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Posted on 08/18/2007 11:31:22 AM PDT by Reaganesque
I guarantee you it’ll be looked back upon as pivotal in terms of Romney’s first run for President down the line in terms of political history.
Keep in mind the following quote:
Mitt Romney on Thursday called the failure of inner city schools “the great civil rights issue of our time.”
This man impresses me more and more every day…
Health Care, Race Relations, Immigration, Education…there isn’t one issue where he’s trumped by another candidate…
LONDONDERRY, N.H. - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Thursday called the failure of inner city schools “the great civil rights issue of our time.”
Taking questions at a music hall, Romney was asked whether he would be capable of improving race relations as president. He said his personal “colorblindness” would be his most important asset.
“I have a real hard time thinking of people other than as people,” he told about 200 people. “I certainly consider myself colorblind. I don’t distinguish people based on their race or their ethnicity or their faith.”
Romney said he would make sure that those with whom he would surround himself in Washington would reflect the nation’s diversity. He said he envisioned calling together a group similar to the “kitchen cabinet” of black citizens he met with regularly as governor of Massachusetts.
“I would anticipate again having a group of folks who represent a diversity of experience and being able to draw on their lives,” he said.
Romney said one of his biggest concerns about race relations involves education.
“I’m really concerned that schools in inner cities are failing our inner city kids — largely minorities — and those kids won’t have the kinds of skills to be able to be successful and competitive in the new market economy,” he said. “The failure of inner city schools, in my view, is the great civil rights issue of our time.”
Romney said he would work hard to improve schools but did not elaborate. When a woman asked him about how he would support arts and music programs that often are the first to be cut from tight school budgets, he said he was wary of too much federal involvement in education.
Recalling fondly his own high school glee club days, Romney said arts and music education spurs creativity that carries over into adulthood. But he said the federal government shouldn’t mandate such programs.
“While it would be tempting to say all schools should have the following programs, that worries me that someday there’d be somebody up there with very different views telling schools what they should and shouldn’t do,” he said. “I’d like to have local school boards recognize that they need to be concentrating of course on English, math and science, but also some of the cultural elements that make us a society of creative individuals.”
gag me with a spoon!
what a liberal whine.
I really like this Reaganesque. It’s so true of the inner city schools. As a former Probation Officer, I have witnessed the failure’s of the public schools first hand, and it has been a concern of mine for years, that and the shrinking two-parent black family. Good for Mitt for taking this on! I’d like to hear more.
It is something similar to what President Bush once said, calling it "soft bigotry." The Dems have counted on the minority vote for too long without offering anything substantive in return. As we all know, it behooves the dems to keep everyone down and out and dependent on the government. I am glad Mitt is calling them on it.
The problem with public education has to do partly with the fact that many times liberals tend to be more into education. The men tend to be afraid of the type of work that men generally do so they are more likely to be college educated. So the schools are infested with poltically correct liberals. The second problem with education is the parents who are living depraved lifestyles. You can’t expect a kid to come to school when he or she is being exposed to the parent’s vile lifestyle. The kids come to school traumatized. I don’t see how another goverment program is going to fix either of the causes I just stated. We must instead expose the Demoratic Party for what they are maybe that will help. Afterall, they are at the root of both problems I just mentioned, they encourage both.
Bookmark.
Mitt Romney calls failing inner-city schools “the great civil rights issue of our time.”
a normal lib/dem code word for more money = higher taxes!!!!
Somebody got a stopwatch to time when the “Romney belongs to a racist religion” argument comes up?
Governor Romney demonstrated his commitment to school-choice by vetoing a bill that would have canceled funding for Massachusetts' charter-school program. (Romney to Veto Charter School Moratorium, June 23, 2004)
"Under Governor Romney's leadership, Massachusetts' fourth and eighth grade students ranked first in reading and tied for first in mathematics. In 2004, Governor Romney helped ensure more students received a higher education by establishing the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship Program to reward the highest performing Massachusetts high school graduates with a four-year, tuition-free scholarship to state universities or colleges. In three years, more than 14,000 top-scoring high school seniors have been awarded these scholarships." (Mitt Romney Campaign Website | Learn About Mitt | Our Stories | Governor Romney's Record)
Governor Romney strongly supported a successful ballot initiative that replaced the state's bilingual program with English immersion. (Romney Vows to Protect English Immersion Law, May 1, 2003)
Spot-on! Another helping of compassionate-conservatism... get me a barf-bag.
~”However, this could be big in terms of building the Republican base. Blacks and minorities have been sold out, used and abused by the Left in this country for decades and it’s about time someone came along and pointed this out and the quality of education blacks and other minorities are getting from Liberal school systems in the inner city is the perfect place to start.”~
It’s a pipe dream Reaganesque. Battered women don’t usually leave their husbands. Likewise, blacks aren’t going to abandon the Democrat party en masse.
