The Donald and Charlie

Donald Trump may have loads of current and future real estate, development, gambling and other interests potentially effected by the next election, but at his fourth fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist, The Don insisted that had nothing to do with his strong support for Crist. “No, not at all,’’ the Don said Friday night at a $10,000 per person state GOP fundraiser at his Mar-A-Lago club in Palm Beach. “I don’t need anything from him, I don’t want anything from him. I think he’s a tremendous person, and I think he’ll be great for Florida, that’s it. And if he’s great for Florida, that’s good for me.’’

Between enthusiastic chit-chat about a Palm Beach code enforcement controversy over his 40 by 60-foot American flag (“That’s awesome,’’ said Crist), his new bestselling book, and his decision to fire Carolyn Kepcher, his former co-star on The Apprentice, Trump talked a little politics. The war in Iraq has been a “total and complete disaster,’’ he said, and “whoever is against the war should take control of congress. The longer it keeps going you prolong the agony.’’ He predicts and his friends John McCain and Rudy Giuliani will wind up as the Republican ticket together in 2008 and will face a very, very tough race from his good friend Hillary Clinton.
“She’s brilliant woman and she’s going to be a very, very formidable candidate,’’ the registered Republican said of his home state senator. “I Believe she’ll be the Democratic candidate and I think she’s going to be very, very formidable. Absolutely I think she can win, especially if the war’s still going on. Hopefully she gets more militant against the war…She’s a little bit down the middle, which I think is a bad stance.’’

Comments

[Gene Smith]

If Donald Trump really thinks what's good for Floridian's is good for him, he should have two words for Charlie Crist:

YOU'RE FIRED!!!

Charlie Crist has been part of these problems while he's been in Tallahassee:

Property Insurance Crisis
Property Tax Crisis
FCAT Education Futility

He has had years in Tallahassee to be part of the solution. Instead he has been a no show in solving these problems.

On November 7th the Florida's voters will say:

CHARLIE - YOU'RE FIRED11111

The Tan meets The Hair.

[ConservaGal]

FCAT education futility? Huh?
Between 2002 and 2005:
- Fourth Grade reading proficiency increased by 16 points
- Fifth Grade Math proficiency increased by nine points
- The achievement gap between blacks and whites decreased by six points in fourth grade
- The achievement gap between hispanics and whites decreased by six percentage points in fourth grade

I could go on and on.
What are you talking about? When I moved here in the nineties, Florida was a joke around the country as far as education was concerned. That has changed under Jeb.

The only ones complaining about the FCAT are the teachers who want to be able to teach whatever they want in the classroom. Guess what, life is measured by tests...from getting your driver's license to getting a degree in college. The fear of Dems trying to undo the education reform will add that extra padding to CC's win in November. Keep on barking up that tree Dems, I love it.

[treehugger]

Conservagal, you seem not to understand the political nature of how the FCAT is used. What is considered a passing score changes from year to year, the emphasis of the test is a moving target. This year's 10th graders scores will be compared to last year's 9th grade scores, even though many of the students will not be the same. Some schools have very high transient populations. Tests that are used to assess what students have learned and what areas teachers need to reinforce are great. Tests that are used as a basis of funding education results in widening the gap between schools instead of closing it.

PREDICTION:
Charlie Crist will support legalizing gambling and expanding slot machine usage. A great payback to 'The Don' for his four fundraisers!!

[Imadashell]

Word has it Charlie Has ben The Donalds Hairdresser!

so a gay man running for governor is endorsed by a pompous windbag with a nasty comb-over. am i supposed to be amazed?

Treehugger:

There is no magic bullet solution to the public education problem in Florida, including FCAT.

There are any number of factors that contibute to the problem that having nothing whatsoever to do with FCAT.

Much of it has to do with misallocation of resouces. Florida currently supposedly spends $7,000-8,000 per student per year, but much of that money is not really spent on education.

A huge percentage goes to feed the sacred cow named busing, which requires many of the school districts to run a massive transportation system. Never mind that most studies now demonstrate that busing largely fails to achieve its stated goal of promoting racial and cultural diversity. Never mind that busing has largely destroyed community schools and local parental invovlement. Never mind busing adds uo to two additional hours to a steudent's day thereby robbing him/her of time needed to do homework.

Has anyone taken a look at the ratio of money spent in the public schools on administrators as opposed to teachers in the class room?

How about the teacher's union? It is a throwback to the discredited socialism of the 1930's. It is even opposed to merit testing and merit pay for teachers. No wonder it opposes the FCAT.

All of these and other deep rooted problems were created during the era of Democratic domience in Florida prior to the mid-90's, when the Repubs took over. Jeb, to his great credit, found unacceptable the corrupt system of public eduction that he inherited that failed to educate our childran, and held no one accountable for that failure. At least today, thanks to FCAT, the students who graduate from high school can read and write.

[treehugger]

12:35
As an active union member and a national board certified teacher, I can assure you that the union is not opposed to merit testing and merit pay. We are opposed to merit pay tied to students test scores when many of us teach 11th and 12th graders who have already passed FCAT. The problem is what are you going to tie it to? Teachers who don't have families who can spend endless hours at school working the athletic gates? In my county the ONLY training given to new teachers is provided by the union. Furthermore, I can't agree that higher test scores translate to better students. For example,not that many years ago all 11th graders in my school had to read the Scarlet Letter, now only Honors students do because my colleagues say it is too hard and the students refuse to read it. Teachers who used to require 10 page papers now only ask for five pages because students come less and less prepared for high school level work.
I agree that we cannot afford to continue busing to the current extent. Rural students need a ride to schools, but students crisscrossing each other on multiple buses for over an hour is a huge drain on the budget.You are also right that there is no magic bullet, but demoralizing teachers is not productive.

