Darwinists mine quotes, too

The Wikipedia article on quote mining described it as something that anti-Darwinists do to Darwinists, but the Darwinists do plenty of quote mining themselves. An Arkansas newspaper reported,

While most Republican candidates for higher office in November say they don’t think intelligent design should be required curriculum, they say that because of “academic freedom” teachers should be allowed to address the subject in class . . . . . .

One of the assembly’s officers, former state lawmaker Gunner DeLay of Fort Smith, is the Republican candidate for attorney general.

DeLay said he wrote a paper in law school on what he says is a teacher’s “right to academic freedom” under the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution to teach subjects that are “scientifically valid.”

He said that could include intelligent design.

“The basis of my paper was that although legislative mandated efforts to teach creation science or intelligent design have been struck down, the courts have left open teaching those theories under an instructor’s First Amendment right to academic freedom,” DeLay said.

Such protected speech would have to have a “scientific basis,” DeLay said, adding that a science teacher “could not come in and say we’re all born under a cabbage leaf.”

"The old creation science is the new intelligent design. And yes, I think it’s scientifically valid,” DeLay said.

The title of a Panda's Thumb post citing this newspaper article triumphantly crows, "The old creation science is the new intelligent design." Talk about quote mining. Here was a statement by an obscure politician and a Darwinist repeats it as though it were the gospel truth.

Anyway, in regard to the newspaper article, I am glad to see that some major candidates for top state offices in Arkansas are in favor of teaching the controversy and have not been deterred by setbacks in Dover (PA), Kansas, Ohio, and elsewhere.