John McCain turning to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for advice on education is a bit like hiring the Donner Party to cater the inaugural ball.

But there was the presumptive Republican presidential nominee the other day extolling the Bush Junta years as some sort of golden age of education

“He’s very well-respected on many issues, but education is probably one where he has a national reputation,” McCain said, which makes you wonder if he was immediately led away with a shawl draped around his shoulders for a nice nap and some warm milk.

A “national reputation”?!?!?! Oh really? Good grief, Bush may well have a “national reputation,” but it is much more likely for turning Florida schools into the Jack Kevorkian of the Three Rs.

Over the course of eight long, insufferable years in Tallahassee where he spent his days posing for holy pictures, Jeb Bush managed to leave office with Florida public schools ranked behind Chernobyl, the Planet Zircon 9 and the Paleolithic Period.

And John McCain treasures Jeb Bush’s counsel on education? That’s like looking to Uday and Qusay for guidance on how to pick up women.

During the Bush regime, the Florida Supreme Court ruled the governor’s ham-handed private school voucher plan unconstitutional.

At the end of his term, high school graduation rates ranked anywhere from 48th to 50th in the nation.

And while Jeb Bush, turned into the Paula Dean of cooked books, claiming 75 percent of the state’s classrooms were A and B schools, his own brother’s U.S. Department of Education noted some 72 percent of Florida schools failed to meet federal standards.

During his governorship, Jeb Bush turned the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test into a weapon against teachers and students.

And now John McCain portrays Jeb Bush as some sort of perverse champion of education?

Oh dear. Isn’t that like turning to the Grim Reaper for advice on stand-up comedy?