re: #1 Charles

The smarter GOP politicians probably see the illogicality of their anti-science positions, and are cynically pandering to the unwashed right wing masses.

But I think some of the current crop of clowns really are as dim as they portray on television. Perry, Bachmann, Santorum — these aren’t anyone’s idea of intellectuals.

The real problem is that such a large portion of the American public doesn’t understand the simple logic you outlined, and is in reactionary/rejection mode on issues like climate change — and it’s largely because of well-funded propaganda campaigns by powerful corporations, who have their own logic based solely on profitability.

Same thing played out with respect to “Fair Housing”. An emotional objective, getting people into houses, trumped reason and tradition that dictated loans should not be written to borrowers who stand little chance of making their payments.

In the name of helping the poor and minorities, both were shafted royally and on top of that, the rest of the economy took a huge hit. For details, see the book by a couple of New York Times liberals, Reckless Endangerment.