in Tuesday's close congressional elections.
"We have to send a message that there is no ruling class in America," Clinton said to about 600 people at a rally for Democratic candidate Ron Klein at Pompano Beach High School on Saturday.
Oh.
Um.
OK, so It's not because of disruption, it's not because of a set policy, it's not because of the cost, it's not because of a campaign agreement, and it's not even (just) because she's a Democrat.
BUT...BUT...Maybe, just maybe, it's because she's not the candidate himself? Maybe they think of the candidate's spouse as a "non-political" position, and therefore feel that it's unseemly for Mrs. Obama to campaign at a public school?
Road to the White House
On Friday, Laura Bush campaigned in Orlando. She spoke to students at Blankner Elemementary School. She also held a press conference there.
So much for that.
Update: Changed title from "Florida GOP" to "Miami GOP" for a bit of clarity, not that the larger point would be any less true if I had kept it "Florida"...