During the Republican presidential debate last night, Mike Huckabee was asked to clarify his position on evolution (CNN account of the question here). Huckabee didn't like being asked:"It's interesting that that question would even be asked of somebody running for president," Huckabee said. "I'm not planning on writing the curriculum for an eighth-grade science book. I'm asking for the opportunity to be president of the United States."Huckabee is showing the same whiny, thin-skinned lack of candor he displayed as governor of Arkansas. (He once cut off contact with the Arkansas Times because they refused to quit asking him tough ethical questions.) But guess what, Mike? You're running for President of the United States. If Bill Clinton could be asked about using a cigar for a sex toy, nothing is off limits--especially not this.
Huckabee answered the question by first seeming to endorse a form of theistic evolution, and if he'd stopped there he might have been okay. But then he defiantly embraced a literalist interpretation of the Bible, although he waffled on whether creation actually took only six days or not. He said, "If anybody wants to believe that they are the descendants of a primate, they are certainly welcome to do it." Apparently Huck doesn't understand the definition of the word "primate." Then he compared himself to Martin Luther, and finally complained about having to defend his beliefs on science, as if he didn't understand the importantace of his viewpoint.
So, let me lay it out for you, Mike: If you can't discern between fact (evolution) and fiction (the Biblical account of creation), whether it's due to stupidity, intellectual laziness, or bull-headedness, then you'll probably also have trouble discerning between Sunni and Shiite, or between Iraq and Al Queda. And we've already seen what a disaster that can be. So you're not qualified to be president OR to write eighth grade science texts (Messers Tancredo, Brownback, McCain, and Romney please take note).
1 comment:
We could have all the candidates appear on "Are you smarter than a 5th grader" and see who does best. If the 5th graders show them all up, we may have to make 35 a maximum, rather than mininum, age.
Actually, if the candidates are going to be asked a science question, I'd like to know what they think about space exploration. Do they think that we should commit to a having a manned mission to Mars within the next 20 years? What about manned missions in general? Are they worth the risk? What about funding for the successors to the space shuttle?
Post a Comment