I had forgotten about the specifics of how Bush put a lid on science. The man was truly dangerous and too stupid to realize it. What a hand puppet he was.
In politics, the true test of science is not empirical evidence, but political correctness (viz., the “popular will”); for what the many say is so will be so, whether it is so or not. And, to a large extent, it has been politics - and not science - that has dominated our thinking. (One would think that the earth is flat!) Apparently, there is no limit to our stupidity.