February 23, 2004

Weapons of class instruction? Education Secretary Rod Paige calls the NEA a "terrorist organization."
posted by the_bone 20 years ago
  • Yeah, mission statements like this are just plain dangerous: To fulfill the promise of a democratic society, the National Education Association shall promote the cause of quality public education and advance the profession of education; expand the rights and further the interest of educational employees; and advocate human, civil, and economic rights for all. (from About NEA)
  • This just in: Politicians' sense of humour just as lame in private as it is in public.
  • Well, there is one benefit in this: if politicians continue to overplay the terra! terrarist! cards, people will become more sceptical about such claims.
  • He says he was joking, but...show of hands here...how many believe that he was joking. The NEA is calling bullshit on Bush. His minions don't care for the outing one bit. Joke my ass.
  • Education makes baby jesus cry.
  • What, as in, he actually thinks that the NEA is a terrorist organisation? With, like, bombs? That's what he thinks? Sorry, I'm a little confused here.
  • Oh, I'm sure he was joking. However, it was an extremely inappropriate remark. I've been a teacher (and union member!) since '96, and it is infuriating that the guy at the federal level who oversees my profession thinks it's OK to make cracks like this in public.
  • The NEA is effectively a partisan organization. You can't be surprised that a member of a Republican cabinet would be less than warm to them.
  • pssst... The Republican Party is a terrorist organization. Pass it on...
  • Less than warm, I can understand. I don't exactly mince words when I talk about the NRA (I can't stand 'em). But then again, I'm not a Cabinet member. If I were, say, the Attorney General and I called the NRA a terrorist organization I would be way the hell out of line. The point being, the guy running the department that regulates teachers shouldn't call them terrorists. And to pre-empt the inevitable "he wasn't talking about the teachers, he was talking about the union" statements: that lame defense didn't work for "Viagra Bob" when he slammed teachers' unions in his '96 acceptance speech, and it won't fly now. To make it clear: I'm a teacher. I'm a union member. I'm not a terrorist, and it is unacceptable for the Secretary of Education to publicly imply that I am one, even in jest.
  • The comments were made at a private White House meeting with state governors. Not public. It's now public because it makes a nice whip for the Democratic Party to rouse indignation within your union. Activate the sleeping cadres!
  • In retrospect, it apparently wasn't all that private. If journalists are present, a public figure has to assume that his or her words are going in the public record. FWIW, I'm not a Democrat... they have nothing to do with my personal indignation over this. I'm pissed because, at the federal level, this guy thought it was appropriate to joke that an organization to which I have belonged for years is a terrorist organization. And now, as it increasingly appears as though I'm monopolizing a thread I started, I'm gonna step back out of this one. 'Night, all.
  • Is saying one is for teachers but against their union akin to saying that one is for soldiers but against the war? *wry grin* Just kidding. Inappropriate? Sure. But c'mon, the guy has a right to say whatever he wants. The fact that he's Secretary of Education only punishes him in this regard, in that now everyone in the country knows beyond a doubt that he's an ignoramus. OTOH, no one, the_bone, actually believes that the NEA is a terrorist organization.
  • There were no journalists present at the meeting. Every story has relied on witness (read: Democratic governors who recognized the juiciness of the gaffe) accounts of Sec. Paige's statements. I will hazard that Paige's words are a measure of the administration's frustration with the NEA. If you're a staunch union member, you could take that as a compliment....
  • no one, the_bone, actually believes that the NEA is a terrorist organization. I do. All teachers are, especially chemistry teachers, physics teachers and PE teachers.
  • Someone remind me what Senator Joe McCarthy was looking for -- fraternisation with Commies, non? So now the US has got a new enemy -- tourists -- and, lo and behold, leading Republicans are beginning to find them in the very same organisations that used to house Commies. The cyclical history of the United States.