I seem to have written a lot about numeracy, climate change, politicians and science lately. Michele Bachmann brings it all together: a stupid, innumerate politician who passes off a risible pastiche of science as the real thing - and gets away with it!
Her initial argument is, 'if carbon dioxide is good it can't be bad' (See Is carbon dioxide good or bad?) She goes on to argue that as there's not very much of it carbon dioxide can't be a problem (See If carbon dioxide is a 'trace gas' why is it a problem?) In explaining how little of it there is she overstates the concentration of carbon dioxide by a factor of 100 (3% rather than 0.0388%) and understates the proportion that is anthropogenic by a factor of 10 (3% rather than 30%). None of that really matters to her though - she knows she is right so why does she need to know what she's talking about? Her understanding of science does not get past the public relations definition of science.
UK politics is not exactly inspiring at the moment, but I'd like to think that any MP who made a speech like Michele Bachmann's in the House of Commons would be laughed out of Westminster. At the very least, he or she would get a hard time from the press. How is it that Americans let their politicians get away with it? I wouldn't trust Michele Bachmann with a Soda Stream, let alone a planet. (A Soda Stream is a device for carbonating drinks.) It's time the rest of us realised that we can't leave the future of the World in the hands of US politicians - they aren't up to the job and I'm not sure there's much that the American people can do about it.