Fenty being voted out because of "The Plan"

[Anonymous]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/So-called-_plan_-for-white-supremacy-lives-on-in-D_C_-656094-101833798.html

[Anonymous]

Good point, Dorrie. How did/do you feel about Tony Williams? I'm a 20+ DC resident (AA) and my DH is DC raised (white). Both of us have somewhat fond memories of the Williams days. But we're split on who would best inherit the bowtie mantle. He seems fine with Fenty so long as he continues scratching off William's to do list. I'm kind of worry about his continued ability to get "just results" given that he's managed to alienate both longtime regular folk AND the powers behind the scene (FCC, etc.) what to do...

[jsteele]

Last week Harry Jaffe had a column touting the oh so original suggestion that Gray supporters wanted to return the District to the days of Marian Barry. This week, Gray supporters are believers in wild conspiracy theories. Next week's Jaffe column: Gray supporters drink the blood of new born babies and kick puppies.

[Anonymous]

Yeah...what's the scoop on Jaffe? A friend keeps sending me his columns, but I have no background info on this columnist except he's been around a long time.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah...what's the scoop on Jaffe? A friend keeps sending me his columns, but I have no background info on this columnist except he's been around a long time.

He used to write for the Washingtonian. I don't know if he still does. My most memorable experience with him was when he was on the Kojo Nnamdi just after Fenty had been elected Mayor. Jaffe was beside himself in love and was tossing one softball after another to Fenty who had called into the show. Just as Fenty was about to hang up, Jaffe asked a semi-serious question. Fenty really didn't want to answer it and evaded it. Jaffe was really disappointed and he sounded hurt. Fenty picked up on that and said, "call me on my cell after the show". Jaffe sounded like he had just been asked to the high school prom by the school quarterback. It's been true love ever since.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:Last week Harry Jaffe had a column touting the oh so original suggestion that Gray supporters wanted to return the District to the days of Marian Barry. This week, Gray supporters are believers in wild conspiracy theories. Next week's Jaffe column: Gray supporters drink the blood of new born babies and kick puppies.

Will they be doing this at the new dog parks? Puppy kicking on Saturdays as a parks and recreation event?

[Anonymous]

I've lived here for over 30 years and voted for Fenty last time. He's lost my support. I'm AA and I guess upper income. I knew Fenty wasn't very bright, but figured he was energetic, efficient, and honest. As for the latter two qualities, not so much. And his two pitt bull, Michelle Rhee and Peter Nickles are a disaster. I'm still not sure why people think Rhee is the savior of the school system.

[Anonymous]

Because people who think Rhee is the savior of the school system are generally people who do not have kids currently in DCPS. We are DC residents, white, upper income. No school age kids. We polled three other similarly situated couples as to who they will vote for. They all have kids under the age of five, so have not yet had contact with DCPS. They all cited Rhee as the reason they are voting for Fenty, with the stated hopes that by the time their kids are ready for middle and high school, they might consider DCPS as an option. DH and I found that fascinating. We are agnostic on Rhee, like Cathy Lanier, but have had personal experiences with the Skinner/Karim shakedown of the DC commercial real estate industry---and that is why we will not vote for Fenty again. That, plus we know several people who worked for Williams who have nothing good to say about Fenty.

So it will be interesting to see---if Fenty has truly managed to alienate the vast majority of AA voters---and has alienated 1 out of every 4 white voters, then looks like Gray will win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've lived here for over 30 years and voted for Fenty last time. He's lost my support. I'm AA and I guess upper income. I knew Fenty wasn't very bright, but figured he was energetic, efficient, and honest. As for the latter two qualities, not so much. And his two pitt bull, Michelle Rhee and Peter Nickles are a disaster. I'm still not sure why people think Rhee is the savior of the school system.

Except for skin color, this is me too.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:Last week Harry Jaffe had a column touting the oh so original suggestion that Gray supporters wanted to return the District to the days of Marian Barry. This week, Gray supporters are believers in wild conspiracy theories. Next week's Jaffe column: Gray supporters drink the blood of new born babies and kick puppies.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but not every Gray supporter believes in The Plan. But *every* believer in The Plan is a Gray supporter. This is in part because Gray has explicitly made an appeal to these folks.

[Anonymous]

Gray's support is actually a diverse coalition:

1) "The Plan" conspiracy theorists.
2) Alienated DCPS status-quoians
3) "Good Government" fundamentalists

Incidentally, there was a great This American Life episode where they did a story on The Plan. Yes it's fucking idiotic. But it also has a huge number of believers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because people who think Rhee is the savior of the school system are generally people who do not have kids currently in DCPS. We are DC residents, white, upper income. No school age kids. We polled three other similarly situated couples as to who they will vote for. They all have kids under the age of five, so have not yet had contact with DCPS. They all cited Rhee as the reason they are voting for Fenty, with the stated hopes that by the time their kids are ready for middle and high school, they might consider DCPS as an option. DH and I found that fascinating. We are agnostic on Rhee, like Cathy Lanier, but have had personal experiences with the Skinner/Karim shakedown of the DC commercial real estate industry---and that is why we will not vote for Fenty again. That, plus we know several people who worked for Williams who have nothing good to say about Fenty.

Not my experience. I think it's more nuanced than this. I know many, many parents of current DCPS students who are big Rhee fans. In my (admittedly anecdotal) experience, the parents who hate Rhee are those who think that--for whatever DCPS' reputation in general--their schools are doing just fine, thank you very much. Almost every parent I've met who believes that the system is on the cusp of becoming decent--but whatever gains are fragile--is at least Rhee-agnostic.

Obviously, most of the charter parents hate her because they've already left the system, and any gains in publics come at the expense of charters.

[Anonymous]

Not my experience. I think it's more nuanced than this. I know many, many parents of current DCPS students who are big Rhee fans. In my (admittedly anecdotal) experience, the parents who hate Rhee are those who think that--for whatever DCPS' reputation in general--their schools are doing just fine, thank you very much. Almost every parent I've met who believes that the system is on the cusp of becoming decent--but whatever gains are fragile--is at least Rhee-agnostic.

Obviously, most of the charter parents hate her because they've already left the system, and any gains in publics come at the expense of charters.

What makes you believe that gains in DCPS come at the expense of charters. What, if any, basis do you have for this assertion. Charters are here to stay. They are not going anywhere. As a matter of fact, without the charters, OSSE would not have received that coveted race to the top grant. People in this city need to stop looking at charters as the enemy and as an alternative choice that parents have made on behlaf of their children. Your statement reeks of lack of knowledge. If anything, charters are not competing with DCPS, but with middle class families with the options to moving to better school districts such as Arlington and maybe MOCO. And please do not give that trite argument that it's the commute that keeps people in the city. Believe it or not, Washingtoninans work in Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda, etc. All the jobs are not in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:Last week Harry Jaffe had a column touting the oh so original suggestion that Gray supporters wanted to return the District to the days of Marian Barry. This week, Gray supporters are believers in wild conspiracy theories. Next week's Jaffe column: Gray supporters drink the blood of new born babies and kick puppies.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but not every Gray supporter believes in The Plan. But *every* believer in The Plan is a Gray supporter. This is in part because Gray has explicitly made an appeal to these folks.

Do you know every believer in the Plan? Are you a believer yourself and thus associate with the believers. Ergo, you have inside information that every bleiver you know is a Gray supporter?