Eugene Robinson nails it on Romney "We don't give the school bus driver credit for the honor roll."

[yellowcanine]

At least three times in recent days, as part of his response to President Obama’s “You didn’t build that” peroration, Romney has told campaign audiences variations on the following: “When a young person makes the honor roll, I know he took a school bus to get to the school, but I don’t give the bus driver credit for the honor roll.”

snip

What I hear Romney saying, and I suspect many others will also hear, is that the little people don’t contribute and don’t count.

I don’t know if Romney’s sons ever rode the bus to school. I do know that for most parents, it matters greatly who picks up their children in the morning and drops them off in the afternoon.

It may not be the driver’s job to help with algebra homework, but he or she bears enormous responsibility for safely handling the most precious cargo imaginable. A good bus driver gets to know the children, maintains order and discipline, deals with harassment and bullying. Romney may not realize it, but a good driver plays an important role in ensuring a child’s physical and emotional well-being — and may, in fact, be the first adult to whom the child proudly displays a report card with all A’s.

Whole article here. Robinson nails it.

http://themoderatevoice.com/156058/a-campaign-out-of-balance/

[Thinkingabout]

1. Eugene Robinson is dead on this one, it takes a village to raise a child.

We trust our children to the bus driver and have experienced a few great bus drivers in my life. What we are trying to say is everyone is important, the roads are important and we must provide "services" and someone has to pay. Let's hear it for the bus drivers.

[yellowcanine]

6. Not to mention a good bus driver is a great role model for professionalism and dependability.

Students who emulate them are more likely to make the honor roll.

[rsdsharp]

2. There's an easier argument here

Romney's apparent point, in relation to the president, is that the honor roll student did it all alone, and deserves all the credit for making the honor roll. Even setting aside his cheap shot at the bus drivers of the world, the student had help.

He deliberately overlooks the fact that public school students are taught by teachers who are paid with public funds, and who were likely educated themselves by teachers who were paid publicly. The textbooks our honor student uses are largely paid for by public money, and are issued in a school built with public funds.

The driver is necessary to get the kid to the school, and is paid by the school district, and drives on roads built by the city, county, state and/or federal government, driving a bus paid for with public money, filled with fuel purchased by the public, stored in a building built with public money, and maintained by mechanics paid for by the public.

Did Willard ever go to public school? Even if he didn't I'm willing to bet that public money educated at least some of his teachers. Nobody does it all by themselves.

[mac56]

3. +1

Welcome. Going to quote you!

[yellowcanine]

4. Yes Willard missed it on many levels but he chose the school bus driver because he thought that

was the easiest way to ridicule the President for his comments about the importance of the community. But in doing so he actually undermined his point. Because fair minded people say , "Wait a minute! A school bus driver who does her job well IS integral to producing successful students." Plus by doing so he just emphasized his distance from the school bus driver, because people are now thinking, of course he doesn't know how important a bus driver is. He has no experience with them. Ba boom. Game set match.

[Igel]

22. Not his point.

It's what Robinson understands Romney's point to be. No need for them to be the same thing at all.

In fact, by saying that the bus driver got the kid to school, he's stipulating cooperation. However, he doesn't just say, "The honor roll student did it all by himself." There's a contrast: "If the bus driver, if the village, is responsible for the honor roll student, then who, exactly, are we going to blame for the drop out and the average student?"

I've said it before: The kids in my class that do well aren't typically the really gifted ones. They're the ones that have listened to society's saying to be organized, be hard working, and to be responsible for their learning; to put in effort in order to get a long-term reward. In some cases, I've provided the orgazation, the constant monitoring to get them to do their work, and I've tried to take responsibility for their learning. That gets them out of school; it doesn't make them good students.

Those who do poorly have listened to society's saing that the teacher and society are responsible for their learning; that effort isn't all that important; and immediate rewards and relevance are what's really important.

Both have be taught by the village. In some cases, the village dominated by default--only one message got much air time, because of parents, the media, or peers. In other cases, the student chose which part of the village to listen to, and sought out the message that wasn't dominant in his/her environment.

In either case, there were those who did well and those who did poorly, all things being equal.

