Chris Christie Gets a Standing Ovation ... at Harvard

Wait, what? At Harvard? Indeed.

Conservatives may see Harvard as the heart of liberal darkness, but on Friday it gave a warm, even enthusiastic reception to Gov. Chris Christie and his ideas on education overhaul.

Speaking to almost 200 students and staff members at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the New Jersey governor drew rounds of applause with his talk of sharply limiting teacher tenure, rigorously evaluating teachers and administrators, curbing the power of teachers’ unions and pledging to appoint more-conservative justices to the State Supreme Court.

Mr. Christie’s first ovation came when he said, “The reason I’m engaging in this battle with the teachers’ union is because it’s the only fight worth having.”

The ground he covered would be familiar to anyone who has watched the town hall-style forums in New Jersey that have made Mr. Christie a YouTube star. There, at least a few detractors usually show up to question him, and his policies and pugnacious statements can make even some supporters uncomfortable.

But here, during Mr. Christie’s 40-minute opening talk and a question-and-answer session of the same length, the response was less equivocal.

“I came away very encouraged, and I admire him for saying things that might be unpopular,” said Matt Shiraki, 26, a graduate student at the Kennedy School of Government.

The closest thing to a hostile question Mr. Christie faced came after he embraced the title bestowed on him recently by The New York Times Magazine: The Disrupter. Jenny Hanson, a graduate student in education, told him that she liked his ideas, but added, “I think using language like ‘disrupter’ and ‘battle’ and ‘fight’ could prevent buy-in.”

Mr. Christie, uncharacteristically, said he often thought about — and “struggled a lot” with — the notion that he is too combative, his language too harsh.

But he said he would not change his tone until the teachers’ union, the New Jersey Education Association, agreed that schools are in crisis and showed more willingness to make major changes.

“I have to convince the public that the house is on fire,” he said.

He saved some choice comments for the thugs from the NJEA.

Christie spoke about various obstacles to reform and cited the New Jersey Education Association, which he called a “political thuggery operation” and said was “fat, rich and entitled.”

Earlier this month, Christie referred to the leadership as “bullies and thugs” during a speech in New York.

An NJEA spokes-thug responded.

Now the governor is exporting his lies to Massachusetts, maybe because they’re not selling here in New Jersey," Wollmer said.

Uh, yes, they are.

Update: Via the comments, a first-hand account. If anyone has video, feel free to forward.

'Hate Crime' at Harvard: Gay Books Vandalized

While I don't support vandalizing books in a library, how is pouring urine on a book a hate crime?

Harvard police say they are investigating vandalism to about 40 books about lesbian and gay issues at a university library as a hate crime.

Security staff at Lamont Library said in a report filed with campus police on Friday that it appeared someone poured urine on the books on Nov. 24. An empty bottle was found nearby.

A police spokesman tells The Crimson student newspaper that all the books were about lesbian, gay and same-sex marriage issues.

Library spokeswoman Beth Brainard says it took so long to report the incident because staff wanted to assess the value of the books. She says they were worth several thousand dollars and will be discarded.

If vandalizing books is a hate crime, is burning down property and scrawling "f--k the rich" on property a hate crime?

Client No. 9 To Give Harvard Lecture on Ethics

Why, this is almost as funny as having Chris Dodd in charge of financial reform.

Oh wait...

Hooker-loving ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer is scheduled to deliver a lecture Thursday at - of all places - a center for ethics at Harvard University.

And the Madam who supplied Eliot with high-priced escorts said she can't imagine a less qualified lecturer.

"I am greatly intrigued as to what Mr. Spitzer could contribute to an ethical discussion when as Chief Executive Law Enforcement Officer of NY he broke numerous laws for which he has yet to be punished," Kristin Davis wrote in a protest letter to Professor Lawrence Lessig at The Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics.

"As Attorney General he went around arresting and making examples out of the same escort agencies he was frequenting."

Calling Spitzer a "man without ethics," Davis then enumerated seven reasons why Harvard should reconsider.

Davis unloads.

1. Is it ethical to take a total of $9M in illegal loans from your father for your two campaigns for Attorney General and lie about it to the NY Times, NY Post and NY Daily News?

2. Is it ethical to wire money to an Escort Service in the form of two $5,000 payments to evade federal cash transfer regulations and detection?

3. Is it ethical for you to tip off your favorite escort service days before a bust so that they may disappear?

3. Is it ethical to try to book an assignation with a escort under a fake name after you were banned by my agency for being abusive to women?

5. Is it ethical to blackmail Marsh McClennan Insurance into hiring your best friend as their CEO before you will to agree to a settlement of charges against them and require them to buy your friends business for $1B when it is worth $250,000?

6. Is it ethical to use the New York state police to spy on your political opponents, fabricate documents and lie about it repeatedly until e-mails released?

Ouch.

Useless Poll of the Day

With virtually every national poll of registered voters now showing the presidential contest in a dead heat, the Washington Post today releases perhaps the most meaningless poll this election cycle.

Democrat Barack Obama holds a two-to-one lead over Republican John McCain among low-wage workers but many are uncommitted to either presidential candidate, to according to a new poll by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University.

Obama's advantage is due largely to overwhelming support from African Americans and Hispanics, but even among white voters, the Illinois senator leads McCain 47 percent to 37 percent, The Washington Post reported in Monday editions.

The poll found that one in six white workers polled remains uncommitted to either candidate, the Post reported.

Most of the respondents were pessimistic about the impact of the November 4 election. A majority of those polled, both white and minority, said that no matter who won their personal financial situation would be unlikely to change, it said.

The poll included interviews with 1,350 randomly selected workers 18 to 64 years of age who put in at least 30 hours a week but earned $27,000 or less last year, the newspaper said.

Not registered voters, not likely voters, but randomly selected workers.

The national poll was conducted June 18 to July 7 among randomly selection low-wage workers. The results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.

A poll of randomly selected workers conducted a month ago does not reflect current trends.

And it only stands to reason that since most of them are minorities, they'll go overwhelmingly for Obama. Nor should it come as any shock that low-income workers tend to vote Democrat. After all, which party promises all sorts of freebies while promising to tax the rich?

It's as if this poll released yesterday where McCain leads Obama 56-24% accurately reflect the entire nation.

Naturally, with this attempt at manipulating the news, they overlook this poll where a majority says Obama was being racist with his dollar bill remarks last week.

Gateway Pundit links. Thanks!