Posted on 08/24/2008 12:46:57 AM PDT by ari-freedom
In an interview with The Washington Post's editorial board, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) asserted that he is more prepared to be president than any other candidate, disputed the notion that governors are better suited for the White House than senators and warned that Pakistan is a potentially bigger threat than Iran.
Biden also stumbled through a discourse on race and education, leaving the impression that he believes one reason that so many District of Columbia schools fail is the city's high minority population. His campaign quickly issued a statement saying he meant to indicate that the disadvantages were based on economic status, not race.
After a lengthy critique of Bush administration education policies, Biden attempted to explain why some schools perform better than others -- in Iowa, for instance, compared with the District. "There's less than 1 percent of the population of Iowa that is African American. There is probably less than 4 or 5 percent that are minorities. What is in Washington? So look, it goes back to what you start off with, what you're dealing with," Biden said. He went on to discuss the importance of parental involvement in reading to children and how "half this education gap exists before the kid steps foot in the classroom."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Its not race you blockhead. Its liberalism. Decades of 1 party Democrat dominance and liberalism.
See post #8. Biden has gold cufflinks.
When he had his brain surgery, did they check to see if they had some screws left over?
In an interview with The Washington Post’s editorial board, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) asserted that he is more prepared to be president than any other candidate,
Even Obama?
Dang, the “articulate and clean” remark is supposed to come when you’re someone’s veep (it sounded like he was saying, “Don’t vote for me, vote for Obama,” and the “I’m the best guy for the job” remark is supposed to come when you’re actually running for President.
I am not big on playing “gotcha” but this guy repeatedly makes comments that have the tint of racism to them.
Some old boring bloviating Senator (30+ years) was needed to offset Barry's 140 days in the Senate. Caroline Kennedy chose wisely and truly found someone weaker than Barry.
The next few months will be great. Let's score how many times Joe puts his foot in Barry's mouth.
You are correct, but can you imagine the uproar if a REPUBLICAN had said the exact same words?
“I think he’s like Imus. An all around loser.”
Imus has millions of listeners, makes a gazillion dollars a year and is quite well informed. If that makes him a loser, we aren’t using the same criteria for judging.
I love it. Biden is one of those people who think they are far, far smarter than they are. His selection was a Christmas in August gift for the Republican party.
Fwiw, Imus supports McCain. It may not count for much, but at least he’s not for Obama.
no amount of money or well intended educators can fix the ills affecting large swath of black culture in places like Washington DC my friend.
the reason is that it's the parent's job and schooling cannot fix what is broke at home
it gets back to personal responsibility and free will
neither messianic Democrats nor nuts and bolts conservatives can fix a child who lives in a wasteland at home though admittedly we do believe conservatives can do more
this has been going on so long now it's complimentary.
in the old days nationwide those areas that were largely black were under mostly white administrators...blacks were not very represented politically except in Harlem maybe.
after they started taking over in the late 60s til early 80s all over the nation in urban areas where they were, they began to control the school districts but most urban areas were already white Dem machines, they just became black Dem machines.
the disintegration of the already lagging black infrastructure of family, education and work ethic had begun due in part to the plethora of Civil’s Rights legislation that began in the mid 60s and for which many GOP voted for too.
Now we are bearing that fruit and folks like me who live in areas with a sizable black population...like here in Nashville it's 25%...we are dealing with it.
Here they bus in black kids to my kid's affluent public school at the rate of around 20%. The problems these kids have is obvious and so sad. We help as best we can directly but we can't adopt them all and give them a real home instead of the tragic circumstances they call home.
It's just how it is. Any city that is so predominately black in America today has this problem and I am afraid that all we do is put band aids on it and encourage it frankly. It is folly and demeaning to think black culture has it's problems simply because of something government or the white man did and that only “we” can fix it. Blacks have been hearing this since Reconstruction to no avail....why so many still listen beats me.
Biden spoke the truth....unintended...how we got there is the contentious bone.
plenty of Demoract controlled liberal areas where mostly white and asian kids do fine
we may not like what they are taught however
blacks elect these folks you know....they are not appointed.
I think it may help some of the kids...it's their chance anyhow
I work with this as does my wife but it's like the finger in the dyke.
Folks who don't deal with lower income class blacks in this situation just don't have a clue how broken the homelife is for these kids.
Take what you see on TV and multiply it by 3.
granted occasionally the hero granny or auntie or even a male figure is doing all they can but the problem is that black families intact like that long ago made the transition to the suburbs due to the fact they did provide a good homelife and concentrated on getting out etc
what you have now in urban blighted areas like DC’s bad spots is those that have been living like this for 3 generations now
it's beyond politics and I don't know how folks can fix folks willing to tolerate things in life other communities won't
last week I went to two PTO/PTA meetings with 2-300 parents each one
in a school 20% black there was one black lady attending...who lives near me and whose husband is a cadiologist and she was his nurse before. there was also an African missionary married to a local white missionary...that's it....two blacks out of 600 parents in a 20% black school and neither of them from the hood
and we provide transport to make the 6-8 mile trip out here from the hood but none came...not one.
when I eat lunch with my kids, the black girls gather around to sit by me and listen to me cause I'm old and they joke and call me granpa but also because they don't have dads...most never knew them
one just told me matter of fact last year....”I had a daddy once, he got shot last year”...it is a very very hard existence to come up out of..
that said ...my ancestors were dirt poor too...and southern Democrats of course..back then there was no GOP down here but they didn't decline like this based on poverty
it's more than that, it's family and male responsibility mostly
and while lib policies don't help, they don't explain it all
LOL
yep...i have never seen the media carry water like this one
Give ‘em time in places like Vermont. It takes a while to destroy cultures when there’s no money available.
I’d say you are both correct...wardaddy more than ari, though.
You can get beyond lousy teachers and terrible curriculum if there are parents at home who are interested in their children’s education.
I know parents who have done just that.
One in particular had to deal with “creative spelling”, among other lunacies.
This was in one of the best school districts in Oregon.
They would have done better homeschooling.
I’m glad my grands are in private school.
“no, it’s not what it is. It’s what happens when constructivists with low expectations are in charge of the schools and curriculum instead of people like Marva Collins and Zig Engelmann.”
Come on, that’s not nearly the whole story. If you transplanted the white kids of Iowa (and their parents) to Washington D.C. and kept the same teachers and pedagogy, do you think academic achievement would still be so bad? Most parents would ensure that their kids learned how to read.
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