Bush's Safe Schools

I could understand how Bush would want to try to draw some positive light on himself with his poll numbers back in the mid 30's and with Iraq and North Korea all Bushed up. So, in the wake of multiple school shootings, he decided to hold a school safety summit.

I watched a little bit of the summit on TV. You could tell how contrived it was... but that is besides the point.

In the entire program, none of the panelist, including Bush himself, ever mentioned guns a single time.

Hello!!! School shootings!!! How can you have a summit about safety without mentioning guns a single time? We didn't have a rash of school knifings. Not a single episode included a bomb. No one claimed they were going to put someone's eye out with a stapler.

It was guns! So, guns are relevant. Lets face the facts here. If it were not for guns, we would not be having this summit at all. You cannot have an honest discussion on the subject without bringing up the subject of guns.

When we talk about stopping terrorism, do we leave out planes, chemical/biological weapons, nuclear material? No! So, why can't we have a discussion about the weapon of choice for school shootings? They didn't have to call for a ban on guns, but they have to at least acknowledge the problem in order to have an honest discussion.

I think we all know the answer to that one.

Guns Are in Schools but Not in the President's Vocabulary
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, October 11, 2006; Page A02

President Bush has always been a disciplined man, but yesterday he set a new standard for self-control: He moderated an hour-long discussion about the rash of school shootings in the past week without once mentioning the word "guns."

First lady Laura Bush was nearly as good, giving a seven-minute speech at yesterday's White House Conference on School Safety without mentioning guns. Two longtime aides, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, deftly led hours of panels at the National 4-H building in Chevy Chase with only a few glancing references to weapons.

(Full Story)