McCain Praises Obama At NAACP Convention
But Says Ill. Senator Is Wrong On Opposing School Vouchers
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Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain is greeted by Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, at the annual NAACP national convention, Wednesday, July 16, 2008, in Cincinnati, Ohio. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)
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Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talks with reporters aboard his campaign bus as he drives to the airport in Albuquerque, N.M., Tuesday, July 15, 2008. (AP)
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The likely Republican presidential nominee addressed the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation's oldest civil rights organization.
In greeting the group, McCain praised Democrat Barack Obama's historic campaign, but said the Illinois senator is wrong to oppose school vouchers for students in failing public schools. It is time, McCain said, to use vouchers and other tools like merit pay for teachers to break from conventional thinking on educational policy.
Obama, he said, has dismissed support for private school vouchers for low-income Americans.
"All of that went over well with the teachers union, but where does it leave families and their children who are stuck in failing schools?" the Arizona senator asked. "No entrenched bureaucracy or union should deny parents that choice and children that opportunity."
The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program is the first federally funded school voucher program in the country, giving scholarships of up to $7,500 to about 2,000 low-income students in Washington, D.C, reports CBS News' John Bentley. The $18 million program is likely to be cut after its initial five-year funding expires next year.
McCain has proposed expanding it, upping the budget to at least $20 million and adding nearly a thousand more families.
“After decades of hearing the same big promises from the public education establishment, and seeing the same poor results, it is surely time to shake off old ways and to demand new reforms,” McCain said. “That isn't just my opinion; it is the conviction of parents in poor neighborhoods across this nation who want better lives for their children.”
McCain received mostly polite applause in a room with some empty seats, two days after Obama received a thunderous reception from a standing-room only audience hoping to see him become the first black president of the United States.
Obama spoke to the NAACP on Monday, saying he would push the government to provide more education and economic assistance, but he also drew big cheers when he urged blacks to demand more of themselves.
"Whatever the outcome in November," McCain told the crowd Wednesday, "Sen. Obama has achieved a great thing, for himself and for his country, and I thank him for it. ... Don't tell him I said this, but he is an impressive fellow in many ways."
During a question-and-answer session, McCain also sought to assuage a frustrated Head Start teacher who complained that her salary from the federal program simply isn't enough.
The woman, wearing a union T-shirt, said she was making $17,000 a year and cannot afford housing, gas, food, or health care for her children. "We cannot continue this way," she said.
McCain said the point of his education platform was to boost pay for "a great and outstanding teacher like you" and other educators who are passionate about their work.
"I want to reward good teachers," said McCain.
McCain said vouchers and merit pay for teachers whose students perform well are two important ways to help kids in failing schools.
"After decades of hearing the same big promises from the public education establishment, and seeing the same poor results, it is surely time to shake off old ways and to demand new reforms," he said. "That isn't just my opinion. It is the conviction of parents in poor neighborhoods across this nation who want better lives for their children."
Both the merit pay and voucher proposals have met stiff opposition from teachers unions. Obama has indicated he would support some kind of merit pay system for teachers, if teachers help craft it.
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See all 231 CommentsThis a frightening thought, a man that graduated at the bottom of his class.
A man that does not know the difference between a Shiite and a Sunni.
A man that can not perform basic functions on a computer, dictating improvement in education?
Then again, who better knows the failures of the education system, Than a man who failed......Go John!
NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!!!
Go to www.congress.org . Enter your ZIP+4 to get a list of YOUR elected representatives.
CLICK ON EACH NAME, and check the rep''s bio.
VOTE AGAINST anyone who was born 1946-1957.
CLEAN OUT THE BABY BOOMERS. SIXTEEN YEARS OF A BABY BOOMER GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN A DISASTER.
SIXTEEN YEARS IS ENOUGH!
Bush is not a fair comparison, he can''t read by chose
not education....
Having given up (for now!) on talking about the economy (a subject he is clueless on and allows other people more clueless than him to discuss), and proving to everyone that he would be a better Commander-in-chief than Barack Obama (having been a POW which, in his eyes, makes him eligible to be Great Emperor), "Bagdad John" is turning to education which is a subject that has been lacking in the Bush reign for the past 8 years.
Among the topics McCain will cover in his speech today are:
1. Demanding that high schools and colleges drop the requirement for students to learn a foreign language. ENGLISH is the only language ANYONE should know!
