Liberal Media's New Version of 'My Pet Goat'

Yesterday, President and Mrs. Obama stopped in on a class of second graders to visit and read a story and answer questions. Although the visit was planned, it was not announced.

The president and first lady Michelle Obama slipped out of the White House early Tuesday and visited second-graders at Capital City Public Charter School, a public school in D.C. "We were just tired of being in the White House," the president candidly told the students. "We got out! They let us out!" Mrs. Obama said as the kids and their teachers laughed. He and his wife read the students a book about the inspirational story of astronauts landing on the moon. He took a class photo, accepted hugs from the children, thanked them for pictures they made him, and even delivered them a couple of brown-paper bags full of books.

Our "liberal" media took the opportunity to make a comparison of this visit with the infamous 'My Pet Goat' Deer-in-the-Headlights - Run-For-Your-Lives debacle on the morning of September 11, 2001.

MSNBC's CONTESSA BREWER: Tamron, this was something of a flashback for many of us. As his nominee for Health Secretary was going down, the first couple paid a surprise visit to a DC charter school to read a book to children.

And Maureen Dowd of the 'liberal' New York Times, had this to say:

On 9/11, President Bush learned of disaster while reading “The Pet Goat” to grade-school kids. On Tuesday, President Obama escaped from disaster by reading “The Moon Over Star” to grade-school kids.

Are these bastions of liberal media, MSNBC and Maureen Dowd*, comparing Obama's visit as HHS nominee Tom Daschle withdrew his name from consideration to the madness of King George sitting in frozen terror for nine minutes while airliners kamikazied the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, the Pentagon and another went down in Pennsylvania?

Did Brewer just compare Tom Daschle "going down" to the airplanes going down? Or just the Towers? Did Dowd compare the 9/11 disaster that killed 3,000 Americans to Daschle's tax "disaster" and infer that Obama took off to a local school in order to avoid it? Even after he went on every major network to express his disappointment and anger but take responsibility for and apologize to the American people? (Something we never saw Bush do in eight long years.)

Boy, we certainly are lucky that we have a liberal media that has President Obama's back. Can you imagine if they were against him?

* That was Dowd's opening paragraph, and it didn't get much better after that.

(H/T Bob Cesca)

Daschle Withdraws Name From HHS Nomination

NY Times: Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination on Tuesday as President Obama’s nominee to lead the Health and Human Services Department, a decision that came one day after Mr. Obama declared that he would stand behind Mr. Daschle as problems over unpaid taxes were scrutinized on Capitol Hill.

“I accept his decision with sadness and regret,” Mr. Obama said in a statement.

You can't have it both ways. Withdrawing over a tax problem (the second of President Obama's nominees) was the right thing for Daschle to do. But Obama and his administration was smart enough to know to accept the withdrawal for the good of future health care legislation as well as holding themselves to the higher standard that they themselves put in place.

As Press Secretary Robert Gibbs repeatedly said today, this administration has put higher transparency standards in place than any administration before it. Losing Daschle may be a blow to the health care agenda, but they are following their own standards.