The Republican Party’s attack on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment has gone into high gear in this election. All the GOP candidates are sounding like Pat Robertson.

Now anti-wanking candidate Christine O’Donnell’s campaign manager, Jonathon Moseley, is offering a $1000 “bounty” to anyone who can find the exact phrase “separation of church and state” in the US Constitution.

The sheer dim-witted stupidity of this empty, faux legalistic argument is its most notable aspect. Har! The joke’s on you! The exact phrase isn’t there!

Are there really people who find that convincing? Unfortunately, way too many.

The legal principles derived from the Establishment Clause and other founding documents are overwhelmingly supported by more than a century’s worth of Supreme Court decisions.

But it’s obviously still a sore point to the theocratically minded religious right.

Moseley is also, of course, a creationist who says the theory of evolution is “superstition,” and demands that public schools teach Biblical creation myths and “intelligent design” creationism. You know, to be all fair and scientific-like.

“Coons also showed appalling ignorance about science as well. The heart and soul of science is questioning established thinking, challenging assumptions, challenging conventional wisdom, and debating both sides of every issue. It is not possible to prepare students to be competent in science without preparing them to look at scientific questions from different angles, examine assumptions, and ask questions outside the box. What Coons would have our schools teach is not science at all, but superstition. Presenting only one point of view without debate never has been and never can be called science. Even if Intelligent Design is taught only as a foil or teaching tool, one cannot teach science by offering only one view.”