NCLB: No Cheat Left Behind

Saturday evening, I watched the inquisition of the presidential candidates on CNN and was taken aback by the rapid-fire answers McCain had to offer BEFORE the question was even asked! At the time I thought that maybe I was simply day-dreaming.

But apparently not. The mega-church minister lied to the audience about McCain's whereabouts effectively setting up Barack Obama to take a fall. Sound familiar? The minority communities in urban America are set up to fail in the same way by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. They are asked hard questions with dire consequences that they are at a disadvantage to answer.

McCain, by having time to prepare his answers by precisely knowing what will be asked passes the litmus test. Obama is seen thoughtfully struggling because he has to process the question in real time.

While I pray for the separation of church from integrity will someday end, this is yet another example of hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy in the name of God.

To add further sleaze to the tactics, McCain retells a Solzhenitsyn account of a prison camp incident as a heart-wrenching true account of his own questionable recollections of being a POW.

And he brazenly explains that as an Admiral's son he refused to be released, adding, "And then the guard told me it would become very hard on me." - he has no shame. To be clear, the enemy is perfectly willing to release him because he's an Admiral's son but, wait for it!... because he's an Admiral's son and wants to stay - that's when things get tough! Yeah, right. The enemy will feed all the other POWs steak while McCain gets hot dogs only. The idea that McCain would be treated more poorly than the other POWs makes no sense at face value.

McCain should just put the shovel down.

When politicians like John McCain set an example of cheating, lying, telling tall tales, and the plagiarism of other prisoner's experience for eager audiences he diminishes the integrity of all parents in teaching and guiding their children civilized discourse. When unethical behavior pays and churches are little more than political shills, we come to an end of credible debate.

Here's the video proof:

Here's the proof from the transcript.

Warren with Obama:

Q. OKAY LET’S GO TO EDUCATION. AMERICA RIGHT NOW 23 RANKS 19TH IN HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION. WE’RE FIRST IN INCARCERATIONS.

A. NOT GOOD.

Q. NOT GOOD. 80 PERCENT OF AMERICANS RECENT POLE SAID THEY BELIEVE IN MERIT PAY FOR TEACHERS.

1. I’M NOT ASKING DO YOU THINK ALL TEACHERS SHOULD GET A RAISE.

2. DO YOU THINK BETTER TEACHERS SHOULD BE PAID BETTER?

3. THEY SHOULD BE MAKING MORE THAN POOR TEACHERS?

So, essentially on this topic, there were technically only two questions, the ones I've labelled 2 and 3. But one COULD make the argument that the comment I labelled as 1 was also a question.

Now to McCain:

Q ALL RIGHT. LET’S TALK ABOUT EDUCATION. AMERICA 18 RANKS 19TH IN HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATIONS, BUT WE’RE FIRST IN 19 INCARCERATION. EVERYBODY SAYS THEY WANT MORE ACCOUNTABILITY IN SCHOOLS?

A UH-HUH.

Q ABOUT 80 PERCENT OF AMERICA SAYS THEY SUPPORT MERIT PAY FOR THE BEST TEACHERS. NOW, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOUR STUMP SPEECH ON EDUCATION?

A YES. YES. AND FIND BAD TEACHERS ANOTHER LINE OF WORK.

Q YOU KNOW –

A CAN I –

Q YOU ARE ANSWERING SO QUICKLY.

A CAN I –

Q YOU WANT TO PLAY A GAME OF POKER?

See that? Warren didn't ask him ANY questions. Yet, McCain knew to answer the three questions posed to Obama. Wonder how that happened?

Sad. Sad. Sad.