You are currently browsing liz09's articles.
The New Hampshire debates on Saturday night accomplished a rare feat – they actually provided insight into the candidates. ABC’s Charlie Gibson should be given some credit for trying a new format that gave the candidates more opportunity to explain themselves and respond to each other.
Some of my favorite moments:
After Ron Paul suggested American foreign policy was to blame for the rising current of anti-American sentiment, the rest of the field rushed in to assert their Americana credentials.
Rudy Giuliani went further than anyone, claiming that Islamic terrorism stems from perverted religion. “This comes out of their own perverted thinking,” he said.
Giuliani also never missed an opportunity to uphold his political hero, Ronald Reagan. If we gave out a nickel for every time he invoked Reagan, we could restart trickle-down economics.
Mitt Romney woke up and remembered he had once been an advocate of mandatory health care insurance, saying, “I like mandates.” But, lest he be confused for a Democrat, Romney quickly backpedaled, saying mandates only work at the state level, and each state should be encouraged to make their own plan.
Romney and John McCain got into a veritable catfight over whether McCain’s plan for immigration reform constituted amnesty. McCain shot back later in the debate, accusing Romney of flip-flopping through the backhanded compliment: “You are the candidate of change.”
Huckabee had one of the best moments of the night right at the end of debate when each candidate was given an opportunity to attack Obama. Huckabee acknowledged that Obama is a likable candidate who has excited voters, and he warned his fellow Republicans that they would lose the election, and thus lose important issues, if they didn’t stand for something.
By the way, during the Democratic debate Gibson claimed “experts” say there is a 30 percent chance of a nuclear attack on an American city in the next 10 years…just so y’all know.
Edwards and Clinton take the night’s award for best dramatic performance. Edwards aligned himself with Obama, saying the “status quo” attacks whenever advocates speak out for change. Clinton mounted a spirited response, saying that change takes hard work, not just promises, and that she is running on 35 years of making change.
But for my money, Richardson made the most interesting contribution to the change v. experience debate, succinctly questioning, “What’s wrong with experience?”
“We all want change,” he said. “Is experience a leper?”
Gibson raised the issue of “likeability” late in the debate, claiming Obama has proved more likable than Clinton. Clinton gamely responded, “Well, that hurts my feelings…but I’ll try to go on.” Obama awkwardly took the bait, nearly mumbling, “You’re likable enough, Hillary.”
This video from Mike Huckabee is definitely the best campaign ad I’ve seen yet.
-Liz
The N.C. State Fair is quite possibly the best venue for people watching in the entire South. And the only thing better than watching random people stroll the fairgrounds is overhearing random snippets of conversation. Here’s a sample from the fair’s first Sunday:
“I can just feel it. I’m feeling my way to food.”
“Go stand as close to the pumpkins as you can — I’ll get your picture.”
Speaking of the same giant pumpkins (and proving giant vegetables cross all cultures): “So grandisimo!”
A man setting his small child on his shoulders: “Tell me if you see mommy anywhere — your job is to look for mommy.”
“Aw man, I never get free stuff at the fair.”
“They don’t have vegetables. They have deep-fried vegetables.”
Describing a vendor’s apple chips: “You like fried apple pie? That’s what it is.”
“Deep-fried PB&J? Sweet Pete, we found it!”
Referencing one of the livestock grand champions: “$3,500 for a turkey?”
Mother to daughter: “You can’t take a picture of every single rabbit.”
Daughter to mother: “I’m not — I’m taking the ones that look purdy.”
“Look, you can milk a cow over here.”
“That’s nasty.”
“Let’s do it.”
On Sunday the Florida Democrats formally announced that they will indeed hold their primary on Jan. 29. The Democratic National Committee allows only five states to hold primaries before Feb. 5, and the committee threatened to ban Florida’s 210 delegates from the national nominating convention if the state went ahead with its early primary. State party officials said they expect their delegates to be seated. Michigan could be next on the chopping block, having scheduled its primary for Jan. 15.
Read more here.
