Tom Delay: "It's Time Some Activist, Liberal Teachers are Held Accountable

[maxrandb]

Well, he didn't really say that word for word, but I was not surprised by a Breaking News story that the relationships between teachers and some parents have become volatile, and in some cases even dangerous. This has been the "right-wings" plan for education all along. Just like their dangerous rhetoric against judges, abortion providers, homosexuals, unions, etc., has resulted in violence and intimidation (that a Republican Senator recently described as "understandable"). Their 30 year assault on education, and teachers in general has finally come to fruition. To the "right-wing" power hungry, teachers are no longer treated with respect and dignity, they are ridiculed and demonized. Are some teachers bad? Of course! But that is not the right-wings complaint. Their complaint is that teachers teach critical thinking...and they can't have that. An educated, independent thinking populous is anathema to their hold on power.

In the past few decades, we've watched hate radio, conservative think-tanks, legislatures and the compliant news media turn teachers and professional educators into a caricature. Seriously, how many times have you heard the following, or something like it, to describe teachers?

-socialist, liberal indoctrinators.
-lazy, 9 month a year overpaid communist.
-liberal biased pariahs that punish conservatives.
-The NEA is a Terror Organization.
-They don't care about your kids. Once they get tenure they are ensured a job for life.
-If only God were allowed back in school, everything would be so much better, but those damn atheist teachers and their unions won't allow it.

If the right-wings game plan was not so scary, it would be laughable. Surely if we had any integrity in media, their specious arguments would not even see the light of day. But...it is a game-plan that has worked well for them as they have demonized the following-

-The word liberal
-unions
-environmentalist
-lawyers
-judges
-what they (chuckle) still have the nerve to call the "liberal media"
-Hollywood elites.

Consider the violence and intimidation against teachers just one more thing to put into the file for when we eventually take this country back. It will come in handy for the criminal cases that will be brought against Rush and the other propagandist'.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

1. DeLay sure is hot to make OTHER people accountable isn't he?

Judges, teachers, parents. When is he going to step up and be accountable for all of his illegal and unethical shenanigans?

[indepat]

2. Is it time all in any walk of life who support neocons be held accountable

[FormerDittoHead]

3. I agree about the "framing" of certain words...

We have their playbook now...

...and I think we're heading in the right direction to neuter these guys and move on with making this country a BETTER place to live...

[tsuki]

4. This is not a new attack on teachers. It has always amazed me that

the NeoCons can plot generationally. In 1988, I was told by a Republican that it would take 20 years to implement vouchers. That the back of the NEA need to be broken. They were upset about Keith Geiger's comments on the NEA becoming the most powerful union in the US and his opposition to Central and South American policies.

The attack on American education is not new; it is on-going and becoming a more powerful voice each year. Divide and Conquer.

[Zenlitened]

5. It's time Mullah Tom took his anti-American values elsewhere.

The reactionary clerics of Iran might be a good match. If DeLay holds our bedrock traditions and principles in such contempt, he should just get the hell out.

[supernova]

6. So Delay's back to this old canard?

He can't get a way with scapgoating GOP-appointed judges, so he falls back on the old reliable GOP boogeyman: The NEA-affileated Teacher. :eyes:

Hey Tom! Go turn yourself in!

[maxrandb]

12. Let Me Clear Something Up

Just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that Tom Delay did not actually say that about teachers. I was simply using words that we all know "could" come out of his pie-hole to illustrate how the right-wing, and Delay in particular, demonize people and institutions that don't "cowtow" to them. I also meant to point out how dangerous their inflamatory rhetoric is, and how you can trace violence and the general incivility of our society today to the hate mongering AM radio hosts and the republican Party.

We are getting dangerously close to a society where if you don't agree with the right-wing, then someone will "bust a cap in your ass" because you've been reduced to a "non-human" evil entity.

Hell, it may already be happening.

[Bouncy Ball]

7. Ahem. And this wasn't an official study, but

(clearing my throat) in my years of working with teachers, ahem, I've noticed that the very worst teachers tend to also be.....republican. They don't like the kids (at least not the non-white ones), they don't know how to deal with the kids, they don't really give a shit if they learn or not ("that's their problem" they like to say), etc. Oh I could go on and on. And yes, it does make me wonder WHY they are teachers to begin with. Most thought it would be EASY (HA!) and now are too close to retirement to quit, so they keep their bitter asses in the classroom, making everyone around them totally miserable.

Of course, I'm sure that's a COMPLETE coincidence! :eyes: (Right.)

[lonestarnot]

8. And we are now creating slave labor within their field ..imported teachers

[New Dealer]

9. If Republicans aren't satisfied they should become teachers

Since teachers hardly get paid anything, no Republican would ever even consider becoming one (ok, I know there are probably one or two Republican teachers out there, but still). Only a selfless liberal would become a teacher. Republicans can't simultaneously avoid becoming teachers and demand control of them.

By the way, I think both parties should unite against incompetent teachers, as they are far more of a threat than "liberal" teachers.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Yeah, Like That'll Happen

Some Rockefeller repubs might be, but no neocon is teaching.

My wife makes an amount that a repub would laugh at. Two college degrees and she could make more driving the school bus.

The Professor

[newyawker99]

11. Hi New Dealer!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[ulysses]

13. let him come teach.

I'd give him five minutes in my classroom.