Scott Walker Drops To Less Than 1% In Latest CNN/ORC National Presidential Poll

Looks like that plan to destroy unions Scott Walker released recently isn't leading to the resurgence in polling he was looking for - a new national CNN/ORC poll found him getting less than one-half of one percent support.

Less than one-half of one percent.

Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

Scott Walker Proposes Making Entire Country Right-To-Work, Outlawing Unions For Federal Workers

Scott Walker's political fortunes are plummeting - he's fallen sharply in Iowa polls (a must win for him), in national polls and in the estimation of GOP political insiders (he's been called the "biggest loser of the summer.")

That may explain this gambit:

Highlights of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's proposed changes to federal labor law affecting unions, which the Republican presidential hopeful plans to lay out on Monday in a town hall meeting in Las Vegas:

-Make it illegal for federal workers to form unions. That would take an act of Congress, but Walker said he's for it because "big-government unions should have no place in the federal workplace." 

-Eliminate the National Labor Relations Board, transferring some of its powers to the National Mediation Board and leaving what Walker calls its "quasi-judicial functions" to the federal court system.

-Impose right-to-work laws, under which workers can't be forced to pay union dues as a condition of their employment, nationwide. Twenty-five states, including Wisconsin, already have such laws. Walker's proposal, if passed by Congress, would require states to vote to opt out of the right-to-work requirement.

-Prohibit unions from automatically deducting dues from state public employees that are used to pay for political activity. Walker said if the Supreme Court does not address the issue in a pending case, he will send a bill to Congress to change the law.

-Require federal employee unions to disclose and certify the portion of dues used for political activity and prohibit withholding that amount.

-Prohibit union organizers from having access to employees' personal information and require union recertification votes "on a periodic basis."

-Repeal any regulations proposed by President Barack Obama's administration that require employers to pay overtime rates to salaried workers and provide paid sick leave. "These rules will only reduce wages and deprive workers of the flexibility to balance work and life commitments," Walker said. 

-Require online disclosure of union expenditures, including total pay of union officers, additional reporting for local affiliates of government employee unions and more conflict-of-interest reporting requirements.

-Change federal law to ensure unions can't fire, discriminate or otherwise retaliate against a whistleblower who reports wrongdoing.

-Repeal wage controls and project labor agreements for federal highway projects.

The chances of this agenda getting enacted by Scott Walker are zero.

Barring a miracle, he's not getting elected president, let alone enacting this agenda and getting it through Congress.

That said, it's instructive to see Walker fall back on union-busting and union-bashing as his poll numbers fall and his chances to president fade.

Just as Chris Christie tried to turn around his flagging fortunes and falling poll numbers by reliving his "glory days" (teacher-bashing!!!), Walker's gone back to his "glory days" taking on the unions in Wisconsin to try and gain some campaign momentum.

We shouldn't be surprised by this, of course - this is a guy who, when asked how he would deal with Al Qaeda and ISIS given that he has no foreign policy experience or expertise, said terrorists would be quaking in their boots at dealing with him because he took on Wisconsin's unions.

Today's Walker union-busting gambit is a sign that he knows he's done as a candidate unless he can quickly turn things around in a race where all the oxygen has been taken up by outsiders like Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina.

Scott Walker Fades In Polls

Politico:

Scott Walker's summer plunge was put in stark relief on Friday, with a new Quinnipiac University survey showing the Republican presidential candidate polling near the bottom of the heap in Iowa.

Walker, the governor of neighboring Wisconsin, dropped 15 points in the state in the last two months in Qunnipiac's poll. In July, Walker led the pack at 18 percent. This time, he's near the bottom of the field of 17, at 3 percent. He earned similar support in last weekend's NBC News/Marist poll, at 5 percent.

The latest numbers underscore the cruel turn of events for Walker, who caught fire earlier this year with his plainspoken style and his track record of taking on and triumphing over the unions in Wisconsin. He has since tanked due to series of fumbles and a lackluster performance both on the campaign trail and in last month's first GOP debate.

I guess that "I stood up to the unions so I can stand up to Al Qaeda message he's running on isn't resonating with voters so much.

To see Chris Christie and Scott Walker, two pols who live off union bashing, plummet in the polling - well, that is enjoyable.

Trump: Jeb Bush Should Stop Speaking Spanish

Oy:

Jeb Bush should speak English while he is in the United States, Donald Trump said Wednesday, in the latest escalation of the brewing feud between the two Republican candidates.

“I like Jeb,” the real estate mogul said in an interview with Breitbart News. “He’s a nice man. But he should really set the example by speaking English while in the United States.”

We learned today that nearly 3/4s of Trump's supporters are in favor of mass deportations.

