Dave Brat, the economics professor who has shocked the American political World by defeating Eric Cantor, the 7th term GOP Congressman from the 7th District Of Virginia, has a very confusing history.
Dave Brat claims to be a Tea Party Conservative, and his campaign website says:
As an economist and educator for eighteen years, I understand the value of a good education. This is why I oppose top down approaches by the Federal Government such as Common Core and No Child Left Behind. I will support efforts to place Virginia’s teachers, parents, and local officials, who best understand the needs of the community, in control of our education system.
No Child Left Behind is a piece of legislation that was created and introduced by President George W. Bush, (the late) Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), with Ohio GOP Congressmen John Boehner and George Miller (D-CA) in 2001. The objective of NCLB is to provide a set of nationwide performance standards for education. It calls for annual statewide achievement tests to determine whether schools meet performance goals.
For some weird reason, perhaps a display of intellectual sloppiness that may be the shape of things to come, Dave Brat picked, of all things, No Child Left Behind to mention on his campaign website as something he opposed.
Perhaps forgetting he had a major paper he left behind on the Internet.
In this paper in 2005, Professor Brat writes:
Despite the many criticisms of NCLB, I believe it is a positive step in the right direction because it forces schools to be accountable for the education of their students. It’s an effective mechanism for identifying schools where students are clearly not getting the education they need to become productive members of society. NCLB is certainly a major force pushing schools to make the necessary changes so that they can provide their students with the basic skills needed to succeed. These are changes that may not have been made if NCLB hadn’t been created.
Now did Professor Brat decide to change his position because we went from George W. Bush to Barack H. Obama? Was he just playing along to placate Bush, but then did a two-face on Obama?
It sure looks that way.
Here’s the paper:
David Brat's Liberal Analysis Of Virginia Education by Zennie Abraham
And why did Brat elect to allow an anti-semitic message to enter into his campaign?
Stay tuned.