Even though his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as running mate was a sure sign that Sen. John McCain knows which side his conservative orthodoxy bread is buttered on, the McCain campaign is still trying to sell their candidate as McMaverick. This morning, McCain policy chief Nancy Pfotenhauer told MSNBC:
Senator McCain has been a leader on things like charter schools, schol choice, and a strong proponent also of, and this distinguishes him from some of his Republican colleagues, of making our public schools better. For example, his education plan says that now we’ve had No Child Left Behind, we have the most amazing set of diagnostics ever in our history. Literally, we know which schools are struggling, and which students are suffering, and so his plan calls for a prioritization of all funding to go to those students and those schools, and to go as clearly as possible to the local level, to principals, not the bureaucracy, not even the school district bureaucracy.
So let’s be clear. McCain is a rebel from the Republican Party party line because he likes charter schools, thinks No Child Left Behind is a great thing, and blames bureaucrats for everything.
This article appears in September 5 • 2008.
