Bloomberg: GOP Presidential Candidates So Anti-Science It's "Mind-Boggling"

 

mayor bloomberg republican on republicans science

OK, this is not breaking news, but it’s worth a play any time, because, sadly, the anti-science Republicans running in the presidential primaries don’t seem to have any interest in learning the science.

Former Republican and current Mayor of New York City, Mayor Bloomberg, said this month that trusting science should be a given at that level of politics. He said so at an international economic forum at Columbia University. In particular, he was focusing on the GOP candidate’s denial of human-caused global warming and climate change, as well as evolution.

“We have presidential candidates who don’t believe in science,” Bloomberg said. “I mean, just think about it, can you imagine a company of any size in the world where the CEO said ‘oh I don’t believe in science’ and that person surviving to the end of that day? Are you kidding me? It’s mind-boggling!”

Bloomberg wouldn’t name any politician, in particular (well, it’s almost the whole batch of Republicans running for president and several in Congress).

“I don’t know,” he said. “You can check the presidential candidates’ speeches… I don’t have time to go do it but all their speeches, everything they said.”

This echoes perhaps the apparently single “climate-change realist” in the group, Jon Huntsman.

At one point, Huntsman even took to Twitter, writing, “To be clear, I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.” He has also said, “The minute that the Republican Party becomes the anti-science party – we have a huge problem.”

The “funny” thing to me is that those who “don’t believe” the scientists often say the scientists are just after money, while they shovel millions from fossil fuel companies into their campaigns and those fossil fuel companies earn billions every year in profits (including billions in tax breaks granted by those same politicians they fund). Ironic? Or are these politicians suspicious of others they have no right to be suspicious of because of their own greed and lack of scruples?

Mayor Bloomberg photo via Center for American Progress

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