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Paige Denounces Teachers’ Union (USA)
Education Secretary Rod Paige Denounces Teachers’ Union As Being a ’Terrorist Organization’
Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nation’s largest teachers union a "terrorist organization" Monday, taking on the 2.7-million-member National Education Association early in the presidential election year.
Well, he's toast...
Paige’s comments, made to the nation’s governors at a private White House meeting, were denounced by union president Reg Weaver as well as prominent Democrats. Paige said he was sorry, and the White House said he was right to say so. The education secretary’s words were "pathetic and they are not a laughing matter," said Weaver, whose union has said it plans to sue the Bush administration over lack of funding for demands included in the "No Child Left Behind" schools law. Paige said later in an Associated Press interview that his comment was "a bad joke; it was an inappropriate choice of words." President Bush was not present at the time he made the remark. "As one who grew up on the receiving end of insensitive remarks, I should have chosen my words better," said Paige, the first black education secretary. Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin said Paige’s words were, "The NEA is a terrorist organization."
Lets see. It threatens school districts with strikes. Terrorizes parents with dire predictions if they don’t get what they want...... Oh and protect of ’old boy’ network of ineffective teachers. Not exactly a terrorist organization as we here in Rantburg define it... but close...
There's a difference between being a terrorist organization and being a group of self-serving hacks.
Paige said he had made clear to the governors that he was referring to the Washington-based union organization, not the teachers it represents. Weaver lied responded, "We are the teachers, there is no distinction."
Yes there is.
Paige’s Education Department is working to enforce a law that amounts to the biggest change in federal education policy in a generation. He has made no attempt to hide his frustration with the NEA, which has long supported Democratic presidential candidates. Asked if he was apologizing, Paige said: "Well, I’m saying that I’m sorry I said it, yeah." In a statement released to the media, Paige said he chose the wrong words to describe "the obstructionist scare tactics" of NEA lobbyists.
The NEA may not be a terrorist organization.... but they are pretty close with their scare tactics.
Said White House spokesman Scott McClellan: "The comment was inappropriate and the secretary recognized it was inappropriate and quickly apologized."
The Dems won't leave it there, though...
Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, put it in stronger terms, accusing Paige of resorting "to the most vile and disgusting form of hate speech, comparing those who teach America’s children to terrorists."
No... he called the NEA terrorists, not the teachers. There *is* a difference.
Hyperbole, anyone? It's made with real baloney and cheese...
Education has been a top issue for the governors, who have sought more flexibility from the administration on Bush’s "No Child Left Behind" law, which seeks to improve school performance in part by allowing parents to move their children from poorly performing schools. The NEA spends roughly $1 million a year lobbying in Washington. It is also a big political donor, mostly to Democrats.
Translation: They are not teachers but parasites...
Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, a Democrat, said the comments were made in the context of "we can’t be supportive of the status quo and they’re the status quo. But whatever the context, it is inappropriate I know he wasn’t calling teachers terrorists but to even suggest that the organization they belong to was a terrorist organization is uncalled for."
Why not?
Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-02-23
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=26788