After the "Tea Party debate" last night, CNN turned to a long cast of experts for analysis. One that stood out was Obama-loving Roland Martin, who clearly wanted to make sure that all the candidates seemed inferior to his hero the POTUS and his "collision course with destiny." He came out slamming the Republicans for failing to attract Latino voters with amnesty proposals and for having no ideas on education: "Frankly, not a single candidate offered anything to speak to the crisis we have in this country when it comes to education. So a major failure in that not coming up."
Precisely whose failure was that? CNN's Wolf Blitzer and the questioners in the audience never asked about education. The only time schools came up was in another debate over Rick Perry's Gardasil-inoculation mandate for young girls -- and Blitzer repeated several questions like that one that had already been debated on MSNBC last week. Don't bother Martin with the facts. He came out swinging:
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: If you're a Latino voter, the last thing you wanted to hear was some of the stuff you heard tonight. Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico will be critical states when it comes to November 2012. And the GOP did themselves no favors tonight in trying to curry favor with Latino voters. Also, amazing, education did not come up in this debate at all. So much emphasis -- you talk about Social Security, talking about a balanced budget.
COOPER: It came up, abolishing the Department of Education. [Yes, if you count a brief mention in a Ron Paul answer about unnecessary cabinet departments.]
MARTIN: Well, right, right. That's the only moment it came up, but frankly if you're a parent trying to get your kid educated, frankly not a single candidate offered anything to speak to the crisis we have in this country when it comes to education. So a major failure in that not coming up.
COOPER: Roland Martin?
MARTIN: It's amazing what you heard, Governor Rick Perry's answer when it came to illegal immigrants. It was the right answer. It was the correct answer. And I'm surprised all those Tea Party people forgot that Ronald Reagan signed a deal allowing three million illegal immigrants in terms of amnesty. And so they tend to forget conservative history. Smart move to attract Latino voters in important states in 2012.
Speaking of forgetting "conservative history," Martin must have ignored where these GOP candidates have pointed out Reagan regretted signing the Simpson-Mazzoli amnesty bill in 1986 because it did not correct the immigration picture.
On his website, Martin promotes sales of his book "The First: President Obama's Road to the White House as Originally Reported by Roland S. Martin." It boasts not only Martin's supportive interviews with Barack and Michelle, but with a parade of black leftists: "He gives readers insight on how each important event played out in front of the nation and also shares interviews from his broadcasts, including a one-on-one conversation with President Obama after his win in Iowa in January 2008. Other notable interviews include Dr. Cornel West, Rep John Lewis, Spike Lee, Maxine Waters and Michael Eric Dyson."
