Taking Off the Mask
Republican politicians and administrators have learned to say the right things at the right times. They make great shows of their concern for the country, families, children, and so on. But it doesn't take too much digging to find out what they really think. Here's some examples. If you know of others, contact me.
Barbara Bush (George W. Bush's mother) – While being interviewed during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, Barbara Bush said, "What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them." (Barbara Bush: Relocation 'working very well' for poor)
Bill Bennett (Secretary of Education under Reagan) – According to Reed Hunt, FCC Chairman under Clinton, Bennett was asked to help persuade Republicans to support efforts to provide Internet access for both public and private schools throughout the country. "He told me he would not help, because he did not want public schools to obtain new funding, new capability, new tools for success. He wanted them, he said, to fail so that they could be replaced with vouchers, charter schools, religious schools, and other forms of private education." (A true story about Bill Bennett)
Bill Bennett (same guy) – During a phone call on his radio show, Bennett was pointing out how statistics can lead to bad conclusions. "...I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down." The problem here is that the book he was talking about (Freakonomics by William Morrow) said that aborted fetuses would have been more likely to grow up poor and in single-parent or teenage-parent households and therefore more likely to commit crimes. The book did not say black nor was it so certain ("more likely" compared to "it's true"). So why did this pop out of Bennett's mouth? I don't know but it seems like a strange thing to come from a person who had such an important position in our government. (Media Matters exposes Bennett)