Visit by Bush to snarl roads, spur protests
It's a sad situation that you have to close off school because of a fund-raising event.
- Roger F. Harris, Boston Renaissance Charter School Headmaster
While the president comes to Massachusetts and rakes in campaign contributions at $2,000 a pop, there are workers all across this state who are struggling to make ends meet. Bush is losing credibility with voters not only in Massachusetts, but across the country, because he doesn't share their priorities.
- Rep. Martin Meehan (D-MA)
Yes, George W. Bush wanted to be known as "the education President". Perhaps he should more accurately be known as "the fundraising President". It's episodes such as this that demonstrate his insincerity about anything that doesn't directly relate to his maintaining his throne.
President Bush will swoop into Boston for a quick fund-raiser this afternoon that could net his campaign $1 million and also draw several thousand protesters, force the closure of a school, and disrupt traffic near the Park Plaza Hotel.
Tracey Ganiatsos, a spokeswoman for the Boston Transportation Department, said the US Secret Service told the city it intends to close several streets near the hotel "for a good portion of the day," but the streets involved will not be disclosed publicly for security reasons. Special parking restrictions will also be in effect.
The president's visit unexpectedly canceled classes for 1,425 children at the Boston Renaissance Charter School, a K-8 institution on Stuart Street a block away from the hotel. The Boston Public Schools system, which provides about 30 buses to transport Renaissance students, said it could not guarantee timely pick-up of students at dismissal time, said Dudley Blodget, chief operating officer of the Renaissance School's foundation. The school also feared that the 300 parents who pick up their children would not be able to reach the school.
You would think that something designed primarily to raise money could have been scheduled at a place or time that wouldn't have required the sacrifice of a school day. If our "education President" did more than talk the talk, we might really end up with no child being left behind.
If nothing else, this episode serves to point out that nothing, not even education, is more important to George W. Bush than raising money for his campaign. Sometime, actions really ARE more revealing than words, eh?