Shouldn't be long until they start handing out the arm bands and uniforms.

At first I found the whole Trump thing disconcerting, then I started to enjoy the circus spectacle (particularly the "Make Jeb Look Like A Twerp" part of the show.)

But quite frankly, there's a lot to be alarmed about here.

George Carlin said when fascism came to the United States it would be wearing sneakers and a smiley face shirt.

It's starting to look like the smiley face just showed up at the door.

That's the uniform this time around.

Chris Christie Says He'll Track Immigrants Like Fed Ex Packages

Trying to out-Trump the one and only Donald Trump, Chris Christie today:

Laconia, New Hampshire (CNN)Chris Christie said Saturday that if elected president, he will track undocumented immigrants like FedEx packages.

"I'm going to have Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx, come work for the government for three months. Just come for three months to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and show these people," the New Jersey governor said at a town hall event here.

Christie added that while FedEx can track boxes, the U.S. can't track undocumented immigrants.

"You go online and at any moment, FedEx can tell you where that package is," he said. "Yet we let people come into this country with visas, and the minute they come in, we lose track of them."

Christie added, "We need to have a system that tracks you from the moment you come in and then when your time is up," he said. "However long your visa is, then we go get you and tap you on the shoulder and say, 'Excuse me, it's time to go.'"

Christie went on to say that all this talk about "anchor babies" makes the Republican Party look hostile to immigrants.

Oh, but saying you're going to track them like Fed Ex packages doesn't?

Stop Chris Christie PAC Shuts Down Because Christie's Campaign Is DOA

Love it:

The Stop Chris Christie PAC is shutting down because it says Christie is doing a better job at stopping his own campaign.

Said PAC treasurer Tom Bjorklund: “Our committee believes that Mr. Christie has already performed the service of stopping his campaign in spirit.”

Christie is in low single digits in the latest GOP primary polls.

His chance to make headlines and get some momentum going for the campaign has been diminished by the Trump circus.

It's looking pretty much over for Christie - he has to have a strong showing in New Hampshire's primary.

Given that he's not polling very well there, the chances of that happening are not too good.

You never want to bet on a 100% certainty in politics, but it's looking 99.9% certain that Chris Christie is done as a presidential contender.

Reality Punches Chris Christie In The Face

Politico reports Chris Christie's 2016 campaign for president is fading into darkness:

Chris Christie, the voluble New Jersey governor, is once again facing the possibility that he might be relegated to the junior varsity debate — and rival Republican campaigns and outside observers say his window to re-enter the top tier of presidential candidates is closing fast.

Wednesday night’s scene in New Hampshire showed the daunting challenge ahead of Christie. As CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC covered Trump’s first town hall live — breaking only to run clips of Jeb Bush attacking the real estate tycoon — Christie was gasping for air on C-SPAN. Because the governor’s dimly lit event — a town hall at a restaurant outside of Manchester — was outdoors, the few viewers watching saw the candidate gradually disappear into darkness. The next day’s headlines duly focused on the Jeb-Donald contretemps, ignoring Christie’s play for a state he has made central to his fading White House hopes.

...

Christie has become such an also-ran that the Associated Press and the New York Times recently reassigned reporters dedicated to covering Christie — Jill Colvin and Kate Zernike — to other beats.

Then there are the polls.

If current trends hold, the New Jersey governor will likely lose his spot in the primetime CNN/Reagan Library debate on Sept. 16, displaced by a surging Carly Fiorina. As of mid-day Thursday, Christie was in 11th place among GOP presidential contenders in the RealClearPolitics average of national polls — behind Trump, Bush, Ben Carson, Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz, Fiorina, Sen. Rand Paul, Gov. John Kasich, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

On Tuesday, a new CNN/ORC poll found Christie in 11th place, with only 3 percent support among registered GOP voters. (A separate POLITICO analysis of the five most recent national polls that would factor into who would appear for the main debate finds Christie tied with Kasich for 10th place. For now.)

And with Trump owning the Straight Talk vote, said former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, there’s little Christie can do to claw his way back.

Christie tried punching teachers in the face rhetorically a little while back, but that didn't help him regain any campaign momentum.

 

He's tried sharing too much information about himself (Hey, I've used birth control!), but that only freaked people out. 

Perhaps if this was an ordinary year, Christie's bluster could create one of those video moments that would go viral and get his campaign back on track.

But that's almost impossible to do with Donald Trump trolling the race, as Kean notes in the Politico piece.

 

He's got a campaign infrastructure and some money to burn, but the cash will start to dry up soon enough as donors move to other more viable candidates (it's already starting to happen) and his campaign apparatus won't save him if he starts running low money.

