Education Secretary’s office hangs up on The Daily Caller over Duncan’s plans to speak at Sharpton-promoted event to counter Glenn Beck ‘Restoring Honor’ rally

Matthew Boyle
The Daily Caller
8/18/2010

The U.S. Department of Education’s spokesperson hung up on The Daily Caller Wednesday when seeking clarification regarding the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s planned speech at an Aug. 28 protest march that the Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network (NAN) are holding to counter Fox News commentator Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally.

The NAN’s “Reclaim the Dream” march is an attempt to keep attention off Beck’s highly publicized rally happening the same day in the same city, redirecting the focus to what Sharpton and the NAN say is the real meaning of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “I have a dream” speech. The date, Aug. 28, is the 47th anniversary of King’s iconic speech.

Duncan recently wrapped up a nationwide education tour with Sharpton and former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, which is the only topic the Department of Education would comment on.

“Newt Gingrich, Reverend Sharpton and Secretary Duncan enjoyed visiting some of the highest performing low income schools in the nation and we look forward to visiting Dunbar High School with the Reverend later this month,” Justin Hamilton, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education, said in an e-mail to TheDC, answering a question that wasn’t asked.

Hamilton hung up the phone on TheDC when contacted for further comment, refusing to answer actual questions, including whether Duncan believes the Tea Party is racist or if he believes Beck is trying to “hijack” the American dream, or comment any further on Duncan’s planned participation in the rally.

Read the rest of the article at The Daily Caller.

H/T Stu Blog

…the words of Al Sharpton himself:

“On the anniversary of the March on Washington, Glenn Beck is going to talk about the dream of Martin Luther King and how he was with them – not us,” Sharpton said in the blackvoicenews.com article. “So, we’ve been traveling all over this country because there is no way in the world that I am going to allow him to have more people there than us. I hope every Black person in the country will help us to challenge this.”

How could anyone get the idea it is a counter-rally???

The Sharpton group even tried to cover its tracks by trying to make it seem like their event was planned long before any thought of Glenn Beck ever popped into their minds…

Rev. Sharpton said he was going to do this in April,” Noerdlinger said

Ohhh—in April???? You mean 5 months after Glenn’s rally was announced?  That’s an air tight case.  Good work…

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