Is Ideology Trumping Science in the Bush White House?

More than a decade ago, Dr. James Holsinger wrote a paper for the Methodist Church claiming that gay-male sex was inherently unsafe. Now President Bush has nominated him to become the country's leading doctor. Facing tough questions at a Senate confirmation hearing this morning, Holsinger insisted his views had changed and that he held no biases against gay men or lesbians. However, his testimony came only a few days after statements by his predecessor that White House officials had fought his attempts to discuss issues like secondhand smoke and had tried to force him to repeatedly mention the president by name in his speeches. Richard Carmona's is just the latest in a string of charges that the Bush White House has been hostile to science and has put political biases ahead of sound health policy. Guest host Jim Sterngold explores the proper role the of science in making national policy.