The "Pity Us Poor Incompetent Boobs" Strategy?

Watching the whole Expelled debacle as it has unfolded, with screwups ranging from the expulsion of PZ and the pre-expulsion of Genie Scott who was also in the film (hear her story about 3/4 through this podcast also linked by Tim Sandefur below), to the multiple mutually inconsistent stories manufactured by Mark Mathis and his Swift Boat Veterans for Truth public relations firm, I am beginning to believe that they are following a conscious strategy: the “Pity Us Because We’re So Incompetent” strategy.

The most recent move in that cunning campaign was to “accidentally” send the email list for their scheduled Tempe, AZ, preview to Scienceblogger John Lynch. Because the promoters of Expelled used cc: rather than bcc:, John was privileged to learn that such luminaries as “boughtbythecross,” “homeschoolma,” and “covenant-dad” are among the target audience for Expelled.

C’mon, folks. Can you really believe that grown-up people who cross streets on their own and who (presumably) don’t require full-time home care can really screw up so royally so often? I really think they are angling for the pity vote.

By the way, in the podcast linked above Genie announced that NCSE will be releasing a series of new videos on www.expelledexposed.com on April 15. Link to it early and often.