one in particular, jim greer of the florida republican -- republican group there. who felt that that was in some way a political act, that it was, in his words, indktrynating the children. and we have since talked to jim greer, who has taken a look at the president's speech, and does not agree in his previous statements that he made earlier,

mike from texas writes, of course, jim greer, and jim greer is the head of the republican party, thein florida, who was outraged at the i -- initially at the thought that the president was going to give the speech. not sure about the lesson plan materials that were sent out ahead of the speech. of course, jim greer has had a change of heart because he put his foot in his mouth, causing panic across the country. >>> we will try to get to more of these responses. we are not able to keep up with all of your responses so far. 2,000. man, we're doing the best we can. it's a great problem to have. send more, why don't you? cnn.com/tony. - even the t.g.i. friday's potato skins. - yes! - guys, here you go. - yes! with unbeatable prices on t.g.i. friday's appetizers-- game time costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart. right now 1.2 million people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. eight are wearing bathrobes. two... less. - 154 people are tracking shipments on a train. - ( train whistles ) 33 are im'ing on a ferry. and 1300 are s

i spoke with jim greer.out of florida. he said, look, i think this is a socialist ideology. i'm afraid he's going to be indoctrinating my children. he take a look at the speech and seems to have had a change of heart. i spoke with him yesterday and here's how he put it. are you going to send your children to see the speech tomorrow at school? >> i am. my children have been taught to have the highest respect for the presidency and this president and all presidents. and after reading the text, seeing the department of education have told teachers they are not to lead students in the direction they were supposed to a week ago, my kids will be watching the president's speech as i hope all kids will. i don't advocate children not watching this president's speech with this text. >> reporter: john, what he did say is that he objected to the lesson plan the department of education suggesting that children go ahead and write an essay on how to help the president. the white house has since removed that request for tha

greer. your first name is -- >> jim. >> jim greer. and by the way, i agree with you about charlie crist. i think he's hell of a public servant. i dare say he's a moderate republican but that would probably get him in trouble down there. >> he's a good republican. >> thank you very much for joining us tonight, mr. greer, mr. jim greer. >>> we're going to be right back with more "hardball" tonight. s ♪ ♪ 'cause now i'm driving off the lot in a used sub-compact. ♪ ♪ f-r-e-e, that spells free credit report dot com, baby. ♪ ♪ saw their ads on my tv ♪ thought about going but was too lazy ♪ ♪ now instead of looking fly and rollin' phat ♪ ♪ my legs are sticking to the vinyl ♪ ♪ and my posse's getting laughed at. ♪ ♪ f-r-e-e, that spells free- credit report dot com, baby. ♪ still haven't tried activia? listen to this story. my problem was occasional irregularity. my commercials didn't convince you? i am definitely a skeptic. actually, my mom convinced me. and i have activia every morning for breakfast. activia definitely helped with my occasional irregularity. activia is clinically proven to help

still, some folks are endorsing it today, including jim greer saying his kids will listen to it. should this continue to be an issue for the president tomorrow? >> well, it never should have been an issue initially, erica. i mean, come on, ronald reagan did the same thing, addressed the nation's school kid. this is about opposition for the sake of opposition. and i say that as a political conservative. and i said this on a commentary, listen, there's a lot of hyster hysteria, but to have a president sit down and talk to the nation's school kids about funtd mentally important things and deliver what is actually a conservative message, personal responsibility, stay in school, take your studies seriously, the actual importance of education, these are good things. and to have some on the right find ways to oppose this president on this, i think, causes people to scratch their heads and go, what the heck is going on over there? the fringes of this conservative movement. >> you call it the fringes but clearly this on opposition for opposition's sake, as you characterized it, is having

one of the people that has read this is jim greer. he's the republican chair out of the state of florida and he's really the one who kicked off the controversy, if you will, one of the critics who said, look, i'm worried about my four children, sending them to school. he said, it's a socialist ideology that the president was trying to indoctrinate his children and he was encouraging people not to have their kids actually listen to the president's speech. well, i had a chance to talk to him and he's had a change of heart. he has listened to the -- he has read this text and he says he thinks this is a speech that he can send his kids to coschool t listen to. but i was really fascinated by the level of suspicion that he had, as well as many others, about what is behind this speech, what is behind this day. and here's how he responded, heidi. >> i believe that the speech that he was going to give, based on the lesson plans, is different. and, you know, suzanne, we have barack obama the auto king, we have barack obama the banker, soon to b