2. Require that all students have a 5th grade reading level, so they can actually READ their diplomas!
3. Remembering the neocon Supreme Court decision on hand guns (see, Geritol DOES WORK!), install metal detectors at the entrances to all classroom buildings in grammar, middle, high schools and especially colleges.
4. Requiring ECONOMICS as a required course for all students so they can balance their budgets/checkbooks (unlike many neocon Fascist Nazi Republicans!).
SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!
sig heil, ABSOLUTELY MORE OF THE SAME, McCain!!!
His own? He''s FINALLY going to get educated on the economy, the war in Iraq, health care, reforming social security (what he calls a disgrace), fighting the war on terror.......
http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/512/
FOR MORE OF THE SAME,
VOTE MC CAIN!!!
He has the gall and chutzpah to tell the NAACP that he "was a little distracted" last year, so he blew off their conference.
How is he going to improve anybody''s education when his own is so totally lacking;
How will he help improve kids'' education and keep kids safe on the Internet when he doesn''t have a clue what''s out there on the Internet today;
How will he protect us from cyber-crime, identity theft, etc when he doesn''t have a freaking clue???
How does being a POW qualify him to do anything?????
McCain addressing education for the OTHER SIDE of the WEALTH GAP???
Doesn''t his wife hire "people" to do that FOR HIM?
Let''s "VETO EVERY BEER"! Especially that NEW McCain WINDFALL BUD er, InBev SELL OUT.
NOW I get WHY he said that VETO comment.
Bet the sale was "in the works" back then. Come to think of it - Didn''t McCain pay a trip to EUROPE on a "FUNDRAISER" er, political, er some kind of visit that included closed door DONATION meetings?
That''s what their historical "enablers" in our left-wing wolfpack press have always reported to the American people.
So how is it that only 24% of the innocent children it this "deep blue one-party city" ever graduate from High School?
Detroit is also home to one of the Dems big donors and special interest groups and mob-run unions, the UAW.
Detroit also has another Democrat special interest group in Detroit, NAACP.
So with all these "blue" groups why is there so much poverty and despair in Detroit?
Where''s the Social Justice in Detroit? Liberals? Left-wing wolfpack press?
The FACT is America that the Democrats DON''T CARE FOR THE POOR.............or the situation in Detroit wouldn''t be as it REALLY is.
Sad...........where''s the humanity? Where''s the Social Justice??
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Posted by raflin1 at
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raflin1, there is a concept that you and your left-winger pals need to start warming up to and that is Detroit has been this way for DECADES AND GENERATIONS
raflin1.......Where''s the Social Justice from the Democrat Party? (just more lies and propagada is all we really see) sad............Oh the humanity!!
can anyone tell me what university he graduated from?
Annapolis, only after his father the Admiral called in all his I.O.U.s, McCain managed bottom of his class.
The plan goes something like this.
1. Learn difference between Shii an Sunni.
2. Learn something (anything) about the economy.
3. Learn about "the internets" and "the google"
4. Learn how to read a teleprompter.
5. Learn how to run a campaign.
Good luck with that, John!
Sad...........where''''s the humanity? Where''''s the Social Justice??
Well, well... We already know what the Republicons think of the poor...Now don''t we? Your last comment should be addressed where it belongs....To the current occupant of the White House. Only 188 days left! Enjoy!
Posted by perceptions5 at 11:23 AM : Jul 16, 2008
McCain''s job in the U.S. Senate--where all communication and information has to be filtered through staffers--has actually made fluency more difficult to achieve (or at least less necessary). When aides are responding to your messages and briefing you on every imaginable subject, the incentive to get online sort of disappears. Secondly, even if McCain had spent some time surfing the Web over the last decade, it''s highly unlikely that he would''ve amassed enough technological expertise to single-handedly craft appropriate public policy responses to the "upheavals" What''s more, there''s no computer in the Oval Office, and the president can''t surf in the Executive Residence, either. McCain or Obama would certainly follow suit. Meaning that the 3:00 a.m. call would arrive by telephone, not email. And something tells me the senator knows how to operate one of those.
They need expertise in their area and basic teaching technology instruction - that''s it. Most of our teachers have the technology instruction but many lack expertise in their area. Let''s get some retired engineers, college professors, and scientists in the classroom with our children.
That''s what their historical "enablers" in our left-wing wolfpack press have always reported to the American people.
So how is it that only 24% of the innocent children it this "deep blue one-party city" ever graduate from High School?
AND it''s been this "sad way" for Decades and Generations
Detroit is also home to one of the Dems big donors and special interest groups and mob-run unions, the UAW.