Christie's big on wanting to punch other people in the face, at least rhetorically.

Well, reality's punching back.

A 2016 victory, a longshot for Christie ever since BridgeGate, now seems all but impossible.

Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

Wealthy Political Donors Are Sad Some Republican Candidates Are Running Away From Common Core

Some Common Core shills seem unaware that Common Core is about as popular as Ebola these days with a good segment of the population.

Take the editorial boards at the Washington Post and NY Times, both of whom recently wrote up glowing assessments (yeah, I'm using that word on purpose) to talk about the wonders of Common Core and the ancillary tests that go with them and tow warn about the dangers of opposition to the Core (and the tests).

In reading the Washington Post editorial, you'd think it was still 2011 and Common Core opposition was "fringe" instead of increasing by the year.

It's not just clueless newspaper editorial board shills who don't get what's happening with Common Core with the general populace.

The Wall Street Journal today has a piece that says wealthy GOP donors are getting bummed out that Republican presidential candidates are trashing the Common Core.

The Journal reports that wealthy donors are sticking by the Core and pulling support away from candidates like Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker who initially supported the Core but now oppose it.

Candidates who continue to support Common Core are getting love - and dollars - from the Wall Street Common Core-lovers:

Mr. Bush’s approach is drawing a section of donors who have previously backed education accountability efforts in New York and New Jersey. Daniel Loeb, a New York City hedge-fund manager who encouraged Mr. Christie to run for president in 2012, has given $2,700 to Mr. Bush’s campaign, according to the Bush campaign’s financial disclosure. New Jersey education-minded donors that have given to Mr. Bush include Rick Rieder, of BlackRock Capital, Joseph Amato of Neuberger Berman, and Richard Pechter, the past chairman of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, the filing shows.

In July, a fundraiser for Mr. Bush was co-hosted by Mr. Lilley and David Tepper, a billionaire hedge-fund manager who helped cofound the Better Education for Kids organization in New Jersey. Members of the organization that advocates for high education standards have donated to Mr. Christie previously.

Alan Fournier, founder of Pennant Capital Management and co-founder of the New Jersey education organization, gave at least $14,400 to past Christie campaigns, records show. Mr. Fournier gave $50,000 to a super PAC supporting Mr. Bush, disclosure reports show. Mr. Tepper has also given $250,000 to the pro-Bush group, Right to Rise.

Mr. Lilley said his support for Mr. Bush is separate from his official role with Better Education for Kids. A spokesman for Mr. Tepper declined to comment. Mr. Fournier didn’t respond to a request for comment.

So even as opposition to Common Core continues to mount around the country, our "betters" - wealthy Wall Street and hedge fund donors, the newspaper editorial boards that shill for them, and at least two GOP presidential candidates - continue to support it.

As a sidenote, some of those donors backing Bush also back Andrew Cuomo, another lover of Common Core and Common Core testing.

Until the politicians who support the Core are made to pay a political price for that support, we're going to continue to see the political establishment push it.

Christie, Jindal and Walker made political calculations that they would pay a political price for continued support of the Core in a GOP presidential primary race and dropped their support it, with Jindal the strongest in opposition.

There are a whole host of reasons why Christie is losing the backing of donors that have nothing to do with education - he has plummeted in polls (indeed, he may not even qualify for the top ten in the next GOP debate), Bridgegate and other scandals hang around his neck further weighing him down and New Jersey's poor financial health and quality of life have made him a target of barbs from other candidates.

But as the money starts to dry up from CCSS-supporting donors, Christie may start to wonder if he made the wrong calculation in turning rhetorically against the Common Core.

Ironic thing is, since New Jersey still gives the Common Core tests, even though Christie claims he's against the Core, the practical effect is that CCSS will still be taught in schools to ready students for the state tests.

So Christie has the worst of both worlds with the Core - he's really not dropped support for Common Core in effect, since the state tests are still CCSS-tied and schools will have to teach it, but since he's talking trash about CCSS, he's losing some wealthy donors over it.

Jindal was never really a top tier candidate, so I'm not sure his opposition to the Core matters in the GOP money race one way or the other.

Walker, on the other hand, was top tier but has seen his brand and poll numbers drop since Donald Trump entered the race.

He's the guy to watch to see what happens as a result of his "turning" against the Core (I put "turning" in quotes because like Christie, his opposition is more rhetorical than practical in consequence.)

Does Walker pay a political consequence - i.e., have trouble raising money from wealthy donors - because of his turning on the Core?

I'm skeptical that Common Core will be a big reason why Walker has potential money problems, given how the rest of his politics cohabits quite well with the GOP donor base.

