Re: The NEA is being called a 'Terrorist Association'

["Allen Flanigan" <aflanigan@comcast.net>]

Considering the veracity and professional standards Mr. Drudge maintains, I
wouldn't be surprised if Senator Kerry actually said no such thing.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "LLonald King" <llon@comcast.net>
To: <arn-l@interversity.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 2:08 PM
Subject: Re: [arn-l] The NEA is being called a 'Terrorist Association'


George,

Had Kerry's comment post-dated 9/11, I think it should be as fully
condemned. But, this is not the case. That is not to say that I think
Kerry's remark was wise or appropriate, even at the time, but the word
"terrorist" has taken on new tenor since 9/11. Using it metaphorically
before 9/11, as Kerry apparently did, was one thing. At that time his
remark was a strong version of something like this: "What the
legislature has done is criminal." Perhaps, that isn't as circumspect as
one would like a public official to be when using language in an
official or public forum, but it doesn't compare to what Paige said
given the context of 9/11 and the so-called War on Terrorism within
which his remarks must be framed.

I know how impossibly tempting it must be for partisans who are tuned
more ideologically to Bush than to Kerry to try to find some sort of
"tit for tat" situation like this one in an attempt to neutralize the
damage. This is certainly the tact that Bush's supporters have been
taking in regard to the issue of Bush's military record. I have read
some horrible (and totally spurious) rumors about Kerry's military
service lately. They are floating all about the Internet. But, this sort
of tactic, in and of itself, I think, just reinforces the public's
perception of the mean-spirited, hyper-defensive, and (I have to say, in
spite of Karl Rove's reputation as a master handler) sloppy political
work of this administration.

Just my opinion.

