Associated Press
Mitt Romney will outline his education policy in a speech today, and as part of his focus on the issue, the Republican presidential hopeful announced yesterday that Rod Paige will serve as his "special advisor" on education.
The most obvious observation is that Paige was the Bush/Cheney Secretary of Education, offering yet another connection between the failed former Republican administration and Team Romney.
The more important angle, though, is why Romney is getting policy advice from the worst Education Secretary anyone's ever seen. Indeed, the only reason Paige was elevated to the cabinet post was the so-called "miracle" he pulled off as superintendent of Houston's schools -- a miracle that turned out to be a mirage when we learned local officials cooked the books.
[A]n examination of the performance of students in Houston by The New York Times raises serious doubts about the magnitude of those gains. Scores on a national exam that Houston students took alongside the Texas exam from 1999 to 2002 showed much smaller gains and falling scores in high school reading.
Compared with the rest of the country, Houston's gains on the national exam, the Stanford Achievement Test, were modest. The improvements in middle and elementary school were a fraction of those depicted by the Texas.... [T]he Texas Education Agency found rampant undercounting of school dropouts. Houston school officials have also been accused of overstating how many high school graduates were college bound and of failing to report violent crimes in schools to state authorities.
Once in Washington, Paige helped oversee Bush's "Reading First" program, which "improperly encouraged" state and local education school officials to spend billions in federal grant money on products offered by favored companies, which happened to be Bush/Cheney donors.
Paige also called the nation's largest group of school teachers a "terrorist organization," and rejected American public schools for lacking "the values of the Christian community."
So, here's a question for the Romney campaign: why on earth is Rod Paige the candidate's new "special advisor" on education policy?
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Why is an educated populace so scary to the Republicans??
Oh, nevermind... stupid question...
Voting Republican is easier than thinking.
Thinking people vote Democrat and Independent.
Working people vote Republican. Free Loaders that feel entitled to other peoples hard earned money, vote Democrat.
Which is why no one who is a Republican has ever received any welfare program ever.
Chem has just volunteered to give up his social security and medicare. He has also just stated that the VA and GI Bill are only for freeloading Democrats.
Actually, come to think of it, by that definition that would mean that the entire US military are all Democrats.
Good to know
LOL. Be careful there The Mouzer. You are making some very cogent, honest points and that is very frustrating for Republican Robots who only know how to memorize and repeat Radical Rhetoric. Another example of why voting Republican is easier than thinking.
chem - does your list of Freeloaders include:
I could go on but if you don't get the point by now you never will. Republicans take whatever they can get too - they're no better than someone who takes food stamps and unemployment without really trying to work. Which by the way does not automatically make that person a Democrat. It's about 50/50 chance.
Does your list include :
Freebies to Wall Street through graft to the tune of trillions of dollars ?
Freebies to the Military Industries through graft to the tune of trillions of dollars ?
Freebies to the Bankers through graft to the tune of trillions of dollars ?
Freebies to the Pharmaceutical Corporations through graft to the tune of trillions of dollars ?
Of course it doesn't because you have been brainwashed to think that helping people to survive ( which is Christlike ) is communism instead of humanitarianism.
When you start bellyaching about the criminal spending that goes on and has been going on for decades maybe we will start listening to you about legitimate safety net spending.
chemdmd is a coward, a troll. He has no guts to defend his contention with any facts. He doesn't even stick around long enough to start name-calling, a typical republican reaction to facts.
chemdmd needs to grow a couple of stones and push away from his square-headed girlfriend.
LOL John Mack. I was thinking this person may want to send a way in the mail for a conscience and a spine too !
You got it wrong, chemmd… I worked 40+ years and never voted Republican, ever! Nor have I taken someone's else's money that was not earned, mutually agreed, or a gift. I pay taxes for things in which I do not believe. But hey, I get to live here in the U.S., so I will visualize the money I pay going to things in which I do believe. Perhaps the Republicans/T.P./right could do the same?
Oh, and it would be nice if it would be publicized the advisors to candidates and whose money pays for their ads. Transparency.
My question to chemdmd:
Are freeways for freeloaders? Or the postal service? Or building codes?
That statement alone is why I will not vote for or support any Republican. The above statement just shows how uninformed, decietfull and bigoted the Republican party has become. The news station you listen to promotes lies, and the Republican Party advertisments are full of inaccurate statements and is not supported by the facts.
