Definitely not. One can be an expert in one area, and still be completely incompetent while claiming otherwise in another one. Chomsky is just as well known for his politics and social commentary as for his hard science, and proficiency in the latter does not exonerate him from deficiency in the former.

>but as a big fan of Chomsky I'd like to not (sic, I presume) dismiss your vitriol

That's good - you've now dismissed the vitriol of at least two persons. But to be fair, I do know that I'm not being overly civil, and I do appreciate your effort to not be as close-minded as Chomsky himself.

>Who do you recommend in the areas of education, politics, and civics?

A good starter is the book which Chomsky slandered in this video. Camille Paglia has also written a lot on topics related to the ones touched upon in the video, but with much greater clarity and originality. I haven't read as much about education as I should have, so I can't give any more recommendations than that. The other two subjects are much too broad for recommendations to be meaningful, unless you are looking for something specific (refuting Chomsky is also too broad, I think) or just want to place me ideologically.