McCain has said a couple of times, and again in the recent debate, that Obama supported a federal earmark for a $3 million “overhead projector,” in an effort to blast him over these unpopular earmarks. McCain needs to check his facts. As a statement put out by the Adler Planetarium, the organization in question, a planetarium system is very different from a simple overhead projector. Anyone who has seen the fabulous display of the night sky projected onto the inside of a planetarium dome knows the beauty and the power of these fabulous displays. Although I similarly find federal earmarks to be distasteful, I am more apalled at McCain’s hypocrisy.
ScienceDebate 2008 asked both candidates 14 questions on their science and technology policy. McCain’s answer on education was actually quite encouraging, including quotes like:
We must fill the pipeline to our colleges and universities with students prepared for the rigors of advanced engineering, math, science and technology degrees.We must move aggressively to provide opportunities from elementary school on, for students to explore the sciences through laboratory experimentation, science fairs and competitions.
So you wonder who actually wrote that bit, when a planetarium is an excellent example of exciting science education for students, yet it’s dismissed so casually more than once.
Also, don’t piss off the astronomers.
I’m a brand new post-doc in astronomy working as part of the 
1 response so far ↓
Rich // October 10, 2008 at 21:10 |
I can only assume that the “support” of science education is because McCain’s staff thinks it sounds good.
Between the “overhead projector” comments and McCain’s support of Intelligent Design, it’s obvious that he doesn’t actually know what science is.