The thread from DailyKOS excerpted below is a lesson in political strategy, from the reality based community.

I hesitate to call the thread “liberal” or “Democrat”, because in the 21st Century we should not be having to mount a major political campaign just to get people to believe in basic fundamental science.

But the right wingers and the GOP are SO anti-science that they are almost threatening to turn the clock back 1000 years to the dark ages.

The reality based community, whatever their political persuasion, has a great interest in stopping this ridiculous public campaign to stamp out science (at least any science that might possibly suggest that the earth is older than 6,000 years or that evolution occurs).

The talking points below point out that Bush’s monied corporate supporters all make their living off of the true hard sciences, those same sciences that maintain that the earth is billions of years old, and that evolution occurs, etc, etc.

Yet these corporations support the anti-science GOP.

So, Does George W. Bush REALLY believe that science is BS, like his most hardcore supporters seem to believe?

We say “NO”, that Bush does NOT believe science is BS. And we’d like to force him to say so.

That’s what the thread is all about. Enjoy.

Use Science as wedge issue to force GOP to reject nutty anti-science base (from DailyKOS)

Young Earthers form the bulk of support for Intelligent Design Creationism, despite the fact that most of the Discovery Institute’s top shills will profess being old earthers if you corner them and berate them long enough. Young Earthers deny pretty much every field of natural science. That means geology (Energy), astronomy (Space), biology (Pharmaceutical, biotech, and health care workers), and physics (Defense technology). Yes, BushCo will use them without shame, but the industry captains and senior managers understand quite well that science is their breath of life. Make it a big enough stink so that the Neo-Christain right flips out and starts raving against science, and you force the BushCos to either loudly denounce creationism, or loudly support it. And believe me, they absolutely do not want to do either, because they understand the danger. And besides, you sideline them with a non-issue for once.

Everyone in this nation knows that in one form or another, science impacts their lives positively. Whatever else one thinks or says about science, it delivers the goods. If your children has virulent appendicitis, you can pray to Buddha, cast horoscopes, go to psychics, try acupuncture, whatever, and that child will die a painful, septic death. Or you can go to the hospital for a routine operation and medications, and the child will recover as if nothing happened. Yet we let them, the Bushistas, get away with hijacking a good chunk of the Christian community based, in part, on discrediting science, despite the life-saving gifts it has bestowed.

“People often seem to forget that Christian doesn’t equal Fundamentalist. Just as the politicaly conservative have high-jacked terms like pro-life they have also hijacked the term “Christian.” I am a born-again evangelical. What that means literally is that I have had a spiritual experience and I’m willing to talk about it, it doesn’t mean that I hate science, gays, or anyone else. Except maybe fundamentalists who have hijacked the terms I used to use to describe my beliefs, they suck.”-NamelessSoldier

I believe that science is a potential wedge issue for democrats, because BushCo and key members of Congress have hitched their star to the Theocratic Conservatives who almost to a man reject evolutionary biology, looming oil shortages, climate issues, environmental pollution issues, and so forth. To defeat Bush and Co. you only need to cleave off a few percentage points of their theocon base and a few points of their secular base. You do that, they’re dead in the water. I’d send up a trial balloon by hanging the antiscience moniker on DeLay, Santorum, or Frist, and see if it has any effect.

It may be useful because by pushing it, you force BushCo to publicly side with the Theocratic Conservatives. At least, I don’t think they really can come out strongly in favor of science/evolution and survive politically. Although I should note that the WH Science Advisor, Richard Marburger, has stated quietly but openly that Intelligent Design Creationism is nonsense. So, even if they do the right thing, science wins. But by forcing their hand, I’m guessing they will be far more likely to come out strongly for what has morphed into an entire anti-science genre of fringe nutballs, and by highlighting that issue you drive away several groups of support for the Bushistas without losing votes.

Hard-nosed, pragmatic Defense Hawks fully understand that our ability to project military power is utterly contingent on our scientific prowess. Both educated Christians and atheist GOP supporters (Oh yes, there are plenty), who are waffling already, especially science types, are repulsed by Intelligent Design Creationism and the whole anti-intellectualism of the Neo-right.