President to speak at 4:30 about Affirmative action..

[SuziQ]

Nice letter, and I'm sure the President appreciated your input, but I doubt very seriesly that it had anything to do with his decision. His mind was made up long before the subject came before SCOTUS!

[gramho12]

Toady, in Maryland, we inaugurated the first Republican governor in over 40 years, and the first black ever elected to state-wide office in Maryland - Lt. Governor Michael Steele. He was inagurated on Martin Luther King's actual birthday.

In Texas (check out the article on www.mullings.com) 3 blacks have been elected to state-wide office since 1994, all Republicans, and after GW was elected governor.

Tell me who is the party of opportunity.

[rohry]

Oops, I got it backwards:

"Should minorities get preferential treatment in university admissions policies?"

Yes--14%
No---86%

Sorry about that...

[MeekOneGOP]

Ping! I won't be able to watch this, I'm at work....maybe one of you can and post some info?

Sure. Here is the A/P article...

Bush: University's affirmative action program unconstitutional

01/15/2003

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - President Bush, stepping into a major affirmative action case, asserted Wednesday that a program of racial preferences for minority applicants at the University of Michigan was "fundamentally flawed" and unconstitutional.

The program "amounts to a quota system that unfairly rewards or penalizes prospective students solely on their race," Bush said in announcing that his administration would file a legal brief in the case with the Supreme Court on Thursday.

Such policies "do not serve to lift up our country and to help the average American," presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters as administration lawyers completed work on their Supreme Court brief.

"Instead, they have a tendency to divide people, to separate people who are deemed to be worthy of something and have it taken away from them not on the basis of merit, but on the basis of simply a quota or something that is driven exclusively by race," he said. He did not confirm Bush's stance on the Michigan case.

Behind the scenes, Bush and his advisers discussed how broadly to press their arguments against the university's program, administration officials said on condition of anonymity.

The politically charged issue forced the president to balance the desires of his conservative backers, who staunchly oppose affirmative action, against the potential reaction from the broader electorate if he is viewed as being racially insensitive.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle called it "a watershed moment for the administration. They have to decide whether they're for civil rights and diversity or not."

Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School who says he'll seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, plans to file a brief in support of the university's program.

"I believe affirmative action is an essential tool in expanding educational opportunities to minorities," he said.

Complicating the president's decision is the fallout from Sen. Trent Lott's remarks that seemed to hold nostalgia for the days when segregation was accepted in parts of the nation. Bush condemned the comments last month, and the Republican Party has been trying to attract more minority voters.

In a sign of the White House's discomfort with the issue, Fleischer spoke of Bush's support of diversity while also discussing the president's plans to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, increase aid to Africa and funnel more money to black colleges.

Bush planned to make a public statement about the Michigan matter once the brief is filed.

The university's affirmative action question is one of the most-watched issues before the high court this year and could yield the court's most important statement on the use of racial preferences in a quarter-century.

Admissions policies at the University of Michigan award extra points to minority candidates, and the law school uses race as one of many factors that could enhance an applicant's chances. The school said the racial preferences were justified because the school had a legitimate interest in ensuring a diverse student body.

White students sued, claiming reverse discrimination.

A senior administration official said the president believes race is obviously a consideration as institutions seek more diversity but that goal can be achieved by expanding opportunities to all people -- not just one race.

The brief is expected to point to a university admissions program begun in Texas while Bush was governor as well as affirmative action opinions by the Clinton administration that seem to support the president's views.

In Texas, Bush opposed racial preferences in public universities and proposed instead that students graduating in the top 10 percent of all high schools be eligible for admission to state schools. Supporters say that had the effect of continuing a stream of minority students, because some public high schools are nearly all black or Hispanic.

The high court hasn't spoken definitively on the issue since the fractured 1978 Bakke decision, when the court banned racial quotas but still allowed universities to take race into account.

