David Barton, one of the Religious Right’s most relentless promoters of dishonest and misleading information, appeared on Glenn Beck’s television program last night, where the two discussed the importance of teaching people not “what to think,” but rather “how to think.” Teaching people “how to think,” Barton said, would pay huge dividends for America by giving conservatives confidence to speak up on the issues of the day.

“Self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals in nearly every state,” Barton said, claiming that conservatives are reluctant to speak up on current events because they are afraid that they do not have enough knowledge or information, whereas liberals simply don’t care that they are clueless and are just willing to lie.

“Why is it that conservatives are convinced that they are in the minority?” Barton asked. “In reality, we’re not, but we think we are … According to statistics, when you look at the groups of liberals, and moderates and conservatives, conservatives are by far the most silent of those three groups. They’re least likely to speak up, and why is that? It’s because conservatives don’t want to speak until they feel like they’ve mastered the facts about whatever the subject is that is under discussion. Now, liberals or moderates, they’re happy to give you their opinion and tell you what they think, regardless of whether they know the facts. But conservatives don’t like doing that, they want to know the facts before they answer what are often wild and baseless claims made by liberals and moderates.”