Ron Johnson's tribe of academic super-elites

Three generations of imbeciles are enough. — OWH, Jr.

Remember back in June when the Oshkosh Northwestern reported that candidate for U.S. Senate Ron Johnson invited Charles Murray, the author of The Bell Curve, to town? At the time, Johnson told the paper he was not familiar with Murray's other Social Darwinist views.

This morning the paper reports that Murray's appearance was the culmination of a year-and-a-half of wrangling between Johnson and his colleagues on the Oshkosh Partners in Education Council.

In spite of the other council members' objections, Ron Johnson ended up personally footing the bill for Murray's speaking fee, having found Murray's views of champion academic super-elites* compelling after reading what he's elsewhere claimed is his primary source of information, the Wall Street Journal's right-wing op-ed pages.**

The Northwestern report was composed after delving into "hundreds of e-mails" between Ron Johnson and the education council. So does Ron Johnson still expect anyone to believe he was not familiar with The Bell Curve, Murray's signature Social Darwinist publication?

Whiteman's biotch, please. Obviously Ron Johnson is entitled to his oddball opinions, but in a debate about intelligence, don't insult it.

Not even the children Charles Murray and Ron Johnson want to discourage from attending college are going to buy that bill of goods.

* So much for Scott Walker.

** Those and Fox News's Dick Morris, of course.