AP: First Lady (& former inner-city teacher) Tackles Poverty, Race Issues

[truthpusher]

I didn't know Laura was from the hood? You learn something new about this amazing women every day!

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1144319&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

First Lady Tackles Poverty, Race Issues
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First Lady Laura Bush Urges Nation to Confront Poverty and Race 'In a Different Way'
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By JENNIFER LOVEN
The Associated Press
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Sep. 20, 2005 - Laura Bush, former inner-city teacher, says Hurricane Katrina could have a silver lining if it forces the nation to respond "in a different way" to difficult poverty and racial problems.

"A large percentage of our population probably doesn't realize what inner cities are really like and has looked away from that," Bush told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday.

(snip)

Mrs. Bush has been to the Gulf Coast four times, once alongside her husband, and has held events around Washington devoted to the hurricane response. Her husband, beset with criticism about the government's initial response to Katrina, traveled to the region for a fifth time Tuesday and is returning again this weekend.

"He has to. That's his job," Mrs. Bush said matter-of-factly. "That's what happens when you run for president. You don't know what might happen like this."

Then, in a wifely endorsement, she said, "Fortunately he is really strong and so I'm confident that he'll be able to sustain the level of attention that he'll have to and not just to that, also to the war in Iraq, to foreign policy and to all the other issues that are on the desk of the president of the United States."

(snip)

complete story: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1144319&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[sniffa]

1. Laura was a teacher?

oh that's right...

[Wordie]

24. I thought she was a librarian...was she a teacher too?

[sniffa]

26. taught driver's ed

in inner city schooLs.

[Wordie]

28. You're joking, right?

[WhiteTara]

43. her special skill for the job was

drinking and driving.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. "inner city teacher?" what PR flak wrote this shite?

librarian in a rich suburb

[ewagner]

7. Exactly

her creditentials get better every week.....:sarcasm:

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. "just say no" to poverty

It's as simple as that!

[Faygo Kid]

4. She had the brains to be a fine first lady, not a Rove Stepford wife. Sad

I, of the same generation, always found her attractive and bright, but what an incredible sellout. It is my opinion that she has been bullied by Barbara Bush, like Eleanor Roosevelt was bullied by her mother in law, Sara Delano Roosevelt. Eleanor rose above it (and Sara died), but Laura has always been on a tight leash. That's the Bush way. I wish she had a little Betty Ford in her. Great admirer of that woman here.

[Cappadonna]

20. Well, She probably drinks like Betty Ford did...........

Do you honestly think that Smirk would marry a woman who could think for herself?

[Der Blaue Engel]

5. "I'm confident that he'll be able to sustain the level of attention...

...that he'll have to...."

Good god, the fact that she even had to say this...we're being led by a child. Someone help us!! :(

[Cocoa]

13. Georgie gets good marks in "sitting still in class"

[celestia671]

32. Wow!

That pic's from 9/11? He sure has gotten alot more wrinkly and haggard since then!

[democrank]

6. I can`t even listen to her drivel.

George is a good man. George really cares. George is sad that we have poor people.

[Mend]

8. Why do her children obviously not give a shit about

the world? Are we really to believe they were raised in a home full of empathy for the human condition? She is a bigger fraud than he is, if that is possible.

[craigolemiss]

9. inner-city Midland Texas??

there's what, five black people in Midland---maybe ---and that's on high school football night.

Just pointing out the obvious.

[la la]

14. If I remember correctly,

she was a school librarian for no more than 2 years.

It's as bad as O'Reilly talking about being a teacher, when he 'taught' for 2 years - in a Private High School? ( not sure about the private, but....)

[Scurrilous]

37. O'Reilly taught at....

...Monsignor Pace Catholic High School in Miami.

[lumpy]

23. Taught in Dallas and Houston

public schools for a couple of years.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

34. Who? Pickles? Or Loofa boy?

:shrug:

[politicaholic]

10. I'm so glad your husband can pay attention...now take a walk...

down the street for about 15 - 20 blocks and look around you. OMG! There's just as much downtrodden poverty Washington DC as there is in NOLA! My goodness, you tight-lipped dingbat, you just can't see beyond your friggin' nose can you? Hey Laura, clean your own house!

