Appearing on Meet the Press Sunday, John McCain's senior adviser Carly Fiorina touted the Senator's bona fides on education by laying out the reforms he had envisioned for the No Child Left Behind act.
"He believes that No Child Left Behind was an imperfect piece of legislation," she said. "Nevertheless, there are things about it that have worked. We need to learn the lessons, fix the problems, fully fund it, and continue to focus on the education of our children as well as the education and training of our displaced workers."
But if full funding for NCLB is what Fiorina is looking for, she can start by lecturing her current boss. Despite hailing the legislation as a major milestone, McCain has consistently (though not always) voted against providing complete funding for the education legislation. According to the National Education Association, "Since 2003, McCain voted repeatedly against fully funding No Child Left Behind, resulting in an unfunded mandate that has continued to further tap local communities and states during an economic downturn."
The lost-in-the-news-cycle gaffe for Fiorina puts a exclamation point on what was, undoubtedly, a tough week. First she touted health insurance plans that covered birth control in addition to Viagra, leading to a completely awkward exchange for her boss with a reporter (not to mention the embarrassing revelation that in 2003, McCain had voted against an amendment requiring insurance coverage of prescription birth control).
Then she mentioned, in an interview with Bloomberg's Al Hunt, that McCain would be open to raising taxes on the wealthy, if in a creative enough fashion - a position sure to incur the wrath of anti-tax conservatives.