Is there room for science in the GOP?


Anyone who’s watched politics over the last few decades in America has seen a powerful shift in the Republican Party away from science (And sanity in general) in favor of rigid hard-right ideology and magical thinking. Jon Huntsman, former Utah governor and current long-shot GOP 2012 presidential contender, spoke out on that regrettable trend last week:

“When we take a position that isn’t willing to embrace evolution, when we take a position that basically runs counter to what 98 of 100 climate scientists have said, what the National Academy of Science has said about what is causing climate change and man’s contribution to it, I think we find ourselves on the wrong side of science, and, therefore, in a losing position,” Huntsman told ABC’s “This Week.”

It would be nice to see Huntsman do better, but among likely conservative primary voters he’s in the low single digits. I don’t think there’s room in the Teaparty run GOP for a candidate who recognizes basic science. That genie got loose, some might say it was intentionally let out and encouraged to roam wildly, and it ain’t going back in the bottle anytime soon.

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