States across the country are wrestling with ways to keep up minority enrollment in public colleges, and several are operating under court orders or negotiated agreements to end discrimination.

---

Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/011503dnnatbush.2701dab1.html

[YaYa123]

Dear friend Howlin,
While I applaud your patience in responding to (can't remember the name), surely you know it's a futile exercise.

People who demand instant gratification on long standing problem issues, that might require years to fix, just don't deserve honest, good faith debate. Either (self-identified) Republican voters believe President Bush will do his best on the issues he ran on, the campaign promises he made, and support his efforts. Or they will act like two year olds and have temper tantrums because he isn't moving fast enough to suit them.

[ohioWfan]

No problem. :o)

[Jim Noble]

>>There are legitimate reasons to favor things like a more diverse student body<<

I disagree (strongly), and I challenge you to name even one, BUT

even accepting the notion that more diverse is better than less diverse, wouldn't you agree that diversity arising naturally is what you mean, not diversity brought about by a travesty like the U. of M. system?

[SuziQ]

The Campaign For a Colorblind America (www.equalrights.com) asked George W. Bush to answer the following questions

Sometimes folks don't want to be TIED to any particular organizations. If he didn't know who this group was, he may not have wanted to be connected publicly with it.

[maica]

Also from C-SPAM = They are covering the ANSWER rally in DC on Saturday, naturally, and they announced that Jesse Jackson, Rep Conyers and Rep Rangel will be speakers.


Would you say that those two Congressmen are getting dangerously close to the position that McDermott and Bonior got themselves in last fall? Seditionary behavior?

C-SPAM also gave Jesse top billing. Interesting, since they are the Congressional Channel.

[LO_IQ]

"If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and that's what I told these radical conservatives who never got used to it.

And Reagan said that before reading comments by the radical conservatives at FR?

Reagan is proven right every day on this site.

They always take shots at conservative people who move the ball a few yards closer to the goal.

Their football players must either score a touchdown at the first down or be called losers

[MeekOneGOP]

Sorry Nic, I'm the slowest poster there is (-:

A/P article on #244...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/823292/posts?page=244#244

[aristeides]

Once the law is settled, then any officials who continue to practice the prohibited discrimination can be held personally liable. A case in point is Estepp v. Alexander, 95 F.3d 312 (4th Cir. 1996), where officials of the fire department of Prince George's County, Maryland were found personally liable for reverse discrimination. Hit them in the pocketbook.

[Dog]

Dude .......stop your worrying me.

[Howlin]

Here's a quote from David Frum's book:

"Conservative elites were perpetually sniffing the air around Bush for the scent of sellout..."

[ohioWfan]

Here's the speech, in case no one posted the link for you......

[Howlin]

I know.......I should have learned by now, but misinformation drives me NUTS!

[SuziQ]

Seems like W is trying to make King's dream a reality.

Wouldn't it have been SO fitting for Dubya to quote MLK in his statement, using those exact words!? Talk about HOWLS of derision! There would have been MUCH wailing and gnashing of teeth over that!

[Utah Girl]

And who would you rather have in office, Bush or Gore? Those were the choices in 2000. I'll take President Bush, Gore and the UN would still be lobbing UN resolutions to Al Qaida.

The "alternative" candidates (Buchanan, Keyes, et al) had their opportunities during the primary seasons to get as many votes as they could with the primary elections. Bush won those primaries and the Republican convention nominated him as their candidate. Once the primaries are over, we should, as Ronald Reagan said, support the candidate. Otherwise, we will end up with Hillary Clinton in the White House.

[jackbill]

'Established an admission process based on RACE... get 20 points based on their race'

'A perfect SAT score is worth 12 POINTS in the Michigan system.'

I was shocked to hear this. Apparently color is MUCH more important in learning than aptitude and effort.!

And a "perfect" essay gets you 3 points.

[Howlin]

(www.equalrights.com)

Click on the web site; it ain't there no more. I think that makes your point.