Friday, September 22, 2006
DeVos Devolves
On Wednesday, Michigan gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos told an AP reporter that he'd like to see students exposed to intelligent design.
Today, the DeVos campaign is in full damage control mode.
DeVos, confined, apparently, until he announced his candidacy to the hermetically sealed world of right-wing politics, seems surprised that his remarks caused such a stir. In that respect, he reminds us of Virginia Senator George Allen, who can't understand why anyone one would take offense at his calling a person of color "macaca."
I mean, who knew?
The sadder but sadly no wiser DeVos now wants to put out the fire he lit by calling on local school boards to settle the issue, that is to say, he's now a local control man.
According to the Muskegon Chronicle, DeVos now refuses to say whether he believes intelligent design or evolution is true.
Is there anyway at all to ascertain what DeVos does believe?
Brian Dickerson reports in the Detroit Free Press that from 2000 on, "the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation gave at least $5,000 to the Thomas More Law Center, which unsuccessfully defended the Dover, Pa., school board in last year's federal court showdown and has threatened to sue on behalf of two Michigan science teachers who want to teach intelligent design."
In Kansas, we call that a clue.
Today, the DeVos campaign is in full damage control mode.
DeVos, confined, apparently, until he announced his candidacy to the hermetically sealed world of right-wing politics, seems surprised that his remarks caused such a stir. In that respect, he reminds us of Virginia Senator George Allen, who can't understand why anyone one would take offense at his calling a person of color "macaca."
I mean, who knew?
The sadder but sadly no wiser DeVos now wants to put out the fire he lit by calling on local school boards to settle the issue, that is to say, he's now a local control man.
"I'm on record as saying that I encourage our students to be exposed to a variety of alternative theories, and as many as we can offer that are appropriate," DeVos said. "Our students live in a complex world and need to understand the alternatives and discern between the alternatives. That's quite different than what the governor is proposing, which is to mandate from the state that certain ideas be included or excluded."DeVos, an evangelical Christian, apparently received a midnight call from Casey Luskin of the Discovery Institute to counsel him on the issue. He now says he doesn't believe intelligent design should be included in the state-mandated curriculum. Can the critical analysis phase of the DeVos campaign be far off?
According to the Muskegon Chronicle, DeVos now refuses to say whether he believes intelligent design or evolution is true.
Is there anyway at all to ascertain what DeVos does believe?
Brian Dickerson reports in the Detroit Free Press that from 2000 on, "the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation gave at least $5,000 to the Thomas More Law Center, which unsuccessfully defended the Dover, Pa., school board in last year's federal court showdown and has threatened to sue on behalf of two Michigan science teachers who want to teach intelligent design."
In Kansas, we call that a clue.
