Compare and contrast

I thought the most notable thing about this NYT editorial on NCLB was its amazing similarity to Margaret Spellings' oped in the WaPo. Jeez, I want to see the talking points memo floating around out there.

To wit:

~Both bring up the civil war analogy. It's a war, and the Feds are right, the states are wrong.

~Both just about drool over NCLB. Hey, it's one awesome body of legislation, though we know it's the corporations who lust, not the states.

~Both say NCLB's core tenets need to stay as is. Minor changes only. Why alter something so worthy and noble (to the corporations)?

~Both spin NCLB as if it is the end-all cure-all solution to some awful life threatening disease called public education. And, careful. If you get too close, you might catch cooties from the teachers. At least, that's the message we're getting in California.

To be fair, NYT is a bit more modest in its praise. I guess they do have a reputation for being a liberal (cough) paper. And Spellings brings up the term bipartisanship a few times, which invariably makes me think of how the DLC works so well with the conservatives that you'd think they were best friends.

All right.

On to my next question: anybody care to predict which rag will be next to print the same old talking points? And, no, rags owned by the Messiah don't count.