McKenna Speaks on Public Education

Okay, those kids over at The Stranger found many gullible people including me.  It was all faked (although the education thread did sound plausible.  What is below is wrong (except for Washington State's SAT scores - that is true).
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Over at The Stranger Slog, they gave over several threads to the McKenna campaign to discuss various issues.  (This is incredibly generous of The Stranger and I give them full credit.)

Here's his education thread entitled "A New Direction for Washington's Public Schools" wherein he recites tired ed reform phrases and yet says absolutely nothing specific about what he would do.

He says this:

At the same time, we cannot spend more money on existing public school programs that are underperforming without first reforming them. Washington is regarded nationally as an education reform backwater, coming in near the bottom in the President's Race to the Top competition, and only one of handful that does not authorize charter schools. This failure is utterly unacceptable in a state which generally is considered innovative. We must learn from our failures, fix what is broken, promote competition, and move forward rapidly to catch up to, and then surpass, our sister states.

I did chime in at the Comments section but I will say this upfront: Mr. McKenna, Washington State HAS surpassed ALL other states in one area.  That would be SAT scores...for the 9th straight year.  Quite the backwater.

Do keep up.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Conjecture is that this is a fake McKenna dialogue. If so it's a lamer than usual attempt at SLOG humor.

-critical-
Anonymous said…
The Slog comments from McKenna's campaign aren't real.

DistrictWatcher
mirmac1 said…
AARGH! They PUNKED us!
Mary Griffin said…
Strangely, the education part didn't seem that parodistic to me. Perhaps I've lost my perspective on education completely. When you read all the Rob McKenna postings ala "Like a Cupcake with a Mini Pumpkin Pie Baked In It, I Consider Myself a Treat with a Surprise Inside", or "Am I Hot or Not?" perhaps it's a trifle more clear.

Personally, I have a thing for dweebish conservative nerds who want to take axe healthcare, so I don't get the parody there, either. McKenna? He's Hot! Clearly!

Here's what the Seattle Times had to say: http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsnorthwest/2012/10/04/the-stranger-pranks-readers-with-fake-rob-mckenna-blogging/
Anonymous said…
The first couple of postings were fairly reasonable - I know I was suckered at first. By about #3, I'd figured out the joke.
However, the funniest part to me was the response to the Seattle Times' inquiries:
"Asked whether The Stranger has any journalistic qualms about hoaxing its readers, Holden replied in an email: “The Stranger has no ethical issues with satire. And unlike the Seattle Times, all of our satire is intentional.”

CT
mirmac1 said…
CT

Three thumbs up!

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