Others on our network had already heard this. But as you may, or may not know, repetition is the sincerest form of everyone hearing what you have to say. Here’s what happened.

Woke up way too early this morning and flipped on the local news to see what happened the night before. A commercial comes on blasting a candidate for saying, “evolution…best explains the origin of life.” We are great fans of science so our WTF meter flew off the scale. A couple of fast-rewinds later we learn it’s a conservative political ad aimed against a conservative candidate.

Thankfully, @Rick_Snee shared a Salon link explaining what’s going on in our own state.

The outcome of Alabama’s gubernatorial race is still up in the air, but the contest itself is shaping up to be the most entertaining show on TV. Last month, candidate Tim James explained that this is the state where “we speak English.” Now, a new campaign ad takes Republican candidate Bradley Byrne to task because “on the school board Byrne supported teaching evolution, said evolution best explains the origin of life – even recently said the Bible is only partially true.” This news, by the way, is delivered in an incredulous, “Can you believe this guy?” tone.

Yes, evolution. Being open to possibility of allegory. And in the 21st century, no less! Now, in some parts of the world, a candidate’s response to such scurrilous attacks might be something along the lines of, “Screw you, mouth breathers.” Instead, Byrne has gone on the defensive, stating that his remarks at a Piggly Wiggly appearance last November (“I believe there are parts of the Bible that are meant to be literally true and parts that are not”) were taken out of context. On his website he’s quick to insist, “I believe the Bible is the Word of God and that every single word of it is true” and that, “As a member of the Alabama Board of Education, the record clearly shows that I fought to ensure the teaching of creationism in our school text books.”

The ad’s video lay below the jump. It’s right beside our utter contempt for 21st century idiocy.
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