Lord of the Flies: John McCain Continues His Crusade Against Science

Remember John McCain? He was Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's running mate in the 2008 presidential elections. Palin and McCain issued bitter attacks on scientific research and science education during that ramshackle campaign, apparently hoping that displaying profound scientific illiteracy would make their message more appealing to the American public.

For example, in October 2008, Palin did manage some cheers in Pittsburgh with lines condemning funding for "dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good—things like fruit fly research in Paris, France." Palin was apparently ignorant of the fact that fruit fly research is a fundamental and Nobel Prize-winning area of study because the brief life cycle of these organisms makes it easy to study genetic patterns. She was also likely ignorant of the fact the particular fruit flies in this study pose a grave threat to California's $85 million olive industry, and that the $211,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is likely to generate signficant returns for a minimal investment.

McCain supported all this with gusto, defending Palin and adding his own tirades against scientific research as being wasteful and foolish by its very nature. It turns out, however, that this wasn't just election-year "pretend" ignorance. It was real, deep-down ignorance. Even though McCain is no longer on the campaign trail, he's still campaigning vigorously against funding scientific research he doesn't understand.

Image courtesy of Giancarlo Dessì through a Creative Commons license.