Ed Schultz: 'Republicans Are on a Jihad Against Public Education'

Ed Schultz is at it again, accusing conservatives of waging jihad on public education.

Responding to a tweet from Reince Preibus wherein the Republican National Committee chairman insisted that “education is the civil rights issue of our time,” Schultz went unhinged, bellowing [click here for the MP3 audio; video below]:

We all know that Republicans are on a jihad against public education. They hate the unions. They think that the teachers get paid too much. They want to cut, cut, cut. In fact, the state that Reince Priebus is from, the governor there took damn near a billion dollars out of the public education budget and of course they're all about charter schools and privatizing and picking and choosing neighborhoods. Not everybody's going to have an equal opportunity.

Conservatives support “picking and choosing” neighborhoods? Meaning the neighborhoods that may ultimately determine where a child ends up attending school? How awful that some individuals would like a say in where their children go to school!

This language is not uncommon from Schultz, who in the past likened Rush Limbaugh to Hitler and claimed that conservatives were waging jihad on ObamaCare.

Schultz somehow equates conservative support for alternative choices in education–charter schools, private schools, homeschooling–with the destruction of public education. Of course, a right-thinking person should understand that schooling is not an either-or proposition; encouraging charter schools and private schools does not mean public schools are doomed to fail. But Schultz and many in the liberal media don’t see it that way and indeed refuse to see it that way, contrary to the evidence that vouchers do not doom public education.

In fact, Schultz made a reference to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), alleging that he had cut approximately a billion dollars from the public education budget. This year, Walker has proposed a modest increase in the Badger State’s public education budget, along with increased funding for charter schools and voucher programs. It’s not too surprising that Schultz’s analysis of the issue is virtually fact-free.              

The segment is transcribed below:

MSNBC
The Ed Show
May 19, 2014
5:32 p.m. Eastern

ED SCHULTZ, host: Our first question comes from Steve. Reince Priebus tweeted that education is the civil rights issue of our time. What is he up to? Well, he's hood winking big time. He wants you to think that the Republicans are really concerned about education. Actually, I think somebody was probably playing around with his twitter account because it doesn't match up. We all know that Republicans are on a jihad against public education. They hate the unions. They think that the teachers get paid too much. They want to cut, cut, cut. In fact, the state that Reince Priebus is from, the governor there took damn near a billion dollars out of the public education budget and of course they're all about charter schools and privatizing and picking and choosing neighborhoods. Not everybody's going to have an equal opportunity. So to say that it's the civil rights issue of our time, I would say Reince, you're right about that, it sure is. And it ain't equal so far and it should be in 2014.