Along with Jesus and the American Flag, Fox News worships the Pledge of Allegiance. Any attempts to suppress the saying of this American tradition (which was, ssshhhh, written by a socialist) is seen as deeply seditious and definitely worthy of national coverage that, thanks to Fox patriots, occasionally leads to death threats! Fox's Dana Perino even admonished those who don't like the Pledge to leave the country. The Pledge loving patriots on Fox & Friends take particular umbrage towards any affront to the saying of the sacred words as was shown on this morning's Fox & Friends which hosted yet another in a long line of thwarted and victimized Pledge lovers. The subplot to the story also fed the right wing hatred of those born in foreign countries so it was all good...
During the patented "Trouble with Schools" segment, Fox & Friends patriot Brian Kilmeade, in using boilerplate inflammatory Fox News wording, framed the story as having "sparked controversy." The chyron stated, as Fox Fact that a "University student silenced, vet barred from saying Pledge of Allegiance." Kilmeade, in trademark outrage mode, immediately set the secondary let's hate on the foreigners meme by reporting that an Army staff sergeant, who is an elected student government officer at the University of Wyoming, was "told that it would be offensive to international students if they started their meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance." Kilmeade said that the vet "isn't going to stand for this and wants things changed."
Kilmeade, in introducing his guest, said that Cory Schroeder fought in Iraq and is now "fighting here." He asked Schroeder what the response was when he asked about saying the Pledge. Schroeder claimed that the student government people said that they didn't know how they could change the rule and, moreover, it "might be offensive to people." He added that he told them that "it shouldn't matter if it's offensive to people, just tell me how I can say the Pledge of Allegiance." The chyron stated, as Fox Fact, "Cory Schroeder, barred from saying Pledge of Allegiance."
A sneering Kilmeade stayed with the Fox message that this affront to patriotism is all the fault of the international students: "They told you we have two international students here, they might be offended by it." He asked Schroeder how "that made you feel." The chyron attacked the student government: "Student government snub, Schroeder told to submit Pledge proposal." After Schroeder said that the didn't think those students would have a problem with it, Kilmeade asked how people reacted when Schroeder told them he was going to Fox "and you're not going to sit on your hands and ignore the fact that the Pledge of Allegiance is not going to be said." Schroeder opined that "they are more motivated" and cited how, after a recent meeting, he will be helped to write the proposal which is needed to change the current policy.
Poor Brian just couldn't get his head around the procedure for changing the student meeting policy and asked why Schroeder needed "to jot something down." He was almost spitting as he said "it's supposed to be a lay-up, why is it so complicated?" In agreeing, Schroeder felt that the brevity of the Pledge shouldn't require a formal order of business change. Kilmeade asked Schroeder to articulate his message, about the importance of the Pledge, for the viewers. Schroeder invoked his patriotism and expressed his opinion that allowing the Pledge to be said, without a formal change of policy, is "a small gesture" and one that would be of benefit to other student government reps. Kilmeade praised Schroeder as a "man of action" about whom the University of Wyoming "should be proud."
Despite Kilmeade's effort to smear the international students, the student government vice-president told the right wing blog Campus Progress (which started the outrage ball rolling) that the Pledge "was not left off the agenda due to being seen as offensive and that Schroeder "was in no way banned from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at meetings. The Pledge of Allegiance is a tradition that many organizations adopt in their meeting procedures. To our knowledge this has not been a component of our agenda as outlined in Article II (Order of Business) of the ASUW rules and procedures.”
So, in keeping with the student government policy and procedure, all Schroeder has to do is write a proposal, to be voted on by the student government, about the inclusion of the Pledge before meetings. Nobody is stopping Schroeder from saying the Pledge by himself. Fox & Friends, once again, has a problem with truthiness!
BTW, how do you think Fox & Friends would react to, say, a Muslim student trying to do an end run around student government to get a policy changed?
The guy really is an idiot.