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sabra Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 02:38 PM
Original message
History Texts Take Up Clinton Impeachment

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/27/AR2005122700086.html

History Texts Take Up Clinton Impeachment

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The impeachment of former President Clinton is in a gray area of history, too long ago to be a current event, too recent to be judged in perspective.

Yet history is already judging Clinton in the place where millions of students get their information about him _ textbooks.

Seven years after he was impeached in a scandal of sex, perjury and bitter politics, Clinton has become a fixture in major high school texts.

The impeachment is portrayed in the context of his two-term tenure, a milestone event, but not one that overshadows how Clinton handled the economy, crime and health care.
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Demeter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 02:40 PM
Response to Original message
1. And Which States Are Buying These Books?
That tells you right off what kind of slant or spin they put on history. Or science, nowadays.

(Who ever thought science could be spun. What's next? Algebra for Believers--no, wait, I have it---Statistics!)
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SharonAnn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 03:01 PM
Response to Reply #1
6. Texas basically controls the school book contents for the country
Their size means that if they don't accept a textbook's contents, it won't be purchased by Texas. Therefore, it probably won't be published because that's such a large part of the school textbook market.

I think they're even bigger than California. Maybe they have more centralized decision-making.
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cmkramer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 08:06 PM
Response to Reply #6
15. Right wing couple
Many years ago, I read a book about the textbook industry that claimed that there was a rightwing married couple in Texas who pretty much controlled the industry. Supposedly books had to get their approval before they could be disseminated to schools.

Anybody else remember that?
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Demit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 02:47 PM
Response to Original message
2. Looks like they're handling it okay--
' "A History of the United States," a Pearson Prentice Hall high school text, refers to the impeachment scandal as "a sorry mess" that diminished Clinton and his rivals.'

I suspect that nutshell assessment won't change, even as it recedes more into the past. Hopefully we will have another impeachment to contrast it to, and it will look even sorrier.
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GoddessOfGuinness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 02:48 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. Well at least they have it well-defined.
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GoddessOfGuinness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 02:47 PM
Response to Original message
3. Do these textbooks talk about Iran Contra?
How about the S&L scandal and Neil Bush?

I didn't think so.
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Demeter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 03:05 PM
Response to Reply #3
8. Exactly!
Or the little gems of Grenada and Panama, or even Viet Nam?
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karynnj Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 06:26 PM
Response to Reply #8
13. Both the public school and the private school here
had an entire semester class you could take on Vietnam. Grenada and Panama were in the regular class and in their text books. (Both the AP and honors text books had them.
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karynnj Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 06:23 PM
Response to Reply #3
12. My kids text books did cover Iran/Contra
I'm not sure about the S&L, if so probably not Neil Bush.
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GoddessOfGuinness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 06:59 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. By any chance do you remember which text they used?
I'm curious about how they presented the subject. :hi:
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Solly Mack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 03:00 PM
Response to Original message
5. It's a crock of shit to assert that Clinton's impeachment can't be
"judged in perspective" now.

What they mean is, that it takes a lot of years for memories to fade, key people to die, and the facts distorted enough so they can be rewritten to depict events in a manner that denies what actually happened. A nation that will lie about it's history relies on time to land a softer blow.
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Toots Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 03:05 PM
Response to Original message
7. in a scandal of sex, perjury and bitter politics,
They could leave off the Perjury charge since it isn't true. He was never charged with Perjury and he in fact did not commit Perjury.... Sex and bitter politics though there is no doubt...
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bluestateguy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 05:30 PM
Response to Original message
9. All history books should ignore it
Treat it as if it never happened. I heard from a reliable professional source of mine that a prominent historian is working on a major history of the Clinton years and that he/she will deliberately mention not a word on Monicagate. Not one.
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Tarc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 06:05 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. this person is anything but "professional", then
to simply ignore that it happened is rather ignorant. It should be acknowledged for exactly what it was; a political witch hunt instigated by the extreme right. These people were still seething from their pet bills getting vetoed, and from getting out-maneuvered time and time again by Clinton, especially over the government shutdown standoff.
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high density Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-27-05 05:58 PM
Response to Original message
10. Fox News was on in the lunch room at work today (as normal)
Edited on Tue Dec-27-05 05:59 PM by high density
and they were so giddy to have an excuse to play "the clip" again thanks to this article from the AP. I was watching that dumbass "Dayside" show with the studio audience. One guy there in the audience that they spoke to actually supported Clinton and got booed big time by the rest of the audience when he said that he's one of our greatest presidents. I guess all those people must not support relative peace and prosperity.
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