[Raster]

28. We can bring these points to light over and over again. The fact is that at Rmoney Manor...

...only Lord and Lady Rmoney matter. As visitors admire the grounds of Rmoney Manor, the Lord and Lady accept the compliments as if they themselves did the gardening. As visitors compliment the refreshments served, the Lord and Lady act as though they themselves cooked the food, planted the crops, milked the cows and even commanded the sun to shine. EVERYTHING at Rmoney Manor revolves around the Lord and Lady. And now, the Rmoney's want to expand their holdings.

[AlbertCat]

31. YES! The general thing missing from Romney is...

..... the thinking through. The knowing that things just don't appear and happen spontaneously. One must think to the end of the sentence. Think it through.

Achieving something is not a solo venture, unless you ignore the "help". But even more basic is his lack of understanding that things are complicated.

Getting kids to school is just as complicated as one of his tax dodging schemes. Maybe more so...

[Downwinder]

5. Easy test.

Let them walk to school, see which way the grades go.

[rocktivity]

7. Remember the guy who claims he built his business on nothing but 500 bucks?

Last edited Thu Aug 23, 2012, 06:54 PM - Edit history (1)

http://betterment.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=172124


And here's another one:



rocktivity

[BrainMann1]

16. Did you hear that

you smacked Pop on the head with his own stick. That's going to leave a mark.

[Pakid]

8. I have driven and owned school buses for over 30 years

and I can honestly say that on more than one occasion I have help kids get an A on there homework. I have also spent all these years driving kids to Volleyball, Basketball etc. You would be surprise how many parents never show up and support there kids and guess who it is that is there for these kids. ME. So Mitt you don't have a clue about kids, bus driver or how interrelated everything in this world is. In other words Mitt you are clueless!

[mac56]

12. Pakid, you rock!

[rocktivity]

17. And I'm sure you don't refer to those who keep your buses in the best possible working order,

or supply you with the parts to do so, as "you people."


rocktivity

[efhmc]

29. People like you make me proud to be a human.

Mitt makes me want to look around for another species.

[lastlib]

9. Mittens' kids were chauffeured...

...so I guess the bus driver wouldn't get credit in that case.

[yellowcanine]

10. Of course the chauffeur probably taught them stuff they didn't get from Mitt.

[sarge43]

11. When I was driving bus the principal asked us drivers to say good morning to the kids

"It could be the only nice thing they hear all day."

I did and I know they appreciated it.

I also made damn sure no body was bullied. Punk got turned in, then spent quality time upfront under my cold, watchful eye.

I may not have helped any of them get on the honor roll, but for the time they were on the bus they had a safe, comfortable, peaceful ride.

By the way Mitt, you're invited to drive a 71 passenger bus filled with half the town's next generation up and down a lumber road right after a New England snow storm blew through. You'd leave a load in your magic underwear.

[mac56]

13. +1

[yellowcanine]

14. Your last paragraph is priceless. That nails it right there.

Mitt values people by how much money they are worth or how much money they can make for him, not by how well they do a job or whether they show some human kindness.

[Mapletonian]

35. Class

is how you treat people who can do nothing for you.

[July]

37. I love this post.

It is a message that is lost on today's Republican party, but it is a beautiful one that highlights our human responsibility to each other, regardless of our own gain. Thank you.

[sarge43]

38. I think of it as paying forward

Whatever our personal goals are, we have a responsibility to make this world better or at least keep it from getting worse. That all of us owe the children, even those of us who don't have any.

[sarge43]

15. Thank you

It's the Repubs who the elitists. That's a dog whistle class warfare crack.

[rocktivity]

19. And when you went back to the garage after completing your drive on that snow-covered road

Last edited Sat Oct 10, 2015, 03:35 PM - Edit history (7)

I'll bet you never said, "YOU PEOPLE who changed the bus's oil, rotated its tires, and adjusted its brakes don't deserve any credit."


rocktivity

[sarge43]

26. Hey, I'm not a Repub one percenter!

I know I can't make it through the day by myself.

[A Simple Game]

21. As a bus driver you could be the person that set the child's mood for the whole day.

You could put them in a happy receptive mood or in a dark and somber mood. Could make the difference between good grades and poor grades. Wanting to go to school and not wanting to go to school.

[sarge43]

27. Yup. More or less what that principal pointed out. n/t

[SunSeeker]

25. Brilliant. Thank you for your service.

[bluesbassman]

18. What an absolute pandering hypocrite! From 2002...

"You Olympians, however, know you didn’t get here solely on your own power,” said Romney, who on Friday will attend the Opening Ceremonies of this year’s Summer Olympics. “For most of you, loving parents, sisters or brothers, encouraged your hopes, coaches guided, communities built venues in order to organize competitions. All Olympians stand on the shoulders of those who lifted them. We’ve already cheered the Olympians, let’s also cheer the parents, coaches, and communities. All right! [pumps fist].”

