War on Science Alive and Well, Thank You

I can't tell you how many people this morning have emailed me this Michael Gerson op-ed from the Washington Post, which debunks the "Republican war on science" thesis. They all want me to debunk the debunker in this instance. But why? Gerson doesn't accurately represent my argument in the first place. He's off down the eugenics trail, talking about values, blah blah blah. We "war on science" folks all know these distinctions--that the facts of science don't prescribe moral positions, that science doesn't dictate policy, etc--but they're dealt with long before we actually make our "war on science" argument. By contrast, Gerson ignores the meat of that argument entirely. He doesn't touch climate change, or evolution, or any of the dozens upon dozens of Bush administration political science scandals. Neither does he address the literally hundreds of government scientists polled by the Union of Concerned Scientists who complain of political interference. In short, Gerson's oped is a joke. No need for debunking, just laughing.