If you thought a field full of anti-science blowhards was scary, just wait until you get a load of GOP presidential johnny-come-lately Rick Perry, currently governor of Texas.
Perry said that climate change is "all one contrived phony mess that is falling apart under its own weight." He is suing the EPA to block it from regulating greenhouse gas emissions. His response to the record droughts and wildfires that have ravaged his state — consistent with climate scientists' predictions that the American Southwest will become warmer and drier as climate change accelerates — was to pray for rain.
Now Perry has announced he's running for the GOP presidential nomination. Candidates this late to the game generally don't fare well, but if he gets the nomination, look for his climate denialism to play a big role in his campaign and policy prescriptions. He's so fired up about the subject that, apparently, Mitt Romney's reasonableness on the issue inspired him to throw his hat in the ring.