If Walker has money problems in the future, it will more likely be due to his poor debate performances and rote campaign stump appearances that give him the reputation of being overly calculated and unable to generate real excitement for his candidacy.

In any case, the Journal piece goes to show that the politics around Common Core remain dicey even for Republicans, where opposition to Common Core is strongest.

The base hates Common Core but the moneyed classes love it and that dichotomy has got even Jeb Bush twisting himself in circles trying to please both.

Beating Up On Teachers Isn't Helping Chris Christie: He's At Record Lows In Latest Poll

From IBTimes:

Only 30 percent of registered voters in New Jersey hold a favorable opinion of Gov. Chris Christie -- a candidate for the Republican Party’s 2016 presidential nomination -- according to a new poll conducted by the Rutgers University. The Rutgers-Eagleton poll was conducted prior to Christie qualifying as a participant in Fox News’ first Republican primary debate to be held Thursday.

“Asked to justify their negative assessments, 18 percent cite his character, attitude, and image as reasons for their unfavorable feelings; another 10 percent use such terms as untrustworthy, deceitful, and liar,” the Rutgers Institute of Politics said, in report outlining the findings of the poll.

...


According to the report, which also compiled previous polls, between June and August, the number of New Jersey voters who said their “general impression” of Christie -- who announced his candidacy on June 30 -- was favorable fell by nearly 10 percent. Over the past year, his favorability rating has fallen by almost 20 percent.

Christie’s overall job approval rating as governor has also shown a similar decline over the past year. Between August 2014 and August 2015, the percentage of people who disapproved of his work as governor increased to 59 percent from an earlier 39 percent.

In the good old glory days, Christie used to hold town hall meetings and have fights with union members and teachers, have his staff tape those fights and then put them up on You Tube.

Those You Tube moments were part of his initial national fame and helped gin up the idea that Christie had potential as a national political figure.

But the glory days are long gone - the Bridgegate scandal, along with the misery New Jersey residents live with daily in Chris Christie's economically-challenged, infrastructurally-decrepit state have ensured their demise.

That doesn't mean Christie hasn't tried to bring back the glory days, of course - just last week he said on ABC News he'd love to punch the national teachers union in the face.

That remark engendered much outrage among teachers and their families, which is not exactly a constituency Christie is interested in.

But if he thought that remark would win him some friends among other constituencies, well, he was wrong.

Not only have his poll numbers in Jersey continued to crater, his approval on particular issues have continued to fall to new lows as well - including on education:

Christie fared no better on individual issues, reaching a new low over his work on Superstorm Sandy recovery -- with only 46 percent approving of his work, down from his April 2013 peak of 87 percent. Additionally, Christie -- who recently said that the American Federation of Teachers, a national teachers’ union, deserved a “punch in the face” -- has also fallen to new lows over his work on education and schools in the state. His approval rating on the issue has fallen more than 10 percent over the past year, with 58 percent disapproving of his work.

He's down 41 percentage points on education in the last two years and three months.

That's a pretty big fall.

In a previous Rutgers-Eagleton poll, 69% of New Jersey voters said Christie wasn't suited to be president because of his temperament.

In a Monmouth poll, 57% of New Jersey voters wanted Christie to resign.

Coming on the heels of 61,000 booing him at Monmouth Park last week, these poll numbers should give Christie a good feel for how much people despise him and the job he is doing as governor.

And if he thinks beating up on teachers is going to help him bring back some of the glory days, he is sadly mistaken.

Hillary Clinton Touts Her Education Reformer Credentials In Ads In Iowa, New Hampshire

Tell me again why the American Federation of Teachers endorsed Hillary Clinton 16 months before the 2016 presidential election?

Hillary Clinton’s first set of campaign ads will begin airing Tuesday in Iowa and New Hampshire as her campaign tries to get ahead of an anticipated onslaught of Republican attacks come the fall.

...

The ads will air in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa's two largest markets, and in the Boston/Manchester and Burlington, Vt., markets, which together reach all of New Hampshire.

Some content of the ads:

In HRC's 1st ads, narrator says she "fought 4 school reform" in AR & she describes teacher who brought food 4 her mom http://t.co/Gjxt406s2i

— Josh Eidelson (@josheidelson) August 3, 2015

This is Classic Clinton triangulation - "there was this great teacher who brought food for my mom when she was hungry...but I also fought for school reforms that, in large part, blame teachers for the problems in public education."

There's a sketchy PAC out there that appears to be linked to Clinton that is calling itself "Americas Teachers" that bills itself as "pro-union, pro-reform."

Clinton's first campaign ads appear to be following the same script - pro-teacher/union and pro-reform.

