Should HRC Bring Science Into the Debate and the Campaign

[LongTomH]

'Bad Astronomer' Phil Plait thinks so: To Beat Trump, Clinton Needs to Bring Science to the Debates:

What do the presidential candidates think about science?

Normally, these topics barely get a head nod from the hopefuls. But this year is very very different. Donald Trump, who barely can make two coherent sentences in a row on any topic, has released a torrent of anti-science nonsense. Most notably he’s called climate change a hoax, picked a global warming denier (and creationist) as his vice president, and hired a denier as his energy adviser. He’s anti-vaccination, thinks the California drought doesn’t exist, and has said NASA makes America look like “a third world nation”.

...............//snip

Heck, the cohort of candidates is so bad that when Hillary Clinton said “I believe in science” when she accepted the Democratic nomination, the internet practically carried her around on its collective shoulders.

But these are generalities. What do the candidates really think about scientific topics, like space exploration, mental health, energy, public health, what to do about climate change, and more?

A coalition of scientists wanted to know just that so they drafted a series of 20 questions for the candidates. Calling this challenge Science Debate 2016 (this was also done in 2008 and 2012), they asked the candidates to answer.

The answers to those 20 questions may be found on the Science Debate website.

Any chance of having a debate moderated by a real scientist?

Probably not, but we can dream, can't we?

[Daemonaquila]

1. Of course she should.

The current, lazy-thinking trend is to treat science as just another belief. HRC should be fighting that tooth and nail. Why? Because it's part of the larger trend that makes any statement, no matter how ridiculous and false, acceptable because it's someone's "sincere belief." We can not afford governance based on whateverthefuckIbelieveistrue. That means we can't afford to let that rule our politics. Until lies are called out as lies, and until facts are laid out and supported, there is no hope for sane governance.

[deathrind]

2. It would be nice...

If science was injected into the campaign in order to give a better understanding of issues such as climate change...but republican have a very effective and demonstrated strategy to combat any hint of intellect. So it would have to be deployed in a very delicate way. Enough to give a better understanding of issues but not so much as to give republicans the opportunity to reanimate the taking points used by McCain/Palin.