McCain Holds Up New Orleans As An Educational Success Story
By Nicole Belle Saturday Jun 28, 2008 12:00pm
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Download | play (h/t Heather)
During a speech to the National Association of Latino Elected & Appointed Officials John McCain is asked what he would do to insure that all working and middle class Americans can realize the American dream of home ownership in an era of skyrocketing foreclosures and predatory sub-prime loan programs. For reasons that presumably make sense to him, he launches into a discussion of NCLB and education funding, holding up New York City and New Orleans as examples of Republican success stories in education. Successes, really? Talk about being McOut of Touch.
Your question comes to the heart of what Americans are sitting around the kitchen table tonight and saying "how are we going to afford our home loan mortgage payment," some of...many hundreds of thousands have suddenly and recently lost their jobs. Owning one's own home is part of the American dream. I made a proposal that people who are primary owners of primary residence can go down and get a FHA-guaranteed loan, a 30 year loan that's guaranteed by the FHA at the new value of their home, so they'd be able to make their payments. Now the legislation that was winding its way through the Congress and unfortunately, again, did not pass before the United States Senate went out of session. Again, incredible that Congress should go on vacation while Americans are trying to stay in their homes. That's why...I mean, they also re-authorized No Child Left Behind, with the lessons we learned in the intervening years since we passed it, in a bi-partisan fashion, I would fully fund those programs that have never been fully funded. But let me also say to you: choice and competition. I believe that every family in America should have the same choice that Cindy and I did. We chose to send our children to a Catholic school. That was because we were able to do so. So I believe that charter schools work. I believe that they're not much better than public education, but they provide competition. There are two examples I'd like to mention very briefly: New York City and New Orleans. If you missed it, there is now a dramatic uptick in the performance of school children in New York City, a place where a lot of experts thought there would never be improvement. We ought to go up there and see what Mr. Klein and Mayor Bloomberg and others have done and dedicated educators have done in New York City. New Orleans, they had to start at square one, as you know. There are now 30 charter schools in the city of New Orleans. Anyone will tell you that they're starting to see a dramatic improvement in the quality of education in the city of New Orleans. My friends, choice and competition, reward the teachers, God bless them, find bad teachers another line of work. Choice and competition.
I'll bet Mr. "Choice and Competition" has never seen this documentary.
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Mc Same is very much full of dung.
How did he even know that Congress went on vacation, he hasn't been there since April!
A Loss Leader We Can Bereave In.
Primus? Oh, just freaking wonderful! Lets hear about successful edumacationing from the Senator from Ari-freaking-zona; you know, the state that came in dead LAST; fifty outta freaking Fifty! But then - seeing as how the Repugs have a gerrymandered LOCK on AZ, it must be the Democrat party's fault - right?
Is this moron just completely unable to stay on point? Or is it just deliberate muddying of the waters so he doesn't ever have to get around to actually answering the question he was asked?
"New Orleans, they had to start at square one, as you know."
_______
It's to be henceforth called "NewOrleansWorld", a.k.a. "Six Flags Over NOLA."
"My friends, choice and competition, reward the teachers, God bless them, find bad teachers another line of work. "
I always wondered what happens to these "bad teachers" that people always talk about. Are we supposed to fire them all? And then replace them with... what? Make all of the good teachers do double duty?
Mickxotic @ 4:
Well, they seem to be waking up a bit. Janet Napolitano (D) won the Guvship by less than 1% in 2006, and then got re-elected in 2006 by 16.4%. She's now being touted for VP or USAG (though the AZ locals are not happy about the prospect of losing her).
Wow, throw in a "nucular" and I'd swear I was reading yet another Bush ramble....
But seriously, charter schools? They're closing at record rates in my state. Two major universities have refused to endorse and assist on charter curriculums. Most charters here are scoring rock bottom in the state on both state tests and ACT scores and their graduation rates are poor at best.
Yeah, let's put a charter school in every town in the country.
Typo
BobbyG @ 8:
mcoutoftouch is eating the mcshadoobie.
Gretchen @ 9:
What ever happened to that Edison School crapola? The one where kids were gonna have to watch sponsor TV commercials every morning and view ads in their textbooks?.
when's the last time he voted on a issue in the senate
I think there's some dust on his talking points CD and it just skipped to track 13 right in the middle of track 8. Gotta watch out for them old CD players, although it might be an actual skipping "record" (showing age here...) in McCain's membrane.
dreamshade @ 7:
That's the deal - we don't have enough people staying in the field. There is no one to replace a "bad" teacher. And what would be called "bad"? The jerk that "taught" science in Ohio and kept a Bible on his desk? Or a teacher struggling to raise test scores in a blue-collar rural town who has students that may not know where they'll be living two months from now and have families that the term "dysfunctional" does not even begin to describe? Because you know if 100% of those students don't pass that test x number of years from now that teacher isn't doing the job.
karl @ 13:
Didn't he just claim that "we" passed new veterans' benefits legislation, when [1] he'd opposed them all the way, and then [2] didn't vote on the bill?
