Your 2016 Republican Presidential Candidate
Marco Rubio in an interview with GQ.
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’d think choosing either 4000 or 4 billion would work here. Any attempt to avoid the question is an explicit bone to the fundies. Every interviewer should call them on it. Not holding my breath thought.
Rubio, of course, raps part-time for ICP, in an attempt to appeal to the youth vote:
Water, fire, air and dirt
Fucking magnets, how do they work?
And I don’t wanna talk to a scientist
Y’all motherfuckers lying, and getting me pissed
I’ll considering voting for Rubio if he shows up at debates wearing clown make up.
How would you tell which one was him?
Rubio would be the one to look the part, as opposed to just sounding the part.
Well, expecting the man who wants to lead the greates, most powerful nation the Earth has ever known to have any actual knowledge about anything at all is just one of those typical liberal media gotcha questions.
When will liberals learn that profound ignorance should be a prerequisite for public office? That and a deep and abiding hatred of the institution you want to lead?
And a fundamental desire that that institution function as poorly as possible
And good hair.
and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.
How unexpected!
Wait I’m confused.
Is Marco Rubio a scientist or not?
I think, in his Republican populist worldview where everyday regular Americans with Common Sense already know what they need to know, we all are, so nobody is. It’s very complicated.
Well, scientists are theologians, and he is no theologian. He can always consult with Franklin Graham on scientific matters.
Well, he is a member of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Even still, I’d give him a pass if (as CJColucci mentions below) he said, “I don’t know — it’s been a while since I’ve studied these things. I know it’s many millions of years old, but beyond that, I couldn’t say.” But he can’t bring himself to say even that.
What’s crazy is that he is Catholic. The Catholic Church believes in evolution, believes in the big bang, all of it. God created the world and the bible and differences between the two are part of God’s mystery.
Some bishops have spoken out about this, but….. non-Catholic nurses at Catholic hospitals are using contraception!
Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. It’s one thing if you’re a member of an evangelical young earth creationist church to say this kind of nonsense. It’s quite another if you’re a Catholic or a Mormon or a Mainline Protestant.
Rubio may have been born as a Catholic, but these days he’s
moonlighting as a Southern Baptist.
Good to see the GOP is distancing themselves from serial panderers…
It appears from the article that his wife is a Southern Baptist, and he himself is Catholic, and they split time between churches. Hard to say for sure, though.
Hard to say for sure, though.
Just like we can’t say for sure he’s a young Earth creationist — I think that’s how he likes it. In fact, that’ll probably be his campaign slogan.
Well, it’s going to be a remarkable couple of election cycles for Republicans as they have to fully embrace the lunacy that is their party’s official, published platform while simultaneously letting everyone know that they don’t embrace anything their party has published in the official platform.
So I guess the strategy is to do the Mitt thing of saying whatever works at the moment, with the hope that Rubio has less of a history of public statements and can’t be so easily exposed as the lying weasel he is. And have a brown candidate because that’s all that matters to brown people. And maybe don’t fight TOO hard against that immigration reform (though hard enough that you can defend it to the racist base).
You’re saying Democrats need to push for lots of Marc Rubio interviews on TV, so we can establish along back log before 2016?
I assume you’re correct about Catholic theology, but Rubio isn’t trying to describe his theology or to reassure his coreligionists – he’s trying to appeal to the fundamentalist Christians (Protestants of whatever sort) that have tremendous power in picking the next Republican nominee. If fundamentalist devotees of the Flying Spaghetti Monster had a strong position in the Republican party, Rubio would refuse to categorically deny the existence of His Noodly Appendage when asked, even though such an idea has considerably less basis in Catholic theology than does Young Earth Creationism.
He is after neither a scientist nor a theologian. He is a politician
Unless the Catholic Church has changed an awful lot in the decade since I stopped going to church (with the exception of the occasional marriage, funeral or visit with family who expected me to attend with them), I don’t think that it’s so much a matter that they believe in evolution, the Big Bang, etc. as they don’t believe in the literal truth of Biblical accounts of creation. There may have been a Vatican position paper in the recent past that affirmed modern science–I seem to recall something along those lines–but, germane to my point, most Catholics don’t really pay very close attention to that kind of stuff unless their priest or bishop makes a point of bringing it up; your average Catholic doesn’t scrutinize the latest papal bull (don’t bother with the obvious joke) to see if it’s still OK to eat meat on Friday or whatever.
The flip side is that, unless Rubio touched on one of the hot-button issues that the Church has gotten itself involved with lately–abortion, contraception, acceptance of same-sex relationships–it’s not as if Rubio’s priest or bishop would call him up and lecture him on the Church’s official position on magnets or star formation or whatever.
We are fucked, aren’t we?
