President Bush gives props to the “intelligent design” (read: anti-evolution) campaign:
In an interview at the White House on Monday with a group of Texas newspaper reporters, Mr. Bush appeared to endorse the push by many of his conservative Christian supporters to give intelligent design equal treatment with the theory of evolution.
Recalling his days as Texas governor, Mr. Bush said in the interview, according to a transcript, “I felt like both sides ought to be properly taught.” Asked again by a reporter whether he believed that both sides in the debate between evolution and intelligent design should be taught in the schools, Mr. Bush replied that he did, “so people can understand what the debate is about.”
Mr. Bush was pressed as to whether he accepted the view that intelligent design was an alternative to evolution, but he did not directly answer. “I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought,” he said, adding that “you’re asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes.”
The rest of the story has an aide trying to backtrack.
But then, in a story below, we see that Tom DeLay is appearing on the next Tony Perkins religious fringe TV extravaganza.
Mr. DeLay’s planned appearance adds the imprimatur of a top Republican elected official to the event, which seeks to call attention to what its organizers say is the Supreme Court’s hostility to Christianity and traditional families in its decisions about abortion, homosexuality and government support for religion. It will be broadcast to churches and Christian television stations and distributed as a video.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and the principal organizer, called Mr. DeLay, of Texas, “a natural fit” with the program.
The Republicans seem intent on being the party of the religious fringe.
