What did the President say? It's a fund-amental question.

So did President Bush really advocate teaching "intelligent design" in his interview with Texas reporters the other day? Or were his musings about exposing students to different ideas simply a better-than-average example of political weasel-speak? The fact is the remarks gave comfort to his religious political base while disclosing nothing of his actual beliefs about creationism. And they were mushy enough to permit a semi-benign gloss from Bush science adviser John Marburger, a professed Darwinian. Marburger told The New York Times he was pretty sure what the President really meant to say was that discussions of intelligent design should be part of the social context of science instruction. Whatever that means.Yet science organizations feel they can't let this blather pass without denunciation, like this one from the American Geophysical Union, which has been staunchly out in front on matters evolutionary. Let us hope they are not preaching only to the...