Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Chris Matthews Challenges Mike Pence: Do You Believe In Evolution?

I caught this live and was pretty impressed with Matthews. Mike Pence gets painted into a corner on the questions of science and evolution. Enjoy the sweating and squirming as Pence refuses to admit he believes in evolution but admits to believing in creationism on national television.


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Highlights:

MATTHEWS: How can your party be credible on CO2 emissions and greenhouse gases when the loudest voices in your party don't believe in it?

PENCE: Well let me tell you. I think the science is very mixed on the subject of global warming, Chris.

MATTHEWS: Then why should your party believe you’re going to get serious about it, if you say the science is mixed?

BANG!

[...]

MATTHEWS: You want to educate the American people about science and its relevence today. Do you believe in evolution, sir?

PENCE: Uh, do I believe in evolution? I embrace the view that God created the Heavens and the Earth, the Seas and all that’s in them. The means that he used to do that, I can’t say, but I do believe in that fundamental truth.

MATTHEWS: Did you take biology in school? ...If your party wants to be credible on science, you gotta accept science. … See how you're hedging? This is why people don't trust Republicans... I don’t think your party is passionately committed to science, or fighting global warming, or dealing with the scientific facts we live with.


KAPOW!

3 comments:

Matt Osborne said...

The most telling part of this exchange is the way Pence avoids infuriating the wackaloons in his party. Even when Republicans don't embrace Teh Wacky™, they still have to accomodate it. Pence even goes so far as to try paraphrasing scripture not once, but twice.

But I also noted that Pence, like so many Republicans, is trapped in his own boilerplate. He offers no concrete examples of alternatives to cap & trade, for instance. The GOP's answer to global warming is to talk about the virtues of the free market. It's one long non sequitur.

I also liked seeing Matthews shoot down the Reagan legacy by pointing out there is no one in the GOP today with Reagan's charisma. But I would go a lot farther in questioning Pence's history: Reagan's chief attraction for white, working class Americans was in his perfection of the southern strategy with coded racism. The reason there's no Reagan today is that the country has moved on -- by 2016, I'm betting the GOP won't be able to get even a majority of white Americans to adopt that sort of thinking anymore.

Annette said...

Sounds like Tweety scored one for the good guys.. good for him.. Everytime I watch him he does something stupid...lol

Fraulein said...

You have to give Tweety props for occasionally doing the right thing. When he's on target, he's on target.

 
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