"all working and middle class Americans can realize the American dream of home ownership " that is a dream best forgotten at this point.
by the way,, this is an amazing google earth plug,,
oil usage by country and per capita
http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2007/02/world_oil_consupmtio.html
BobbyG @ 12:
Are you talking about the corporation that was taking over schools and supposedly making them "successful"? I think I remember seeing something flash by on the news a year ago about that company going under. We didn't have any of them here, but there was great debate at how well they would perform in the long run. They seemed to do a good job at getting some schools off to a better start but that had more to do with the fact this company threw lots of money into the programs... which the locals could not afford to do.
mccain: "I believe that every family in America should have the same choice that Cindy and I did. We chose to send our children to a Catholic school. That was because we were able to do so."
i'm sure mccain not mentioning that their "choice", and being "able to do so", was helped by having $100 million in the bank was a simple oversight.
Samson- @ 19:
Wasn't there something mentioned a while back about the enormous contributions made to these schools by the McCains while their children attended?
Choice and competition.
Ah that lovely conservative free market catch phrase...
I got an idea - instead of pitting one school against another why don't we just make a commitment to fixing the schools we have?
Gretchen @ 18:
It was that Chris Whittle dude.
Swell success story, LOL!
Timmy_D11 @ 21:
Well, we all know that "shopping" for education and health care is no different than shopping for shoes or home entertainment systems or draperies.
I almost feel some sorrow for this dumb old geezer....until he opens his mouth with that Dubya denial bullshit. John McStupid is unelectable.
OMG HE MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL.
BobbyG @ 16:
yup.......he stuck with bush on this issue by not voting on it....not voting on g.i.bill..wow....mcBush
bush has to make a big decision whether or not to sign that legislation...i believe bush and mcBush believe it's
to generous.....mcBush has been in government his entire life......i think they know the longer you stay in the military there probably is less chance your going to use the g.i. bill...they don't want to empower middle class
McCain: "The Seattle Mariners are a bastion of baseball supremacy."
rend @ 17:
A VERY famous and wise man once said they call it the American dream because you gotta be asleep to believe it.
McSame will read anything put in front of him and then forget it when it's time for the big test.
Can't wait to leave HIM behind.
Timmy_D11 @ 21:
phhpt, next you are going to tell me that clean air and clean water are important. only if the market thinks they're important are they so.
/snark off
Good god.
The fact that we have elected the bulk of people that run our Nation is proof positive of the basic, utter and complete stupidity and ignorance of the American public. We are bey dumb.
FIRE BAD TEACHERS...... how about fire military men who get captured ? how about don't let the BOTTOM OF THE CLASS (both bush and mccain) get inside a jet........ ?
go home mccain.... go have a bbq and invite your friends from the press..... serve them up some ribs and melon.... try to act poor.....
"I thought a Gas Tax Holiday might help!"
Gretchen @ 20:
i don't know, but i wouldn't be surprised
My favourite 'Neocons Fixing Teh Education' practice:
If a school is doing badly, take away its money!!!
Mickxotic @ 4:
Dead last in what - in education? Because I thought we in the proud (and stupid) state of Georgia were dead last.
BobbyG @ 22:
Ah yeah, that dude. Sorry - too lazy to google today. Now I remember.
The financial problems I remember hearing about came after Philly didn't renew the contracts. Perfect example of someone jumping in to solve the problems of schools without any concept of the reality. The fact students are human and school environments totally variable are overlooked and the corporation attempts to apply that company strategy equally to all and can't understand why the 'fix' isn't working. Idiots all.
maybe we need to compare the amount of our tax dollars that go to funding war-profiteering mercenaries with how much public school teachers are paid.
it is a sad reflection
Timmy_D11 @ 21:
here is the bs of the "choice and competition" in schools
private schools do not compete against public, nor even each other...never had, never will
its what allows them to choose who to accept and who not to accept
the voucher programs will never work on a mass scale, which is why, finally, the repugs have basically dropped the entire concept
now they talk charter and home schooling...which again has nothing to do with competiton
trust me, my friends who send their kids to private schools, will not choose to go back into the public school system even if the schools improve, because they are sending their kids to private schools for religious reasons
my sister sends her kids to private school for the same reason...and guess what...my niece and nephew both needed special programs to learn how to read, because the school she send them to uses the see and say method...no phonetics
and nice to watch mcoldman have a senior moment and go totally offcourse in answering the question
Barbara Key @ 36:
the high school graduation rate for las vegas is 45%...they're proud of their no state taxes but there is a price to be paid....CRIME..and it's getting worse why
not collecting property taxes from empty homes
i believe may be at the bottom
John McCain - Bringing Alzheimer's back to the White House.