LLon King

|-----Original Message-----
|From: arn-l-owner@interversity.org
|[mailto:arn-l-owner@interversity.org] On Behalf Of George K Cunningham
|Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 10:20 AM
|To: arn-l@interversity.org
|Subject: Re: [arn-l] The NEA is being called a 'Terrorist Association'
|
|
|LLon,
|
|Are you also willing to condemn Kerry for his misuse of the
|word "terrorists?"
|
|"As Democrats express outrage over comments made by Education
|Secretary Rod Paige [he called the the nation's largest
|teachers union 'a terrorist organization'] a DRUDGE REPORT
|flashback can reveal Democrat presidential frontrunner John
|Kerry Has Called Republicans 'legislative terrorists'...
|MORE... In Jan. 1996, commenting on the federal government
|shutdown, Kerry called the House Republicans 'legislative
|terrorists,' who used federal workers as pawns and
|disrespected them. Asked about his terrorist comment, Kerry
|explained, 'Terrorists hold hostages, and the Republicans are
|holding the government hostage'... "
|
|Headline on Drudgereport.
|
|
|George K. Cunningham
|University of Louisville
|
|>>> llon@comcast.net 2/24/2004 12:58:26 PM >>>
|If you'd like to express yourself to the Secretary, himself, phone
|(202)
|401-3000. That's his office number. His staff will take your
|message in the form of a handwritten note.
|
|Be polite, of course, but express your outrage without
|qualification and demand that both Paige and the President who
|appointed him make public, unqualified apologies and that they
|apologize for both the remark and for the backpedaling, almost
|equally insulting explanations that followed it.
|
|Page now says he was only joking (though in context the "joke"
|doesn't sound much like a joke), but he qualified this by
|saying he was referring to the organization not its members
|(what's the difference?) and by claiming that the NEA uses
|"obstructionist scare tactics" against the Bush
|Administration's education policies. If nothing else, this
|shows that the Secretary and his boss are completely out of
|touch with reality.
|
|LLonald King
|
|
|
|Here is the Associated Press report on Paige's remarks (dated
|2/24): http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2004-02-24-paige_x.htm
|
|Paige: Teachers union 'terrorist' group
|WASHINGTON (AP) - Education Secretary Rod Paige says he chose
|poor words in calling the nation's largest teachers union a
|"terrorist organization," but he stands by his claim that the
|group uses "obstructionist scare tactics" in its fight over
|the nation's education law.
|
|Paige used the terrorist reference Monday in a private White
|House meeting with governors while answering a question about
|the National Education Association, which has 2.7 million
|members. His words startled members of his audience, triggered
|outrage from prominent Democrats and deepened the divide
|between the country's top education official and its largest union.
|
|Paige told The Associated Press in an interview that he made
|the comment in jest.
|
|"I was making what I now know was a bad joke; it was a poor
|choice of words," Paige said. "I was referencing the
|Washington-based organization in general, not teachers."
|
|Reg Weaver, the NEA president, said Paige's comments were
|pathetic, including the secretary's explanation that he was
|criticizing the union organization but not teachers.
|
|"I can tell you what my first response was: Scary. That's
|really frightening," said Diana Garchow, a special-education
|teacher at Highland Elementary School in Bakersfield, Calif.
|"It's scary that you can't voice an opinion in this country
|without being called a terrorist. ... I don't care if it was a
|joke or what it was, that was a totally inappropriate comment."
|
|On Tuesday, Michigan's largest teachers' union called Paige's ouster.
|
|"Secretary Paige is acting like a schoolyard bully, resorting
|to name calling and insults. He needs to be removed," Michigan
|Education Association President Lu Battaglieri said in a
|statement. "Thousands of MEA members have served this country
|honorably - and dozens are currently serving in Iraq today -
|defending the basic American freedom to debate and to disagree.
|
|The flap comes as the Bush administration faces increasing
|state opposition to the No Child Left Behind law, widely
|considered the most significant federal education act since
|Congress approved its original version in 1965. The law,
|approved in bipartisan fashion, requires a range of testing,
|teaching and school-choice changes to help children succeed.
|
|Paige spoke at length Monday about his agency's efforts to
|help states and schools understand the complex law, but his
|feud with the NEA is no secret. The union - a reliable
|supporter of the Democratic Party - plans to sue the Bush
|administration over funding of the law and wants changes in
|how it is enforced.
|
|But Paige's language drew a rush of criticism, giving
|Democrats election-year fodder.
|
|"Secretary Paige and the Bush administration have resorted to
|the most vile and disgusting form of hate speech, comparing
|those who teach America's children to terrorists," said Terry
|McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
|
|A spokeswoman for presidential contender John Kerry called
|Paige's remarks "inappropriate, particularly at a time when
|our nation has experienced the devastation caused by
|terrorism." Kerry's chief competitor, John Edwards, called
|Paige's words "grossly offensive."
|
|The nation's other major teachers union, the American
|Federation of Teachers, said it was "unconscionable and
|irresponsible for any public figure, let alone a U.S. Cabinet
|member, to undertake this kind of name-calling."
|
|But Gayle Fallon, the president of the AFT chapter in Houston
|who knows Paige from his work in that city, said Paige was
|merely being sarcastic.
|
|
|"There were times when he'd pick up the phone and call and ask
|me, 'How's my favorite terrorist doing?' " Fallon said. "The
|NEA isn't militant enough to be a terrorist organization.
|They're barely militant enough to be union."
|
|Said White House spokesman Scott McClellan: "The comment was
|inappropriate and the secretary recognized it was
|inappropriate and quickly apologized."
|
|Included in 100-word statement that his staff characterized as
|an apology was Paige's assertion that "the NEA's high-priced
|Washington lobbyists have made no secret that they will fight
|against bringing real, rock-solid improvements in the way we
|educate our children regardless of skin color, accent or where
|they live."
|
|In the AP interview, Paige said opposition to the law has been
|stirred by at least three groups that are "hard nosed, highly
|financed and well organized."
|
|Since 1976, when it shifted into an active role in national
|politics, the NEA has given every presidential endorsement to
|a Democrat. It is a big political donor, mostly to Democrats.
|
|In the last presidential election cycle, the NEA and its
|political action committee donated $3.1 million to federal
|candidates and national party committees, with about $9 of
|every $10 going to Democrats, according to the nonpartisan
|Center for Responsive Politics. At that time, national party
|committees were allowed to raise union donations, part of the
|"soft money" they are now barred from accepting.
|
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