Weird Science

Here's Dr. Demento, a.k.a. Howard Dean, explaining how Republicans don't believe in science...

“One of the most disturbing things about the Republican Party over the last couple of decades is that they just don’t believe in science any more. And that is not an approach that is likely to generate any kind of creative thinking…People who use snowstorms as an example of why global warming doesn’t exist don’t understand the science and they don’t care.”

You know, one of the most disturbing things about the Democratic Party over the last decade or so is that they consider men like Howard Dean to be leaders. Ed Morrissey does a nice job taking Dean apart...

Actually, we do respect science. What we don’t do is adopt belief systems based on hypotheses from so-called scientists that use incomplete and unreliable predictive modeling, include wild conjectures as fact, pass off student dissertations as reliable research, and accept advocacy claims without testing, all while conspiring to hide contradictory evidence and scheme to ruin the careers of those who question them. Science requires that claims get tested, that predictive models that fail get discarded, that data and process remain open for review, and that critical thinking get welcomed instead of demonized.

Now, when Howard Dean wants to discuss scientifically how anyone can represent what the IPCC did as rigorous and reliable science, and how the “science” that predicted unstoppable increases in global temperatures for the last 12 years got it wrong but still remains reliable as a basis on which to enact public policy that massively intrudes on private enterprise, property rights, and energy production, well, I’d bet the GOP would welcome such a forum. But while we’re there, perhaps Dean and the scientific acolytes in the Democratic Party can scientifically explain how a group of cells with a unique, human DNA that divide and multiply within a uterus is somehow not human life.

I'm not holding my breath on a response from Vermont's former Governor. The problem with Dean's formulation of climate science is that it accepts conclusions without a critical examination of the data and underlying assumptions. Most of the people mocking global warming by pointing to recent weather patterns do so as a joke. It's far more disingenuous to rely on false data to conclude that manmade global warming exists. And that's what the folks at the IPCC appear to have been doing. And the fact that dean may still believe in it would be pretty disturbing, if anyone actually listened to him.