Dean of Evolution

OK, so I know I said no more politics. But opening the paper every morning and seeing a new pro-intelligent design politician blather at the mouth (today was John McCain’s turn), it’s good to see another famous political blatherer actually blathering something sensible. So I present, via Pharyngula, via “Face the Nation” Howard Dean:

Mr. Harris: Were you troubled by President Bush’s endorsement that intelligent design should be taught alongside the evolution to schoolchildren?
Dr. Dean: The president has been anti-science for a long time. This is the most antiscientific regime that I’ve seen in America in my lifetime. I’m a trained physician, as you’re aware. I’m insulted by that. It’s going to harm America. What serious business is going to invest in America if a scientific education is influenced by politics? Science ought to be taught as science. If you want to teach religion, that’s a separate debate. But science should be taught as science.
Schieffer: What is intelligent design? What do you think of that idea?
Dr. Dean: I think it’s a religious idea. And actually, Einstein thought that there was some merit to it. Who am I to question Albert Einstein? But that is not–a religious idea is different than a scientific design. The idea that–and I don’t think science and religion are incompatible. That’s the thing that amazed me about this. You don’t have to disbelieve evolution in order to be a religious person. So I don’t understand why these folks continue to try to have this debate. But the truth of the matter is, intelligent design is a religious perception and a religious precept. That’s fine. That should be taught wherever religion is taught, if that’s the desire of those people who are religious.
Science is science. There’s no factual evidence for intelligent design. There’s an enormous amount of factual evidence for evolution. Those are the facts. If you don’t like the facts, then you can fight against them. The Catholic Church fought against Galileo for a great many, many centuries. But it never pays to ignore the facts. Reason we’re in trouble in Iraq right now, president didn’t care what the facts were. Reason we have a $7 trillion, almost $8 trillion national debt, president didn’t care what the facts were. The facts matter. The truth is, you can’t run a business, a state, a country or a family if you don’t care what the facts are.

Not perfect, but hell I’ll take anything I can get these days.