Opinions Differ on Shape of the Earth

Global warming. Evolution. Fundamentals of economics. If the facts don't fit, fund a think tank to say otherwise—the press will cover "both sides" of the issue.

Krugman has a good piece on the genesis of this strategy.

The important thing to remember is that like supply-side economics or global-warming skepticism, intelligent design doesn't have to attract significant support from actual researchers to be effective. All it has to do is create confusion, to make it seem as if there really is a controversy about the validity of evolutionary theory. That, together with the political muscle of the religious right, may be enough to start a process that ends with banishing Darwin from the classroom.

Read the whole op-ed...