On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher stated that the federal Department of Education has done a terrible job and Democrats “have to own this issue a little. Because a lot of the states that are doing better now are like the southern states.”
Maher said, “Linda McMahon is the Department of Education Secretary. She was talking this week about — now we know the Republicans have wanted to shut it down since 1979, when it was founded. So, it’s not been there forever, okay. She said, it’s mostly a pass-through for funds that are best managed by the states. This stuff does not sound too unreasonable to me. She says it would not mean ending federal support for education, funding for low-income students, students with disabilities, that pre-dates the Education Department, and that would continue, as would protecting students’ civil rights.”
Maher further said, “Why do we need the Department of Education, if it has done such a shitty job? Kids don’t come out of school — first of all, they can’t read or do math anymore, and they don’t know anything.”
Maher added, “I really do feel like the Democratic Party, this has been their portfolio for a long time, education, okay. So, they — I feel like, they, if they’re going to get back into office, they have to own this issue a little. Because a lot of the states that are doing better now are like the southern states.”
Later, ABC News Contributor Donna Brazile said, “I don’t believe that this is a Democrat or a Republican problem. This is a whole of society, okay?” And Maher responded, “Yeah.”
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