Thog's Science Masterclass #16: Bachmann's Back!

[realthog]

Republican Minnesota Congressperson Michele Bachmann has a fairly fragile grasp on logic, so it's probably expecting her to have anything even that good when it comes to basic scientific principles such as cause-and-effect. Or maybe she lives in her very own little quantum universe . . .

Whatever, she's attempting now to politicize swine flu -- not the way in which the racists are, by blaming it on Mexican immigrants, but in her own unique fashion. The occurrence of epidemics of swine flu is, in the Bachmannian view, perhaps related to the political persuasion of the US President in office at the time.

Interviewed by the rightist Pajamas Media:

I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. . . . And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence.

You can watch the full video of the interview (18 excruciating twaddle-packed minutes) at Pajamas Media, or you can find the salient moments -- and relevant slice of transcript -- at Talking Points Memo.

The latter points out a historical factoid which it gleaned in turn from the Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages: the swine flu outbreak of the 1970s occurred, to be more precise, in 1976 . . . when the US President was a Republican, Gerald Ford.

Oops.

They laughed at Galileo, they laughed at Einstein, they . . .

Comments

[kylecassidy.livejournal.com]

and katrina happened under a republican president. it must mean that god hates republicans!

If there's a real connection, Im happy for people to tout it, in fact, they should, to explain why their person or idea is better than another. But to suggest that this outbreak of swine flu could have been stopped if John McCaine was in office for the last 100 days is not just absurd, but, as you point out, shows a greed for ignorance of science.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

"a greed for ignorance of science"

And a complete logical disconnect. The rightists seem to be incapable these days of stringing together a single logical thought. A couple of days ago I saw a Bill O'Reilly clip in which he stated that it was "a fact" that torture had protected the country because there hadn't been a successful terrorist attack on home soil since 9/11. I was reminded of the old joke about keeping the wild elephants away:

An old man kept walking naked through the streets of Philadelphia, farting and clapping his hands.

"Why are you doing this?" they said.

"To keep the wild elephants away."

"But this is Philadelphia! There aren't any wild elephants around here!"

"I know," said the old man, continuing to fart and clap. "See? It works, doesn't it?"