Department of Education becomes a GOP campaign tool
If we were making a list of the most offensive things the Bush administration has done to the federal government, the politicization of cabinet agencies would have to be in the top 10. Examples like this one just leave me shaking my head.
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings was in Minnesota on Tuesday to announce a proposed pilot project for the federal No Child Left Behind law that would give 10 states more flexibility in addressing struggling schools’ specific needs. [...]
However, Minnesota doesn’t yet have enough of those schools to participate in the pilot project, prompting some to question why Spellings made the announcement here and whether it was an effort to help Sen. Norm Coleman in his reelection campaign. [...]
"It certainly smells that no Democrats were invited to this event, when we already know that this administration has politicized Cabinet agencies,” said Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “It looks like a stunt to help Norm Coleman’s campaign.”
Ya think? As Paul Kiel noted, “Spellings announced a pilot program in Minnesota that won’t even be taking place in Minnesota.” But it just so happens, Minnesota is home to a very competitive Senate race, where a Republican incumbent wants to look education-friendly, and wouldn’t you know it, there was Sen. Norm Coleman (R) standing alongside the Secretary of Education at a press conference that had no business being held there in the first place.
Lest anyone think I’m being unnecessarily cynical here, consider the administration’s recent history.
In my favorite example, David Kuo, the former second-in-command at the White House Faith-Based Office, publicly acknowledged that the office was used as a tool to help elect Republicans.
Remember, this was happening throughout the Bush administration. Kiel summarized what we learned last summer: “Karl Rove’s machinations in the White House Office of Political Affairs was his use of cabinet members to create free publicity for endangered Republicans. Agency heads or officials who traveled only a handful of times on off years suddenly found themselves whipped into service in an election year. Republicans facing tough challenges could count on a constant stream of photo-ops with administration officials announcing good things for his or her constituents. Rove called the operation his ‘asset deployment’ team.”
But here’s the funny part: after having been caught abusing federal agencies for campaign purposes in 2002, 2004, and 2006, the Bush administration, as the Coleman example highlights, is still pulling the exact same stunts. They’re misusing cabinet agencies and federal resources to help Republican campaigns, and they just don’t care whether it’s obvious or not.
What a shameless bunch of hacks.
Tool.
stool
uncool.
So why doesn't somebody sue already? Election tampering? Can it be civil case or does it have to be DoJ?
This just made Olberman's "Bushed" segment.
The Fascist Republicans in the Bush administration would politicize going to the restroom if they saw a political advantage to bowel movements of Republican candidates, or maybe foot tapping in restroom stalls by a Republican. Oh, wait, I guess that airport restroom "campaign" stop by Larry Craig isn't exactly the "politicization" that Karl Rove and the Fascist Republicans want.
is that mrs.brady?!!!!!!!!
why you sly hoe flo henderance!! kidding but why would the repigs worry about public education? hell, even private education most lagged behind and were c- students of finished to the bottom of the class .
So now the repigs are using public ed to make sure thier canidates get their votes etc? and it was the repigs that slashed public school funding ,,arts, music, after school programs and now dare use this as a soap box? Ohh its getting so bad in the states and who and what group believes this shit????????????????
the repugs and bush just continue to eat
that great breakfast food--fill-my-head-full-of-shit "0's"
why are we letting bush keep pounding our heads against
a wall time after time.............have we not learned yet?
this bastard president will stoop to an even lower level the
closer the election gets..............don't be fooled, he will
do anything--ANYTHING to ruin this country........................
Abusing children and then parading them around when you want to get elected.
Crap like this pisses me off to no end.
Great friend of mine works in education (TRIO) and says that the administration's solution to everything is more standardized tests. He hates Spellings.
Well, since I think most of us can agree that they're a bunch of shameless hacks, what I want to know is where did she get that dress? I think the year 1969 wants that dress back.
This is a violation of the Hatch act. Will Congress actually perform oversight or will they let the clock run out on the chimp and his merry band of thugs?
Youse guys in Mee-knee-soda should pay attention. Pity sumpin' "unfortunate" should happen to yer nice state, Capeesh ?
No Idiot Left Behind
hope @ 11:
you might say she saw if hanging in the window.........as in gone with the wind...remember?
Usually when people break a slew of laws, we hold them until they can be brought to trial for them in due order. These law breakers are allowed to empty our coffers to haliburton and Wall Street. Congress fiddles.
dadams @ 15:
So she probably has enough material left over to make bermuda shorts? Can't wait to see that!
chris @ 17:
Nope
hope @ 17:
Oh, you make too much out the of Margaret Spellings thing.