I guess in Romney's mind giving a child a lift is different from lifting them. This guy really is an ass.

[TeamPooka]

20. Because the "little people" who don't make huge sums of money don't count in Romney-land.

This country is facing a philosophical choice disguised as partisan politics this November.
Are we going to run this country as a civilized society where the citizens are interdependent upon each other or will we run this country frontier style where the money and might of wealthy individuals make right in the law of the jungle?
In the former society the school bus driver's job is considered important. Especially to those parents whose children are in the bus.
In the latter jungle, forget the driver, you wouldn't even have a public school to send your kids too.

The fabric of society is a funny thing.
If you start pulling out the threads at the edge the whole thing can unravel.
It is a lesson learned the hard way by Richard III of England at the Battle of Bosworth Field and immortalized in the famous proverb:
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

School bus drivers, mail carriers and the clerk at the DMV are just some of the nails of American society Mr. Romney.
Undervalue them at your own risk but they deserve a lot of credit for America's honor roll.

[SemperEadem]

30. and here is Todd Rundgren singing just that

"Want of a Nail" with Daryl Hall and the late T-Bone Wolk on lead acoustic rhythm guitar.

[JHB]

23. Even simpler: "Romney is lying to your face every time he says that"

Mitt knows damn well what Obama was talking about in that speech, because he expressed the same sentiment in 2002. Go to the 1:30 mark in this video:

That's no different from what Obama was saying. He snipped out one line of Obama's speech to make it look like he was saying something else, and then Mitt built an entire campaign theme around something he knows Obama did not say.

And he's feeding that lie to every Republican every time he uses it in a speech, every time he uses it in a commercial, in every sign and ad that uses the "you built that" line. Most of the conservative I know took great umbrage at Bill Clinton for wagging his finger at the camera when he denied sexual relations with "that woman, Miss Lewinsky".

Well, now your guy is lying to your face every single time. What's your standard now? Do you need him to wag his finger?

[GEOpix]

24. Romney and the "servants"

In Willard's latest attack on federal workers, he stated "The servants are making more money than we do". After 23 years as a DoD inspector, I'm still proud to be a public employee, but neither I, nor any of my fellow city, county, state and federal employees are Willard Romney's "servants"!

[classof56]

34. Welcome to DU, GEOpix

And as a retired state government employee, I too am proud of my career making sure the laws passed by legislators worked for the benefit of my fellow citizens. I always believed that public service was a public trust, but never EVER considered myself anyone's servant. Rmoney's characterization is a downright insult to those of us public employees who get the job done. As I type this my lip curls and I say to him, Shame on you!

[1monster]

32. This:

I don’t know if Romney’s sons ever rode the bus to school. I do know that for most parents, it matters greatly who picks up their children in the morning and drops them off in the afternoon.

My husband and I found ways to drop off and pick up our son from school every day for three years because we did not trust the bus driver on his route. (I had watched him fly around a dangerous curve, ignoring a stop sign, every day for years before my son was on his route. I was uneasy, but allowed him to ride the bus.

The driver had an accident the second day of school, and that was the last time he rode the bus until high school. (The driver was old and had significant health problems.) He actually laid the bus on its side two blocks from my home when he pulled onto a slanted grassy area by a river that has been saturated from several days of heavy rains. And someone covered for him.

BTW, the elementary school and high school bus drivers he had were excellent. As were most of the bus drivers in our district. I've always thought that they were great assets to the school district.

I'm not sure how the one managed to hold on as long as he did -- I think he was close to retirement and his bosses tried to give him every chance to make it there w/o transferring him to a non-driving job.

[yellowcanine]

33. I had a bus driver who regularly ran stop signs.

He finally got fired after he took us down a mountain without brakes and planted the bus in a muddy field at the bottom of the hill. Fortunately no one was hurt. He knew the brakes were not working before he started down the mountain. He thought he could creep down in low gear but the transmission popped out of gear and he couldn't get it back in again.

[Quantess]

36. That is what people heard, and that is what Romney meant, too.

The "little people" don't count.