Tiny Victory for Facts

Public education nationwide is still not safe from the depredations of Texas wingnut freakazoids, but this is reassuring.

Too Whacked for Texas

Josh Marshall:

Let me start by backing off a bit from the headline. I know there are a lot of good people in Texas and even a lot of good people with progressive politics down in the Lonestar State. But c'mon, it's a whole different country.

Anyway, over the last year our Justin Elliott has been reporting on the Texas state school board and its attempts to ban the teaching of evolution and generally rewrite high school curricula into something you might hear on the Hannity show. And not just for Texas schools but across the country -- because the size of the statewide Texas market makes its decisions highly influential with national textbook makers.

But last week something funny happened. The top right-wing activist on the board, Don McLeroy, got beat in the GOP primary by another candidate, moderate GOPer Thomas Ratliff, who specifically made McLeroy's school standards craziness an issue in the election.

If a wingnut freakazoid can lose in Texas, they can lose anywhere.