If Chris Mooney didn't seem so serious, I would think this was a joke. He's predicting that George W. Bush will use the State of the Union Speech to stake his claim as "the Science President."
A while back I blogged about an idea floated by Morton Kondracke: That George W. Bush should try to become the "science" president by emphasizing, in his State of the Union speech, themes of global scientific competitiveness and the need to ensure that the good old USA is leading the pack. Well, it now seems official: According to the Boston Globe, in his speech tonight Bush plans to highlight Norman Augustine, a former Lockheed Martin CEO who "last year led a congressionally mandated National Academies team that issued a report warning that America is 'on a losing path' in the global marketplace." Why are we falling behind? If you believe the NAS, it's because of inadequate scientific and mathematical training for our high school students, not enough funding of basic scientific research, etc etc.
That's right. George "Let's teach intelligent design" Bush. George "Let's censor climate scientists" Bush. George "Let's watch while particle physics withers away" Bush. George "Let's slash funding for basic research" Bush. George "Let's politicize the scientific decision-making process and suppress results we don't like" Bush. George "Let's divert research funding to my Moon-Mars boondoggle" Bush. George "Most anti-science President ever" Bush. I understand that, after staking his claim as the Science President, Bush will present himself with a coffee mug that says "World's Greatest Leader, Ever." And a pony.
