PRESS RELEASE – TEA PARTY OF LOUISIANA LABELS SENATOR VITTER A TURNCOAT OF LIBERTY WITH HIS RECENT STRONG SUPPORT OF COMMON CORE STANDARDS
August 18, 2014 For Immediate Release
Baton Rouge - The Tea Party of Louisiana (TPoL) wishes to express its shock and outrage at Senator David Vitter's recent statements in support of "Common Core State Standards". TPoL has always thought of Senator Vitter as a friend of Liberty, but his statements in support of Common Core are not what we'd have expected from someone who is a defender of Louisiana's children and a champion of Freedom and less government. Sadly, Senator Vitter's remarks sound more like the rhetoric we'd expect from a D.C. elitist who doesn't believe that we average citizens are capable of making our own decisions, running our own lives, and raising our own children. This leaves us at TPoL at a loss to understand Senator Vitter's inexplicable change of heart, especially given that in his announcement for Governor of Louisiana, this past January, Senator Vitter assailed Common Core as being an instrument of "big government", stating that he was running for governor to, among other things, "......to protect our Citizens from heavy-handed, big government policies like "Common Core", and all the rest". That was Senator Vitter's position just over six short months ago, and now he throws a "John Kerry" at us: "he was against Common Core before he was for it". Really? Where did that come from? What changed, Senator? Why the "flip-flop"?
The Breitbart organization stated that Senator Vitter's remarks "suggest a lack of awareness of the issues surrounding Common Core". We agree, and want to point out that the two talking-points Senator Vitter touched on in his statement diametrically contradict each other, and smack of Washington insider "double speak". Senator Vitter said (paraphrasing) that "he is for the Common Core standards", but is also for "local control of curriculum".
Unfortunately, Senator Vitter can't "eat his cake and have it, too"; he has to choose one position or the other: either he supports the big government, nationalized curriculum imposed via Common Core, or he supports local control of education. Which is it, Senator?
We can only hope that Breitbart is right, and that Senator Vitter's position on Common Core indicates his ignorance on the subject, because his new-found support of Common Core, coupled with Senator Vitter's recent "trial balloon" about the possibility of expanding Medicaid in Louisiana leave us at TPoL scratching our heads, and, frankly, wondering if Senator Vitter is really the true conservative we always thought he was.
We hope that Senator Vitter's recent position statements do not indicate that he's decided to cater to "big money" interests at the expense of the average Louisiana citizen. Supporting Common Core may net him a financial windfall from certain large campaign contributors, but it is also certain to cost him tens of thousands of crucial votes in the next governor's race.
Hoping that Senator Vitter really IS the man we've always thought him to be, The Tea Party of Louisiana urgently calls on him to rethink his position on Common Core and immediately, and publicly, reverse his ill-advised support of this threat to the future of our children and vow to STOP Common Core in Louisiana. We need real solutions for improving education, solutions like universal vouchers, solutions that put parents squarely in charge of their children's education, not another outmoded and doomed-to-fail, big government "boon-doggle" like Common Core. Are you listening, Senator Vitter?