Twitchy CEO, syndicated columnist, frequent Fox News commentator and “just a blogger” Michelle Malkin has been a vocal opponent of applying the Common Core State Standards Initiative to public education in the United States.
Today, Malkin pointed her Twitter followers to an op-ed in the New York Times written by Bill Keller that refers to Malkin and Glenn Beck as Common Core opposition “soul mates”:
The NYT's Bill Keller attacks @glennbeck & me as anti-Common Core "soulmates." #stopcommoncore ==> http://t.co/QKrGaH8Kjj
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) August 19, 2013
Unsurprisingly, Malkin was also informed that she was mentioned in an article written by Jeb Bush that appeared at National Review Online:
Not surprised. RT @dew5150 @michellemalkin did you see that jeb bush talked negatively about you at NRO? Common Core
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) August 19, 2013
Malkin’s right: Those in support of Common Core are on the same page regarding what to say and write when offering a defense. Both Keller and Bush’s op-eds employ very similar strategies, one being to marginalize critics as fringe wackos.
From Keller’s op-ed in the New York Times:
The backlash began with a few of the usual right-wing suspects. Glenn Beck warned that under “this insidious menace to our children and to our families” students would be “indoctrinated with extreme leftist ideology.”
(Beck also appears to believe that the plan calls for children to be fitted with bio-wristbands and little cameras so they can be monitored at all times for corporate exploitation.)
Beck’s soul mate Michelle Malkin warned that the Common Core was “about top-down control engineered through government-administered tests and left-wing textbook monopolies.”
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Jeb Bush also mentions Malkin and Beck in his op-ed at National Review Online:
This is not the establishment of a national curriculum. Contrary to what Michelle Malkin and Glenn Beck tell you, higher standards won’t harm parental choice, indoctrinate our children with a secret liberal agenda, or infringe on the privacy of student data.
These Common Core defenders are also both on the “it’s not Obama’s program” page.
Keller:
So let’s take a look at this fiendish federal plot to brainwash our children.
First, it is not federal. President Obama has used Race to the Top money to encourage states to embrace higher standards, but the Common Core was written under the auspices of the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, an effort that began in 2007, before Obama was elected.
Bush:
And President Obama’s embrace of the standards as his idea has given the appearance that they are a Washington edict. It has politicized the issue and complicated the understanding of who initiated and led the development of these higher standards.
Federal overreach is a real concern and one I share. But states’ working together to solve a shared problem is not a violation of federalism. It was state governors and state education chiefs who started and led the Common Core State Standards initiative. And state and local leaders retain authority over the implementation and assessments.
The argument from Keller and Bush that everybody is supposed to automatically think Common Core is a good idea just because Barack Obama didn’t personally put the wheels in motion might normally offend supporters of the president, but anything to get the program implemented in all states.
Give both articles a read and it’s clear the talking points have been distributed to all Common Core supporters, but the facts speak for themselves.
The #stopcommoncore movement, unlike topdown Common Core machine, is truly grassroots. Establishment threatened. https://t.co/FFuM6KNm2h
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) August 19, 2013
I've fought Common Core **AND its Fed Ed predecessors under both R & D administrations** as long as I've been in public life. Won't stop now
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) August 19, 2013
Unlike a lot of talking heads & pols, I can't & won't be bought on Fed Ed. My special interest is MY KIDS #stopcommoncore
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) August 19, 2013
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