While I completely agree that McCain is out of touch (Republicans had nothing to do with setting up a charter system in this city), I have to say the in my experience here that the charter system currently in place is so far much superior than what existed before. The charter movement was well underway before the storm due to the criminal incompetence and corruption that existed in the Orleans Parish Public School system. My children have been in a public charter foreign language immersion school since 2002 and have had a wonderful experience. I can't recommend that charters be the model for the nation, but in our specific situation, it is a huge improvement. Unfortunately, like any school, they depend heavily on parental involvement which usually means that schools in poorer neighborhoods still suffer, but at least it will make it harder for the large amounts of graft and corruption we've had in the system in the past. At the very least, in the short run, and based on the state standardized testing (which I have problems with as well - thank you No Child Left Behind) there is improvement. Our current Republican Governor (and possible McCain v.p.) is now giving vouchers to Orleans Parish children and taking more money away from this new system before we've had time to see if it actually works.
http://www.startribune.com/local/north/19549844.html?page=2&c=y
graduation rates
Samson- @ 38:
It is. But unfortunately here in the heartland every time a group of teachers tries to negotiate a contract with even the tiniest raise the good taxpayers grab pitchforks and torches. People begin to snarl about those 'overpaid, lazy' teachers who 'only work half the year' and 'don't even work an 8 hour day'. They consider the fact that group of teachers hasn't even gotten as much as a cost of living increase in the past 5 years as 'just'. I couldn't get someone to believe that I was only paid for 9 months of work because I choose to receive my pay bi-weekly for 12 months. In her mind I was getting a check, therefore I was getting paid for nothing... never mind the fact my contract reads "9 months".
And my rate of pay with 14 years of experience and three degrees? When I figure all of my duties and hours it comes to around $12.50 an hour before taxes not including benefits.
Barbara Key @ 36:
Yes, sorry - I was not clear on that, thanks for the opportunity to say it again This is the Senator from Arizona, telling us about excellence in education. His home state, Arizona, came in dead last for the year 2007!
Traditionally, the Repugnican's snarky rationale in the past has been,"well, we came in ahead of Mississippi..." but not anymore! Number fifty out of fifty for quality of edumacation! And it's an important family value too. dead freakin last...mumble...rave...ululate...
McCain is a hero and will definitely get my vote (Obama would be Bush III due to his incompetence and lack of principles).
States listed in the report as having the highest graduation rates, other than Minnesota, include New Jersey (83 percent), Iowa (83 percent), Wisconsin (81 percent), North Dakota (79 percent) and Pennsylvania (80 percent). Among neighboring states, only South Dakota had a lower graduation rate, at 76 percent, than Minnesota.
States listed with the lowest graduation rates include Nevada (45 percent), New Mexico (54 percent), Louisiana (55 percent), South Carolina (56 percent) and Georgia (58 percent).
The crowd applauded him! How stupid is that? McCain goes way off topic and they still applaud him?
I'm telling you, today in Amerika, there is way too much deference given to U.S. presidents and now presidential candidates. As long as you wear a lapel pin, talk about "the dream," and end with "God bless Amerika," you can pretty much blow crap out you butt and get a standing ovation.
There was a program on CNN earlier today. Three British journalist were speaking. The one from the Guardian said that if Europe was voting in our presidential election, Senator Obama would win by a landslide. He said people just about all around the world are so excited that he could and might be our next president.
Gretchen @ 44:
holy frijoles... i give you all the credit in the world for sticking with teaching. respect.
yet, those same pitchfork-grabbing citizens would nary give a shrug of the shoulders when it comes to any DOD spending bills.
like, say, the osprey ($2.6 billion for 2008 alone).
or missile defense ($8.8 billion for 2008 alone).
national priorities:
educating our future generations: done on the cheap
funding a cold war era military estab: no price is too high
SlowBurn @ 46:
How much does a comment like that pay these days?
naomi klein, "the shock doctrine: the rise of disaster capitalism."
read it and - very seriously - weep.
I believe that they’re not much better than public education
OMFG! MsCain's elitism on display.
Thomas Stone @ 48:
Other possible reasons they applauded:
1) They had glazed over and it was an automatic response.