To which I say:

@mma718 @KingsParkAE @americateachers @rweingarten @TeacherArthurG @leoniehaimson Pro-union, pro-reform? Pro-jive.

— rbe (@perdidostschool) August 3, 2015

Randi Weingarten: Christie's A Bully With Anger Management Issues

AFT President Randi Weingarten, presumably one of the recipients of the "punch in the face" Candidate Chris Christie wants to give to national teachers unions, released the following statement about Christie:

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten reacted to Christie after the Republican governor said over the weekend the group deserves a punch in the face. The union leader criticized Christie for promoting a culture of violence.

"Chris Christie has issues—from reneging on his promise to fix pensions to his state's fiscal standing facing near junk bond status. But the biggest issue is he's a bully and has anger management problems," Weingarten said in a statement.

 "That he would threaten to punch teachers in the face — mostly women seeking to help children meet their potential and achieve their dreams — promotes a culture of violence and underscores why he lacks the temperament and emotional skills to be president, or serve in any leadership capacity," she said. "It's a sad day in the life of our nation to see a candidate threaten violence to gain political favor."

Weingarten doesn't use the word "misogynist" in her statement, but clearly that sentiment is there:  "That he would threaten to punch teachers in the face — mostly women seeking to help children meet their potential and achieve their dreams — promotes a culture of violence."

And indeed, he does seem to take a certain glee in blowing up on women, as this infamous incident from 2013 with the attendant photo shows:

Yesterday, the NJEA called for Christie to resign as governor.

57% of New Jersey residents were in agreement with that sentiment as measured by a July Monmouth poll.

Personally I think the more Christie tries to relieve the Glory Days of his early governorship where he beat up on teachers and union members weekly in his infamous town hall videos, the better.

This stuff isn't helping him in the 2016 GOP Presidential Primary, not with Donald Trump have superseded Christie's old act with a much more outrageous (and new) act of his own.

The teacher-bashing just speaks to where Christie stands these days politically post-BridgeGate - trying to live in the old "Glory Days" while the rest of the political world has moved past him.

His teacher-bashing misogyny act doesn't play well anymore - not in New Jersey with voters (where he got booed by 61,000 yesterday - twice) and not in the GOP primary where he lags at the bottom of the race as a political has-been.

But what else can a governor from a state with an economy in the toilet, an infrastructure in tatters, and an electorate furious at him do but try and relive the old days?

Chris Christie Tries To Relive His "Glory Days" By Bashing Teachers

The uproar of Candidate Christie's comments about the national teachers union continues:

The head of New Jersey's largest teachers' union called on Gov. Chris Christie to resign Sunday after the governor suggested the group's national counterparts deserve a punch in the face.

Wendell Steinhauer, president of the New Jersey Education Association, said in a statement Christie "should resign as governor immediately" after the Republican presidential hopeful assailed teacher unions for putting the interests of adults ahead of students.

"Chris Christie's instinct is always to threaten, bully and intimidate instead of build consensus and show true leadership," Steinhauer said.

"That's not news in New Jersey, where voters overwhelmingly reject his immature and inappropriate behavior as well as his failed policies and lack of leadership," he said. "It is clear from polling that voters in the rest of the country also reject his rhetoric and his behavior."

Christie's happy about all this attention, that's for sure.

He finally broke through the 24/7 Trump coverage with something outrageous that got him some headlines, outrage on social media, and attention from one of his favorite adversaries, the NJEA.

He's built a career on this sort of thing but Donald Trump stole his thunder by saying even more outrageous things and getting almost all the media coverage in the GOP primary story.

So Christie had a good morning yesterday, from his perspective, by saying he'd like to punch the national teachers union in the face.

No matter - right after that, he got booed long, loud and hard in two separate choruses by 61,000 horse racing fans at Monmouth Park yesterday.

That booing - which the Asbury Park Press described as a "bombarding" and NJ.com described as "merciless" - reminded him how people in his state feel about him (where he has a 58% disapproval rating and 57% saying he should resign) and how his fellow Republicans feel about him in the GOP primary, where he will just barely make the Thursday FOX News debate cut with 3.2% support.

Christie's a very unpopular governor in a state with one of the worst economies in the nation and an aging infrastructure that Christie has made much worse through negligence and inaction.

Christie has overseen the near destruction of the state pension system and nine debt downgrades for the state.

Yesterday Christie tried to relive his "Glory Days" by going back to the teacher-bashing and union-bashing schtick he used early on in his administration to great acclaim and rode all the way to a 2013 re-election.

But those glory days are long gone and now Christie's left with the mess he's made in New Jersey, the hostility a majority in the state feel for him and the disdain GOP primary goers have for him.

