General Tata thinks Palin better qualified to be president than Obama...

[WorseBeforeBetter]

and he's the new superintendent of Wake County (North Carolina) public schools. DC was stuck with him for 18 months; now we've got him through 2014. He'll be making $250,000 per year, and it only cost a mere $82,500 to conduct the executive search to hire for the position (as we face budget cuts and layoffs...).

Wake schools hire Tata in split vote

RALEIGH -- Promising to bring order, discipline and efficiency to the state's largest school district, the Wake County school board's Republican majority selected retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony J. Tata as the system's new superintendent Thursday in a 4-2 vote.

....

The Wake school system will be provided with three free audits - on topics including academic standards, curriculum and hiring practice - by the Broad Superintendents Academy, the Los Angeles nonprofit institute that trains former generals, CEOs and others to lead large school systems. Tata, 51, trained there during the last period of his military service and afterward. In addition, for a year, the academy will provide Tata with a senior adviser with a strong academic background, the new superintendent said in his statement.

....

Supporters cited his work in D.C. schools and his training at the Broad Superintendents Academy, which is run on extended weekends over 10 months. (Wow, a certificate AND a senior adviser!)

....

Wake also faces a federal civil rights investigation over its student assignment practices and a special review by the organization that accredits its high schools. Both investigations stem from complaints by the state NAACP.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/12/24/880035/schools-hire-tata-in-split-vote.html

Wake superintendent candidate is a Palin fan

"A year ago, Tata wrote a glowing review of Palin's book, “Going Rogue” on the “Big Hollywood” site operated by conservative activist Andrew Breitbart, according to an article published earlier this year by The Washington Post.

Tata said Palin “is far more qualified to be president of the United States than the current occupant of the White House" and said that the former vice presidential candidate is “precisely the kind of leader America needs.”

Tata also criticized what he called “the mainstream media assault upon this patriot” and also cited Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as another example of a public figure whose image the media had distorted."

Read more: http://projects.newsobserver.com/dome#ixzz19KZXnCAp

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To those who are certain NC is "turning blue," guess again. It's a constant battle, and Republicans are VERY well organized. Obama narrowly won in 2008, and if the employment situation doesn't improve by 2012, it *ain't* going to be pretty.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Broad and military - a perfect combination

:sarcasm:

[Warpy]

2. While so many people attend wingnut churches down south

I don't see Dixie turning anything but reddish purple, never have.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

8. Agreed. There are pockets of blue in NC, but egads...

the rest of the state. Another incorrect assumption is that all northerners who move down are Democrats -- they're not.

[Dappleganger]

3. Once upon a time being a school superintendent required a PhD in education...

or something similar.

Of course, those were the days in which education actually mattered to some people.

[Edweird]

4. I'm holding out for what Major Vagoo has to say.

[asjr]

6. Mr. Magoo might have a better answer.

[NewJeffCT]

5. if he thinks that, I'd run three background checks & multiple drug tests

and, have several psychologists analyze him just to see if he is fit for duty. And, visiting Breitbart's site should be grounds for being fired.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

14. Nope, "New Wake schools chief can continue outside jobs."

http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/12/25/1887112/new-wake-schools-chief-can-continue.html

"Wake County's school board says its new superintendent can continue to be a conservative commentator on news shows and websites.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that the decision last week split board members along the same lines as the vote to hire Anthony Tata (TAY-tuh).

The board says Tata can continue the outside activities as long as he does them on his own time and presents himself as a retired U.S. Army general, not the Wake schools chief.

...

School Board chairman Ron Margiotta says it is Tata's past as a brigadier general that makes people care about what he thinks about national security, the war in Afghanistan and other issues."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sounds like he'll be quite the busy little bee. Thank goodness for that senior adviser...

[NRaleighLiberal]

7. The whole Wake County school board fiasco has been something to behold -

nutcases like Margiatta and that little Napoleon fellow (Tedesco) have made it a tragic laughingstock. We live in Wake - fortunately our kids are now adults and out of the system....Tata is icing on the cake.

:wtf:

[BeFree]

9. Sounds like a huge joke

A stupid "Lets do this just to see what might happen" kind of idiotic joke kids would pull.

Heard the last gov. there was convicted of doing some stupid stuff? And he was a Dem, right?

[WorseBeforeBetter]

13. Easley? Yes. All sorts of stupidity.

My favorite probably being the cushy position created for his wife at NC State University.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

10. I know, it's an embarrassment...decades of progress turned back.

I'm not saying there wasn't room for improvement, but not in the form of Yukon Barbie-lovin' General Tata, he of the 10-month extended weekend certificate. Gawd, and Brietbart no less.

[Vinca]

11. Tata is probably infatuated by the tatas.

[katnapped]

12. Takes a boob to know a boob n/t

[madinmaryland]

15. Tata???

[Hannah Bell]

16. tata = retired brigadier general. another of the military plants in US schools.

i wonder if he's related to the super-rich tata family of india, btw.

[cognoscere]

17. Or maybe the super poor (po) tata family from Idaho.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

18. I have no idea. It's not a last name I see very often...

and I knew next to nothing about Mr. General Tata until last week.

http://www.wcpss.net/news/2010_dec23_tata/tata-bio.html

"Major media outlets such as CBS, NBC, Fox News, and scores of other nationally syndicated and local radio and television stations seek General Tata's reliable, balanced commentary on foreign policy, with an emphasis on Afghanistan."

Yeah, that Breitbart certainly is reliable, depending on one's perspective.