It's merely a coincidence.
Or, maybe not so much.
"When you're at this as long as I've been, you stop believing in coincidence". --Inspector Finch, V For Vendetta.
Like the fictional Finch, I long ago stopped believing in coincidence too, at least as far as the Bush
crookscronies go.nonbeliever @ 12:
You are the only one that hit on the real issue, the Hatch act. Congress should jump on this right now while the iron is hot.
OT
but when did the race shit happen? I was watching live leak for about a year after obama girl came out , then the hillarry thing but prior it was mexicans that marched and wanted a change in policy.
Great i thought but now its all hate each other,,why?
Vote Mr. Burns! at least that smuck knows where he stands and how much money he wants.
Whats happening in america is sad,, shouldint have to be and wtf for? split the party more and MCcorpse wins,, hands down,, literaly.
Who's brawd wearin the curtains?
More Bush taint. There's much work to be done after Jan09 scrubbing out the skids.
I quess Secretary of Bad Taste in Clothing was already taken when she put her ap in.
Heh.."McCorpse" in #22.
Holy Christ, who bought her that outfit?!?!?
Expresses things better than I could...
The Audacity of Hate
The stench left behind by this administration will take at least four Democratic Administrations to clear it out , luckily I think it can and will be done. Every Department has been co-opted and politicized in a manner never before seen in this country. Bush's legacy will be one of incomparable ineptitude, treason and criminality . I hope all of you NEOCON apologists are proud of yourselves , you have all most brought this once great country to its knees but thanks to Real Americans we will survive and carry on. GO OBAMA
Spellings appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy! (episode airing November 21, 2006). She was the first Cabinet member and first American politician to appear as a contestant on the show. She came in second with a score of $11,100, losing to actor Michael McKean's $38,800.
LOL what further proof does one need which side is smarter.
BIGBONEDED @ 28:
Just to sanitize the White House next Jan will require this.
L.A. Confidential @ 30:
Just to sanitize the White House next Jan will require this.
http://tinyurl.com/28tem4
"is our children learning?"
L.A. Confidential @ 31:
http://tinyurl.com/28tem4
I don't think they will ever get the stink out. Remember that democracy as we knew it, died there.
No child left behind. All children pushed behind, until no child's behind is left.
[deleted. Please Do Not post in all caps.Feel free to repost your comment.Site Monitor]
Nice dress lady ...
You know, I was sitting here thinking over my morning coffee and reading the news.
One question jumps to mind ... How come all these Floods, tornado's, hurricanes and all that shit just happens to hit right in the bible belt? I mean ... If Falwell and Hagee and Robertson and all the other "ministers of the lord" were right, shouldn't it be San Francisco or Berkeley or maybe Seattle getting hit with all this weather?
Or ... Maybe there really is a guy in the sky and he just doesn't like all the homophobic bigoted rant-and-ravers talking on his behest?
just askin' folks.
☻Bangkok Bob☻ @ 36:
Evenin Bob..........helluva dress ay?
abarts @ 32:
yup, there gittin good cypherin an stuff, an they gots good teechers learnin em
Why are we surprised at this? Doesn't everyone know that NCLB was never about the children from the start?
mudshark @ 36:
yo muddy, what kind of gaff will McLame get away with today? Seems the press just lets all his shit slide.
Karen @ 34:
Unless your daddy's rich enough to buy your sorry ass through Yale.
☻Bangkok Bob☻ @ 40:
give it time.he's gonna step on his pecker with golf shoes on in the very near future.Hey,how the hell do you get those little thingy's by your name...I liked the clubs myself.
how's that.
dadams @ 19:
Considering her obsession for "big girl panties", I think those might be a better fit for her head:
Margaret Spellings Undergarment Fascination
♣Bangkok Bob♥ @ 43:
kewlllll.how do you do that?
mudshark @ 42:
alt + 5
Funny she would come to Minnesota, since the vast majority of MN teachers (me included) think her programs are crap. Norm will not be getting any help from us.
this?
ughhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!
I'll work on it.
Norm Coleman is a Bush ass-kisser. Hope Al Franken sends him out of office.
mnlib @ 47:
Michigan teachers (me included) agree with you and share your pain.
That dress is paisley, that might make her a Scot; not a usual sight in the land of Scanda'hoovians.
