Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Mike Huckabee reacts with feigned outrage whenever he's asked about his creationist views, but this obscures a bigger problem: the man is just clueless when it comes to science. I mean utterly clueless. Look at this statement:
Huckabee says his campaign is like the flight of a bumblebee."It's said that, according to the law of aeronautics and the wingspan and circumference of the bumblebee, it is aeronautically impossible for the bumblebee to fly," he says. "However, the bumblebee, being unaware of these scientific facts, goes ahead and flies anyway."
I like the "it's said" part. Said by whom, exactly? By those who are scientifically ignorant. Like Mike Huckabee.
Comments
Um, well, Jerry Seinfeld includes nearly that exact line in his "Bee Movie," which seems like the kind of source Huckabee would use for scientific facts.
Posted by: CPT_Doom | December 11, 2007 9:51 AM
I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for those darned scientists!
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/March00/APS_Wang.hrs.html
Posted by: Dwimr | December 11, 2007 9:52 AM
So, you're suggesting that when a model doesn't describe reality acurately, it's the model that's inadequate, not reality? Someone should tell that to Huckabee.
Posted by: Dave S. | December 11, 2007 10:02 AM
ahhh the flight of the huckabee... The only question now is when will he hit a windshield...
Posted by: yoshi | December 11, 2007 10:05 AM
Haven't you guys heard of the Theory of Intelligent Flight? It's sorta like the Theory of Intelligent Falling. Only, instead of pushing things down, God is holding them up.
Posted by: Deepsix | December 11, 2007 10:20 AM
He probably read Robert Cormier's book by that name (The Bumble Bee Flies Anyway), and mistook it for an aerodynamics text. It is a classic young adult book -- my kids loved it in junior high. If we hear him spouting lines like "I am the cheese" (also a Cormier title) we'll know for sure who's inspiring him as well as what level he reads at (7th grade).
Posted by: Nan | December 11, 2007 10:21 AM
It looks like evolution is inching ever so stealthily into the campaign as an issue. I hope Huckabee keeps opening his mouth.
Posted by: Kristine | December 11, 2007 10:42 AM
Another christian nutter proud of being ignorant
Posted by: RAM | December 11, 2007 11:12 AM
The nice thing about god is that he's/she's/it's imaginary. The pesky thing about bumblebees, like global warming, is they are decidedly real and conform to the laws (wot? i thought science only had theories?) of science. The Bush administration showed us what happens when you try to pretend science is as imaginary as god. I'm hoping the American voter won't be so foolish as to try that scenario again.
Posted by: Scott R | December 11, 2007 11:32 AM
Ah man! Now I'm going to have "the flight of the bumblebee" in my head every time I see Huckabee. Thanks alot.
Posted by: Kodiak | December 11, 2007 11:53 AM
It's a commonly repeated nostrum. It's right up there with "We only use 10% of our brains" for being repeated, even by people who should know better. It's hard to fault Huckabee when I've heard physicists spouting the same nonsense.
Not that Huckabee isn't an ignorant idiot, of course...
Posted by: Michael Suttkus, II | December 11, 2007 12:09 PM
Good one! Just like the image I have of Al Gore burned in my mind trying to clap to "Don't Stop."
What music would go well with our current person in the White House?
Posted by: Rev. AJB | December 11, 2007 12:12 PM
"Out of Time" by The Rolling Stones gets my vote.
Posted by: Scott R | December 11, 2007 12:21 PM
"What music would go well with our current person in the White House?"
'Moral Majority' by the Dead Kennedys. It's about the actualy MM, but the sentiment fits this president just fine.
Posted by: jba | December 11, 2007 12:24 PM
Off topic, but what do you think of Colorado petition to define fertilized eggs as people (if yahoo fails at life, Google "Kristi Burton")?
Posted by: Shawn Wilkinson | December 11, 2007 12:42 PM
I heard somewhere - and please dont consider this reliable - the story of the bumblebee mistake. It originates, or so it is said, from the early days of aircraft design - when the leading experts of the day in aerodynamics attempted to construct the mathematical model of bee flight. Their model, though experimentially confirmed as accurate on various models, predicted that the bees in question should not be capable of flight. Their wing area was simply too small to support their weight. The story became popular trivia, used to demonstrate the ignorance of the elite - to show that the greatness of science, for all its boasting, could not admit that a bee may fly. It was not until later, and advancements in the field, that someone was able to determine where the flaw in the model lay: The earlier engineers had assumed that the wings of bees were rigid plains, while high-speed photography shows they actually flex in flight, and this change in shape vastly increases the lift they can produce.
Posted by: Suricou Raven | December 11, 2007 1:09 PM
What music would go well with our current person in the White House?
Loser.
Posted by: MAJeff | December 11, 2007 1:31 PM
Oh, give the guy a break.
He wasn't making a statement about Science, he was making an analogy to the probability of his campaign seeming successful.
Drawing conclusions about Huckabee's grasp of science based on this statement is inductive reasoning at its worst.
On the other hand, when he raised his hand to indicate he didn't believe in evolution, that was pretty special.
Posted by: Gingerbaker | December 11, 2007 4:07 PM
People elsewhere keep defending Huckabee's unusual comments based on things like "but what does the president's opinion on evolution matter?". I think this little bee anecdote provides a rather good refutation of that defense.