This very proud liberal has worked since I was 16 years old and I am now 62. I was fired when I was 59 because I got to old and now work part time from home. You see it is an employer's market out there and why should they pay me $70k a year when they can get someone 35 for $40K a year.
The Democrats are not trying to take away our rights such as to make decision about what a woman decides is best for her, her family, her health and future as to whether to terminate a pregnancy or not and to determine whether or not to use contraception. The Democrats are not trying to take away a persons right to vote under the guise of Voter Fraud. A Republican President - Bush perhaps you remember him - did a 5 year investigation into voter fraud and they came up with 86 cases. Further investigation into those 86 cases most were because inaccurate instructions where given, people did not complete the paper work properly or did not understand. The BS that you need a photo ID to drive and fly - no comparison, they are privileges not RIGHTS. Hey but the Republicans fight to make sure that their right to bear arms is not taken away, but trample on the rights of all our citizens to vote.
The Democrats are not trying to pass laws to prevent abortion that tells a doctor to lie to their patients. Republicans are trying to force their values, their religious beliefs and their morals on everyone - that is not what the Constitution is about.
Steve: "worst Education Secretary", not "word Education Secretary."
On second thought, given his results, maybe you meant that.
For Romney, as it was for Bush/Cheney, it's not about educating our children; it's about taking from taxpayers in order to sweeten the pot for corporations. Any questions?
Uhm, could his skin color possibly have something to do with it?
(Sort of like McCain picking a woman as a running mate, because, to Republicans, appearance trumps content.)
Exactly what I was thinking. He's the "token" minority, just like Michael Steele. Competence not needed.
Michael Steele is one. There's also Tim Scott, Allen West, Herman Cain and Condoleezza Rice. I wonder how this group feels being surrounded by neo-Confederates.
Because he's all they have.
OK, failed education policy advocates, ultra-right foreign policy hosers, fake economists--it sounds so, what's the word? Bushlike?
GOD , GUNS and GOLD Beck could not have said it clearer..
The new GOP platform
GOD for the far right religious zealots who wear the faith on there lapels but not beneath it in there heart.
Guns for the conspiracy theories believers, racists and war profiteers
Gold for the wall street , bank and scam artists....
Common sense is not common.
Because he's a choice that will infuriate anyone on the left who's paying attention. And in today's GOP, anything that pisses off the left by its very nature is a thing of value. Most of their fundraising is based on "hey, look at how we got those libruls foaming. Got 'em reeeel goooood. Want us to make 'em cry? You know where to send the money."
I am a little confused here. What is the point of having someone who belonged to the DoE if your plan is to eliminate the department? Or is it from Paige's advising that Romney derives his desire to end the DoE?
Mouzer - you can't reallistically expect Romney to remember that he said he would gid rid of the DoE. That was at least 15 minutes ago. Besides, the Bushies probably reminded him that keeping the DoE to dictate how federal money is spent by the states is a good way to help make some buddies richer at the expense of taxpayers, so he most likely has "revised his position" (flipped) on eliminating DoE.
Chemdmd, maybe you are a bit confused. Republicans think that everyone should give to the rich, so that some of it will overflow out of their pockets and fall into the poor areas. They want an ignorant populace who cannot see what is happening, they want everyone to watch Fox News, and get just a little bit less informed about the real world.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The GOP agenda is to keep us poor, sick and stupid. The Republicans want to turn this country into a dictatorship (or monarchy), elevating themselves to ultimate power while stepping all over the rest of us. If Romney gets into the White House, we'll all simply become chattel to him and his cronies.
It fits entirely the Romney agenda, cheat and get ahead, it's the American way: study hard, work hard and there be ten cheaters in line ahead of you, and its called the merit system for suckers.
Romney claims he will reform education, but that is an impossibility with the Ryan budget. It appears that when a Republican say "reform", it means cutting funding and nothing more. Someone should ask Romney for his specifics. I am sure we will find an empty vague promise with no plans.
Look, he will be there to keep cutting federal support of public education. This has happened at the state level with a vengeance over the past couple of years where Republicans are in charge. So, riddle me this, Batman; if we defund public education, what's left? For-Profit education. And, the only reason for a for-profit school is, what? Oh, yes. Profit! Now there's a fine GOP goal for our educational system and have just the man to move this along.
Mitt Romney's campaign ads might as well say:
I want your vote, even though I'll return us to the Bush years
Vote with policy in mind and your choice will be made very easy with out even looking at the candidates. Who is consistent and who is not