Recap: Why was Condi so great last night

[Deleted]

My R friends are all creaming in their jeans over her speech last night.

I went to bed early and missed it.

Why are they all pumped by her?

[soontobeka]

Here is a link to the transcript: www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80402.html

Overall it is a good speech but it does not go along with the current GOP and their current platform.

Here is a snippet:
After all, when the world looks to America, they look to us because we are the most successful political and economic experiment in human history. That is the true basis of “American Exceptionalism.” The essence of America – that which really unites us — is not ethnicity, or nationality or religion – it is an idea — and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things. That it doesn’t matter where you came from but where you are going.

Ours has never been a narrative of grievance and entitlement. We have not believed that I am doing poorly because you are doing well. We have not been envious of one another and jealous of each other’s success. Ours has been a belief in opportunity and a constant battle – long and hard — to extend the benefits of the American dream to all – without regard to circumstances of birth.

I do appreciate her comments about our education system. She says that Romney/Ryan will lead us in that area but we have never heard them comment on education. I was firmly against school vouchers but this board has made me realize there is some validity to a school voucher program. I do still have some concerns about it but I am much more open minded about it.

Her comments on education:

Let me ask you, though, today, when I can look at your zip code and can tell whether you are going to get a good education – can I really say that it doesn’t matter where you came from – it matters where you are going. The crisis in K-12 education is a grave threat to who we are.


My mom was a teacher – I have the greatest respect for the profession – we need great teachers – not poor or mediocre ones. We need to have high standards for our students – self-esteem comes from achievement not from lax standards and false praise. And we need to give parents greater choice – particularly poor parents whose kids – most often minorities — are trapped in failing neighborhood schools. This is the civil rights struggle of our day.

If we do anything less, we will condemn generations to joblessness, hopelessness and dependence on the government dole. To do anything less is to endanger our global economic competitiveness. To do anything less is to tear apart the fabric of who we are and cement a turn toward grievance and entitlement.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will rebuild us at home and inspire us to lead abroad. They will provide an answer to the question, “Where does America stand?”

[oukapu]

I had it on, but wasn't watching intently. I contrast to Ann Romney and snippets of other female speakers, she came off as very intelligent and knowledgable. She seemed like a good role model. We need more female role models who don't come off as being a bimbo.

Ryans speech was bad.

[Michelle]

Well now i'm creaming in my pants. I fell asleep reading to my kid last night so I missed it.

I firmly believe education is the equalizer in our society. If I want my taxes to go up for anything, it is to improve k-12 education.

[IIOY]

Aug 30, 2012 6:42:18 GMT -5 Michelle said:

I firmly believe education is the equalizer in our society. If I want my taxes to go up for anything, it is to improve k-12 education.

I'm with you on this. The long-term benefit of having a well-educated society more than pays for itself. How we get there is up for debate.

[summer]

I've always liked Condi. I don't agree with her often, but she always seems reasonable and well-spoken. I could see her giving a really good convention speech.

[Deleted]

I don't mind my tax dollars being used to pay for improving education but I think they would be better spent addressing poverty. (I know chicken and egg).

I don't like vouchers and charters. As the mother of a special needs child those schools won't touch my kid or quickly counsel us out if we do get in. All charters and vouchers do is leave behind kids with special education needs and kids without active adults in their life in the public schools creating essentially a holding pen for those who need intervention the most.

[Michelle]

Aug 30, 2012 6:48:55 GMT -5 @septimus said:

I don't mind my tax dollars being used to pay for improving education but I think they would be better spent addressing poverty. (I know chicken and egg).

I don't like vouchers and charters. As the mother of a special needs child those schools won't touch my kid or quickly counsel us out if we do get in. All charters and vouchers do is leave behind kids with special education needs and kids without active adults in their life in the public schools creating essentially a holding pen for those who need intervention the most.

I think improving education includes addressing hungry kids through meal programs so they can actually learn, which is one part of the poverty issue. But you are right - to some degree it is chicken and egg. If you can't afford to eat you drop out of school to get a job and help your family, so you can eat today, but tomorrow you are stuck in the same dead-end job and as your responsibilities increase you can't afford to care for your own kids well, and so they drop out of school to help support the family and so on.

But what i've also seen is piss poor education programs even in middle class areas so kids who have all the opportunity you need to make a great life for yourself (family-wise, financial foundation, etc.) don't go beyond high school and get lower paying, less skilled jobs and then become poor and enter the first scenario.

[soontobeka]

Aug 30, 2012 7:01:09 GMT -5 Michelle said:

I think improving education includes addressing hungry kids through meal programs so they can actually learn, which is one part of the poverty issue.

I could not agree more and this is one reason the GOP approach towards education makes me ill. The idea of cutting school breakfast programs seriously makes me stabby.

[Deleted]

Aug 30, 2012 7:03:21 GMT -5 soontobeka said:

Aug 30, 2012 7:01:09 GMT -5 Michelle said:

I think improving education includes addressing hungry kids through meal programs so they can actually learn, which is one part of the poverty issue.

