Huntsman on GOP’s anti-science stances: ‘We have a huge problem

“The minute the Republican party becomes the anti-science party, we have a huge problem,” he said. “When we take a position that isn’t willing to embrace evolution, when we take a position that basically runs counter to what 98 out of 100 climate scientists from what the National Academy of Scientists said on what is causing climate change, and man’s contribution to it, I think we find ourselves on the wrong side of science and in a losing position.”

Chris Christie: ‘Climate change is real’

According to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, governor Chris Christie joined Presidential candidate Jon Hunstman in coming out in full support of the issue. “Climate change is real,” Christie told reporters. “Human activity plays a role in these changes, and it is impacting our state.”

Christie, a huge favorite among the Tea Party and other right wing groups,  was a major skeptic of climate change as of last year. But after attending a conference of environmentalists in May, the Garden State top executive  began to adopt a viewpoint still very unpopular in conservative circles, leading to possible criticism from his most ardent supporters.

Romney to increase size of $12 million home:

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the former governor of Massachusetts is quadrupling his 3,009-square-foot, single-story home at 311 Dunemere Dr. and replacing it with a two-story, 11,062-square-foot structure after bulldozing its current form.  The city must approve the coastal and site development permits in order for the change to be made.

Karl Rove Warns of Rick Perry’s Right Wing Extremism (!)

Rick Perry, in his infinite wisdom, decided that this was a good moment to suggest that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was somehow deserving of sustained corporal harm. A third round of quantitative easing, to Perry’s mind, would be “treacherous” and “treasonous,” and he darkly mused, “I don’t know what you all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.” The media paused, momentarily weirded out, but soon were back at it, gushing in amusement over Perry’s “colorful tongue.”

But what happened next was interesting. Amid all of the condemnation of Perry’s Bernanke comment, one set of voices rang out the loudest — the voices of the old Dubya Camp, who hate Perry like feline leukemia. Tony Fratto and Nicolle Wallace were quick out of the gate. Alex Castellanos piled on. But it wasKarl Rove – warning of right-wing extremism as if the concept of irony had never been invented — who finally got the worm to turn. By mid-week, the media was over Perry, and amplifying the renewed voice of all those in the GOP bandstand who want someone — anyone! Paul Ryan! Chris Christie! Nyan Cat! — toget into the 2012 race and rescue it from oblivion.

 Michelle Bachman: Giving To Whom?

 …for all her emphasis on Christian virtue, and the Bible’s directive to “honor the Lord with your wealth” [Proverbs 3:9], there is scant record of donations Bachmann has made to charity.

The winner of the Iowa Republican Straw Poll has never released her income tax returns, nor has she been known to have acknowledged making a single charitable contribution. According to her most recent financial disclosure forms, Bachmann’s net worth is between $912,000 and $2.1 million.

But questions about her personal charitable activities remain unanswered — neither Bachmann’s congressional office nor her campaign staff responded to repeated calls and emails from The Huffington Post about this story.

This information blackout is surprising, says Steven Schier, a political science professor at Minnesota’s Carleton College. “It’s unusual for a prominent candidate for a major party’s presidential nomination to try to prevent serious scrutiny of her/his personal and public life as an adult,”

 Michelle Bachman: Life Long Memory Lapses

. Mother Jones‘ Tim Murphy reports that for years the Republican presidential candidate referred to herself as “Dr. Michele Bachmann.” The problem? She’s not a doctor. And that’s not the only detail from her past that Bachmann has — to put it charitably — trouble remembering. It seems, at least, that some of the things Bachmann tells people about herself conflict with what reporters have found when fact-checking the statements.

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