No Dunbar

It looks like Cythia Dunbar will not become the new chair of the Texas State Board of Education. Happy day! Instead, the replacement for previous chair McLeroy will be the moderate, intellectual Gail Lowe of Lampasas. Oh, wait:

...when looking at the new Chairwoman's words, we see that she is really only significantly better than Mr. McLeroy in one area of policy: evolution. She might not be as bad with her devotion to conservative principles that hold Texas schools back, but her website claims she is "Committed to excellence and conservative Republican principles," including "traditional values in education."

Now, though, I want to take another look at that one policy area where she is "better" than her predecessor; evolution. See, her rhetoric there is encouraging, but a look at her votes make it look like her words might only be a mask. Let's look at her record. In 2003, she voted against biology textbooks that did not explain the "weaknesses" of the theory of evolution. In 2009 she was still at that position, voting to reintroduce the "strengths and weaknesses" clause to the state curriculum. Overall, she has "strongly favored" creationism through her time on the State Board of Education, despite her tricky rhetoric that might suggest otherwise.

So basically, more a stealth nut than Dunbar, who's attracted national media attention with her remarks.