If Republicans ever take a larger percentage of the black vote, it will be a shift over a generation or two, not a single-election event.
***Taking questions at a music hall, Romney was asked whether he would be capable of improving race relations as president. He said his personal “colorblindness” would be his most important asset.***
Intolerance will keep this country alive. I’m not buying
So, why is it that Mitt Romney thinks “federalism” means that any state that wants to can abort babies, in spite of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, but he has no problem with federal government involvement in education, for which there is no constitutional basis whatsoever?
Has he called for the dismemberment of the U.S. Department of Education?
IDK about nation wide, but in NJ, outside a few wards in Newark, Passaic and Camden, almost every failing inner city school has illegal immigrant children as the largest plurality, if not the majority, of the school systems... The poor and working class legal residents of the cities are forced to pay for the failure of the Federal state in their Constitutional duties. Legal residents face higher rents from increased demand and increased property taxes to pay for increased services by black market illegal aliens, lower wages due to artificially increased supply of labor, increased crime, decreased access to government services (including schools), and pretty much a horrible interaction with all government institutions. Since those who pay no taxes and have no permanent stake in the well being of the community treat the “suckers” who still live inside the system as just so much of an annoyance until the legal residents have something the illegals want to steal, and illegals are treating the “law enforcement agencies” and “judicial system” with a greater dose of hard nosed reality than the general public and community leaders, they know the system has failed, is flawed, and the leaders have no interest in fixing it, and that some leaders have vested interests in making sure the system stays broken and corrupt.
Booker and Corzine, most of the state elected representatives and law enforcement brass are spitting in the faces of the legal residents of Newark NJ. The police are literally daring the legal resident populace to arm themselves Constitutionally and morally, but illegally, in the wards of Newark to fight off the two pronged assault of a rampantly corrupt police and judiciary, and an invasion of psychopathic illegal alien invaders.
Can Mitt Romney help? Not likely.
Can Mitt Romney pontificate just like my above response? Absolutely.
It is not an issue of rights. It is an issue of responsibility.
The federal government has no business in the education issue. Romney is once again, attempting to have his cake and eat it too. I suppose the next thing we'll hear from old Mitt is, Reagan was adamantly in favor of federal intervention in a childs education. LOL I'm gaining a strong dislike for this wishy washy, centrist Republican.
Good post.
President Bush called it the “soft bigotry of lowered expectations.” In other words, if blacks don’t score well on a test, lower the grading standards and make the test easier. Heaven forbid you actually do some teaching to help these kids pass the original test. That, in my book, is the worst kind of bigotry. Rush talks about this all the time and it can be a big winner for us if we can just get that message out there consistently.
Wasn’t Romney a governor? Why was this not a priority before since it is more of a local and state issue than a national issue? Romney is too much of a panderer.
The inner city schools have been a disgrace for over 30 years now,and finally a candidate steps up and mentions the problem?It’s not a liberal whine,it’s a plain fact that if we want to break the cycle of poverty and crime in the black community the schools must be fixed.Where are all the other people running for President on this issue?The Dems have been at the root of the problem for decades,I don’t expect anything out of them.
Where does it say he is proposing federal solutions? It specifically states he is wary of federal involvement. He has repeatedly championed the influence of local school boards, parents and state solutions.
Romney is not fooling anyone. He is no conservative.
Romney said he would work hard to improve schools but did not elaborate. When a woman asked him about how he would support arts and music programs that often are the first to be cut from tight school budgets, he said he was wary of too much federal involvement in education.
Recalling fondly his own high school glee club days, Romney said arts and music education spurs creativity that carries over into adulthood. But he said the federal government shouldn’t mandate such programs.
“While it would be tempting to say all schools should have the following programs, that worries me that someday there’d be somebody up there with very different views telling schools what they should and shouldn’t do,” he said. “I’d like to have local school boards recognize that they need to be concentrating of course on English, math and science, but also some of the cultural elements that make us a society of creative individuals.”
Question posed to Mitt Romney:
Q: You have been criticized for changing your position on some issues. You say that it's a part of learning from experience. Can you point to an area in which your learning from experience led you to change to a position that is less popular with the Republican base?
Mitt Romney:
A: Sure, quite a few, actually. One is No Child Left Behind. I've taken a position where, once upon a time, I said I wanted to eliminate the Department of Education. That was my position when I ran for Senate in 1994. That's very popular with the base. As I've been a governor and seen the impact that the federal government can have holding down the interest of the teachers' unions and instead putting the interests of the kids and the parents and the teachers first, I see that the Department of Education can actually make a difference. So I supported No Child Left Behind. I still do. I know there are a lot in my party that don't like it, but I like testing in our schools. I think it allows us to get better schools...
your on the wrong thread EV
The topic is Civle Rights for the present, so the future is able to come forth!
