It does look like there's one demographic the party of denialism is definitely losing--scientists. Ideological purity, which has Republicans rejecting climate change science (as well as bending over backwards at times to show support for anti-intellectualism and faith-based "science", like creationism) is certainly a big part of it (and don't get me started on their support for cutting scientific research funding and education spending!) But it's one thing to give lip-service to climate change denialism (and so many of them do), and quite another to go the added step of actually going after scientists for their work if it happens to go against "Republican science" (which is to say, stuff they make up).
But that is something that VA gubernatorial hopeful Ken Cuccinelli did do. And after burning up a bit of taxpayer money in pursuit of former University of Viginia employee, Michael Mann (a favorite target of right-wing denialist conspiracy theorists) he was rejected in his bid to be a denialist folk-hero by the Virginia Supreme Court, who realized, rightly, that his goofy quest was just totally without merit. It seems very possible that it's just this kind of dogged denialistic derring-do that that has doomed the doughty doofus.
Again, one could always hope...
But take note, even if his anti-climate activism hasn't helped him in the electoral sense, it has been lucrative as a fund-raising incentive for the fossilly-inclined. (Oh, but a lot of cats get carbon-based cash in their kitties that way, as desmogblog regularly points out.) Is it possible that we are geting over the climate-change awareness hump, though--when no amount of greenbacks can save your hide if you aren't green?
Here's hoping. Cheers.
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