Science Is Under Attack in America, Sen. Kerry Says

Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry said Friday that science was under attack by right-wing ideologues and the Bush administration. He cited what he called their “rigid refusal to listen to what the Earth is trying to tell us.”

Speaking at the dedication of a new brain research center at MIT, Kerry said attacks on science had resulted in “a shortsighted period in the American experience” in which “facts are ignored and obscured and distorted.”

President Bush has been criticized for limiting federal research dollars for embryonic stem cells, which are seen as a potential source of replacement tissue in people with a variety of ailments, and for his policies on the environment.

“We see it in the rigid refusal to listen to what the Earth is trying to tell us about the condition of the air and water and land that surround us and sustain us,” Kerry said, adding that “federal science and research boards are being stacked with partisans and ideologues.”

Kerry also joked about losing to Bush a year ago in the presidential election.

“I must tell you: There are times when I wish we weren’t here researching brain concerns but a time machine to have the election today rather than last year,” he said, referring to polls showing waning public support for the president.

Republican National Committee spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt dismissed the criticism, saying that Kerry’s “newfound interest in science is a derivative of his longing to travel back in time and run a cohesive campaign.”