I guess we have an irreconcilable difference here. I think science is ultimately apolitical. You seem to think it is just another part of an all encompassing and pervasive political process. Oh, well. Too bad we can't meet up in a couple of hundred years, compare notes, and see who's right. Then again, maybe we can.
No, he's saying that *science* and research into it will go on in the rest of the world, and leave the US behind, if some short-sighted people in the US with a political or religious axe to grind against science wield them to damage science education, or public respect for science, in this country.
Science should not be used as a weapon against political positions or religious views, granted. But neither should political positions or religious views be used as grounds for attacking science. You incorrectly accuse us of doing the former, but it's the latter we have been concerned about during our time at FreeRepublic -- we've been trying to stop science itself from being undermined by those with politically or religiously motivated grudges against science, its methods, or its findings, especially when it's attacked with false claims, false accusations, or misleading propaganda.
Those don't have any place in the conservative movement. Leave the lies to the liberals, we're better than that. Or at least we should be.