As Bruce Springsteen, Christie's hero, once sang "Glory days well they'll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye Glory days, glory days..."

They're over, Chris, they're over.

Where Do Education Progressives Go Politically?

The following is a guest post by Harris Lirtzman, former Director of Risk Management for the New York City Retirement Systems in the NYC Comptroller's Office from 1996-2002 and former Deputy State Comptroller for Administration from 2003-2007.

The fight against the federal testing and accountability regime aligns education progressives on the "local control" v. "federal control” axis in confounding ways. We oppose federal control because reformistas learned twenty years ago that if they were to move their program forward they had to end the long period of "exceptionalism" in American education, which left education in the hands of local school boards minimally overseen by state education departments but watched closely by teacher unions. Education has now been brought within the full scope of state and national politics--the "federalization" of education serves to make the education reform program possible by moving it to a venue where the full force of money and a new set of political alliances can sidestep parents and teachers.

The mainstream civil rights groups have always distrusted "localism" because in most parts of the country the only way that children of color could reliably be educated was by federal intervention, primarily Title 1. We now have a federalized education reform program supported by its natural ally, the mainstream civil rights groups.

The unfortunate result of all this is that the reform focus on de-professionalizing teaching and breaking teachers' unions requires teachers to make a Faustian bargain: we work together now with Republicans across the country to return control of education to states and localities where we stand a chance of preserving our profession and protecting our unions.

This strategy--and the short-term gains that result from it--is a very high-risk proposition for education progressives. We have seen what happens when Republicans gain unified control in the states—the same place where education progressives assume we will find some relief from pernicious “federal control.” Education progressives who have been so willing to work hand-in-hand with Republicans at the federal level will come deeply to regret the short term gains that the coalition activity has produced.

There is absolutely no reason to believe that “local control” of education policy will make anything better for teachers beyond momentary relief from the harshest aspects of the test and accountability regime. Anyone who has watched what has been going on in Democratic New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts ought not to believe that “local control” of education by Republicans in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana will provide any long-term gain for teachers of any kind, progressive or otherwise.

A federal government under the unified control of the Republican Party—and that will happen one day soon--will result in the direct funding of charter schools and vouchers, the decimation of Title 1 and Title 9 programs, the appointment of judges who will eviscerate any remaining union protections and the dismantling of the regulatory process that protects children with disabilities.
So where do education progressives go, at least politically?

Nowhere.

Many education progressives have defined "education progressivism" as a single-issue battle and have not done a very good job finding allies anywhere outside our own small world--because, frankly, most people are not sufficiently concerned about the education reform program to have been turned into "single-issue" partisans (see, here). We progressives want education policy purity from our political parties and representatives but we are the only part of the American progressive movement that has made this convenient bargain with the Republican Party.

The radicalization of the Republican Party since 2004 has forced the advocates for every other political cause that education progressives also support--choice, environmentalism, health care, labor law, a sane foreign policy, civil rights, LGBT rights--to align with the Democratic Party.

Education progressives can support a candidate in the Democratic primaries who is closer to our position than other candidates may be but in the end we will either support the Democratic nominee, who will most surely not be an education progressive, or will join a third party knowing that the history of third parties in the United States is an abysmal one for progressives except for the brief period between 1895 and 1915.

The Democratic Party knows that most teachers will ultimately support the Democratic nominee regardless what his or her education policy is because most teachers are not "single-issue" voters, though they have a keen sense of their own interests. They vote for candidates who are acceptable to them for the same reason that most progressive Democrats do: because they know that the Democratic Party, corporatized and feckless though it may be, stands as the only thing between the full range of "progressive" things that teachers care about and disaster. With time there may come a point when a majority of Americans support economic progressivism sufficiently to rebuild the Democratic Party in a way that education progressives can support with open hearts.

"Single-issue" teachers who will go Green or Libertarian will preserve their educationally progressive principles and will lose. It is possible, though not likely, that with the time, energy and money now used to support the battles that education progressives fight to preserve public schools and to democratize their unions they may be able to infuse a third party with sufficient resources to win a national, or even state, election.

Education progressives who have an understanding of practical politics in this country will recognize what most progressives learned in 2000. Any education progressive who says now that there is no difference between the Democratic and Republican Parties has not been watching what's been happening in this country since 2000 very closely.

The Republican Party, with whom teachers have aligned themselves on education policy issues, caught rabies in 2004. The Republican Party, wherever it has been able to, pursues an agenda that means death for every other thing that educational progressives support. Any educational progressive who is not a “single issue” radical will support the Democratic Party whoever its nominee is and abandon the insanity of the Republican alliance that will have returned education policy to the states, where progressive education policy goes to die its own death, in return for momentary relief from federal testing and accountability mandates.

