Quotables

John McCain made these remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations in 2004 when interviewed by Council Chairman Peter Peterson:

PETERSON: Let me give you a hypothetical, senator. What would or should we do if, in the post-June 30th period, a so-called sovereign Iraqi government asks us to leave, even if we are unhappy about the security situation there? I understand it's a hypothetical, but it's at least possible.

McCAIN: Well, if that scenario evolves, then I think it's obvious that we would have to leave because— if it was an elected government of Iraq— and we've been asked to leave other places in the world. If it were an extremist government, then I think we would have other challenges, but I don't see how we could stay when our whole emphasis and policy has been based on turning the Iraqi government over to the Iraqi people.

Now Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki endorsed Barack Obama’s 16-month timetable for the United States to withdraw from Iraq. In an interview with Der Spiegel released on Saturday, Maliki said he wanted U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible.

“U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes.” […]

All McCain can do now is keep repeating his mantra—“the surge is working…the surge is working…” while the White House now says it now wants a "time horizon," not a TIME LINE.

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From Chris Lehmann at Practical Theory:

By the way, and this is an aside, what is going to happen as charter schools fail? So many of these have five year charters, and a certain percentage of them are not going to get renewed. It's already happening in Philly. What is the educational / emotional costs for the kids who go to schools that get closed down after five years? Is anyone other than Mike Klonsky writing about issues like this?

Thanks Chris.

From Sunday’s NYT, “At Struggling School, Pride Displaces Failure”

The Newton experiment began last September after Mr. Thomas, under pressure from the lagging test scores, struck a partnership with the influential Newark Teachers Union and Seton Hall University to remake the school. Although the state has oversight of the Newark school district, Newton was given leeway to form a governance committee consisting of representatives of the teachers’ union and Seton Hall, along with district and state education officials, to approve daily operations ranging from intercom repairs to academic policies and teacher hiring.