Detroit also has another Democrat special interest group in Detroit, NAACP.
So with all these "blue" groups why is there so much poverty and despair in Detroit?
Where''s the Social Justice in Detroit? Liberals? Left-wing wolfpack press?
The FACT is America that the Democrats DON''T CARE FOR THE POOR.............or the situation in Detroit wouldn''''t be as it REALLY is.
Sad...........where''s the humanity? Where''s the Social Justice??
Lieberman: (whispering in his ear) "We can''t PRINT that much money....you finished dead last in a class of 900, Johnny. What are you THINKING? No, don''t answer that.
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Posted by mswolfestock at 10:52 AM : Jul 16, 2008
It doesn''t. If I want to know how to get my plane shot down and be a POW i''ll talk to McSame. He got a lot of experience in that.
lol...I almost said that with a straight face...almost...
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Sounds pretty jealous to me. But that is understandable.
Instead, he said, %u201CI%u2019d pronounce on the need for change. Change in the White House, where Reagan and his minions were carrying on their dirty deeds. Change in the congress, compliant and corrupt. Change in the mood of the country, manic and self-absorbed. Change won%u2019t come from the top, I would say. Change will come from a mobilized grass roots.%u201D
Thus, Obama admitted that he accomplished little but that he was able to cover that up with fancy talk about change.
In sum, it would be difficult to imagine a more mediocre record. Most candidates for dog catcher have contributed more to society. Yet with the help of adoring reporters, Obama has managed to parlay extraordinary speaking and political skills into a presidential campaign built on sand.
The idea that America might entrust its security and future to someone who has never demonstrated an ability to get anything of significance done is scary.
Look for John McCain to begin exploiting this vulnerability after Labor Day.
Thus, Obama admitted that he accomplished little but that he was able to cover that up with fancy talk about change.
Contrary to Obama%u2019s portrayal of himself as a unifier, on every bipartisan effort in the Senate to forge compromises on tough issues, Obama has been missing in action.
In sum, it would be difficult to imagine a more mediocre record. Most candidates for dog catcher have contributed more to society. Yet with the help of adoring reporters, Obama has managed to parlay extraordinary speaking and political skills into a presidential campaign built on sand.
The idea that America might entrust its security and future to someone who has never demonstrated an ability to get anything of significance done is scary.
Look for John McCain to begin exploiting this vulnerability after Labor Day
Amen to Yurpallid''s post!!
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Posted by WDRussell1 at 01:53 PM : Jul 16, 2008
Please provide exact date & time with support for when Bush made this declaration.
Look at FISA
Look at Gitmo.
Sad...........where''''s the humanity? Where''''s the Social Justice??
Posted by perceptions5 at 12:50 PM : Jul 16, 2008
Don''t programs like what you''re talking about have to be voted on by Dems AND republicans?
And if they don''t pass---was it because the Dems don''t care or because they were voted down and out numbered by the Republicans?
Something like what goes on in Congress huh? Then just blame the Dems--we''re used to it--you guys are stupid to think you''re fooling anyone.
Get on board with a guy who finished bottom of his class at Annapolis--just another Bushwacker with an IQ equal to a jar of mayonaise.
Posted by WDRussell1 at 01:53 PM : Jul 16, 2008
Please provide exact date & time with support for when Bush made this declaration.
Posted by mbcsmith
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How about November 2005 when he declared the constitution "nothing but a god**** piece of paper", and that he was the commander in chief and he could do anything he wanted.
Does that work for ya''?
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Posted by future121 at 01:44 PM : Jul 16, 2008
I love it when people start BS''ing about culture! Culture is what we live! Our culture is American!
We go to school to learn about reading, writing, math, science, history, and more enhanced and refined education as we get older!
My culture is working to make this a better place for us all! If you want to join that culture, then get in line...I have several hundred packs of flowers you can go plant in your community to cheer it up...there are at least ten shut-in''s down at the nursing home that need kind words and attention...there is a disabled diabetic down the street that needs help in their house, their errands run, their groceries bought! The library needs volunteers for story hours every morning!
It doesn''t matter what your culture is! When you get to school, you need to sit in that chair and LISTEN and get an education! And you need to find it in your CULTURE to make a better place in this world and not sit back and wait for the THE GOVERNMENT to do it for you!
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Posted by RGRXX175 at 02:02 PM : Jul 16, 2008
Yeah. That would be him.
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