Your compassion is made of cellophane. Fuck you Laura.

[chelsea0011]

11. "silver lining"!???? Hey, let's make everyone living in poverty

across the country homeless, without clothes or food, jobless, and take education from all their kids. Then we can finally confront poverty. They need to bring back the No-Nothing Party. And they might have trouble getting an invite at that.

[hatrack]

12. By not doing anything but appear at photo-ops?

Doesn't sound all that difficult, now does it? :puke:

[Elidor]

15. All it took was a hurricane to make her see the light? I don't think so.

And I'm not buying this tripe.

"With her husband called upon and promising to take bold new action on racial inequities in the wake of the storm, Mrs. Bush held up the 2002 No Child Left Behind education law as the signature example of how the Bush administration has been fighting poverty from the start."

Now, I CAN believe that she is stupid enough to believe her husband's press releases, because that is the ONLY way that NCLB could be seen to fight poverty. Quite the reverse: it's sucking the unfunded mandate from local school budgets, of which the poor schools are hit hardest.

"But she said she also hopes for a broader national discussion of poverty and race. "I think it's really important for us to talk about it in a different way," said Mrs. Bush, who over three decades ago taught elementary students at an inner-city school in Houston and was a school librarian in a poor Austin neighborhood.

"Without offering specifics, she urged policymakers to tackle not only improving education so that poor and minority children have a leg up in life, but increasing the amount of affordable housing stock and the jobs available to those who most need them. She pressed for job training programs, whether through the government or unions or corporations."

What a great idea! She should talk to her HUSBAND about this sometime! You know, the ONE GUY ON THE PLANET who could actually MAKE IT HAPPEN, BUT HASN'T FOR FIVE FUCKING YEARS. The guy who literally CHARGES CAMPAIGN TRIPS to THE WINTER HEATING FUND FOR POOR PEOPLE.

I've tried to be tolerant of Laura, but she, like her husband, insults the intelligence of anyone who listens to her twaddle on like stern mommy lecturing simpleminded children. She doesn't get it, and she never will. God's sake, she married the dumbest asshole on the planet! How great could her judgement be?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

16. short and sweet note to ABC...

as if it will do any good...

Re: Lead in article... at http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1144319&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

What pathetic White House-paid PR hack wrote this drivel?

"Inner city teacher." In Midland, Texas? And has she not always been billed in the past as a librarian?

Please, spare us. I know the AP wrote it. I also know you can change it.

[Divernan]

17. Forest Gump Redux! Being president is like a box of chocolates.

"That's what happens when you run for president. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN LIKE THIS."
A lot of this sounds like she's repeating what Rove keeps telling Georgie: You Have to do this.. . . It's your job. . . "

I mean, the turkey can't even button his shirt straight. How does he embarrass us - let us count the ways. No, not now, it would take all night.

How amazing that only now do we hear that she taught in an inner city school. IF in fact she taught in a Houston school, it must be in a neighborhood which was fatcat GOP 25 years ago and has now come upon bad times. What I recall is that she worked no more than a year - I think one academic year, as a librarian, like September to May, and then quit when she got engaged to *.

[Mabus]

18. I get it, another phony fluffed-up resume - Pickles wants a medal

It is obvious that * appointed Pickles. It all makes sense when you think about it. She can only get a medal if * appoints her and she fails.

[Olney Blue]

19. This is disgusting.....

and especially outrageous:

"He has to. That's his job," Mrs. Bush said matter-of-factly. "That's what happens when you run for president. You don't know what might happen like this."



Interpretation: He only does what KKKarl tells him to do.

[Mabus]

21. "sustain the level of attention that he'll have to"

:banghead:

edited to include full sentence from the article: "Fortunately he is really strong and so I'm confident that he'll be able to sustain the level of attention that he'll have to and not just to that, also to the war in Iraq, to foreign policy and to all the other issues that are on the desk of the president of the United States."

