Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review August 3, 2000 / 2 Menachem-Av, 5760

Michelle Malkin

JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Debbie Schlussel
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Leave the slogans behind

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- IF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY grows any softer, it will need to replace the grand old elephant with a new symbol: the Pillsbury dough boy.

This week's GOP national convention in Philadelphia is a spectacle of sensitivity. A gala of giggly good feeling. A confab of can't-we-all-just-get-along compassion. Real conservatives should be reaching for their extra-strength Dramamine. The party leadership's liberal rhetoric is more nauseating than a boat ride in "The Perfect Storm."

Take Texas Gov. George W. Bush's pet phrase, "Leave no child behind." Take it, drive a stake through it, and bury it, please. The slogan was the convention's opening night theme, parroted and expanded upon by a rainbow-colored group hug of speakers:

"We must work together so that no child is left behind to ensure an America -- an America whose future is one of unlimited hope and boundless opportunities," declared Paul Harris, a black state legislator in Virginia.

Retired Gen. Colin L. Powell said: "Governor Bush's proposals for improving education and expanding health care are examples of his vow to 'leave no child behind' and ensure access to quality care for all Americans."

"No child should be in a school that doesn't work. Every child deserves the chance to learn and succeed," urged Pilar Gomez, a Hispanic "parent-training coordinator" from Wisconsin.

"Every child should grow up in a permanent, loving family," pleaded Conna Craig of Boston, director and president of something called the Institute for Children.

"It takes a village to ensure no child is left behind," said First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to the cheering GOP crowd.

Okay, I made that last one up, but "leave no child behind" represents the kind of silly slogan that the Hillary-wing of the Democratic Party loves. It's the thinking behind idiotic public-school policies such as social promotion -- passing children to the next grade even when they have not mastered the current year's academic work. The sad truth is, some children should be left behind for their own good.

"Leave no child behind" doesn't just sound like Democrat pabulum. It is Democrat pabulum – lifted word for word from the trademark phrase of Hillary Clinton's best friend, welfare state champion Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund.

Edelman and the First Lady launched a "Leave No Child Behind" movement last year "to make children part of our deepest cultural messages" and "to broaden the constituency for children." They stressed the always unobjectionable campaign for literacy to camouflage their true goals: gun control, universal health care, repeal of welfare reform, and an ever-expanding federal role in education.

Another loud-mouthed left-winger, Jesse Jackson, invokes the "Leave no child behind" mantra to argue against school choice – which Gov. Bush says he supports.

Coming from Nanny State do-gooders, this nonsensical sloganeering is standard fare. The Democrats are supposed to be the Mommy Party, ruled by emotion; Republicans, the Daddy Party, ruled by rationale. But in Philadelphia, the alleged advocates for stern fiscal discipline and responsible public policy are putting on an embarrassing cross-dressing display – apron, high heels, hankies, and all -- in pursuit of the White House.

In claiming that her husband will make a "great president," Laura Bush didn't cite George W.'s ability to cut government down to size. She didn't give examples of his political courage or principled conservatism. Instead, Mrs. Bush praised her husband's $5 billion Reading First proposal. Calling for "more clubs and programs," Mrs. Bush described how "George and I always read to our girls -- Dr. Seuss' 'Hop on Pop'' was one of his favorites. George would lie on the floor and the girls would literally hop on pop."

My husband reads "Hop on Pop" to our daughter, too. We all turn into human marshmallows when it comes to kids. But that's no excuse for conservatives to launch federal education spending sprees and other liberal child exploitation programs, no matter how well they test with soccer moms in focus groups. The presidential nominee of the Republican Party should stop impersonating Mrs. Clinton and start talking like a grown-up. The best way for government to exercise "compassionate conservatism" and help children get ahead is to leave their families' pocketbooks alone.


JWR contributor Michelle Malkin can be reached by clicking here.

