JONATHAN CHAIT NOVEMBER 16, 2010
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This is one of the most stomach-churning things I've ever seen. Right-wing pseudo-journalist James O'Keefe decided to do an expose on the teachers unions. So he sent one of his flunkies to a bar after a teachers' conference to buy drinks for a special education teacher named Alissa Ploshnick, and prompt her to dish about incompetent colleagues while secretly recording her. One of Ploshnick's stories was that a colleague of hers referred called a student a nigger" and was demoted but not fired. She was clearly outraged.
Guess what happened? O'Keefe released the recorded, and got Ploshnick suspended for using the n-word. Yes -- the teacher who, in what she thought was a private setting, complained about a colleague using a slur is suspended. Here, per Zaid Jilani of Think Progress, is O'Keefe's video ambushing Plotnick outside her home:
Pretty disgusting, right? It gets worse. Plotnick turns out to be a hero who in 1997 was commended by President Clinton for jumping in front of a van to save her students:
Alissa Ploshnick risked her life to save the lives of a dozen Passaic schoolchildren. She threw herself in front of a careening van to protect her students and landed in the hospital with broken ribs, a fractured wrist, a badly bruised pelvis and glass cuts in her eyes. She could have died.
She still suffers pain from the episode. That's the person O'Keefe decided to pretend to hit on at a bar, secretly record, publicize the recording, and then ambush with a camera outside her home.
Have I completely disgusted you yet? Still have an ounce of belief in the possibility of justice? Okay, here's New Jersey governor Chris Christie discussing the episode:
Christie recently praised O’Keefe’s secret taping of Ploshnick and others and said: "If you need an example of what I’ve been talking about for the last nine months — about how the teachers union leadership is out of touch with the people and out of control — go watch this video.’’
Asked whether the stories of Ploshnick’s sacrifice and heroism changed his view, Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak replied: "What do these stories have to do with recent events? What should they have to do with recent events? They are completely separate and have nothing to do with one another."
He thinks the takeaway from this episode is that the teachers unions are out of control.
9 comments
Wait, he's not in prison?
- miceelf
November 16, 2010 at 9:41am
I think the take away is no one should go into teaching and that the right-wing are terrorist animals. No, scratch that. I'm insulting animals. My apologies. I think it's gotten to the point that you have to demand who you are talking to if you don't know them first and then demand to frisk them for a wire or some recording device before engaging in a conversation. The right wing has gotten beyond disgusting. They've become psychological terrorists and they hate America.
- tnmats
November 16, 2010 at 9:42am
O'keefe must be sued. He has no concept of individual rights. Take acorn, which was accused of advising how to disquise harlot income as entertainment income. That advice happens to stem from a centuries old fifth amendment right not to be compelled to incriminate yourself and a tax return is compulsory. Advice not declare an illegal activity is common advice to individuals who want to report their income without notifying the authorities of their illegal activities. And government would collect more revenue if it swore off using tax returns to indict for non tax related crimes.
- Nusholtz
November 16, 2010 at 10:34am
"the teachers union leadership is out of touch with the people and out of control". I'm confused. Is Christie saying the teachers union leadership was driving the van?
- Fishpeddler
November 16, 2010 at 10:36am
Before reading this post, I had no settled view concerning Chris Christie, knowing very little about him as I did. But this changes that, to be sure.
- liberal reformer
November 16, 2010 at 2:10pm
Jesus Christ, what an illustration of the rabbit hole we're down.
- kpidcoc
November 16, 2010 at 8:35pm
I hope she's fighting the suspension with lots of legal aid from the union.
- ironyroad
November 18, 2010 at 12:03pm
"She said Yahweh! Throw stones at her!"
- akbaldwin
November 18, 2010 at 12:10pm
I just read (on TNR) about how helpless we are in regard to North Korea (and Carter's toxic silliness), an example on the macro level indicating human civilization will end by the end of this century. This article is a good example of how we are destroying it on the micro level, one vile idiot at at a time. While I don't look forward to the end of my life in a year, or a decade, or whatever (I am a fairly healthy 66 at the moment), I hope to go before the Mad Max jolliness really kicks in. [Vacation in Juarez or Tijuana anyone?]. However, I have a very sweet and bright six year old granddaughter, and I hate to hand over this world to her. Oh, well....
- skahn
November 25, 2010 at 11:10pm