Science at The American Hypocrite

There is a very revealing post up today at The American Thinker that praises Al Gore for advocating the teaching of creationism in the public schools. This is hardly surprising to those of us who realize that a major goal of the religious right is to use your tax money to spread their religious beliefs. So much the better for them if intellectually defenseless children can be exposed to said beliefs as if they are science before they learn (if they ever do) the difference between religion and science.

The article tends to focus on the fact that the leftist media tended to downplay Gore's obeisance to religion, which is revealing in itself, but what I found more interesting was the rank hypocrisy of the piece.

[I]ronically and not reported in the MSM, Former Senator, Vice President, and Presidential candidate Al Gore ALSO supported the teaching of creationism in schools.

...

So Mr. Science and Reason (Gore) may have more in common with the religious and pedagogical views of George Bush than many appreciate.

For one thing, the piece explicitly says, "creationism [is] a synonym for 'intelligent design'," in order to be able to point out the commonality between the views of Gore and Bush. The conservative blog makes this admission despite the fact that the whole point of ID is to give creationism the scientific veneer it needs to become acceptable to more Americans! I guess it's okay to say this among friends....

Furthermore, recall how roundly Gore used to be criticized from the right for his support for the environmentalist agenda. And does anyone remember Gore's ridiculous claim to have "invented" the internet? The man was a total laughingstock among Republicans after that.

But now that he's pushing creationism -- not even ID -- Gore is praised as "Mr. Science and Reason." If Gore is known as such, it is only because the left has hidden Gore's religious side, and helped environmentalism pretend to be science for so long! It is very telling that those on the right will happily employ this same falsehood the moment they see it being useful as a way of selling their own unscientific and irrational views.

So much for us having ever heard an honest appraisal of Gore from the right. What else are they being dishonest about? That was a rhetorical question, of course.

This reminds me of nothing more than the practice of the MSM, noted by conservative commentators, of excoriating Republicans -- except when they do something that proves useful to the left. In Slander, for example, Ann Coulter goes on at great length pointing out the positive descriptions like "maverick", "jut-jawed iconoclast", and "feisty" that have popped up in the past for such "useful Republicans. (And of course, such descriptions evaporate the moment the usefulness of such a figure does.)

So now we have an example of the same damn thing on the right -- and on the very pages of a blog I recall having once been recommended by Rush Limbaugh himself: Gore is, for the time being "Mr. Science and Reason" -- to some on the right.

-- CAV