2) They had glazed over and were glad he was over.
3) They were proud members of the frozen 23% Bush loyalists.
pissed off patricia @ 51:
for this guy: one whirly-twirly hat and a stick of freedent (its good b/c it has the word 'free' in it)
;-)
Samson- @ 55:
That's only a 1-pointer. 1,999 more of those gems and SlowBurn gets himself a McCain t-shirt.
The film you link to is a major accomplishment in exposing the depths of the problems in New Orleans public schools; the filmmaker, Jason Berry, is a genius and a man who truly loves our city.
But the film details NOLA public schools and the inept, corrupt school board BEFORE the storm. I'd venture that Berry's film was one nail in that school board's coffin. After the storm, nobody wanted to return that board to relevance. Most of the schools operating in our system now are under other supervision.
It's fair to debate the worth of charter schools, the role of the teachers' union and so on, but talk about NOLA as it is now, not pre-Katrina. Much of the pre-storm mentality still exists here, but there really is ground-up change happening in our schools and it's only fair to acknowledge that. Berry's film isn't wholly historical, but if we continue as we're going, it might well be.
Of course, with Jindal stealing public money to give to non-accountable private schools in the form of vouchers, who knows what the future holds?
SlowBurn @ 46:
I strongly disaprove of what you say but I will defend.....your right to say it........voltaire
go ahead ..try and frighten the village but were not listening...when you find time listen to gen.w. clark's
interview he did this morning..he speaks about mcBlame's jump from hero to president it was on bob scheffer cbs news
i did like tha fact you are aware of bush's redeeming qualities.. incompetance and lack of principles
Beth @ 57:
What NOLA has accomplished is wonderful. And unfortunately the last thing those schools needed was some of the money siphoned off to vouchers.
What too many overlook is reform for any school has to start with the reality for that school, district and community. No two schools are alike just as no two communities are alike. What is necessary for education reform in this country is not to make sweeping generalizations such as 'charter schools for all', 'reward teachers', 'vouchers' or 'testing'. Each community needs the financing to provide their needs and solve their unique problems and an oversight committee for accountability of funds. Better curriculum for all - yes. But using charters or vouchers for competition while decreasing the funding? That won't work for all.
Gretchen @ 18:
Here's what Wikipedia offers:
"Edison's educational and financial performance has been the subject of criticism. Despite initial promises of costs reductions client districts reported higher costs for their Edison schools.[10] Edison's claims about academic improvement failed to live up to the company's promises. A July 2002 New York Times analysis of Edison's claims found that the troubled Cleveland, Ohio, school system achieved higher gains than Edison's schools when analyzed with the methodology Edison applied to its own schools' achievement."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_Schools
McCain:A-Rod is the Greatest baseball player of all time,he shows great team leadership.A-Rod is just like me,always keeps his eye on the Beer,sorry i meant Balls.
This statement is surreal.
*
dreamshade @ 7:
I'd like to ask him if he believes in firing bad Presidents?
We've been wondering why some other POWs aren't speaking out for McCain. Well, they found one who may at the convention.
Yeah great...choice. How's that work, exactly, in areas where charter schools aren't feasible because the populations are too small or too widely spread out?
Oh I forgot, the GOP is the party of "big ideas"...not of the silly little things like details.
"New Orleans held up as an educational success story"?
Yeah, the entire populace learned not to trust our dumbfuck-in-chief. The hard way.
They learned that John McCane's birthday party was more important than their lives.
Chadwick at #52
I have read the Shock Doctrine by Naomi Kline. The book walks you through many events that took place in Sout American countries that many Americans seem to know little about and for good reason. Prior to reading the book, I always asked myself the question as to why the United States was not more concerned with reaching out and building up the entire Western Hemisphere. The Shock Doctrine exposes the reasons why as disaster capitalists have been swooping in and seizing control of nations economies throug market manipulation and attacking movements of the working classes wield power over the masses. New Orleans is a continuation of disaster capitalism. Education is at the heart of the fight to ensure a larger portion of the population is kept down making it easier to the disaster capitalist to maintain their hold on power as well as continuously increase the worker population. The larger the work force the cheaper it is for the owners and corporations thus more profit. Cheap Labor Coservatives!
pissed off patricia @ 51:
He/she is a typical troll - tries to sell the same old FOX talking points. I think this person has come to the wrong place to peddle this drivel. The troll brigade still has not wised up to the fact, they are like a first grader trying to debate with an adult. They have never achieved sufficient knowledge to appreciate how silly they sound. It must be comforting to live in a world, which only requires a handful marbles to get by.
moonsha @ 67:
your right on cheap labor is crippling this country and other countries as well.....i'm personally against unregulated immigration into the u.s.....you watch nothing is going to change as far as illegal immigration
financial elites don't want any changes and we will absorb some of the cost like an extra taxation. my auto ins. is expensive why according to my agent uninsured motorists many are immigrants who can't afford or don't want to be in the system so the paying pool size is small compared to autos on the road. this cheap labor is not as demanding and will not ask for a raise or et in the worker's comp. system as readily....so they
put a lot of pressure on public schools and services
which increases related taxes
SlowBurn @ 46:
You cannot be this stupid and yet be able to operate a computer.
