"J.E.B." Bush Glides Over 9/11 - Brother "Kept Us Safe"

John Ellis "J.E.B." Bush (a.k.a., the Smart Bush) was asked on Sunday's Face the Nation what successes and mistakes he learned from older brother Dumbya:

Well, the successes clearly are protecting the homeland. We were under attack, and he brought -- he unified the country and he showed dogged determination. And he kept us safe.  (our emphasis)

Exactly.  Except for -- what was it again? -- oh yeah, 9/11.  Just the largest, most deadly terrorist attack ever on American soil.  Then brother Dumbya sent American men and women to die and be maimed in an unnecessary war against a country that didn't have anything to do with the attack on us, an action for which we're still paying as are the people of the region.  

We'd call him a dumb-ass, but that would be insulting to dumb-asses everywhere.

Today's History Lesson

Here's a question for you.  Which of these two people would you rather have setting education standards in your school district?  Julie Williams, right-wing Colorado edumacator:

Protests in Jefferson County, the state's second-largest school district, began a week ago Friday. By this Thursday, there were nearly 1,000 students marching in protest of the county school board's call for an Advanced Placement curriculum on U.S. history that promotes "respect for authority" and discourages "civil disorder, social strife or disregard for the law." [snip]

Julie Williams, one of three conservative members who control the county school board and who helped design the proposal, said on Friday that she's "not saying let's not teach history accurately," but what she is saying is "let's not encourage our children to disobey the law." When Denver's KUSA-TV asked Williams for examples of moments in history that might be misrepresented in the AP course and could lead to the negative outcomes she fears, Williams couldn't cite a single example. 

"I'm not familiar enough with everything that is in AP history to make that judgment," she said.  (our emphasis)

Or Maggie Ramseur... High.  School.  Senior (!):

"The point of civil disobedience is to break an unjust law with the intention of bringing attention to it so that it may be rectified and made just," Ramseur said. "Teaching students about that does not encourage them to become anarchists. It encourages them to speak up about policy and make the government serve the people, which is what our democratic republic was designed for." 

"And that is something that I learned in Advanced Placement United States History," she added. "The uncensored version."

Meanwhile, George Santayana is rotating briskly in his grave.

(h/t Silver Spring Bureau Chief Brian)

More Cognitive Dissonance, Republican Style

Nearing the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Leonard Pitts takes note of the legacy and today's moral cowards and would-be usurpers of that legacy:

King would see that for all the progress we have made, we live in a time of proud ignorance and moral cowardice wherein some white people — not all — smugly but incorrectly pronounce all racial problems solved. More galling, it is an era of such cognitive incoherence that conservatives — acolytes of the ideology against which King struggled all his life — now routinely claim ownership of his movement and kinship with his cause.

When he was under fire for questioning the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for instance, Sen. Rand Paul wanted it known that he’d have marched with King had he been of age. And he probably believes that.  (our emphasis)

Speaking of moral cowards, we see South Carolinia distaff peckerwood Kathleen Parker missing the point, entirely (spoiler alert:  it's racist to point out racism, and it's all Obama's fault).  Wrong side of history --  again.