The last thing either PV and I need is to become a game of blog-pong. So I am not going to directly answer each post: but this one is a useful launching point for some comments. Hopefully we can use each other to expand our thoughts and not go head to head all the time! More to the point she is far from alone in her concerns on this topic and it is understandable why zealots are scary people and the presence of even a small number of them is disturbing. The fact that the Republican party has supporters among the neo-Luddite makes being on guard for their influence reasonable.
But first, let’s recap: in this post of mine I pointed out that neither Biden not Obama actually seem to care about accurate science too much, just how it can be politicized. In particular this is interesting to note in the context of the theory that the Republican’s are somehow anti-science or are in denial of science. Go read that post, then come back.
Now this is the point in the average Herdwatching post where I would dig into PV’s particular examples at length but let’s skip all that and just look enough to see that this is not as simple as it initially seems. It is probably not a coincidence that the chairman of that planetarium pledged to raise more than $200,000 for the Obama campaign and other members of the board also donated significant funds to Obama the same year he tried to get them more than 900% more federal cash than ever before. It is also interesting to note that McCain did see some value in helping the Adler Planetarium and supported a vote that gave the place $200,000 (apparently it’s a good number in Chicago).
In short, McCain was willing to help, but felt that the vast majority of the funds for the $10 million renovation project should come from local sources and not federal ones. In case you were curious, McCain didn’t get any money from the Adler folks.
The above is relevant because I doubt this example was picked at random or to appeal to the vanishingly small number of folks who are not already McCain voters, are rabidly anti-science and are not hardcore Obama supporters. It makes much more sense in traditional political terms. Not only does it sound good but when you dig deeper into it you find it is a nicely juicy story of classic Chicago influence peddling. When you actually gather the facts this is far from a innocent transaction.
Countering the basis of the premise that Republicans have been driven to a anti-science agenda is easy because the facts speak for themselves. There are literally thousands (certainly many more but lets be on the safe side) of high tech research programs (military and civilian) directly supported by Republican politicians that it is sort of silly to even start listing them. Further, the core economic policies of the Republican party directly enable the huge pools of capital needed by private companies to do research one of the openly stated goals of those policies.
Can we find fringe elements of the far right who hate science? Sure. They are the direct counterpoint to the ultra-left “nature” first fringe who think even using tractors to farm is “raping the planet” and that almost all the machinery, construction and technology since the bronze age needs to be wiped clean. Sam zany fools different delusions. Whether they fervently wish for humanity to be destroyed by god or their barely understood “nature” doesn’t really matter much to me I find it all equally pathetic.
The reality is that even the far right religious base is far from universally anti-science and those that are real stone-agers have effectively zero influence. Hell, even among those who believe in one of the variations of the creationism spectrum almost none of them are actually anti-science.
I also don’t think those comments create an atmosphere of ridiculing science because at other points in his campaign and even in that same debate McCain praised technology and research. With the exception of the sort of idiot who is so against science they probably weren’t watching because the TV offends Gia (or Jesus, pick one) there aren’t many folks who heard those and seriously went “yeah, stupid science!”.
Oh, the other people who took that comment to heart other than the 3-4 TV watching cave dwellers? Astronomers who are all still pissed that knowing how to point out the big dipper still doesn’t get them laid at parties like the quantum guys do*. They are finally getting to write letters to the editor that talk about something other than “light pollution”.
One of the places that PV and I are alike is this we both almost certainly overestimate the effect the idiot fringe has on the policies of the parties they are part of. We are both almost certainly worried far beyond what we need to be*** but it does make for fun conversations and I think we can both agree that idiots suck!
Oh: and I am going to leave the touchy problem of Bear paternity testing for another post: bears have enough worries about their masculinity thanks to their infatuation with sushi.
* It’s true! the conversation below may have actually happened!
Scientist: “did you know my dear that at this very moment you may not be actually wearing any panties?” **
Science groupie: “really? I guess we won’t know for sure till we get back to your place!”
** This is known as Schrodinger’s pick up line.
*** Except Obama. He’s a Socialist sympathizer**** 
**** I’m kidding. I know he wasn’t any more sincere about that than he is about most things, he was just leading them on to get their endorsement by telling them what they wanted to hear and promising to help them get what they want once he is elected. He does a lot of that it doesn’t mean a thing*****.
***** That is, of course, if he even knew they were socialist. As we know from the campaign Obama rarely knows very much about the people allies himself with financially and politically. He’s really just a trusting and naive soul our Barack******.
****** !kool uoy edaM .haH
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