The Right Wing is Smearing David Michaels

Just as they previously did to John Holdren, conservatives are now trying to raise doubts about another prominent scientist appointed to a top position in the Obama administration: David Michaels, nominated to head OSHA. (Read here for a Washington Times report on the attacks.) Michaels hasn't done anything wrong, of course; he merely holds views that scare big business, especially when it comes to the role of science in the regulatory process. Michaels is an expert on this topic (see here for my American Prospect review of his book, Doubt is Our Product), and has taken the lead when it comes to exposing the strategy of tobacco-style manufactured uncertainty, one of the leading tricks used by corporations to undermine protections for public health and the environment. So the recourse of the right wing? Smear him. Call him a "junk scientist." Try to derail his nomination. Effect Measure and Media Matters have much more documentation, and refutation, of the attacks on Michaels. I will only say this: If Obama is to successfully restore science to its "rightful place" in our government, then we need people like Michaels in that government. Now is the time to stand up for him--and the values of science, reason, and evidence-based thinking that he so robustly represents.