I sent a heads up to Al Franken and his campaign committee on the Hatch Act violation. Coleman is a lawyer to boot, literally.
After all these years, I can finally answer to Al the question from his SNL skits, "What can you do to help me, AL Franken?"
It's no surprise to me, repugs are full of trickery.
She knows she is lying and is getting a nut by lying to the populace. And the fools will cheer and clap for this chimpette.
NCLB was a bust from the beginning. Education should be a state issue.
This is OUR taxes paying for repug bullshit. Their political flyers, travel expenses, phone calls, rent, gawd know what else.
How much of our money is being wasted? What are their salaries? Benefits?
This is a corrupted, dishonest and very dangerous administration. These slackers should be prosecuted then jailed for a very long time. And finally fade away. Let them become an item on Bio.
This is straight up Bushfia loud and clear. Hello? Who are these fool that choose not to listen?
Go Obama!
Go USA!
Go Richardson!
god i cant wait to see sen franken on cspan2
dadams @ 8:
I know, it frustrating.
When Obama becomes President, he has a lot of shit to scrape off his shoes.
L.A. Confidential @ 18:
Uhhh.... I didn't say that.
I just think it's funny that Lenny from Lavern & Shirley is smarter than the Sec. of Education.
(Although she's probably funnier--thus the clown get up.)
I've said before and I'll say it again:
The Bush Administration appointing a woman named "Miss Spellings" to run the Department of Education has GOT to be one of the premier metaphors for this entire Administration.
Nothing new here. This is administration...IN TOTAL...are a bunch of criminals and misfits. Figures they are going to use every department at their desposal for political purposes.
Nothing is beyond this administration. The repugs can be so proud of this mess they got us in to.
Can we survive until "we are liberated"???
Maggie Spellings visited San Francisco last year (give or take) and her reception was so warm that she literally ran from the hotel.
One of her droogs physically threatened a local TV reporter who tried to ask her about the bullshit she was spreading that morning.
WTF is she wearing??????
She looks like Nurse Ratchet shopping at K-mart in 1973!
First thing for the next president get rid of those hacks in the government went along with this everyone including the employees that went after democratic governors. Another thing is to dismantle all the machinations that have been put in place to put the rethugs a party of forever. Bring back some of the NEW DEal save guards for the citizenry. The corporations have had 27 years to pilfer the governent for their own benefits time to take them back
evenplayingfield @ 50:
A few months ago I heard a booblehead say that Franken imploded and it was a cakewalk now look it's a race maybe those voters have seen the light Franken over Coleman what have the rethugs done for this country not to this country should be the question
Is Miss Spellings raiding Anita Bryant's wardrobe? Probably, they're both homophobes. (Yes, I'm still bristling about that "Postcards from Buster" incident the first month she got the job.)
Booblehead? Could have been me. Jesse Ventura proved that miracles can happen in Minnesota politics. But Jesse was white bread working class cool. Franken is a prep school/Harvard/NYC barrel-shaped Jew with glasses. He has negative working class Minnesota cool. Shallow? Yeah, well. Tell me about the American people. People who don't live in Minnesota _really_ need to understand that Hubert Humphrey is LONG DEAD. Like many states, Minnesota is geographically about 90% Republican and demographically about 50% each. The Democrats are urban (and _inside_ the beltway at that) in Minneapolis/St. Paul and there are pockets of poverty like the far Northeastern "Iron Range" that are Democratic strongholds (and average about 1 person per square mile). We have had a Republican governor for years, have a strong Republican legislature (if at present not a clear majority), and have elected one Democrat senator and one Republican senator for as long as I remember. And we already have a Democratic senator. Do I think Franken has a fight? Damn right -- and I would have preferred Ciresi big time. I'm waiting for the rural radio ad of Franken in his own words explaining on his radio show how he stared at some girl's boobs for "hours" on acid at the Dead concert when he was younger. He has way too big a mouth to be a successful candidate. Comedian yes, Minnesota politician no.
With a strong Republican presence, why wouldn't a NCLB spokesperson make an appearance in Minnesota? They've been pushing charter schools for years even though they cost more and produce poorer results and they put up a powerful, but losing, fight for creationism.
But a point about NCLB. Maybe the execution is stupid, and maybe it benefits the Bush family, but, dammit, wouldn't it be nice to have NATIONAL STANDARDS like most civilized countries instead of every principal in the country crapping his pants when some outspoken parent in his district demands creationism in "his" school? [On that point I may be prejudiced. I worked for someone in the 80s who is now a NCLB Director whom I strongly believe is in it precisely to bring some sort of standards to American secondary education instead of the patchwork quilt of state systems it is now.]