If you knew anything at all about Mitt Romney, you would know that his solution is not MORE government and taxes but LESS!
Please get educated on the man before you make ignorant statements like you just did: “a normal lib/dem code word for more money = higher taxes!!!!”
Romney said he would make sure that those with whom he would surround himself in Washington would reflect the nation’s diversity.
Planning to surround yourself with "diversity" implies that you will in fact consider race and ethnicity.
"Romney said he would work hard to improve schools but did not elaborate. .... he said he was wary of too much federal involvement in education."
Hence my remarks in response, also contained in #19. What part of ---- The federal government has no business in the education issue. ---- don't you understand?
Bush43 has increased education spending by something like $75 billion in the last 6-1/2 years. Is that what you except from a GOP POTUS? Not me.
One of the biggest proponents of higher standards is Bill Cosby. He is trying to talk to people about this and he gets a lot of criticism. But we can’t give up. We can’t let the Libs have what they want — people to be dumb and poor and ignorant so they can be in power.
They don’t call Mitt Romney a “flip-flopper” for nothing. LMBO
Amen! Local control of schools are necessary. We need to get away from the movement to “federalize” everything. Parents need more say in how their children are educated in America. The children are our future and are floundering in the current system.
"...once upon a time, I said I wanted to eliminate the Department of Education. That was my position when I ran for Senate in 1994. That's very popular with the base. As I've been a governor and seen the impact that the federal government can have holding down the interest of the teachers' unions and instead putting the interests of the kids and the parents and the teachers first, I see that the Department of Education can actually make a difference. So I supported No Child Left Behind. I still do." - Mitt Romney, May 15, 2007
He is absolutely correct. Today, half of the children between 0-5 are minorities. Blacks and Hispanics have the highest high school dropout rates by far. Hispanics have twice the birth rate as the general population. This should give us all concern for our future as a nation.
I think MItt learned a lot while governor and he has practical experience regarding which federal programs work and those which do not work in the states. Someone with no practical experience or actual knowledge could knee-jerk oppose federally-imposed testing standards, but someone with day-to-day experience dealing with failing schools has a more well-informed position than someone who has never run a state, or a school, for that matter.
Hopefully, Romney’s beliefs on the failure of public schools will lead him to support the homeschooling community.
Viewing politics as a “political market,” it makes sense to go after all potential customers. The black market is a hard one for Republicans to crack. If they can do it, it may be as momentous as Republicans making inroads into the South.
Political business aside, I think Romney is right. Inner city schools serve their customers, parents and children, very poorly. So what is the solution? The Democratic answer is more money. That’s great for educators. That solution has done no good for the children. Our schools are socialist schools. (One could go further. Since government owns the means of production - buildings and equipment, and hire the staff, - one could say our schools are communist in nature.). President Bush is trying to reform our socialist schools. I wish him lots of luck on that one.
The best approach is to completely voucherize and privatize our schools. This would be great for all schools. The greatest absolute improvement would be in communities with the worst schools. The greatest beneficiary group would be inner city minorities. Still, blacks may not go for it. Vouchers are unfamiliar to most people. Also, many black Americans work for government including our government schools. As employees, they may fear the new competitive school market that vouchers would create. Sure they would like to help black children, but not if it means that their own jobs may be in jeopardy.
It is not only the black community, but even more so in the Hispanic community. The Hispanic high school dropout rate is higher than the black dropout rate.
Romney's Fiscally Conservative Record Proven
No Child Left Behind is a fiasco.
One of the few positive things in our school district is the emphasis on advanced skills and the gifted. This push is propelling my children FORWARD, not leaving them languishing amongst the government’s “guidelines”.
Jeb Bush tried to get school vouchers in Florida. No surprise it was voted down. The NTA and NEA, etc. are pretty powerful lobbying groups. They aren’t particularly interested in improving “education”, but more in maintaining the status quo.
Hate to break your argument, but the scrubs in Newark, Camden, and Irvington were "unemployable" long before any illegals showed up. As a matter of fact, Irounbound/Downneck, which has the highest immigrant population in Newark may have its problems, but its a paradise compared to the overwhelmingly poor and black south and west wards.
Any paleface would still get their asses kicked if they went to try and organize the underclass of Newark to support your ideals.
The problems with lack of education/initiative among the black underclass were, again, a problem LONG before the illegals started coming in large numbers 10 years ago. There is a very good reason white working and middle class folks fled your "poor victimized black folk" in droves back in the 1960s, and it wasn't merely racism.
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