Dr. No Apparently Says "No" to the Theory of Evolution
Remember when three Republican presidential hopefuls raised their hands to declare their disbelief in biological evolution? Well, we can now add a fourth--Ron Paul. Republicans seem anxious to prove they are the party of scientific ignoramuses. Say it ain't so Dr. No!
One cautionary note: There is a glitch in the video which might be an edit, but it doesn't appear to change what Paul is saying.
Update: The video glitch that I noted in my original post was indeed an edit. Many reasontv commenters have kindly (and some not so kindly) have now pointed me in the direction of the unedited video. That link is here.
Some reasontv commenters have suggested that the full video somehow vindicates Paul, but he undeniably still says, "I think it's a theory, the theory of evolution and I don't accept it as a theory." In addition, Paul says that he thought it was an inappropriate question. I disagree. Teaching intelligent design in public school science classes is a political issue; one that was decided by a federal judge in famous one case. Keep in mind that the president nominates federal judges.
As a principled libertarian, Paul could have answered the question by saying that he would allow school choice. That way some parents could decide to send their children to schools that teach superstition and others could opt to send their kids to schools that teach science. Sadly, instead Paul expressed his disbelief in biological evolution. Of course, there are no perfect candidates and reasonable people can certainly decide that all of Paul's other positions and qualities outweigh this unfortunate bit of ignorance.