She reminds me of that creepy old bag from the Ministry of Magic; you know, the one that chased Dumbuldore out of Hogwarts.
hope @ 11:
What a right on post.It was the year of the flowered pantsuit,and ratted hair-AND NO BRAS.
Dispicable Pigs! Kick that punks ass Al!!!
Milo Blankenstern @ 64:
Yes, and thanks to this classless B**** my children can no longer watch "Arthur" on PBS.
smchris @ 65:
They don't need standards. There are many fantastic schools being hamstrung by this GOP NCLB bullshit, whose true goal is to destroy public education. What they need to do, is leave the successful schools the fuck alone, and concentrate on the ones that are failing. Your comment leads me to believe you don't have a clue about education.
smchris@65
Dude,you`re bitter.NCLB is a for shit program for a for shit administration that knows nothing about education.I do agree that our educational system is broken,but it cannot be fixed by a bunch of lame Republicans who think that testing,and shaming the ones who don`t test well is the answer.Hell,man,the Rethug leader can`t even speak his own fucking language.
Your idea of a National standards is good,but let`s start from scratch.Let`s teach useful subjects.Parenting for starters.You have to take a test to get a drivers liscense.To be a parent,all you need is an urge.Let`s teach about humanity.Stuff like feelings,how to deal with conflict and relationships.Addiction would be a course that could be taught four years.Nobody seems to know much about it.Doctors get a 3 hour course in eight years of school.
Hell yeah,there`s alot of work to be done,but do the work;not just prepare for tests.Prepare for life.
Damn! I think I`m the one who is bitter.
She sure looks wingnutty enough. A cross between Monica Goodling and Alberto Gonzales.
(to be sung in a multi-colored school bus)
Hello, world, here the song that we're singin'
C'mon get truthy!
A whole lot of fear is what we'll be bringin'
We'll make you loopy!
We had a dream, we'd spread freedumb together,
We'd spread a little fear then we'd keep movin' on (to Iran).
Somethin' always happens whenever we're together
The rich get richer and the poor get a third job.
Trav'lin' along there's a song that we're singin'
C'mon get truthy!
A Whole lot of fear' is what we'll be bringin'
We'll make you loopy!
We'll kill a few troopies!
We'll make you loopyyyyyyyyyyy.
Ah Norm Coleman...
One can't help but to recall the befuddled look on his face when George Galloway made him look like a fool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrdFFCnYtbk&feature=related
"and wouldn’t you know it, there was Sen. Norm Coleman (R) standing alongside the Secretary of Education at a press conference that had no business being held there in the first place"
Wow, the Secretary of Education. Kind of like hiring the equipment manager to come and sign autographs at your event. Bye bye Norman, it will be nice getting to not know you again.
True education has been abandoned in America, replaced by tests, tests, and more tests, courtesy of bush's fatally flawed NCLB. I guess since he's broken our Treasury, our military, and our health-care system, as well as the government itself, why not trash our educational system while he has the chance?
I would never have imagined that one of America's own presidents would rain down destruction upon our once-great nation the way bush has. His presidency is a Disaster with a capital D.
Mark,
It's not our educational system, it's our future. And he's fucked us six ways 'til Sunday.
Corporations are authoritarian entities by design. CEOs are by selection authoritarian personalities. Only Americans are stupid enough to permit corporate control their government and then bemoan the fact that it's run like the acquisition of a hostile takeover.
this woman is every child's worst nightmare.
Pickles @ 79:
I couldn't have said this better myself. I'm so glad my kids got out of school before NCLB. They at least got a good education. I feel sorry for all the kids going through school now. My oldest son is an English professor in a New York university and he is so disgusted with the high schools that the kids are coming out of these days. Most of the kids have to take remedial English before they can even take the average English classes he teaches. He's getting very discouraged. He's such a good teacher that I hope he doesn't get discouraged and leave teaching.
NoGWBpolicyleftinplace @ 70:
Norm Coleman is a New Yorker who moved to Minnesota later in life. Al Franken was born and raised in minnesota and later moved to New York. Both are Jewish. I think their backgrounds are similar. What the voters should consider is their positions. Do you want someone who is a loyal republican and hand-picked by Carl Rove? Or do you want someone that will challenge the system?
She's getting fuglier every second exponentially.
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