[lumpy]

22. Laura Bush has an education.

1968-Bachelor Science degree in education
1970-Taught public schools in Dallas and Houston
1973-Master of Library Science U.of Texas
1977-Married Dumdum

[ima_sinnic]

25. can you imagine if Hillary had had to go as "front man" for Bill?

"well thank goodness Bill is really a strong guy so he can pay attention to more than one thing at a time."

sheesh.

it has to be mentioned only when it isn't obvious (or true).

[54anickel]

27. Sort of admits her man has an attention span problem, and has

a LOT of f'ed up issues piling up on his desk.

I'm confident that he'll be able to sustain the level of attention that he'll have to and not just to that, also to the war in Iraq, to foreign policy and to all the other issues that are on the desk of the president of the United States."

[mitchum]

29. Didn't she also win the Nobel Prize for Literature?

the puffery is shameless

[DrZeeLit]

30. Wow, she realllllly knows the inner city and poverty.... PUKE PUKE PUKE

What a load of shite.

She wouldn't know an inner city from a suburb without a PR person priming the pump.

Yeah, rock on Laura.

These people make me sick. Poverty? Yeah, sure. She realllllly knows from poverty.

Shut the fuck up, Mrz Silver Spoon Kennebunkport Dallas Neiman Marcus.

[Mabus]

31. What happened to her "gang initiative"?

Did she just give up on that? It doesn't seem like she learned much from it.



All Things Considered, February 9, 2005 · President Bush has tapped Laura Bush to lead an effort to help boys do better in school and stay away from street gangs and crime -- a response to grim statistics on the difficulties boys face. NPR's Michele Norris speaks with the first lady about the initiative.

"I feel like, in the United States, that we've sort of shifted our gaze away from boys for the last several decades, and that we've neglected boys," Mrs. Bush says.

"We believe the stereotypes that boys can be self-reliant, that boys don't cry," she adds. "And the fact is, all young children -- boys or girls -- and all adolescents do need a lot of support and a lot of nurturing from their parents and their teachers and the whole community."

[fortyfeetunder]

33. golly gee wolly

Like within 20-30 blocks to the north and east of the White House is her very own social science experiment, urban Washington DC. She had plenty of time to figure something out.

She has 3 more years to prove she can make a difference to these residents...I'll give her a teensy weensy benefit of a doubt.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

35. When hormones need trimmin,

call a young brotha!

[cornermouse]

36. As though they would let her do anything even if she was

interested enough to try to do something.

[BiggJawn]

38. WHAT "Inner City"? Kennebunkport?

<grumble>

[hollowdweller]

39. The article says nothing really. There are 2 kinds of poverty.

One is due to geographical location or lack of opportunity or role models.

One is just due to the fact that some people are just not capable of working. They can't get anywhere on time, they don't like to take orders, etc.

You can help the first group by increasing educational opportunities etc, but in my experience the second group is really pretty much incapable of sustaining employment. Now maybe you can really work with them and stand over them and get them to do something, but overall you are just better off to guarantee them health coverage, a roof over their heads and some minimum income.

The conservatives think that poverty is a matter of people making the decision to pull themselves out. However after over 20 years of working with such people I say some people just don't have it genetically in them to work.

[bitchkitty]

40. God help us if you're the status quo for social workers.

Don't have it in them "genetically"?

[Richard Steele]

41. Genetically? Did you just get home from a Eugenics Society meeting?

That's some amazingly lame CRAP to find here at DU.

The attitudes you mention have nothing
to do with "genetics";
they are social, LEARNED behaviors.

It didn't take me 20 years to figure that out,
nor has it ever taken that long for anyone
with the DESIRE and ABILITY to understand?

So why don't you understand?
Do you lack the abilty?
Or do you just not WANT TO?

[WhiteTara]

42. Pickles shut up and take another Xanax n/t