The ‘defense’ of science undertaken primarily by atheists in the last few years has been a liberal movement reacting to the fundamentalism of Bush. As you yourself say, Democrats think they are putting up geniuses with their contendors, so there is a certain amount of partisan pride in elitism there as well.

You can argue that the motivations of the group are purely non-partisan in nature, but there aren’t too many readers who are going to swallow that. While the Carnival has proved itself to be a strong collection of good writing, I think it’s a little disingenious to contend there isn’t an undercurrent throughout.

Also, I gotta say… it’s starting to push a little into the conspiracy theory realm to argue that because a group is promoting a particular trait, and a political candidate happens to share that trait, the purpose of the group must be to help get that candidate elected. By that logic, Mormon missionaries were trying to convert people in order to help Romney’s political career. Yes, those who care about intelligence tend to like intelligent politicians, but the caring about intelligence came first, and then the politicians. Intelligence is something worth promoting for its own sake.