The problem is that science literacy isn't so much about ability to quiz high on a science test as it is about a basic awareness of the world around you. Maybe the president would not directly make use of knowledge about the relationship between men and apes, or about whether or not it is aeronautically impossible for a bee to fly. But someone who's wrong on these points is going to be wrong on other points as well-- getting these things wrong on a consistent basis indicates a person who just generally doesn't care to become acquainted with the factual aspects of the world around them. And eventually, there will come some choice that person has to make where this general uninformedness will lead them to make a very, very bad decision.
Posted by: Coin | December 11, 2007 4:13 PM
I agree that Huckabee is pretty ignroant - as a baptist preacher, how could he be otherwise? I also agree that using this particular statement is not really a fair indicator of his scientific illiteracy.
Posted by: Mark P | December 11, 2007 6:22 PM
Music for the current prez: Dennis Leary, I'm an a**hole.
Posted by: Sascha | December 11, 2007 6:48 PM
Looks like the Democrats have a bunch more stuff on Huckabee if we can believe the drudgereport. Turns out he may be even a bigger cuckoo! bird than what it seems at the moment, if that is even possible.
Sadly, that might very well secure for him the U.S. Presidency. The Democrats will become over confident, independent candidates will split the vote, and the Jesus factor will (barely) put him over the top. You heard it here first folks!!
Posted by: reindeer386sx | December 11, 2007 7:58 PM
I've been predicting for months now that Huck gets the nomination and then runs a splendid Goldwater-esque disaster of a campaign. Which unfortunately means that scientific illiterates will keep popping up in politics for decades to come.
Since I'm already out on the limb, he'll get John McCain to surrender any pride he might have left to be the VP nominee. You heard it here first. Or else he'll pick Mitt, in which case the noise you hear is millions of evangelical Christian heads exploding (imploding?) at once.
Posted by: kehrsam | December 11, 2007 8:59 PM
Or else he'll pick Mitt, in which case the noise you hear is millions of evangelical Christian heads exploding (imploding?) at once.
What I found fascinating was that the evangelicals were flocking to Mitt before Huckabee became a candidate. Question, will the pressure be greater on the inside or the outside of their skulls when this happens? I vote for imploding.
Posted by: Rev. AJB | December 11, 2007 9:14 PM
The problem with the Huckabees of the world isn't that they are ignorant of science. They don't need to know much science to do their jobs.
The problem is that they THINK they know.
I'm ignorant of physics. If a physics related issue comes up, I will go ask a physicist. "Hey, should we teach that bumblebees can't fly?" "No," the physicist will say, "That story is an old canard. Physics has no problems with bumblebee flight."
(Hopefully. As stated earlier, I've actually heard at least one physicist repeating this nonsense.)
Huckabee doesn't NEED to ask the physicist about bumblebee flight. He doesn't NEED to ask the biologist about whether evolution should be taught exclusively in schools. He already KNOWS!
He's not ignorant, he's a believer of lies and arrogant enough to put his favored lies ahead of the conclusions of professionals.
Posted by: Michael Suttkus, II | December 11, 2007 10:23 PM
Should Huckabee get the nomination it might add scientific illiteracy to the perceived necessary qualifications for any future Republican nominees.
Posted by: Jim S | December 12, 2007 12:09 AM
Michael is absolutely correct!:
>The problem with the Huckabees of the world isn't that they are ignorant of science. They don't need to know much science to do their jobs.
The problem is that they THINK they know.
Those of us that know we don't know would consult experts. People that think they know won't bother -- or worse will find "experts" that will bolster what they think they know. A tactic our current president seems to use.
Posted by: Kelly | December 12, 2007 8:47 AM
What music would go well with our current person in the White House?
So long as we are sticking to the classics, Nine Inch Nails - Head Like A Hole.
It originates, or so it is said, from the early days of aircraft design - when the leading experts of the day in aerodynamics attempted to construct the mathematical model of bee flight.
The anecdote has been tracked down to its origin, and it's nothing so intriguing. It was an engineer working for an entomologist that did the calculations.
"Tou d'abord poussé par ce qui fait en aviation, j'ai appliqué aux insectes les lois de la résistance de l'air, et je suis arrivé avec M. SAINTE-LAGUE a cette conclusion que leur vol est impossible." -Le Vol des Insectes, Antoine Magnan, 1934.
My French is rusty as hell, but it appears to be a statement about the inapplicability of then current knowledge of aerodynamics to insect flight, rather than any grand critique of science, engineering, or bumblebees. It's more along the lines of of "we can't use this here", rather than "this is wrong", IMHO.
Posted by: Graculus | December 12, 2007 8:49 AM
Love that! I also think "Out of Touch" by Hall and Oates would also be good.
Posted by: twincats | December 12, 2007 5:26 PM
It bothers me a little that he's scientifically ignorant, but it bothers me far more that he's suffering from religious delusion and appears to be a dangerous theocrat. What are we going to do if the Huckster gets himself elected (or appointed by Bush's court)? I used to think there was no way, but now I'm not so sure. I can here it now, "That Huck sure loves him some Jesus. I'm voting for him."
Posted by: vjack | December 14, 2007 4:29 PM