"Get me different facts."

While on tour in support of his biography of Ronald Reagan, Dinesh D'Souza once related an amusing anecdote about the former president. An aide had just presented him with a new study whose implications weighed against a policy the president had supported. "Well then," countered Reagan, without batting an eye, "get me different facts."

An article in the most recent Washington Monthly argues that recent Republican administrations—and the current one in particular—exhibit a pervasive and systematic distrust of science and scientists. The piece cites in particular the proudly ignorant formation of stem-cell policy, and quotes the editor in chief of Science as saying: "Not only does the Bush administration scorn science; it is subjecting appointments to scientific advisory committees and even study sections to political tests."