Republican Debate

Nice to see most of the Republican field came down on the side of rationality last night, despite what must have been overwhelming pressure to pander to their religious nut-job base. John McCain was asked whether he believed in evolution (the entire transcript is here):

MR. VANDEHEI: Senator McCain, this comes from a Politico.com reader and was among the top vote-getters in our early rounds. They want a yes or on. Do you believe in evolution?

SEN. MCCAIN: Yes.

MR. VANDEHEI: I’m curious, is there anybody on the stage that does not agree -- believe in evolution?

(Senator Brownback, Mr. Huckabee, Representative Tancredo raise their hands.)

SEN. MCCAIN: May I -- may I just add to that?

MR. VANDEHEI: Sure.

SEN. MCCAIN: I believe in evolution. But I also believe, when I hike the Grand Canyon and see it at sunset, that the hand of God is there also.

Update: Here's a link to the video of the exchange (at Crooks and Liars)

I think it's a pretty good sign when most of the candidates, despite potentially alienating their base vote, came down on the side of science, although McCain was clearly nervous about it - hence his lame "but I still believe in God!!" response when he felt that the answer might not go over well with the religious right.

For the others, I wonder just how deeply they've studied the evidence. Not very, would be my guess. You'd have gotten the same response from them if the debate was in 1407, not 2007. It's called progress, people.

Unbelievable.