3rd-Generation Yalie Bush Opposes Legacies

[RedEarth]

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites), who followed his father and grandfather to Yale University despite an undistinguished academic record, said Friday that colleges should get rid of "legacy" admission preferences that favor the sons and daughters of alumni.



"I think it ought to be based on merit," Bush told a conference of minority journalists when he was pressed about his views on affirmative action. "And I think colleges need to work hard for diversity."


Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, and his grandfather, the late Sen. Prescott Bush, were awarded degrees at Yale, and his daughter, Barbara, graduated from Yale this year.


Colleges' admission processes have never been equal for everyone. Universities have been known — and criticized — for making special allowances for athletes and children of donors and alumni.


Asked directly if colleges should eliminate legacy preferences, Bush said, "Well, I think so, yes."


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=703&e=1&u=/ap/20040806/ap_on_el_pr/bush_college_legacy

[Beetwasher]

1. Hahahahhahahahahaha!

Keep it up dumbass!

[saigon68]

5. NO ITS BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[cthrumatrix]

2. he was in panic mode ...translation = "i'll say anything right now"

to get off this damn stage

[aden_nak]

3. Maybe he didn't know what they meant by "legacies".

I mean, would that REALLY surprise anyone? Apparently he doesn't know what sovereign means, and he's used that word a few thousand times.

[pschoeb]

14. The reporter had to explain it to him, but he still didn't really get it

Because he said that he had to knock on a lot of doors to follow his daddy's footsteps. He seemed to think that all that work involved in pulling strings to get into Yale, made it not a legacy somehow.

[yardwork]

23. Yeah, how inconvenient for him

to have to go around knocking on doors and begging for help from daddy's friends to get into college. What a moran.

[DrWeird]

4. flipflopflipflopflipflopflipflop

nt

[fob]

6. Is that what he meant by Affirmative Access?

[DelawareValleyDem]

7. " I oppose legacies

now that I and my daughter have used it to gain admittance"

[BadGimp]

8. HYPOCRICY ALARM: thats more than I can take

I do not have to mental capacity to take that comment in, comming form this man.

[LynneSin]

10. AWESOME PHOTOSHOP!!!

:D

[progressivebydesign]

9. Bush doesn't really think that..

.. he was panicked in questioning. He made it clear, several times, as he refused to refute "legacy" directly, and said.. it should be based on merit. He knows that no school will eliminate legacy, give me a break. He was just talking out of his ass.. as usual.

[RamboLiberal]

11. I think I need to pick up some popcorn and a sixpack

to watch this speech and Q&A on CSpan tonight! Sounds like Bush did his own version of SNL and The Daily Show!

Bring on the debates!

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Now that his children's college years are taken care of,

I guess he can be gracious...

[pschoeb]

13. Ha HA, he's a legacy pResident as well

He would not be in office without his daddy's friends

[qanda]

15. WAIT!!!!!

The best part was when he said something about he had to knock on a few doors to follow in his old mans' footsteps. WHHHAAAATTTTT!!!!! He had to be kidding...

[pschoeb]

18. yeah that was priceless

Especially since he implied that since he had to grease so many palms, and do so much "work" knocking on doors, it wasn't really a legacy.

[jmcbroom]

16. Yale certainly gained some diversity when he came.

They had a "dumbass" quota for his class. That's why he got in. Had nothing to do with legacy.

[JerseygirlCT]

17. Well, sure. He's done, his kids are done, so now he can say the

right thing.

Expect a retraction in 20 years or so when the grandkids are due...

[hughee99]

25. Legacy or not

I'm sure that $$ alone will be enough to get his grandchildren into most any college.

[JerseygirlCT]

29. Wouldn't it be lovely if that weren't the case, though... nt

[bobbieinok]

19. apparently legacies in college admission (esp ivy league colleges)

began in the 50s to counteract the perceived threat of too many Jewish students.

There was a reference to the start of college legacies during the 2000 campaign.

Anyone know anything about this? remember this article??

[tom_paine]

20. Well, that's a FUCKING ODIOUS LIE!

Has he no belief that is dear to him?

Puh-LEEZE!

I don;t know which is worse, him thinking the Imperial Subjects of Amerika are no better than a mob of animals or the factthat he LIES about what is obvious.

[Enigma]

21. Profiteering

As long as universities need/want money, expect them to coddle athletes, the children of donors, and famous or wealthy alumni.

[daleo]

22. Barn door, meet fleeing horse

It is easy to claim to be in favor of getting rid of this version of affirmative action now that the daughters have graduated. I think he will have a change of heart once the grandchildren come on the scene.

[hughee99]

24. Does anyone here support legacy admissions?

I don't. This may be one of the few times that * and I agree on something (if he really means it).

[daleo]

26. He doesn't mean it, though

If he did, he wouldn't have had Barbara go to Yale on a legacy admission.

Note: I don't know for 100% sure that she was legacy, but it would floor me if she was accepted on merit.

[hughee99]

27. Even if she had the grades

Ivy league schools turn many qualified students away because of demographics. A friend of mine in college was turned away from Princeton because he was a Jewish kid from New Jersey. Apparently, Princeton has alot of people under that demographic, and even though his grades were fantastic, he was turned away. I imagine that the legacy issue came into play here with "little Babs", but I'm sure that it didn't hurt that her father and grandfather were also presidents. Ivy league schools love that sort of shit.

[laylah]

28. I about wrecked

my car when I heard this on NPR today...what a jerk!

Jenn

[llmart]

30. The hypocrisy amazes me.

I'm speechless.

[struggle4progress]

31. Bush opposes 'legacy admissions' to college

BY MARTIN C. EVANS STAFF CORRESPONDENT
August 7, 2004

<snip>
"He handled himself with grace, but I think he dodged the question on voting, on the right of every American to have their vote counted," said Tricia Schwennesen, an editor with the San Antonio Express-News. "He was dealing with a tough crowd," she said. "We know that, and I think he knows that."

Vic Carter, a news anchor for WJZ-13 in Baltimore, said, "I'm disappointed that he did not talk about issues that were important to us, such as diversity in newsrooms. It was a routine campaign speech."

Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who watched as Bush spoke, later accused the president of invoking the phrase "racial quotas" to fan the sentiments of opponents to affirmative action programs. He also pointed out that Bush declined to support a constitutional amendment that would place the right to vote under federal control, rather than leave it to individual states to manage.

"It's interesting that he spoke glowingly about the right to vote in Afghanistan, and skirts the issue at home," Jackson said.
<snip>

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/ny-usunit0807,0,4424278.story?coll=ny-top-headlines


Bush Defends Terror Alert, Challenges Kerry
Friday, August 06, 2004 8:33 p.m. ET

<snip>
Journalists attending the Unity conference in Washington gave Kerry loud applause when he appeared before them on Thursday, so Bush had little doubt about the group's political leanings when he agreed to talk to them.

Still, the derision that greeted some of his answers to their questions was a stark contrast to the fawning crowds Bush usually faces on the campaign trail.

Many in the crowd laughed when Bush struggled to answer a question about what tribal sovereignty means for Native American tribes in the 21st century.

"Tribal sovereignty means that; it's sovereign. I mean, you're a -- you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities," Bush replied.
<snip>

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=904366&tw=wn_wire_story

[RedEarth]

33. LOL...another bushism....george has such a hard time pretending to be

smart...The Great Pretender

[LiberalFighter]

32. Can they make it retroactive?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

34. I like that idea...

Make him go back and actually pass his entrance exam...the same one everybody else takes.

[wicket]

35. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!