Huckabee Surprises NEA

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was the only Republican presidential candidate to speak in Philadelphia to the national Educational Association received a warm welcome from delegates. Huckabee said, "but I'm proud to be here." Huckabee may have been a novelty but the audience enjoyed him.. The NEA has long been a part of the Democratic coalition, and union members made up 10 percent of the delegates to the party's national convention in 2004, the largest single bloc. Internal polling of the membership estimates that about 25 % of the NEA's 3.2 million members identify themselves as Republicans, 48 % as Democrats, and the balance as independent. "I know there are some who think a Republican coming to the NEA is like Michael Moore going to the NRA,"

He brought the crowd to its feet with his call for every student to have access to music and art classes in every grade. Many creative-arts programs nationally have been cut as schools try to hike student performance in math and reading to comply with the law." We're leaving a lot of kids' talents behind by denying them the opportunity to experience their creative self and to have a complete education," Huckabee said. "An education is more than simply a data download from an information source to a kid's brain." He also drew cheers by proposing to "unleash weapons of mass instruction" and calling an uneducated population "a form of terror." See also: Huckabee: Don’t sacrifice music and art & At the NEA: Oh, Arkansas

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Tags: Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, National Education Association, NEA, presidential candidate, Republican