STILL THE RIGHT’S FAVORITE FAKE HISTORIAN…. This kind of nuttiness is consistently irksome.
David Barton introduced Mike Huckabee at the Rediscover God In America conference, praising him as the epitome of the “Black Robe Regiment” mentality of seeking to apply the Bible to every aspect of the culture.
Huckabee, in turn, repaid the compliments to Barton, calling him one of the most effective communicators in America and wishing that every American would be forced, at gunpoint, to listen to every Barton broadcast.
That happens to be true. After Barton’s disconcerting praise of Huckabee’s radicalism, the former Arkansas governor said of his friend, “I just wish that every single young person in America would be able to be under [Barton’s] tutelage and understand something about who we really are as a nation. I almost wish that there would be like a simultaneous telecast and all Americans would be forced, forced, at gun point no less, to listen to every David Barton message, and I think our country would be better for it. I wish it’d happen.”
Now, Huckabee was clearly kidding about the “forced at gun point” comment, and the audience laughed.
But the larger sentiment is still just bizarre. Barton became a celebrity in the religious right in the ’90s, serving as a pseudo-historian trying to convince fellow activists to reject the separation of church and state. Objective analysis of Barton’s materials found glaring factual errors — which tends to happen when someone pretends to be a historian.
More recently, Barton helped write the absurd Texas curriculum standards, despite his lack of credentials; became a “faculty” member at Glenn Beck’s “university”; compared Tea Party activiststo Jesus Christ; and was the subject of an amusing Keith Olbermann segment.
But that’s really just scratching the surface. Check out this recent report from the Minnesota Independent, and this fairly devastating critique from People for the American Way.
What’s more, Tanya Somanader noted the other day that Barton, who holds no advanced degrees and is not affiliated with any legitimate academic institution, is also a radical Tenther who believes the federal highway system is unconstitutional.
And then realize that Mike Huckabee not only wants every student in America to be under this guy’s “tutelage,” but also that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) called on Barton to “teach” members of Congress about how they should interpret the Constitution.
