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Rick Perry has moved swiftly through the first phase of presidential media coverage: What does the candidate look like? (A badass Texan) That went pretty well for him. But now he's into the second phase: What does the candidate think about stuff? That phase isn't going as well. Turns out Perry's a little skeptical about evolution and Social Security, for starters. This is the Rick Roll.
Evolution Is "a Theory That's Out There"
As Perry was meeting voters in New Hampshire Thursday, a woman brought her son to meet the governor and play a little game of Telephone.
Mom: He's got a question for you.Son: How old do you think the earth is?Perry: How old do I think the earth is? You know what, I don't have any idea. I know it's pretty old so it goes back a long long way. I'm not sure anybody actually knows completely and absolutely how long...Mom: [whisper]Perry: ...how old the earth is. I hear your mom was asking about evolution. It's a theory that's out there, and it's got some gas in it. In Texas we teach both creationsim and evolution in our public schoolsMom: [louder] Ask him why he doesn't believe in science!Perry: ... because I think you're smart enough to figure out which one is right.
Gawker's John Cook says this is interesting for two reasons. First, Texas doesn't teach creationism -- "While the Texas State Board of Education did rather famously mandate in 2009 that its science textbooks include information on "alternatives" to evolution, no textbooks containing those alternatives have actually been approved for use as of yet." Second, using the term "creationism" was a slip up, Cook says."Aware that Creationism is an avowedly theological and fundamentally unscientific precept, Christianist activists have concocted a pseudo-scientific-sounding 'theory' called 'Intelligent Design' as a sort of stalking horse to sneak their creation myth into the public education curriculum."