Union of the States

Bush sure seems to be the master of the dubious conflation. Julian has already noted how human cloning got lumped in with chimeras, protectionist economics with a non-interventionist foreign policy. But the weirdest moment came when the president seemed to see a connection between the Abramoff scandal and gay marriage. What the hell?

There's some areas, on the other hand, where he could stand to do a little more conflating. If you're going to keep hammering the idea that America shouldn't wall itself off from the world, perhaps you might want to wait for another evening to give us your plans for energy independence.

Comments

[Dave W.]

Its tough not to see a close connection between cloning and chimeras. It would be interestingto see Bailey do a thought out article on the distinction between these two categories and whther we should handle the categories different or the same as a matter of policy. Maybe this year instead of creationist camp, he can get reimbursed to attend a meeting where ppl (eg, the hated bioethicists) discuss the chimera v. clone issues. We all might learn something!

[Adam W.]

Actually, the quote isn't quite as bad (still extremely stupid though):

"Yet many Americans, especially parents, still have deep concerns about the direction of our culture, and the health of our most basic institutions. They are concerned about unethical conduct by public officials, and discouraged by activist courts that try to redefine marriage.

Um, no, they're not equally bad, jackass.

[mineavatar]

It would be interestingto see Bailey do a thought out article on the distinction between these two categories and whther we should handle the categories different or the same as a matter of policy.

Actually, he does touch on the matter in Liberation Biology.