Bush-Bashing Backlash
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
The latest from the Political Grapevine:
Bush-Bashing Backlash
Actor and comedian Chevy Chase, hosting an event in Washington this week, shocked even the liberal organization People for the American Way, which sponsored the event, with his closing remarks.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Chase called President Bush a "dumb f---," but Chase used the full f-word. He then declared, "I'm no f---ing clown ... This guy started a jihad. ... This guy in office is an uneducated, real lying schmuck ... and we still couldn't beat him with a bore like Kerry."
People for the American Way has now issued a statement, insisting, "Chevy Chase's improvised remarks caught everyone off guard, and were inappropriate and offensive. It was ... certainly not the language [we] would ever use in discussing any president of the United States."
The organization's founder, Norman Lear, called Chase's comments, "utterly untoward."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Americans approve
A new FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll out Thursday shows that a majority of Americans support President Bush's idea of private investment accounts within the Social Security system, with 60 percent saying people should have the choice to invest a small amount privately.
What's more, 55 percent of Americans say they would privately invest some their own Social Security money. And even 53 percent of Democrats approve of the personal investment option.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Band Banned
Officials at Rossford High School in Rossford, Ohio, have canceled a Christian rock band's performance at an optional anti-drug assembly next week, insisting, "it wasn't appropriate" to have religious music at a public school.
Students had the option of seeing the band, called Pawn, or watching an anti-drug movie or skipping both and going to study hall. But now the school tells the Toledo Blade, "there is some controversy, and [we'd] rather err on this side [of caution]" by canceling the Christian band.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Nativity Scene Not Welcome
Meanwhile, the school superintendent in Mustang, Oklahoma, has decided to remove a Nativity scene from an elementary school Christmas program, insisting it could violate the separation of church and state.
Symbols of Hannukkah and Kwanzaa were left in the program. So the community, in turn, has now voted down a bond measure to fund a new 10-million dollar elementary school.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Luggage Not Lost
After federal aviation authorities searched an entire terminal at Newark Airport — looking for a piece of luggage carrying test explosives that had slipped through security — the luggage has now been found... in Amsterdam.
Professor Put in Prison
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
And, in another update, the psychology professor from California's Claremont McKenna College, who, nine months ago cried racism after vandalizing her own car with racial epithets, has now been sentenced for falsely reporting a hate crime. 40-year-old Kerri Dunn is going to state prison for one year.
— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report