Margaret Spellings is not a Mensch

Why is it every time a pundit talks about the colossal failure and abuses of those in this administration, education is always left off the list? In today's New York Times, Paul Krugman laments the lack of mensches in the government. He's talking about people who don't take responsibility for their actions, lie to the American people as they carry out the destructive policies of a President whose disregard for reality borders on the pathological.

The first sign Spellings was not a mensch and was as big of a bully as the rest of them, was her first official act as Secretary of Education. Spellings criticism of a PBS episode of "Postcards from Buster" that depicted a family with two moms was a chilling sign of things to come.

Ignoring reality i.e., the outright rebellion across party lines, states legislators and educators over NCLB has become the hallmark of her reign of terror as she convenes yet new panels stacked with testing industry experts like Kaplan Inc. These experts will objectively determine whether the testing frenzy should be implemented in high schools and colleges. The silence in Congress and in the press is deafening.

What's most sickening about Spellings, like Brownie and the other incompetents put in positions of power, is her arrogance and hubris despite the lack of qualifications for the job. Although she has never been a teacher, her mantra is to test every child, every year and in every subject. She talks about accountability for teachers and students while her boss proposes the largest budget cuts for education in the nation's history. Hiding behind the smoke and mirrors of The American Competitiveness Initiative, she has become the Stepford education secretary and mouthpiece for an administration that has no shame when it comes to lying to the American people about everything including education.

Qualifications? She has none. Prior to coming to Washington, she was just another Bush crony. Spellings' own education? She has a bachelor of arts in political science. Then again, in Bushworld, all that really matters is that she is one of the faith-based delusionals who still believes in the Texas Miracle.