Monday, June 15, 2009
Politics / Woods Turner Takes Return Punches from Republicans for Comments on School Integration
Posted by Jeff Woods on Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 1:52 PM
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While a Senate Republican staffer is taking flak for e-mailing the soon-to-be-infamous "Obama Spook" photo, a top House Democrat has made another fine mess. House Democratic Caucus chair Mike Turner stirred it up today on Liberadio! Not only did he basically accuse Senate Republicans of killing babies with their budget cuts, he stepped into a minefield by criticizing school busing as a mistaken product of political correctness.
"We do have a problem with public schools. They were not performing adequately. The problem that we created was because of the political correctness we did in the Sixties. We started busing and closing neighborhood schools. Now our schools were inadequate and we needed to do something to address that inefficiency and inequality in schools. I just think we chose the wrong thing. And now we're trying to dig out of that."Turner's remarks may be wrong but they really shouldn't be all that inflamatory 11 years after court-ordered busing ended in Nashville. He acknowledges inequality in "separate but equal" school systems, but contends busing was the wrong solution. That view is doubtlessly shared by the overwhelming majority of people here. Still, Republicans won't resist having a little fun at Turner's expense. Rep. Stacey Campfield has already started on his blog:
"The number two of the Democrat party speaks his mind against integration of public schools. I bet the old 'Separate but equal' water fountains come back in style if Democrats take back over."
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