VOLuntarilyConservative

Sadly, one of the only newspapers "reporting" on the Pre-K monster's progress through the General Assembly is the Tennessean, which is akin to saying that no one is reporting on the biggest threat to the Tennessee budget since TennCare. This story is the extent of the coverage, and to say that it leans substantially to Bredesen's side of the argument is an understatement. I guess it's a good thing that Staff Writer Claudette Riley bothered to mention Drew Johnson and Tennessee Center for Policy Research, but all that was provided on their behalf were quoted opinions with absolutely no mention of Republicans on the Senate Education Committee - Jamie Hagood, Jim Tracy, Jim Bryson, Rusty Crowe, and Bill Ketron - for letting the Bredesen proposal travel onwards to the full Senate without even one dissenting vote. I am not going to be too harsh at this point, because, having been there and done that, I understand that certain pieces of legislation can be swept through committee with the plan of having them ambushed on the floor. I suppose that the theories behind such treatment include a false sense of security for the opposition and keeping the methods of verbally attacking the bill secret until the last minute. I hope that is the case here, but I am not convinced that it is.

UPDATE: OK, I swear that I had all of the above set out before Bill Hobbs had this to say about the same topic and the same Tennessean article. I certainly credit Bill with spearheading this effort.

MORE: Mark A. Rose at Right Minded predicts how the Tennessee Education Association will use this to their advantage in the future.