Hard to say, man. I’m not qualified to say, man.
I am, and yes we are.
That’s like asking the square root of a million. No one will ever know.
+1
I’m stealing this.
There really is no situation imaginable that an applicable Simpsons quote can’t be found.
“TV, is there nothing it can’t teach us?”
To paraphrase Shaq, it’s like the Pythagorean Theorem – there is no answer.
“That’s like asking the square root of …”
Whoah, whoah. Slow down there, egghead.
Now, the cube root, that would be easy.
A thousand
Disappointing from Rubio.
Sooner or later we’re going to have to tell the Jesus Freaks who brought us big-government “compassionate conservatism” to get the fuck out of the movement.
Fiscal conservatism is the future. Ayn Rand is our loadstar, not Jeebus.
This is what is great about disputes for the soul of the Republican Party – both sides are completely distasteful.
On the one hand you have people like our anonymous friend here, who apparently dislike fundamentalist nonsense, but largely because it distracts attention away from their horrifying libertarian economic agenda.
On the other hand you have people like Mike Huckabee who feint at moving in the direction of a saner economic policy – all in order to garner more votes for their horrifying religious agenda.
Only if you think less government, less taxes, and more freedom, personal responsibility and a balanced budget are “horrifying”
But yes, Jeebus Freaks do get in the way of that. They don’t even really believe in personal responsibility, the devil made me do it blah blah blah, it’s no different from Marxism blaming “the rich”. Go back to the hills snake handlers.
I think that putting anyone into power who holds Ayn Rand is their loadstar [sic] is horrifying, yes.
You forgot the [sick] after “Rand.”
More freedom unless you’re a woman who wants birth control available for use or are a slut who wants to have an abortion.
You have convinced me, Dark Avenger! Except that I agreed with you already…
And that’s more freedom unless you’re someone who wants clean water and air. The market will take care of that!
a balanced budget
Wait, I thought you were talking about conservatives.
Or if you don’t think less Government and taxes is going to bring more freedom and personal responsibility and a balanced budget. Governments are not the only ones who can restrict freedom. A society where your position depends as much on your birth station than your actions is not one that favors personal responsibility.
No. As our libertarian friends are always insinuating, only government—never private parties—can oppress. By definition.
The ‘libertarian’ process for getting to a balanced budget is, indeed, horrifying. Ever read this Tom Scocca piece?
I think the fact that for you, “freedom” is synonymous with “mammon-worship” is horrifying, yes.
I read that as “mammoth-worship.”
I thought it might have been a reference to the paleocons who used to run the GOP.
Yawn. Another neo-feudalist.
As a matter of fact, less government, less taxes, and a balanced budget actually are “horrifying.”
I you have any damned idea WTF you are talking about.
How to build a bigger political coalition: Tell other people already in your coalition, and who provide much of the infrastructure and manpower at the ground level in states you rely on for a national presence, to get out.
I think that was Saul Alinsky’s sixty-eighth rule for radicals.
Their vaunted ground game didn’t help much this time, did it?
Fuck them and their constant whining. If they don’t like it they can get the fuck out and go Democrat. You try dealing with them.
I’m sure you’ll fare much better with the ground game of first world libertarians. Because “center your political coalition on the smallest and least politically motivated group that will do fine no matter who gets elected” is Saul Alinky’s sixty-ninth rule for radicals.
Leaves them more time to focus on Saul Alinsky’s four hundred and twentieth rule for radicals.
Four hundred and twentieth? “No radical above the rank of lieutenant is to wear a ginger toupee”? I’m sorry, sir, but I really don’t see how that’s relevant.
Both religious zealotry and libertarianism are fatal poison for any presidential election. The Republican party used to understand that those groups were supposed to be played for fools, and ignored. Until they relearn that, or until libertarians and religious zealots accept that their beliefs are meaningless hobbies, we will have Democratic presidents.
I dunno – seen any projections of what the race would have looked like without it?
Ron Paul still loses.
+ the square root of 1,000,000
[slow golf clap]
Your Internets will be delivered to your doorstep shortly.
“Loadstar.”
Yes, that’s it exactly.
Ayn Rand is definitely a loadstar.
What kind of load can that star handle? Quarter-ton, deuce-and-a-half, what?
An Objectivist ass-load. Which, as we all know, is a hell of a lot of ass.
Ayn Rand is a truck? That’s harsh.
There are probably politicians who simply and honestly don’t happen to know what science says about the age of the Earth, but would not presume to dispute it if they did know. But they wouldn’t answer the question the way Rubio did, even if they wanted to hide their ignorance. They might say something like: “I know it’s really old, but I’ve forgottern the details of what I was taught, which may be out of date anyway. Go ask a scientist.”
