Queer Quote: Sen. Rubio Doesn't Know Earth's Age

Marco Rubio is a first-term Republican United States Senator from Florida (elected in 2010), who is widely expected to run for President in 2016 or in the future. He's young (41 years old), Latino (Cuban-American), relatively telegenic and conservative enough to be acceptable to the Tea Party wing of the GOP. Rubio was widely believed to be on the shortlist to be Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate and was a surrogate for the Romney-Ryan ticket in the all-important state of Florida, incorrectly predicting a Republican win this year's election.

He also is either an idiot, or a religious extremist (basically the same thing, in my opinion). He apparently is willing to embrace creationism and reject basic scientific information about the age of the Earth. He was asked by GQ magazine "How old do you think the Earth is?" and his response is today's Queer Quote:

"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."

This is an absolutely unacceptable answer by a serious politician on the national stage who has aspersions of even higher office. The Earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old. This number is not in dispute among any reputable scientists. To deny this fact is an assault on reason and science.

I would also strongly dispute the claim that knowing (or not) the age of the planet has no impact on the United States economy. Our economy depends on increasing the number of people in the workforce who are educated and informed about science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Such informed people will know how old the Earth is, and will make important contributions to the future of the country.

Clearly, Rubio did not get the memo issued by (another 2016 presidential hopeful) Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana that the GOP needs to "stop being the stupid party."

I'd love to see how old Governor Jindal and Governor Chris Christie think the Earth is?