Up

07/31/00: Hey, GM: Build cars, not quotas
07/28/00: Stop milking The Juice
07/24/00: Silencing Jeff Jacoby
07/21/00: Score another one for TV execs who want to keep us brain-dead
07/17/00: Can somebody say McStupid?
07/12/00: Beware of Ugly Building Syndrome
07/10/00: The miracle of a lead pencil
07/07/00: Partying on the people’s dime
06/29/00: When "Indians" exploit their own
06/23/00: Kids in a public school daze
06/21/00: Fed up with Fannie and Freddie
06/19/00: D.C.'s gag order for Christians
06/16/00: Dads, daughters, and PETA's spoilsports
06/13/00: Tune out Eminem's pitiful "poetry"
06/07/00: "Pained" Dem leader Torricelli deserves to feel some; Why hasn't he?
06/05/00: Tom Green's hidden health-care lesson
06/01/00: Farming out the pork
05/30/00: The perils of medical quackery
05/26/00: Awarding medals by race is a disgrace
05/22/00: Have Simon & Schuster execs lost their minds!?
05/17/00: Sports plebes vs. plutocrats
05/15/00: Whitewashing Red China's record
05/12/00: Our mothers' hands
05/08/00: Focus on the real Waco
05/05/00: An Internet victim's sad story
05/03/00: Phony pooh-bahs of journalism
05/01/00: Zoo tragedy triggers dumb reaction
04/24/00: Ecoterrorists on the loose
04/19/00: Beware of Elian's psychobabblers
04/17/00: The truth about Erin Brockovich
04/13/00: In defense of an armed citizenry
04/10/00: Playing hardball with taxpayers
04/06/00: Read W.'s lips: More new spending
04/04/00: The liberal media-in-training
03/31/00: Sticking it to the children
03/28/00: Declaring war on HOV lanes
03/22/00: Clinton and the Echo Boomers
03/17/00: Is Bush a Liddy Dole Republican?
03/13/00: Katie and the politics of disease
03/10/00: Maria H, Granny D, and the media Z's
03/07/00: Bubba Van Winkle wakes up
03/03/00: Double standard for day traders?
02/28/00: Sluts and nuts --- and our daughters
02/24/00: Zoning out religious freedom
02/15/00: The Baby Brain Boondoggle
02/10/00: Buddhist temple untouchables
02/08/00: CDC: Caught Devouring Cash
02/04/00: Hillary's poisoned poster child
02/01/00: Corporate welfare on ice
01/28/00: The silly sound of silence
01/26/00: The Old Media meltdown
01/20/00: The pied pipers of KidCare
01/18/00: Our imperious judiciary
01/14/00: Tune out Columbine chorus
01/12/00: Dying to be an American
01/10/00: Time for smokers' revolt?
12/30/99: Reading, writing, PlayStation?
12/27/99: Fight money-grubbing mallrats
12/23/99: Christmas for Cornilous Pixley
12/20/99: Who will help the Hmong?
12/16/99: Shame on corn-fed politicians
12/13/99: EPA vs. the American Dream
12/09/99: Look behind the Pokemon curtain
12/06/99: Amateur hour in Seattle
11/30/99: Stop the Ritalin racketeers
11/23/99: Welfare for a sports fatcat
11/19/99: Jeb Bush's political ploy of the week
11/16/99: Ben & Jerry serve up junk science
11/12/99: A monumental waste of our veterans' resources
11/10/99: Tax-and-spend schizophrenia
11/05/99: Spooky Guy Haunts the Capital
11/02/99: Mourning the loss of the last Liberty Tree
10/27/99: AOL goes AWOL on parents
10/22/99: The persecution of Harry Potter
10/20/99: Don't doctor the law
10/14/99: The trouble with kids today
10/12/99: Pro-animal, pro-abortion, anti-speech?
10/07/99: Beltway press corps needs more skunks
09/30/99: ESPN overlooks athlete of faith, grace, and guts
09/27/99: Personal freedom going up in smoke
09/15/99: Farewell, "Miss" America
09/10/99: Will George W. work for a color-blind America?
09/03/99: Feminization of gun debate drowns out sober analysis
08/27/99: America is abundant land of equal-opportunity insult
08/10/99: Protect the next generation from diversity do-goodism
08/04/99: Sweepstakes vs. state lottery: double standards on gambling
07/21/99: "True-life tales from the Thin Red Line" (or "Honor those who sacrificed their lives for peace")
07/21/99: Reading, 'Riting, and Raunchiness?
07/14/99: Journalists' group-think is not unity
06/30/99: July Fourth programming for the Springer generation
06/25/99: Speechless in Seattle
06/15/99: Making a biblical argument against federal death taxes

© 2000, Creators Syndicate