I could not agree more and this is one reason the GOP approach towards education makes me ill. The idea of cutting school breakfast programs seriously makes me stabby.

My local GOP slammed the local school board for expanding free/reduce lunch to include breakfast at the schools with 15%+ greater of the student body already getting F/R Lunch. They said that it was teaching kids to eat from the public trough for life (which I found extremely offensive)

[IIOY]

General question about breakfast/lunch programs: can any student buy them? I ask because when I was in high school, my school served breakfast, and I often bought one because I had swim workouts at 5:30am and would be starving by the time I got to school. I had to pay for it, but it was accessible to anyone who didn't qualify but was willing to pay.

[Deleted]

Aug 30, 2012 7:37:02 GMT -5 IIOY said:

General question about breakfast/lunch programs: can any student buy them? I ask because when I was in high school, my school served breakfast, and I often bought one because I had swim workouts at 5:30am and would be starving by the time I got to school. I had to pay for it, but it was accessible to anyone who didn't qualify but was willing to pay.

I can't speak for all schools, but anyone could buy breakfast at my school.

I was told by someone who works in an anti-hunger nonprofit that Milwaukee Public Schools actually serves free breakfast to all students in the classroom because they found that students eligible for free breakfast weren't getting it out of embarassment or shame. Supposedly behavioral problems went down after this started. But this is all information I was told 5 years ago, so I don't know any more details.

[SusanBAnthony]

Septimus, ditto on the special needs aspect.

Gross generalizations and anecdotes ahead!

Minneapolis public schools were left with such a concentration of special needs kids because the school in welathy neighborhoods were good, and in the worse neighborhoods, all the families who cared enough to bother enrolled in charter schools or open enrolled out of district. I selfishly love the charter school system, but it does leave behind bad neighborhood schools. My special needs kid would never work out at a charter school, but we were lucky to be able to afford an excellent suburban district, which many people do not have the luxury of. Our suburban district used to be 50% open enrollment, and there was such competition to get in, that now it is 100% full from families who moved into the district.

I know very little about Condi, so I have no reason to trust her that Mittens is trustworthy about education. She does seem intelligent. I would love to hear from Mittens directly what his plans are. I don't feel like we have heard much from Obama either, someone correct me if I am wrong.

[IIOY]

Aug 30, 2012 7:41:18 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

Aug 30, 2012 7:37:02 GMT -5 IIOY said:

General question about breakfast/lunch programs: can any student buy them? I ask because when I was in high school, my school served breakfast, and I often bought one because I had swim workouts at 5:30am and would be starving by the time I got to school. I had to pay for it, but it was accessible to anyone who didn't qualify but was willing to pay.

I can't speak for all schools, but anyone could buy breakfast at my school.

I was told by someone who works in an anti-hunger nonprofit that Milwaukee Public Schools actually serves free breakfast to all students in the classroom because they found that students eligible for free breakfast weren't getting it out of embarassment or shame. Supposedly behavioral problems went down after this started. But this is all information I was told 5 years ago, so I don't know any more details.

AH, I completely believe this. I think hunger can absolutely lead to behavioral problems, which can hinder education.

[Deleted]

Yeah, I just hope the breakfasts are healthy.

I think something like 75 or 80% of MPS students are on free or reduced lunch, so I'm really not that concerned about 20 or 25% of ineligible students getting free breakfast as a way to make sure everybody else eats.

My hypothetical future children will probably be in the 20-25% in MPS because I think we're pretty committed to city living and will be unlikely to find an acceptable private school, so I'm trying to learn as much as I can about navigating the clusterfuck that is MPS.

[Deleted]

IIOY-

Yes anyone can buy breakfast/lunch. My boys buy lunch a lot. It is $1.85 and makes my life easy.

When my GOP leader neighbor posted his comments about teaching the kids to eat from the public trough, other very conservative neighbors chimed in that he was being ridiculous and as working/busy parents they appreciated that their middle schoolers could buy breakfast at school (our Middle School has breakfast because it is 30%+ F/R Lunch but our elementary only has lunch-less than 2% F/R lunch)

[teflep]

Aug 30, 2012 6:45:25 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Aug 30, 2012 6:42:18 GMT -5 Michelle said:

I firmly believe education is the equalizer in our society. If I want my taxes to go up for anything, it is to improve k-12 education.

I'm with you on this. The long-term benefit of having a well-educated society more than pays for itself. How we get there is up for debate.

me too. I am very okay with my taxes going to the classrooms....not more admins (says this admin).

[lys]

Both Gov. Martinez and Condi gave great speeches last night. (both minorities as well) FIY for those counting the non white faces.

[IIOY]

Aug 30, 2012 7:47:48 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

Yeah, I just hope the breakfasts are healthy.

Well, this is my primary problem with school food. The breakfasts that I used to eat were pure crapfests of sugar. I distinctly remember the French toast sticks because they were amazingly yummy - sugared pieces of bread doused in syrup. There was a reason I was grouchy and starving again by 10am. I don't think the solution to hungry kids is feeding them shit like this.

