A Union leader, a Vice President and Her Chief Spokeswoman Walk Into a Bar
Over a drink they laugh about their lies, deflection and sudden disdain for science
Chalk Talk
I promise you, readers, that I’m not usually this mad for this long. But with millions of school children still locked out of their schools after 11 months and the most powerful people in the country shifting the goalposts and filling up the airwaves with nonsensical word salads, I’m confident you understand why my blood continues to boil.
The central problem is that the Biden administration made promises about their commitment to science that they have already broken when it comes to reopening schools.
They also made promises to teachers’ unions, arguably the most powerful special interest group within the Democratic party. Let’s remember that First Lady Jill Biden could have rolled out the red carpet for anyone she wanted on day two of her husband’s administration—she picked the presidents of the two largest teachers’ unions who, not coincidentally, poured money into her husband’s campaign coffers and into super PACs working on the campaign’s behalf.
And so we find ourselves with a president and a White House that is tying itself into knots trying to reconcile forces that are completely incompatible—teachers’ unions and truth.
(Reminder that I was in two NEA affiliated teachers’ unions in two states.)
The lead off hitters for the week’s worst takes on school reopening are Randi Weingarten, Kamala Harris and Symone Sanders. (Incidentally, I know lots of identity obsessed people get overly-excited when women are appointed to high positions just for being women— I guess I’m a contrarian and a curmudgeon since I prefer to see what they do and say before getting giddy over their lady parts.)
Let’s look first at two tweets before we roll the video footage:
This tweet is awful because of how dishonest it is. Randi Weingarten has the audacity to hold up New York City as one of “many places that have reopened” in response to a father and epidemiologist who penned a piece in Vox.
Here’s just a small taste of what some NYC parents had to say in response to Randi’s claim about their kids’ schools:
The second tweet:
This tweet is reprehensible in how it paints parents as unthinking and easy-to-manipulate dolts. Here are a few reactions:
Now let’s go to the tape and watch the Vice President and her spokeswoman this morning. I wish you luck in choosing the worst clip of the bunch since there are so many (though something tells me that parents across America do not feel any better now that they know that Kamala Harris’ first grade teacher attended her law school graduation.)
What I heard were a lot of convoluted talking points used to deflect from actually answering Savannah Guthrie’s questions—what did you hear?
It didn’t get any better over on CNN when the vice president’s spokeswoman faced similar and very basic questions about school reopening and couldn’t muster an honest or coherent answer. She, like her boss, remained unwilling to acknowledge what the science tells us about the safety of opening schools and couldn’t even bring herself to agree out-loud with what the CDC guidance says about teachers and vaccines. Both women also seemed content in pretending that over 60 percent of school children haven’t already been attending school in-person since October.
My own children (two in middle school, one in high school) attend schools that are doing a hybrid model—it is not perfect but it is something. But 41 percent of American students attend schools that have an in-person option available 5 days a week. So how can anyone accept that huge districts that serve millions of children are still completely closed?
This is a national emergency but neither Randi Weingarten, Kamala Harris nor Synome Sanders seems to see it that way.
A terrible showing this morning. The bright side is they have nowhere to go but up.
G&G
In case you missed it, here is my happy story about how I saved my dog Griffey from choking last week. If you’re wondering, yes, you can give the Heimlich to dogs!
The MotherLand
It is school vacation week which means my youngest is eating more fudgsicles than usual—who knew that was even possible? I just tell myself, at least he’s eating.
Talk soon.
~Erika