. >> reporter: former president jim greer was a critic of the speech, until he read it. >> the speech is a speech that any president should give. and my kids will be listening to it. >> reporter: at wakefield high, there's little controversy. >> what a dream the president of the united states would be in your school to welcome you back. >> reporter: tomorrow night, the tone changes. the president is expected to make a forcible argument to congress for his health care reform plan. the stakes could hardly be higher. >> the stakes are huge. i think his presidency will be judged on whether he can succeed where many other presidents have failed. >> reporter: tomorrow night's address is likely to be more controversial. the president is expected to press congress to pass universal health care with an optional public health plan that many republicans oppose. jeremy and vinita? >> abc's john hendren. >>> and of course, abc news will bring you live coverage of the president's speech and the republican response, tomorrow night, starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. >>> the president is getting som

and then you have jim greer who is the republican president in florida and has now read the speech and said it is fine and even amongst republicans there has been a shift in opinion about this speech. >> and this is the first to have -- the first of two big speeches this week. >> that is correct. >> reporter: the national anthem is being sang here so forgive my low tone. the president will address a joint session of congress, a regular thing outside of the presidential addresses even as thepresident will take the stage to talk about health care reform. august was a rough month for the white house's agenda. the town hall meetings and the growing concern on capitol hill, he need to make the point tomorrow, the white house says, of why this is important, not only to the presidency, but what the white house says to the future agenda of the health care industry in america. >> and tom, thank you very much. tom reporting live from wakefield high school where the president will make his address to the nation's school kids in just under 30 minutes now. >> you can see the full speech at myfoxdc.

jim greer, the head of florida's republican party, even accused the president of turning to kids to spread his liberal lies. >> i think the president has enough to do focusing on the economy and finding jobs for americans than writing lesson plans out of the oval office. >> reporter: school officials across the country scrambled to address the problem. the salt lake city district advised teachers to notify parents if they planned on airing the address in class and allow students to opt out. similar moves in states like colorado, florida, minnesota, kentucky and virginia. >> i don't know. right now, i would say no. i'll keep him home. >> reporter: reacting to the youp roar, white house spoke robert gibbs said, i think we've reached a little bit of the silly season when the president of the united states can't tell kids in school to study hard and stay in school. some people agree, seeing the address as inspiring, not political. >> i think anytime someone talks about education, and kids staying in school, there's no other motivation for that. >> the administration did acknowledge some confus

. >> i talked to jim greer, the chairman of the florida republican party last week who raised all sortsing, you know, essentially this is going to be a speech where the president is talking about health care and trying to shove his agenda down the throats of american students and indoctrinate them into his way of thinking. they was claiming that the white house was going to alter the speech, now that there was controversy. is there any evidence that they altered the speech? >> the white house said it didn't alter the speech. what was altered was the sort of original lesson plan that department of education had suggested to teachers saying, perhaps you could get your students to write how they can help president obama or, you know, that sort of thing. and that's kind of what set off some of these conservatives saying, wait a second. you know this isn't a teaching tool. that's a political angle. so that was changed to why don't you have them write about why you should stay in school and your educational goals. but the speech itself not changed. in fact, one of the reasons that the white h

