Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida recently uttered this:

GQ: How old do you think the Earth is?

Marco Rubio: I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I’m not a scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.

I find it remarkable that the rising stars a political party so beholden to oil and coal (not that the Democrats are any great shakes…) are so dumbass ignorant of geology (Paul Krugman makes a similar point). What I wrote about Gov. Bobby Jindal also applies to Rubio:

In opposing basic scientific fact, Jindal is either being willfully ignorant or highly cynical.

Which is the Republican Party’s problem to a T.

One should aspire to being neither stupid nor evil.

Astronomy and geology, how they work work?

Related post: Josh Rosenau makes some smart points.