Ken Bernstein Vouches for Tom Vilsack

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1. rbe says:

   July 17, 2016 at 3:36 pm

   Vilsack is a pro-merit pay/pro-charter/pro-school choice guy.

   http://www.ontheissues.org/Cabinet/Tom_Vilsack_Education.htm

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2. teacherken says:

   July 17, 2016 at 4:00 pm

   Several points. 1- I am no longer an NBCT. 2- I am probably at this point a former teacher. 3- when he was governor of Iowa Vilsack opposed any tests as a requirement for high school graduation. 4. The link in the first comment on this thread go to things ten years and more old. For what it is worth, after he was no longer Governor at one point Tom Vilsack did some legal work for teachers’ unions. That and other people he got to know, reshaped some of his thinking on education. I can talk about some of our conversations on education if people want, but others are just between the two of us. And if you go back to the early 2000s, a lot of people who now think otherwise were willing to consider the early version of charter schools, and some forms of merit pay. People often change their mind based on evidence. One example of someone who changed her mind is the proprietor of this blog.

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   • Ellen Lubic says:

     July 17, 2016 at 4:09 pm

     Thanks Ken…helpful to get your perspective…I was leaning far away from Vilsack…and Kaine……but then, I seem be leaning over the cliff.

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     • teacherken says:

       July 17, 2016 at 4:14 pm

       with respect to education, the policy will be set by the President and probably within the White House. A Vice president with expertise would have input. A Secretary of Education would certainly have input. In this White House, as I think Diane experienced, even while Duncan was SecEd, a good deal of policy came from the likes of Steve Robinson, who had been on Obama’s Senate Staff, and Roberto Rodriquez, who had been a key education staffer for Ted Kennedy, both in the White House. The head of the domestic policy council was out of Center for American Progress, which in general has not been where most of us here are on education. And then there was Rahm – and we see his approach in Chicago.

       Still, if you look at Obama’s record on education before he became President, there is not that much that has happened that should have surprised people even though Linda Darling-Hammond advised him during the 2008 campaign and oversaw Education during the transition.

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   • Ellen Lubic says:

     July 17, 2016 at 5:35 pm

     Agree that no one should have been surprised by Obama’s stance on ed, charters, testing, since in his Audcity memoir of 2006, he wrote exactly what he intended to do if he was elected. He WAS elected and he did as promised…to our vast dismay.

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3. Chris in Florida says:

   July 17, 2016 at 6:37 pm

   http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/04/10/1832621/monsanto-protection-act-power/

   There are many, many more.

   Vilsack has a problematic history with Monsanto, among other things. Neoliberal to the core but so is Hillary Clinton.

   He may or may not be an ally to public education but his stances on GMO’s and fascist control of farming by big business agriculture is enough to prevent me voting for him or Clinton.

   I do appreciate reading your viewpoint, however.

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   • Ellen Lubic says:

     July 17, 2016 at 8:07 pm

     Hillary not only worked for Monsanto, she sat on their Board. But then, Obama chose their VP to run his, our, FDA. Pretty sickening.

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4. Karen Wolfe says:

   July 17, 2016 at 9:27 pm

   Ken, I appreciate your insights. People who have knee jerk reactions to the prospect of elected officials are leaving themselves out of important conversations.

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5. Joe says:

   July 17, 2016 at 9:35 pm

   If Trump/Pence wins: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is encouraging Democrats to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits because the programs are “things we don’t absolutely need.” [snip] “It doesn’t really matter what happens at the end of this year because ultimately the numbers and the bond holders throughout the world will determine what we’ll spend and what we won’t. So, we can play the political game that is being played out in Washington right now or we can be absolutely honest with the American people and say, ‘Medicare is going bankrupt, Social Security disability will be bankrupt in two years, Social Security trust fund will be bankrupt in five years, Social Security total will be bankrupt in 16,17 years.’”
   Coburn is lying filth like most republicans. Social Security total never really goes bankrupt because the Social Security tax continues to be collected and SS will be able to pay about 78% of benefits; that’s a cut but it’s better than what the GOP is offering. Eliminate the SS wage tax cap and SS will be good for generations. Elections have consequences and if Trump/Pence win you can kiss goodbye to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as we know them. But please by all means, don’t vote or vote Green. I will vote for Hillary to block someone who is 20,000 times worse than she is.

   http://www.rawstory.com/2012/12/coburn-medicare-and-social-security-are-things-we-dont-absolutely-need/

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6. Cornbear says:

   July 18, 2016 at 6:36 am

   Tom Vilsack fired Shirley Sherrod on the basis of an Andrew Breitbart edited video falsely accused her racial bias. The entire, unedited video was available but Vilsack acted without getting the full story. His apology to Ms. Sherrod was too little, too late, and the fact that Vilsack trusted Breitbart rather than an employee of his own department is troubling.

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7. Christine Langhoff says:

   July 18, 2016 at 9:07 am

   Well, if Vilsack is a man of honesty and integrity, that will provide a good balance to the top of the ticket.

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8. patthale says:

   July 18, 2016 at 7:48 pm

   He presides over awful policies regarding puppy mills and factory farming.

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9. Hannah says:

   July 19, 2016 at 3:11 am

   Tom Vilsack may be a really nice guy, but he’s been a disaster as Secretary of Agriculture: firmly in the thrall of big agriculture and the chemical industry such as Monsanto. From my perspective he will only detract from the Democratic presidential ticket.

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10. Linda says:

    July 19, 2016 at 8:26 pm

    If Vilsack is a centrist, as described by insiders, then,he’s a Republican, calling himself a Democrat.

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    • teacherken says:

      July 19, 2016 at 9:45 pm

      Tom Vilsack is
      – pro-union
      – pro-choice
      – pro-public schools
      – pro gun control

      none of which are true of Republicans.

      He is a Democrat. He might not be as progressive as you are, but he is in tune with a large chunk of Democrats around the country.

      That’s why he got elected twice state-wide in Iowa.

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