jim greer the head of florida's republican party even accused the president of turning to kids to spreadeconomy and finding jobs on americans than writing lesson plans out of the oval office. >> reporter: school officials across the country scrambled to address the problem. the district advised teachers to notify parents if they planned on airing the address to class and allowing students to opt out. similar steps in minnesota, colorado, kentucky, and georgia. >> will i send my child? i don't know. right now i would say no. i'll keep them hope. >> reporter: reacting to the uproar robert gibbs said i think we've reached a little bit of the silly season when the president of the united states can't tell the kids in school to study hard and stay in school. >> i think any time someone talks about education and kids being in school, there's no other motivation for that. >> and that was dan lothian reporting. the president of the parent-teacher association called the uproar over president obama's speech sad. >>> it's going to be a labor day weekend full of hugs and kisses for 128 soldiers who

now that the president's actual text has been released, i'll ask florida republican party chairman jim greerthe speech now. >>> u.s. military teaches allies to fly an american warplane that's used around the world, but will these foreign fighter pilots always be allies. >>> and she could have faced 40 lashes, but a sudanese journalist lynn stead get a different punishment for wearing pants in public. ♪ need a lift? hey buddy, i appreciate the ride, you know. no problem. ♪ mind if i take a shortcut? yeah, sure. ♪ i knew the subaru legacy was the smart choice... what i didn't expect... was the fun. the all-new subaru legacy. feel the love. which beneful prepared meals. tonight? roasted chicken recipe? okay, savory rice and lamb stew. [ barks ] you're right. tonight is a beef stew kind of night. you've made another fine choice. look at those beefy chunks all packed with protein, the real vitamin-rich vegetables, the wholesome grains. and you think you're gvnting spoiled. it's so good for you too. [ announcer ] beneful prepared meals. another healthful, flavorful beneful. >>> republican party ch

decide for themselves what they think of it, and that has seemed to appease one outspoken critic, jim greer, the head of florida's republican party spoke to cnn on radio. take a listen. >> now the president is not going to have lesson there, he's going to say stay in school, do your homework, what's wrong with that? >> there's nothing wrong about that. when they release the text of the speech monday i'll have an opportunity to read it like other parents will and if there's nothing in there other than what you just described i intend to have my kids sit down and be respectful and listen to what the president has to say. >> and brooke will see if parents across the country feel the same way when they read the text of the speech monday. >> we have the parents on one side. we have the students and we have the president here, but what about the schools? it seems to me they're just kind of caught in the middle of this controversy. >> it sure does a little bit. response has been a bit mixed. depending on the state, also even the school district. it's ranging from some schools encouraging students

this was jim greer. ne of the things that jim crear did was he took these curriculum guides and give them a lot of important attention. he said this is going to lead into health care reform, talking about taking over automobile companies, very specific things that you could not reasonably get from the text. now think he is backtracking a little. this points to something very important, you cannot keep the politics out of it. that same article talks about how the administration, this is something that is benefit them -- that is benefiting them because these people are being seen as partisan spirit new cannot separate the plot -- the seen as partisan. you cannot separate the politics from anything the president does. host: michelle from texas. caller: i am against the speech. for one thing, i have children, i have a job that is disabled. in this city i live in, they do not always except credit forms: my child. i disagree with -- that always except home schooling as a form for my child. i disagree with what

here's what the florida republican party chairman jim greer said yesterday here in "the situation roombama the auto kick. we have barack obama the banker, soon to be barack obama the docker. we don't need barack obama the schoolteacher and the white house should have stayed out of the classrooms. >> what do you say to mr. greer? >> i think what we need as a country if we're serious about ending this education crisis, we need every adult coming together, teachers, parents, faculty members, school board members, state school chiefs and governors and, yes, the president. we all need to be working together to challenge our students to get dramatically better educationally. what we need as a country, we need more high-performing schools and need to close the achievement gap and need more young people who have the ability to go on to college. we need more learning opportunities before school, after school, summer school. all of us have to unight behind that. this is the one issue, wolf, that the country can come behind regardless of ideology and you actually saw so much of that which i was s