Garrison Keillor distracted by moral rhetoric

I am a great fan of Garrison Keillor and have often listened to "A Prairie Home Companion" with pure delight at his wit and self deprecating pronouncements about Catholics and Minnesotans. I can relate coming from a Catholic family, educated in a Catholic school and living in Alaska. But I was a bit confused as to his point in his essay till the very end."We're failing our kids"(No Child Left Behind has plenty of flaws, but throwing it out because it's a Republican plan is morally disgusting.)p1-2.(www.Salon.com/opinion/keillor/2008/01/30/education/print.html)

I think he gets distracted by his rhetoric and reduces this complex issue to a sound bite of Republican versus Democrat. He makes alot of assumptions, pronounces moral judgements and ends with a prayer to St. Michael. It must have been a bad day.