Noted by Dr. Noh Mann-Greenbaum

“I’m not a scientist . . .”

Were Jeb Bush’s and Rick Santorum’s statements about the Pope’s environmental encyclical just the first salvos of a conspiracy to avoid discussion of climate change during the U.S. Presidential election? If so, could that end up being a good thing?

Polly Anna Ish of the Center for Inclusive Values, Initiatives, and Learning (CIVIL), a California based thought elevator, posits that avoiding discussion of the environment during the campaign will be beneficial in the long run. “That will reduce polarization. And whoever is the next President won’t have the baggage of campaign climate promises and can do what is best for the planet.”

But B. L’zobo’ab of the Society for Truth is less positive. “Candidates don’t usually worry much about keeping campaign promises and none of these candidates is as dumb as they seem.” After a reflecting for a bit, he continued, “Well some are. But not all.”

In June Mr. Santorum said the Pope should “leave science to scientists“. Mr. Bush soon followed with “I don’t get economic policy from my . . . pope.” Not content with avoiding serious discussion of environmental issues, are major presidential candidates trying to set the stage for avoiding any discussion of the matter at all by claiming lack of competence? The upside to most candidates is obvious. Speculation is rife that they plan en masse to invoke the “I’m not a scientist” strategy pioneered by candidates Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal.

But in fact, the tactic is problematic for Mr. Jindal. He graduated from college with honors in biology and then was a Rhodes Scholar studying health policy at the University of Oxford. Some theorize that because of this blot on his record that Jindal was secretly behind candidate Ted Cruz’s denigration of scientists as “cooking the books“. That way, the theory goes, Mr. Jindal can still claim climate incompetence even if labeled a scientist.

It is widely believed that candidate Hillary Clinton’s collusion in the scheme will become more visible to keen-eyed observers once the campaign moves beyond the primaries and into the general election.