Santorum now critical of Dover case

[TacticalPeek]

Posted on Thu, Dec. 22, 2005

Santorum now critical of Dover case
He denies he is contradicting earlier statements of support for the cause.
By Carrie Budoff and Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writers

Early this year, Sen. Rick Santorum commended the Dover Area School District for "attempting to teach the controversy of evolution."

But one day after a federal judge ruled that the district's policy on intelligent design was unconstitutional, Santorum said he was troubled by court testimony that showed some board members were motivated by religion in adopting the policy.

And, he said in an interview, he disagreed with the board for mandating the teaching of intelligent design, rather than just the controversy surrounding evolution.

Santorum - who sits on the advisory board of the Thomas More Law Center, which defended the school board in court - said the case offered "a bad set of facts" to test the concept that theories other than evolution should be taught in science classrooms.

more
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/13461220.htm



Obviously, he's up for election.

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. (sing) Santorum, my friend, is blowin' in the wind....

I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

[C_U_L8R]

2. Santorum seems synonymous

with spineless.

What a weasel !!!

[BlueEyedSon]

3. "a bad set of facts"??? Maybe because there are no "good facts" to

support ID....?

[Evergreen Emerald]

5. You are right, because inherently the ID is an attempt to push religion.

The "bad set of facts" he sites are that the school board lied about their motive, which was really to push religion on children by disguising it as a "scientific theory."

The problem is that there are no good set of facts because getting religion into public schools IS the goal. They must disguise it to avoid the pesky Constitution. So, either they tell the truth, thereby guaranteeing a loss on constitutional grounds, or lie and create a "bad set of facts."

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Correct

See my analysis below. It is in the same vin. You've summarized it much more nicely, though.

[rkc3]

4. I love Republicans:

From the article - "His 2002 op-ed dealt with academic freedom and argued that dissenting theories to evolution shouldn't be repressed. He said he meant that teachers should have the flexibility - but not be required - to mention intelligent design as part of the evolution debate, a position he continues to hold."

Rick would have us believe that diseenting opinions are important to, perhaps, create critical thinking skills. I wonder if Rick would disagree with the Bush administration over herding dissenters behind fencing so his king would not be subjected to a dissenting opinion while giving a speech.

I wonder how Rick would feel if we offered up teaching students about safe sex - as a corollary and dissenting opinion to abstinence in the classroom. My guess is that he wouldn't be as open to that theory.

After all, he's a douche bag.

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. It was a remarkably bad set of facts for the Intelligent Design movement

Why they hitched their wagon to the lunatics on the Dover School Board is a mystery to me. probably just fundamentalist hubris.

The school board members were religious fanatics. As testimony demonstrated, many of the more pliant members didn't even know the basic arguments of intelligent design, and at least one repeatedly misstated the name (as "intelligence design") in court! They voted for a "scientific alternative theory" (assuming their definitions) without being in the least bit briefed on the science. (Needless to say, the supposed science, which rests on the concept of "irreducible complexity," is itself wrong). They made outrageous statements that were out-and-out creationist and took secret donations from a fundamentalist church that were then laundered through a school board members father in order to hide their source. They were a pack of liars.

Their main problem was this: they intended the challenge to evolution for religious reasons, but then had to mask that when they saw that the case law was overwhelmingly against them. So, they ended up with incoherent and contradictory positions, since they were constantly having to both defend and renounce their religious motivations. Interestingly enough, Santorum is in the same position!

[Evergreen Emerald]

9. Good point about Santorum

He is in the same position. Hence his shifting stances. His foundation (which is the foundation of ID) is quicksand because the truth (that they are attempting to get religion in public schools) is thinly veiled. It is hard to stand up in quicksand. Happy sinking Santorum.

[ananda]

8. whish

Whish way is the wind blowing now, Sanctorum? lol

[radfringe]

10. wind direction changed

moderate to sever gusts have toppled some of his Polls numbers

just call him a whirly-gig....

[yellowcanine]

11. Two strikes and Ricky is trying to foul off the third strike......

First the Dover voters clean sweep the school board fundies
Second the judge smacks down the ID malarky and exposes it for the creationist nonsense that it is.


Third.....voters sweep out a fundy senator. Heh.

And wasn't the Thomas More Law Center one of the groups the judge called a liar for Jesus?

[bleedingheart]

12. He has been smearing himself around the local cable channels

he is vying for every photo opportunity to get his image more polished and likable for the upcoming year...

We need to be very wary of this....he is a worm.

[kay1864]

13. LIAR LIAR LIAR

He *endorsed* the decision--his puff-piece appears in the Dover Biology newsletter, the one that announced the ID decision in early 2005!

[CornField]

14. There's much more than an election at stake in this

The ID group, following this scathing ruling, needs a new avenue of attack. Please note: "...he disagreed with the board for mandating the teaching of intelligent design, rather than just the controversy surrounding evolution."

[ohtransplant]

15. Election Year Ricky

is much more moderate that the real thing. He helped save Social Security you know.:sarcasm:

[BlueInPhilly]

16. Santorum BEGONE!!!

11 more months...
11 more months...
11 more months...

:party:

[ohtransplant]

17. I wish I still lived in PA

just so I could vote against this bastard.

Since I can't I just send $$$ to Casey.

Please don't let him buy another election and scare people into voting for him.

Peace.

[Walt Starr]

18. Heh heh, you said "Santorum", heh heh. n/t