How much more convincing do you need?
republican = insanity!
Barbara Key @ 36:
don't leave out alabama, texas, west Virginia and florida. it's awfully close.
McCain is just completely out of it... New Orleans has one of the very worst public shool systems in the entire country.
Gretchen @ 15:
There are bad teachers out there. They're like porn though. It's hard to define but you know it when you see it. Good candidates are teachers that teach just so they can coach, people who do it just for the time off, teachers who're on autopilot (i.e. teaching via study guides and videos) because they've been doing it 20 years and are burnt out.
McCain said: "I believe that every family in America should have the same choice that Cindy and I did. We chose to send our children to a Catholic school. That was because we were able to do so."
I know it's a different issue, but if he is so concerned about these families, then why doesn't he support every family in America having access to the same quality of healthcare that he and his fellow members of Congress have?
as long a the MSM continue to give McCain a free pass, he can say anything and there i will be nobody there to cover it.
us over here, we disect all the things he says, but not the media. and as long as that is the case he will continue to ride free on a free pass that will keep this race closely tied.
karl @ 47:
See I told you we were top of the list. Not only that, but about 75% of our middle schools students failed a mandatory test and have to take summer school. Whew, and for a minute there, I thought that our miserable standing was in jeopardy.
One of the problems in Georgia is really high undeserved "B"s and "A"s in classes so that the students don't realize how really bad they are. In Georgia, the lotto money pays for the HOPE scholarship for all students with at least a 3.0 grade point average. They can go to any state college (public or private) and the tuition is paid in full. They have to maintain that 3.0 average to keep the scholarship. If they fall below that average the scholarship is taken away. Needless to say, about 75% lose the HOPE in the first year.
I meant to say any Georgia state college. The HOPE also pays for GALILEO, a huge online database site that is really useful for research.
Just Hussein Of It @ 79:
Anyone will tell you that they’re starting to see a dramatic improvement in the quality of education in the city of New Orleans.
Yes, just three short years ago, the school children could barely count up to 1,500 to keep up with the floating bodies.
Just Hussein Of It @ 80:
Way too much of New Orleans looks just as it did after Katrina. It is my mom's hometown, and the fact that this bastard can say this and not be challenged on it is dissapointing. It's the same kind of looking the other way that was done for Bush. And look where that led us.
Dammit, what screwed up my post? My response to Just Hussein @ 80 begins with the Wikipedia quote.
I should have added that McCain doesn't even want New Orleans rebuilt, and has no clue as to what is and isn't working in our public schools. The more I look at his remaks, particularly about school "choice" and tying that to Catholic schools, the more I realize he's just parroting what Jindal's told him. Jindal put his sparkly new reputation on the line and essentially traded pay raises for legislators, which he vowed to stop when he ran for governor but has now decided are just fine, for vouchers for private schools. It's worth it to him to lose a little luster in order to undermine the public schools system, with vouchers and with Creationism. Hardcore conservative ideologues, especially the social conservative religious zealots, hate public education. I think we're going to see him make more attempts to undermine public schools in the state over the next couple of years.
McCain the flip-flopper on promises, water-boarding and more:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=s4-PqAXRIRU&feature=user
http://youtube.com/watch?v=axrgFGZYFzE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WztMGVY0zts
I personally know one of the people running a charter school in New Orleans. He went back to help his home town, not to "compete" with market forces. Oh, and he is certainly no republican.
karl @ 69:
A couple of weeks ago - Big Headlines in a local paper about how ICE had picked up 300 illegal immigrants in California. Letters to the Editor lauded them for their efforts - noting that 30 of the 300 were from the San Diego area.
There are thousands of illegals in California, yet ICE can only find 300? It is in a Corporation's best interests to have an undocumented workforce, willing to work for low pay, who don't complain about the working conditions and don't complain when they get paid less than the agreed amount - if they get paid at all. My neighbors use undocumented maids and gardeners then complain bitterly how illegals are damaging our schools and healthcare systems.
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