Cries of “police brutality” echoed through a town hall forum on Sept. 17 after University of Florida student Andrew Meyer was Tasered and arrested following an attempt to question Sen. John Kerry. The senator called Meyer’s inquiry “an important question” and seemed shocked at the use of force, although he has said the police must have had justification for their actions.
After rumors that former Solicitor General Ted Olsen would be nominated for Attorney General prompted Senate Democrats to raise the specter of a confirmation battle, Bush’s choice of the widely admired judge Michael Mukasey was seen as a safe move. But Democratic leaders refused to promise an easy confirmation, using the nomination as a bargaining chip to pressure the White House into turning over long-requested documents related to wiretapping investigations. White House officials have promised the documents will be released, temporarily easing the tension while simultaneously reinforcing the impression that the Bush Administration no longer has the political clout to play chicken with Congress.
General Petraeus began presenting his much-anticipated progress report on Iraq today. After Congressmen spent 45 minutes pontificating on what they expected out of the report (and criticizing the full-page ad from moveon.org that appeared in the New York Times) the general started to speak — and found himself stymied by a broken microphone. After a flurry of unproductive activity, Congressmen declared a five-minute recess to address the technical difficulties. As one CNN commentator noted, the moment was a perfect metaphor for the present political situation: a general unable to speak before a Congress unwilling to listen.
Check in with The Daily Tar Heel later in the week for analysis on the impact of General Petraeus’ speech.
New York Times ad from moveon.org
-Liz
Check out House education chairman George Miller’s remarks about the future of NCLB. His July 30 speech at the National Press Club includes some interesting quotes about the need for reform. For full text of his prepared remarks, click here.
Here’s my favorite quote: “Throughout our schools and communities, the American people have a very strong sense that the No Child Left Behind Act is not fair. That it is not flexible. And that it is not funded. And they are not wrong.”
It’s telling that Miller says NCLB’s critics are “not wrong” as opposed to saying they’re “right.” That dichotomy between acknowledging the validity of criticism and upholding the central purpose of NCLB is the hallmark of the draft reforms and will be at the center of continuing debate as NCLB is set to expire this month.
-Liz
The House education committee is asking for input from the public on its draft of proposed changes to NCLB. The draft regulations already show evidence that several common complaints about NCLB might be remedied.
A controversial provision that requires failing schools to offer students the option of transferring has been modified, exempting schools that miss their target goals in only one or two subgroups from harsher sanctions including the transfer requirement.
Proposed changes would allow states to use a growth model, which tracks the progress of individual students, to determine adequate yearly progress, as opposed to the current system that relies solely on annual testing. Many educators have complained that the current system does not give schools credit for raising the performance of students who started at an extremely low level and therefore are still not performing high enough to meet testing benchmarks although they have shown great progress.
NCLB’s central goal of 100 percent proficiency in all subgroups by the 2013-14 school year remains in the reform draft, albeit with a provision that students on a “trajectory for proficiency within 3 years” would count as proficient.
Various state studies have predicted high failure rates as NCLB standards tighten in advance of the 2013-14 target date for 100 percent proficiency. For example, the California Department of Education released a study in the spring of 2004 predicting a 99 percent school failure rate by 2014, and in June 2005 Massachusetts predicted the failure rate would fall between 74 and 99 percent by 2014.
The draft reforms also would allow states to move away from the traditional focus on reading and mathematics. Tests in history, science, civics and writing would be considered, along with other factors like graduation rates, dropout rates, college enrollment rates and participation in Advanced Placement courses.
The proposed draft also raises the issue of comparing standards across states, directing the National Academy of Sciences to study ways to create valid comparisons between state proficiency standards. Such a study, and any further moves toward a nationwide set of standards, could force North Carolina to revamp the way it determines school accountability. A previous study linked to the National Assessment Education Progress ranked North Carolina standards as second-lowest in the country.
-Liz
Now it’s on. Not to be outdone by the DNC, the Republican National Committee announced Tuesday it will penalize four states that have set early primaries in violation of party guidelines. New Hampshire, Florida, Michigan and South Carolina stand to lose half their delegates at the party’s national convention. Iowa and Nevada, also early nominating states, will not be punished because their contests are nonbinding caucuses, not primaries.
See this NY Times article for more information.
-Liz
