Is There a Republican War on Science

In a very humorous op-ed in the NYT today, Michael Gerson (he was the Bush speech writer who coined the phrase "smoking gun/mushroom cloud" to get us into a war with Iraq)states that there is no such thing as a Republican "war on science". In fact, it's really just a ploy by Democrats to shut down political debate on science policy.

For the most part, these accusations are a political ploy -- actually an attempt to shut down political debate. Any practical concern about the content of government sex-education curricula is labeled "anti-science." Any ethical question about the destruction of human embryos to harvest their cells is dismissed as "theological" and thus illegitimate.

Gerson chooses his examples very carefully. Although I'm not sure where debate about sex-education curricula and stem cell research is being shut down by Democrats. What I am sure of is that the current Republican administration can surely be accused of running a "war on science". I don't need to go into details here....entire books have been written on the subject. For example, The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney.

Even better, read this report called Federal Science and the Public Good published by the Union of Concerned Scientist. They accuse the Bush administration of 1) falsifying data and fabricating results; 2) selectively editing reports and creating false uncertainty; 3) tampering with scientific procedures; 4) intimidating and coercing scientists; 5) censoring and suppressing scientists; 6) hiding, suppressing and delaying release of scientific findings; 7) disregarding legally mandated science; 8) allowing conflicts of interest and 9) corrupting scientific review panels.

Naturally, Gerson is aware of all these examples of the Republican war on science. It's surprising that a good, evangelical Christian like Gerson would stoop to writing a dishonest op-ed. What is his real purpose in the op-ed. Its to accuse liberals of running a "new eugenics", kind of like that run by the Nazis. Good luck with that one.

Gerson helped lie us into a war with Iraq. Now he wants to start rewriting the history of the Republican war on science.