Newt Gingrich Loves 'Historian' Who Says Jesus Opposed Minimum Wage

It's nut-pickin' time in Iowa! That's why Newt Gingrich -- a man so amoral and crooked that he has to be screwed into his albino-rat wig each morning -- is buddying up with the best wingnuts Texas has to offer, in Iowa. Meet make-believe "historian" David Barton, who brought two important beliefs to Iowa so that corn-growing people who breathed too much pesticide can pick the best Republican nominee to distractedly pretend to care about Fundamentalist Christians while actually answering an email from David Koch on the Blackberry. David Barton hasproventhat Jesus, the probably-mythological Jewish radical who repeatedly called for both wealth redistributionandthe payment of taxes due to the government, actually opposed America's minimum-wage laws. Well duh! Also: The same Justice Department that spends most of its time dreaming up phony terror plots and then duping some bored/lonely Muslim teen-ager into agreeing to do the plot? It'sa Muslim terrorist organization. Makes sense, kind of?

From Mother Jones' Tim Murphy:  

"I never listen to David Barton without learning a whole lot of new things," Gingrich said, while inviting his audience to read the Texans' writings on the Founding Fathers. "It's amazing how much he knows and how consistently he applies that knowledge."

Barton is the founder of WallBuilders, an Evangelical organization devoted to breaking down the barrier between church and state—which Barton believes to be a work of pure fiction. Although his work has been torn apart by professional historians, Barton has fashioned himself as one of the leading experts on the idea that the United States is a Christian nation and that its development has been aided at key junctures by divine intervention. (He does have an honorary PhD. from Pensacola Christian College.)

It was kind of a step up for David Barton, who usually speaks to neo-Nazi "Christian Identity" groups and other mechanical-larynx militia types. [ Mother Jones ]