Boycotting Obama's speech(es)

[OneGrassRoot]

I've been searching, trying to find instances of US Democratic politicians or high-ranking officials boycotting any speeches by Bush.

No luck.

Yet Googling the same for Obama yields many instances of threatened or actual boycotts: Supreme Court justices, a mass boycott of his televised speech to students (remember that, in 2009?), the healthcare speech, and now the jobs speech.

Here are the Google results to refresh your memory.


Does anyone recall if any Dems ever boycotted a Bush speech -- while he was president? I know leaders of other countries have boycotted Bush's speeches but, as I said, I couldn't find anything regard Democrats not showing up for speeches or boycotting them.

:shrug:

[MineralMan]

1. Oh. For a minute I thought you were talking about

DUers boycotting his speech. Never mind.

[OneGrassRoot]

3. Ha! I made sure to clarify in the first sentence or two. ;) n/t

[SCantiGOP]

21. DeMint announced that he will tonight

He released a snarky video about how Obama has lied about everything and he doesn't plan to attend. I called and left a nasty message on his office recorder about how it was unpatriotic to criticize Bush when soldiers were in the field, etc, but he doesn't give a shit. The only good thing is he has promised on two recent occasions that he will not run again when his term is up in 2016.

[Broderick]

2. I hear talk that a lot of them think is merely a campaign speech

[OneGrassRoot]

4. Still, has another president (at least in recent history) been boycotted...

when addressing both chambers?

I'm really curious now.

[Broderick]

9. I can't wait for

the game. Anyway, I don't know the answer to it.

[one_voice]

5. I googled...

Democrats boycott president's speech

Senate Democrats boycott president's speech.

House Democrats boycott president's speech.

I added Bush's & Reagan's name.

Came up with nada.

Maybe someone else has better research skills or will see something I missed.

[OneGrassRoot]

6. I searched variations, too. Did you find....

that even inserting those keywords, the "hits" were still regarding boycotts of OBAMA'S speeches?

I did.

:eyes:

[one_voice]

11. Yup...

interesting. Seems to be a lot of historical "firsts" with this presidents.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. No, because that would be 'disrespecting the office of the President while at war'. Guess that only

applies to Republican presidents though.

[OneGrassRoot]

12. IOKIYAR. Word. n/t

[frazzled]

8. Here's the best I can find

and Huffington Post is hardly a reliable source:

Having a number of members skip a president's joint address is not unprecedented, however. The last time was in January 1999, when multiple members -- led by Speaker of the House Dennis Hassert -- skipped President Bill Clinton's State of the Union, feeling that is was "disrespectful" to a Congress in the middle of an impeachment process. Rep. William Clay skipped George H. W. Bush's 1992 address because he didn't want to deal with long commute home late at night.

In 1971, the Congressional Black Caucus boycotted one of Richard Nixon's State of the Union addresses because they felt he was ignoring the black community's needs.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/08/obama-jobs-speech-republicans_n_953001.html#s352786&title=Sen_David_Vitter

[OneGrassRoot]

13. Thanks. I appreciate you looking. :) n/t

[FSogol]

10. Probably depends on what you call a boycott. Some people in both parties are not present at each

speech. Your question should be: has any President been treated with such little respect. The answer would be no. Reagan began this trend (remember him wanting Carter to move out of the WH right after the election?), but it continues on in the GOP.

[OneGrassRoot]

14. You're right. :) n/t

[Bandit]

15. I boycotted all of Bush*'s speeches but I couldn't stand listening to him

I am not a politician either..I am beginning to boycott Obama's as well since he will often say one thing and actually end up doing something completely different. I can no longer trust what he says...

[OneGrassRoot]

18. Many citizens won't listen, but the politicians boycotting seems unique.

I hear you.

:)

[Fleshdancer]

16. With Bush, a formal call to boycott his speeches weren't neccessary...

Not because of the subject, but because it was so painful to listen to him speak. Seriously though, I don't recall any attempts to boycott his speeches either. I sort of remember the drinking games (except for the time when the shot word was "neeyoucleeur"...very bad idea in hindsight) and I remember people proudly boasting how long they were able to listen to it before turning it off, but all groups and many individuals attempted to listen.

[OneGrassRoot]

19. Oh, the drinking games were delightful with Bush's speeches...

:toast:

[AngryOldDem]

17. Marc Morial on MSNBC nailed it just now.

The fact that some in the GOP are boycotting this speech is disgusting and inexcusable. It never ceases to amaze that the GOP's flat-out hate of Obama trumps ANY kind of concern or willingness to work for a solution to the economic crisis -- or any crisis or issue, for that matter.

They want to bring down Obama, and if that means bringing down the country too...well, just the cost of doing business, I guess.

And they wonder why the rest of the country is sick and tired of their bullshit.

[OneGrassRoot]

20. The extraordinary lack of respect is sickening.

It was apparent before Obama was sworn in and has only increased over time.

It's especially sickening because of the hypocrisy of it all, with the GOP whining for 7 years that it's unpatriotic to disrespect -- or even disagree with! -- the president during a time of war.

:puke:

[dennis4868]

22. you're not...

going to find anything...Dems have respect for the office; repubs only respect it when they have the WH.