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by Steve Johnson
Friday, Oct. 27, 2000 at 12:18 AM
sjohnson@hotmail.com
According to this published report, the White House Has Plenty of Nice Things to Say About Gov. Bush's Record In Texas. This Contradicts Gore's Campaign.
Why does Al Gore say one thing, when the truth is another?
Take for instance Gore's attacks on the Texas record. Looks like he had a different opinion in a White House press release. Look what Calvin Woodward of the Associated Press had to say about Gore's stand on the Texas record:
"After all the bad things Al Gore has been saying about the state of George W. Bush's Texas, it seems conditions there are on the mend after all.
Says who? The Clinton-Gore administration.
The White House has a Web section listing "Clinton-Gore administration accomplishments" state by state. Some of the headlines for Texas sound like a campaign ad that could be run by Gov. Bush, the Republican presidential candidate, and not at all like the Texas that Gore is describing in his Democratic campaign.
The White House says of the state:
?"More high-quality teachers with smaller classes for Texas' schools." ?"Crime falls 15 percent in Texas." ?"496,746 fewer people on welfare." ?"Health care for nearly 50,900 uninsured Texas children." ?"More toddlers are being immunized." ?"Child support collections up 178 percent." ?"2,005,800 new jobs." ?"Homeownership has increased in Texas." ?"11 toxic waste sites cleaned up."
-Calvin Woodward, Associated Press
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by Paul H. Rosenberg
Friday, Oct. 27, 2000 at 4:18 AM
rad@gte.net
This GOP post tries to position the Gore campaign vs. the White House. But all the info from the White House is presented devoid of context. As the old Eddie Harris/Les MacHan song says, "Compared to What?" The GOP won't say. Frankly, the real story in Texas recalls something else from the 1960s songwriter Richard Farina's novel, "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me."
Here's what Texas looks like when you look at it in a comparative context:
Texas is 49th in per-capita general revenue and 48th in per-capita tax revenue. It’s only the poor who have a hefty tax burden in Texas. In 1996, the last time a comprehensive comparison was made, Texas had the third worst system in the country. The poorest 20% paid 13.8% of their income in state taxes, the middle 60% paid 8.5% in taxes, and the wealthiest 1% paid just 4.4%. The 1999 Texas Comptroller report showed that the most recent tax cuts actually *increased* the tax rate of the poorest 20% -- to over 16%.
In per-capita spending, Texas ranks 50th in general spending, 35th in education, 40th in public welfare and health programs, 23rd in public hospitals and 49th in natural resources, parks, and recreation. And it’s not as if Texas has no problems to spend money on. It ranks 5th in poverty rate, 9th in child poverty, 10th in unemployment rate, 6th in teen unemployment, 3rd in percent of nonelderly population without health insurance, 31st in infant mortality rates, 39th in physicians per capita, 38th in average hourly earnings, 44th in home ownership, and 49th in high school graduation rate--all bad indicators rank in the top ten, all good indicators rank in the bottom ten or twenty. As a result, in 1999 Texas was ranked 48th among states best to raise a child in, according to the Children’s Rights Council.
If the Gore campaign would only focus on this record like a laser, they wouldn't have to try and demolish Ralph Nader. Sorta tells you something, doesn't it?
On the other hand, this post tries to paint the Gore campaign as the source criticizing Texas's education record. But the source wasn't Gore, it was a study from center-right RAND think tank.
Jake Tapper wrote in today's (Oct. 26, 2000) Salon:
"I think the 'Texas miracle' is a myth," Stephen Klein, the senior Rand researcher who helped lead the study, told Reuters Tuesday. According to the study the gap in average scores between whites and students of color isn't closing, as Bush has said, but is actually "very large" and "increasing." While the Texas tests show improvements in learning among Texas students beyond what is shown in national tests -- a point pounded home by Bush -- Klein concluded that Texas teachers were preparing their students for the test, but not necessarily teaching them much beyond how to take a test well.
-- 'nuff said.
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