Liberals respect science is nonsense. They are famous for harassing and punishing any researcher who engages in the wrong science or who gets results that contradicts their agenda. They fix projects to get the desired outcome.
Example one: These people were deemed mentally ill by professionals for a long time until they came in and bullied and threatened people to change their science to name them the picture of mental health.
Example two: They harass scientists who get climate change results that don't match their global warming agenda. They block the ability of honest researchers to publish results liberals don't like, threatening editors at scientific publications.
When you begin with a foregone conclusion and disregard/discard any data to the contrary you are no longer seeking answers nor to discern/explain what exists, you are only seeking to add a mask of credibility and authority to the agenda you pursue.
Since the latter is their aim, the only way to retain any of that purloined credibility is to attack the integrity of those who would report the theft.
But projection (in this case, the accusation of others of their own real or anticipated sins) is so common a trait among liberals as to be nearly universal.