"The Republican War on Science is a very one-sided book, which also agrees with my own view of the political situation. I think it's a one-sided political situation. It's the Republicans who are manipulating science toward their own ends to the detriment of Republicans and Democrats everywhere. Republicans have carried the suppression of science to a science.
We need science more now to make decisions about what to do than we have at any time in the past, but the status of science in policy making is at a lower point than it's been since the time of Eisenhower. George W. Bush sort of flew by the seat of his pants. He was an oil man, his Vice-President Dick Cheney is an oil man, all their friends are oil men; so they were good to their friends, and they found scientists that - working for the oil companies who would back up their position.
I think that George W. Bush is politically savvy, but in other areas his reputation as an intellectual lightweight is well deserved. I think that - and I believe that he seeks out people who affirm his own positions, including scientists; and then he turns around and believes what they tell them to after he's already picked them out.
I think Democrats and liberals - not necessarily the same thing - should read it, I think to see what they're up against and to maybe energize them to do something about it. I think conservatives and Republicans - again, not necessarily the same thing - should read it to adjust their view of things. I would give it five stars. I agree with the book, I agree with the premise of the title; I'm highly partisan myself, it's a partisan book, but it's also dealing with the partisan situation."
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