Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
History Lesson
President Obama's speech to school children Tuesday has received a lot of attention. As we've reported President George H.W. Bush delivered a similar speech to students back in 1991. But the Washington Examiner reports the complaints leading up to Obama's speech were relatively muted compared to the outrage 18 years ago.
Back then, some Democrats not only denounced Bush's speech, but even launched congressional hearings into the matter and asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate federal funds used for the speech. The GAO eventually said the administration did nothing wrong.
But at the time -- October 10, 1991 -- the National Education Association said it could not "endorse a president who spends $26,000 dollars of taxpayers' money on a staged media event... while cutting school lunch funds for our neediest youngsters."
But, ahead of President Obama's speech -- September 6, 2009 -- the NEA wrote: "We applaud President Obama for delivering this message to students."
We don't know how much today's event cost taxpayers.
Little Less Talk
If you haven't been counting the number of speeches President Obama has delivered, CBS' Mark Knoller has.
Tuesday's address was the 263rd speech or set of remarks delivered by President Obama since he took office only 231 days ago -- that's 32 more speeches than days he's served. As Brit mentioned earlier, President Obama has delivered 28 speeches specifically on the issue of health care. But if you include all remarks in which he mentioned health care reform that number jumps to 121.
Meanwhile, a former top campaign adviser for the president says he wants a little less talk and a lot more action from his old boss. Former deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand tells the Politico: "I am one of the millions of frustrated Americans who want to see Washington do more than it's doing right now... I'm one of the many Americans who are losing patience."
By far the most senior member of Obama's political team to openly express doubts about the president, Hildebrand added: "The problem is, Obama isn't listening enough."
Monkey Business
A Phoenix, Arizona man facing 37 unpaid photo-enforced speeding tickets says he is innocent.
The Arizona Republic reports Dave Vontesmar says he won't pay up because the photos show a driver wearing either a monkey or giraffe mask.
But Officer Dave Porter from the Arizona Department of Public Safety says that excuse won't cut it because they insist Vontesmar is the man behind the mask: "We watched him four different times put the monkey mask on and put the giraffe-style mask on," before he drove to work.
— FOX News Channel's Lanna Britt contributed to this report.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox