'I am not a scientist' is shorthand for 'David Koch doesn't want me to answer that'

A good New York Times read on what repugicans get from their curious new climate-denier talking point "I am not a scientist." Short answer, they get to run away from the question.

Jon A. Krosnick, who conducts polls on public attitudes on climate change at Stanford, finds the phrase perplexing. "What's odd about this 'I'm not a scientist' line is that there's nothing in the data we've seen to suggest that this helps a candidate," Mr. Krosnick said. "We can't find a single state where the majority of voters are skeptical. To say, 'I'm not a scientist' is like saying, 'I'm not a parakeet.' Everyone knows that it just means, 'I'm not going to talk about this.' "
That problem, you see, is that it's no longer credible to deny that climate change is happening-voters don't buy it. But acknowledging that it is real would quickly end the campaign dreams of any Koch-affiliated repugican who tried.
For now, "I'm not a scientist" is what one party adviser calls "a temporary Band-Aid" - a way to avoid being called a climate change denier but also to sidestep a dilemma. The reality of campaigning is that a politician who acknowledges that burning coal and oil contributes to global warming must offer a solution, which most policy experts say should be taxing or regulating carbon pollution and increasing government spending on alternative energy. But those ideas are anathema to lunatic fringe wingnut donors like the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch and the agitator cabal they support, un-Americans for non-Prosperity.

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