[Deleted]

Aug 30, 2012 7:56:24 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Aug 30, 2012 7:47:48 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

Yeah, I just hope the breakfasts are healthy.

Well, this is my primary problem with school food. The breakfasts that I used to eat were pure crapfests of sugar. I distinctly remember the French toast sticks because they were amazingly yummy - sugared pieces of bread doused in syrup. There was a reason I was grouchy and starving again by 10am. I don't think the solution to hungry kids is feeding them shit like this.

Yeah, I remember thinking the breakfast was unhealthy. And this is coming from someone whose daily breakfast in HS generally consisted of cheese and crackers and a 20-ounce Dr Pepper. So yeah.

[Deleted]

Aug 30, 2012 7:56:24 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Aug 30, 2012 7:47:48 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

Yeah, I just hope the breakfasts are healthy.

Well, this is my primary problem with school food. The breakfasts that I used to eat were pure crapfests of sugar. I distinctly remember the French toast sticks because they were amazingly yummy - sugared pieces of bread doused in syrup. There was a reason I was grouchy and starving again by 10am. I don't think the solution to hungry kids is feeding them shit like this.

I think they've gotten better since I was a kid, but I wouldn't say they match the quality of SD's private school that charges an extra $1.2k/yr for lunch. (so basically about $6-7/meal)

[wawa]

Aug 30, 2012 7:56:24 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Aug 30, 2012 7:47:48 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

Yeah, I just hope the breakfasts are healthy.

Well, this is my primary problem with school food. The breakfasts that I used to eat were pure crapfests of sugar. I distinctly remember the French toast sticks because they were amazingly yummy - sugared pieces of bread doused in syrup. There was a reason I was grouchy and starving again by 10am. I don't think the solution to hungry kids is feeding them shit like this.

Mmmm...french toast sticks.

[MrsDL]

I found Condi's speach to be both very serious in terms of the issues, but also optimistic/inspirational, perhaps the GOPs brand of "hope and change." I can see were liberals would give it a big eye-roll, they might see her story about her parents not being able to take her to a theater or lunch counter during segregation, but she was taught she could do anything and went on to be the Secretary of State a bunch of bootstraps BS, but GOPers love that stuff - I do.

I also thought Susana Martinez was good, and funny. We both LOL'd about her story re: when she and her hubs were democrats and went to dinner with a R couple. She said she could see right through their intentions (they wanted to convert her to a R) and so she told her husband they'd go for the free meal and keep their mouths shut. She went on about the conversation and ended with the fact that they left and she said to her H "Damn, we're rupublicans." It made me laugh.

[Melissa W.]

We have a school lunch program. We've been going over the menu with my daughter and having her pick which lunches she will buy. Kind of using it to talk about why it wouldn't be good choice, etc. Of course the first day of school, she bought chocolate milk because she could and then told us, "Well, I wanted to treat myself." LOL.

[ringstrue]

FFS! What is the point of having these people talk if they are just going against what the party actually wants?

[soontobeka]

Aug 30, 2012 8:14:48 GMT -5 MrsDL said:

I found Condi's speach to be both very serious in terms of the issues, but also optimistic/inspirational, perhaps the GOPs brand of "hope and change." I can see were liberals would give it a big eye-roll, they might see her story about her parents not being able to take her to a theater or lunch counter during segregation, but she was taught she could do anything and went on to be the Secretary of State a bunch of bootstraps BS, but GOPers love that stuff - I do.

Please expound on why liberals might roll their eyes

[marie427]

I've loosened up a bit from my staunch anti-voucher stance but not to the point where I support them. I understand that families just can't afford to wait for their local public schools to turn things around in time for their own children to benefit, so on the micro-level I totally get the attraction of vouchers. But on the macro-level, I see no evidence that public schools aren't being left to flounder and are left to teach kids with special needs, kids with behavioral issues, kids whose families don't care about their educations, etc., and those public schools aren't getting the support (not necessarily financial) they need given the special populations that are left to be taught.

I'd love to see examples of areas where vouchers are offered and where public schools aren't left to deteriorate. So far I haven't seen any.

[marie427]

Aug 30, 2012 8:33:01 GMT -5 soontobeka said:

Aug 30, 2012 8:14:48 GMT -5 MrsDL said:

I found Condi's speach to be both very serious in terms of the issues, but also optimistic/inspirational, perhaps the GOPs brand of "hope and change." I can see were liberals would give it a big eye-roll, they might see her story about her parents not being able to take her to a theater or lunch counter during segregation, but she was taught she could do anything and went on to be the Secretary of State a bunch of bootstraps BS, but GOPers love that stuff - I do.

Please expound on why liberals might roll their eyes

Yes, please. This liberal finds Condi's story pretty inspirational.

[y4m]

I assume because they view her as a token minority we made Secretary of State so we could trot her out at conventions to keep our dark faces count up.

[soontobeka]

Aug 30, 2012 8:42:57 GMT -5 y4m said:

I assume because they view her as a token minority we made Secretary of State so we could trot her out at conventions to keep our dark faces count up.

Give me a break.