Unfortunately, the story does not end will for educational progressives. Except in small parts of the country where individual Democrats care enough about educational progressivism to make it an issue, educational reformers will be able to pursue the same goals they have for the last two decades.
If the cost of political engagement for educational progressives is that we are forced in the end to make a “Sophie’s Choice” between our own progressivism and the fuller range of progressivisms that we support then I say let us leave politics behind.

Let us reform our unions, if we can. Let us fight to protect teachers who are able to survive the education reform movement in their workplaces. Let us preserve collective bargaining and dues check-off. Let us develop a robust range of mutual support capabilities to preserve teaching as a proud profession. Let us think about new strategies that the weakness of our political position demands—particularly building strong and vital alliances with other parts of the progressive movement, especially with people of color—and let us focus on the long, hard, unglamorous work that might turn the vast majority of apolitical teachers into education progressives.

Let us think about almost anything except how "educational progressives" can find a home in or be saved by the American political process.

Because we can’t and because we won’t.

Chris Christie Booed "Mercilessly" By 61,000 People At Horse Race

Chris Christie said on TV today that he'd like to punch the teachers union in the face because "they are the single most destructive force in public education in America."

Christie then "got his" later in the day:

OCEANPORT — It was one long happy celebration at Monmouth Park for the great American Pharoah's latest victory. At least, that is, until Gov. Chris Christie stepped into the Winner's Circle to present the trophy.

And then, the record crowd of 60,983 booed.

Long.

Loud.

Sustained.

Maybe he should have hung around Bill Murray.

The cheering resumed as trainer Bob Baffert and owner Ahmed Zayat address the crowd and talking about their famous horse. Then Christie's name was mentioned again, and the booing started anew. 

So not even the popular Triple Crown winner, which went off as such a heavy favorite that a $2 bet won 20 cents, could improve the popularity of the Republican presidential candidate in his home state.

Lots of tweets about the booing, but here's my favorite:

Just won $85 and booed the shit out of Chris Christie #SundayFunday #AmericanPharoah

— Mike Deej (@mikedeej97) August 2, 2015

These days, Christie's popularity is somewhere between gonorrhea and jock itch.

The Daily News wrote the following about Christie in an editorial today:

Five years have passed since New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie killed a plan to build an additional passenger rail tunnel under the Hudson between his state and New York. He has done exactly nothing since then to face the most dire transportation crisis looming over the region.

Actually, that’s not true. Christie did divert $1.8 billion that the Port Authority had properly targeted for building the tunnel into improperly funding roadway repairs, including to the Pulaski Skyway.

Mr. Fiscally Prudent Republican Presidential Contender just didn’t have the bucks to cover the basics out of his own treasury.

Christie’s disastrous short-sightedness and financial mismanagement now threaten Jersey commuters with years of hell, and his state with a crippling economic blow that would be felt up and down the East Coast, including in New York.

And he thinks he has a shot at the White House?

Christie can replay old favorites and continue to beat up on teachers.

But that show isn't playing much anymore.

People in New Jersey despise him - he enjoys 36% job approval these days and 57% of New Jersey residents say he should resign.

Republicans who are polled about the primary despise him - he pulls in about 3% support.

And even the editorial boards at neo-liberal papers like the Daily News and the Newark Star-Ledger aren't buying his show anymore

Here's some advice from a teacher to Candidate Christie:

Have fun running for president, Chris, because that show will be over soon enough (most likely after you crash and burn in New Hampshire), and then its back to Jersey for a little hometown serenading.

You got a preview today. 

Jeb Bush Says Americans Need To Work Longer Hours

This should go swimmingly when we get to campaign ad season:

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said in an interview Wednesday that “people need to work longer hours” to help grow the economy.

According to ABC News, Bush was asked a question about tax reform during an interview live streamed on Periscope, and said he believes the U.S. can achieve 4 percent growth.

“Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows,” Bush continued. “It means that people need to work longer hours.”

Vote for Jeb so you can work longer hours.

Great campaign slogan - for his opponents.

Dems In Legislature Try To Force Christie Resignation

Interesting gambit:

Democratic state lawmakers will soon introduce legislation that would force Gov. Chris Christie to resign from office because he is running for president, NJ Advance Media has learned.

State Sens. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) and Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), who are expected to co-sponsor the bill, said they are fed up with Christie's frequent absences from New Jersey this year in the run-up to last week's announcement that he's running for the White House. The bill would require Christie and any future governor to resign in order to run for president.