Adam, don't you mean "affected", not "effected"?

[ConservaGal]

So you do not want the 10th grade compared to last year's ninth grade because the students move around. Huh? And no merit pay based upon performance on a test?

Hello? Everyone's job performance is based upon comparing what happened before to what is happening now even if the circumstances are different. In the real world there is no vaccum. Every job I had is based upon performance, and I got bonuses based upon good performance and less or no bonus if my performance was less than the year before, even if it is due to circumstances beyond my control. This is the real world. Why should teachers be treated any differently than I am?

"The Don"? It's supposed to be "The Donald." Can't you people get anything right...?

[treehugger]

Well, conservagal, I still think it would be more useful to compare student A's score this year to student A's score last year than to compare student B this year to student X last year, but have it your way. You have one concept right: FCAT world does not equal real world.

Adam who spent $10,000 to be at such an event? Anyone from Hillsborough or Pinellas?

Charlie Crist LOVES children... He's made protecting children his number one campaign issue... Just like Mark Foley did... Methinks the ladies doth protest too much!

[Gene Smith]

Who would vote for Doanld Trump for anything?

Why should anybody care what Donald Trump thinks, except Charlie Crist, who can't think for himself anyway.

Is the Donald telling Charlie to stay away from the "Meet the Press" style format on the NBC stations? What do you suppose the folks at NBC think about that?

Come on Charlie, let's have a real conversation about who has the better vision for Florida's future.

You know, a conversation that goes beyond your bumper sticker positions on the issues that matter to Florida's families.

[John Q. Student]

The same guy who doesn't know when the FCAT is administered also can't identify his member of Congress! Charlie Crist erroneously told the Tampa Tribune editorial board that Jim Davis was his Congressman! In fact, Crist is represented by C.W. Bill Young of Florida's 10th dstrict! This man is unfit to lead if he cannot even identify the very people who are repsonsible for representing him!

Someone needs to watch more of Colbert's "Better Know A District"

Trump/Crist '08

Who cares about the FCAT. Most Florida jobs are low skilled anyways.

John Q, To not know who represents him, he must not have voted, right? (Looking at the ballot is a big clue)

[John Q. Student]

5:43, I can't agree more.

[Imadashell]

The FCAT is the GOPs crowning achievement .The dumber the populace (fla is 50 in drop outs)the better it is .Get the dummies to vote for us because the Friendly man with white hair is on TV during the sunday football.Keep um dumb so we can contiue screwing them and the Donald and GOP friends get richer ..hahahah!Its working!!!

republican voters are dumber than dumb.
keep them stupid with bread and circuses in the midst of corruption and embezzlement of epic proportions.
oh yes, also make sure to add dollops of pietistic evangelical nonsense to complete this dish.

Conservogal, to answer your question, because unlike in the corporate world, no "one size fits all" solution meets the needs of the very real and diverse human beings whom we groom through the school system from K through 12 to BE in the "real world."

My younger sister is a special-ed teacher and believes it is appalling that even her learning-disabled students have to perform as well on the FCAT as a "regular-ed" student. Whatever happened to adaptive learning? The FCAT unluckily does not account for the remedial needs of students who simply CAN'T perform as a result of developmental and learning disabilities. That's a hard reality that I'm afraid the FCAT doesn't address, or solve.

[RMills]

Crist Is Cutting And Running

For weeks Charlie Crist's campaign has been trying to persuade WFLA-TV in Tampa to change the "talk show" format of the debate with Democrat Jim Davis moderated by MSNBC host Chris Matthews, to a traditional format -- in which the candidates are separated by podiums. Progress has been slow so, this week, the campaign began shopping for an alternative.

[Imadashell]

The Crist Campaign are COWARDS as they should be.Listen,Crist is great on TV as a BIG BROTHER TALKING HEAD .After watching his ads I think hes a moderate DEm!If he debates in from of Mathews hell get screwed because mathews will strip him to what he is "A Shill for the right wing sucking in the uninformed".The campaign is being wonderfully managed ..Finance it with Donald and insurance money.Promise the WHOPLES that you will cut insurance,taxes etc(even thought you are responsible for them)Spend 40 m as a compasionate conservative.(like Bush)..Then get elected and SCREW THE WHOPLES!If you are leading and the dems cant raise the big business and Donald $..Dont debate or youll be outed.Hush!!

[Imadashell]

PS my GOP frieds ..The average state farm premium for homeowners in Broward west of 95 is $4500..Citizens is $7600.It includes A 26% PROFIT plus a 13% agent commission plus the Citizens assessment.Thats the average ..Statewide its 1/2.See Sun sentinal from page..We need you guys in your UMatilla Double wides that we hold CHAlie Crist and Jeb Bush and the GOP accountable for this gouging..Someone has got to stop this insanity !

[John Smith]

Is Charlie Crist going to have a fund raiser for Donald Trump in Tampa?
Donald needs money to get his Tampa condo prodject off the ground.

[ConservaGal]

My younger sister is a teacher as well. She does believe in the FCAT because she knows too many teachers who aren't motivated enough to actually teach kids what they need. She just encountered a student who can't read a thing in the second grade but was passed on through K and 1st grade. Had she been one of those teachers who just wanted to pass her students off just like the two before her, he would have passed all the way through until the FCAT got him. And if the FCAT hadn't gotten him, he would have been one of those kids who graduated without being able to read. The FCAT system is far from perfect, there are few that are. But, it is working and we can guarantee now that kids with diplomas can read.

[Imadashell]

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and Democratic candidate Jim Davis differ most on the two issues that matter most to Floridians: education and property insurance. Mr. Crist would continue the wrongheaded, failed policies of his predecessor. Rep. Davis would transform them. For the future of Florida's public schools and property owners, The Post recommends voters elect Jim Davis for governor