In a new post at Uncommon Descent about the Wisconsin bill, Dembski makes a big deal out of the fact that Ronald Numbers attended the press conference announcing the bill and may have had a role in writing it. Numbers, for those who don't know, is a historian of science from the University of Wisconsin and the author of The Creationists, which is the definitive book on the history of creationism in America. But in the process, Dembski makes a dishonest charge against Numbers based on a quote that absolutely does not support his charge. He writes:
And while Ron did endorse my book THE DESIGN REVOLUTION (go here), more recently he has taken to comparing ID with Nazi and Stalinist manipulation of science, as in his endorsement for Chris Mooney's THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON SCIENCE
And here is the quote he offers from Numbers' endorsement of Mooney's book:
"Politics and science have never occupied entirely separate spheres, but American politicians have rarely tried to manipulate science in the heavy-handed manner of, say, Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia. THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON SCIENCE provides a riveting and deeply disturbing account of how the GOP, despite its professed love of 'sound science,' has repeatedly supported suspect science in an effort to advance its partisan agenda."
-Ronald L. Numbers, author of The Creationists, co-editor of The Cambridge History of Science
This is blatantly dishonest. Numbers did not compare ID with "Nazi and Stalinist manipulation of science". He doesn't refer to ID at all, and Mooney's book is not about ID (though it's mentioned), it's about the admnistration's manipulation of science (ignoring research that goes against their positions, pressuring scientists to change what they say, deleting references to scientific studies that dispute their positions from agency websites, and so forth). It is that manipulation that Numbers is referring to and that Mooney's book is referring to, not ID. ID is one small part of Mooney's book, which is primarily about the administration's interference with government-funded scientific work, and it is that interference that Numbers is talking about.
It also takes real chutzpah given that Dembski himself has compared "Darwinists" in the past to Stalinists, Nazis and even to the Athenian court that killed Socrates. For a list of the dozens of times ID advocates, including Dembski himself, have compared the scientific community to Nazis and Commies, go here.
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I think that its highly unlikely that Dembski has read Mooney's book, and the only free chapter that was released to the public prior to publication was the Creationism/ID chapter so Dembski may be extrapolating from that.
Its not like he's infamous for generalizations, is he?
In that quote Mooney isn't even comparing the Bush administration with Nazism or Stalinism, except as a contrast. What a hack Dembski is.
The very tactic Dembski uses is all too representative of the Nazi's and the Stalinist's. Intentionally misinterpret the text, make a categorical statement denouncing it, and encourage others to attack the evil--trademarks of the very evil he pretends to condemn.
Why, when I read the title The Creationists, am I immediately reminded of the title: The Aristocrats?
The most obvious answer to this conundrum is that when Dembski reads: "The GOP... has repeatedly supported suspect science in an effort to advance its partisan agenda", he thinks to himself, They are claiming that ID is being used to support a partisan agenda. You see, even Dembski realizes that ID is "suspect science," so this was an unconscious admission on his part. It is only a small step from there to him concluding that Numbers said that ID was stalinist. And he couldn't take someone else stealing his lines!
And I just wanted to say, Numbers Doesn't lie.