"He's not doing the state any good by spending the bulk of his time out of state," Lesniak said. "And even when he's in-state, he's focusing on what he has to do to get elected president — which often runs contrary to what he ought to do for the state."

Christie has been out of state for more than a third of his second term and more than half of this year.

In a Monmouth poll released last week, when asked if Christie should resign as governor now that he's announced a run for president, 57% said yes, 37% said no.

So there might just be enough ground support to get this legislation going.

Those numbers might go even higher when you tell people Christie's been out of state for more than a third of his second term and more than half of 2015.

Though to be fair, the more he's out of New Jersey, the less harm he's doing here.

Dems would need some GOP votes to override Christie'e inevitable veto.

They're likely not going to get those, but it'll be fun getting Christie on record defending his absences.

Monmouth Poll: 57% Say Chris Christie Should Resign As Governor

From Political Wire:

A new Monmouth University Poll in New Jersey, taken after Gov. Chris Christie’s presidential announcement, found that “a large majority feels that Christie has abandoned his commitment to the state and few say he is a good fit for the Oval Office.”

Key finding: “Just 27% of New Jerseyans say Chris Christie would make a good president.  More than two-thirds (69%) say he would not.”

More findings:

Christie's job approval rating in the Monmouth poll stands at 36% approval, 58% disapproval.

Among registered voters, Christie's job approval stands at 34% approval, 60% disapproval.

When asked whether Christie cares more about governing NJ or his own political future, just 17% responded governing NJ, 76% responded his own political future.

And the clicker:

When asked if Christie should resign as governor now that he's announced a run for president, 57% say yes, 37% say no.

Chris Christie Approval Rating Hits Bottom - 30% Approval, 55% Disapproval

From Politico:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is still not winning any favor with Garden State voters, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson PublicMind poll released Tuesday.

Christie, who is in the midst of planning a presidential run, has an approval rating of 30 percent, below what is usually expected for a White House hopeful in his own state, where 55 percent disapprove of his performance. His numbers are down from the last FDU poll in April, in which 36 percent of voters approved of the job he was doing, compared to 50 percent who did not.

Christie now has a lower approval rating than another GOP presidential candidate, Bobby Jindal.

Jindal's rating was 32% in a May 2015 poll.

30% approval, 55% disapproval, but he's still running for president.

Excellent.

After a few months of running for president, his New Jersey approval rating should fall into the twenties.

Teachers Union Leader Easily Satisfied With Hillary Clinton Response

Lyndsey Layton in the Washington Post:

Hillary Rodham Clinton told the president of the National Education Association that she would listen to teachers if elected president, a simple promise Monday that impressed the president of the nation’s largest labor union.

“She used the most important word that I was personally looking for, the word ‘listen’,” said Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the NEA, which represents mostly K-12 teachers and paraprofessionals and has 3 million members.

Sure, she'll "listen."

Then she'll do what her wealthy education reformer donors want her to do and keep the Obama education reform policies going.

Cuomo's So Unpopular, He Should Run For President As A Republican In 2016

Seems counter intuitive, right?

And yet:

“Just weeks before he is expected to announce his presidential campaign, Bobby Jindal is at the nadir of his political career,” the Washington Post reports.

“The Republican governor is at open war with many of his erstwhile allies in the business community and the legislature. He spent weeks pushing a ‘religious freedom’ bill that failed to pass, while having little contact with legislators trying to solve Louisiana’s worst budget crisis in 25 years.”

“Jindal is now so unpopular in deep-red Louisiana that his approval rating plunged to 32% in a recent poll — compared with 42% for President Obama, who lost the state by 17 percentage points in 2012.”

And:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s popularity has sunk to an all-time low in New Jersey in the wake of indictments linked to the Bridegate scandal, which has put a dent in the Republican governor’s presidential aspirations.

A Monmouth University poll released Monday showed that 56 percent of the state’s registered voters disapprove of the job Mr. Christie is doing and 35 percent approve, marking a drop since February when 47 percent approved of his performance and 46 percent disapproved.

That finding also contrast with the 70 percent approval rating that Mr. Christie held following Hurricane Sandy in 2013.

“Christie’s overwhelmingly positive ratings in the aftermath of Sandy have now been sliced in half,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute. “Christie’s ratings had stabilized after the initial Bridgegate revelations early last year. They started to erode again last fall, but these post-indictment numbers mark a significant acceleration in that decline.”

Hell, Cuomo's almost as unpopular as those guys.

He's at 37% approval in the latest Marist poll, 41% in the latest Siena poll and 44% in the latest Quinnipiac poll.

If being unpopular and at an all-time low for approval is a prerequisite for running for president in the GOP primary these days, Andrew Cuomo surely is qualified.