by Greg Mayer

Although it’s a problem that’s been around for years, the perception of the Republican party as anti-science is growing in response to presidential contender Gov. Rick Perry’s forceful embrace of climate denialism and creationism (see, e.g., pieces by Jonathan Chait, Kevin Drum, and Paul Krugman). Even a fellow Republican, presidential-contender-without-a-chance  Gov. John Huntsman, tweeted “To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.” Huntsman elaborated on ABC News:

The minute that the Republican Party becomes the party – the anti-science party, we have a huge problem. We lose a whole lot of people who would otherwise allow us to win the election in 2012. When we take a position that isn’t willing to embrace evolution, when we take a position that basically runs counter to what 98 of 100 climate scientists have said, what the National Academy of Science – Sciences has said about what is causing climate change and man’s contribution to it, I think we find ourselves on the wrong side of science, and, therefore, in a losing position.

Republicans have tried to counter this, but Zack Beauchamp at The Dish is having none of it:

When someone like Rick Perry – an avowed anthropogenic climate change and evolution denialist – is accused of rejecting science, it’s an attack on Perry’s epistemological beliefs rather than moral values. Even though the scientific consensus is clear on both questions, Perry refuses to accept both. By rejecting well-supported scientific truths on, say, theological grounds, he is implicitly denying that the scientific method (rather than, say, theological reasoning) is the best way to determine truths about the natural world. That’s what being “anti-science” is. Given that basically everything we know about the natural world comes from natural science, we can’t tell how Perry will evaluate basic scientific truths on a whole host of important issues. That’s a big deal.

[Yuval Levin] is using obscure conceptual arguments to shield genuinely ignorant people like Perry from criticism. …flat-0ut denying the theory of evolution or anthropogenic climate change. ..involves denying the fundamental epistemological values that undergird the scientific project. Little things like “science tells us more about physical and biological truths than theology.”

Although there’s much to disagree with Huntsman about on all sorts of issues (he’s very conservative), it’s a sign of how bad the Republican party has become that their pro-science candidate has next to no chance of winning the nomination, and being pro-science is part of why his chances are so slim. As Republican strategist Nick Walters put it, “That talk won’t fly in the south.”