“I don’t know” is a perfectly acceptable answer here. I would think a great deal more of him if he’d said “Not my area. I don’t know.”
Just not what geologists, cosmologists,
15 fans arguing about which version of Darth Vader’s orgin is canon, and George Lucas doesn’t count.
Except for evolution on medicine, geology on energy policy, cosmology on our space program and use of satellites, or climatology on the future of our food production capabilities. Aside from those, nothing at all.
Ivory tower assholes and their fancy “Books and “TV” and learning.
All hail the Great Green Arklesiezure, who sneezed the universe into creation.
In other news, it’s a great theological debate as to exactly where his house is. The christians say he lives in that apartment, the buddhists say he should be happy without material possessions, and should be happy meditating near the overpass.
Just don’t show him a map. He’s not a scientist after all.
This deserves to be hammered home. A big challenge for the future economic growth of the US is the increasing tendency of scientists from abroad choosing to live in countries other than the US because they’re concerned about their scientific investigations being disrupted by a bunch of whackjobs.
Or as the oil companies say, “Good luck finding oil in the ground using creation science.”
Well, since you insist on bringing that up, may I present the latest treatise by the esteemed Jerome Corsi, Ph.D., which manages to combine a conspiracy theory involving Big Oil, the Democrats, the Nazis, Soviet technological supremacy, and Creationism into a great steaming pile: The Great Oil Conspiracy.
Oh, for the love of FSM. This is typical, though. Invent a reality that conforms to and reinforces your worldview.
Well, it shouldn’t, is the point.
Reality sucks, sometimes. All the wishful thinking in the world isn’t going to make the prequels disappear, and won’t poof Adam, Eve and Original Sin into existence either.
Hey, now that Disney is in charge, and has the option of hiring someone sane for the next trilogy, they can mark the sequels down as a holodeck malfunction, or release Topher Grace’s edit, or whatever.
H.G. Wells
The most noted of atheist commies!
Sadly, he’d still reliably get about 48% of the vote.
I’m going to choose to believe that the “I’m not a scientist, man,” statement is a quasi-dog whistle for Ghostbusters fans. (“Back off, man, I’m a scientist.”)
Upon further reflection, it could also potentially be a The Big Lebowski dog whistle. (“That’s just, like, your opinion, man.”)
STFU, D
Life does not stop and start at your convenience, you miserable piece of shit.
I can’t be the first person to make a joke about GQ = Gotcha Questions, can I (in my case it would be a joke on the people who would tell that joke as a sincere criticism of GQ, so levels, hoorary!)?
He means is that the Biblical story of Creation is recorded history that was recorded thousands of years after Creation according to its own account, right? Or is he instead suggesting that there are historical documents recording the creation of the world that are contemporary with Creation itself? That would be preety cool!
To be fair, the Bible claims to have the transcriptions of a guy who was there for the creation of the Universe, so there’s that. I don’t find those claims particularly persuasive, but most people do so I can’t really get particularly worked up over Marco Rubio being one of those people.
No, it doesn’t.
Some Bible idolators make that claim, but nowhere in the Bible does it actually say “this was transcribed by a guy who was actually there at the creation of the universe”.
Or is he instead suggesting that there are historical documents recording the creation of the world that are contemporary with Creation itself?
27th October, 13,500,848 BC. Another day without much happening. Pretty dark, pretty quiet. Ho hum. Watched the rest of Series 1 of Deadwood and got an early night.
28th October. UNEXPECTED VERY LOUD BANG TODAY.
Who the fuck cares what theologians say? That he would turn to them as the “experts” on such matters should automatically render him unfit for office.
Like they could be any worse than Alan Greenspan.
As the man said, “who the fuck cares what theologians say?”
Parents can teach that the universe was shat out the back of a giant turtle for all I care.
Schools on the other hand, need to teach real science.
We don’t teach the flat earth theory in geography as part of “the controversy”.
Well I do care if parents teach that the universe was shat out the back of a giant turtle because eventually the schools would be teaching that the universe was shat out the back of a giant trutle. Obviously nothing you can do about that though
Assuming that the “shat out of a giant turtle” theory was bad secular science rarther than a religious doctrine, our public schools would be legally free to teach it, just as they are now legally free to teach the phlogiston theory of chemistry. It’s not quite true that there would be “nothing” you could do about it; you could oppose it politically, and probably succeed. There isn’t much public demand for teaching bad science that isn’t religiously-motivated.
It’s turtles all the way down.
It’s tortoises, you bloody heretic!
There’s a t-shirt, you know.
Another Christmas present to add to the list.
I’m not a scientist, man. Does the earth rotate sound the sun or does the sun rotate around the earth? Scientists disagree. Think about THAT, man.
Did I just blow your mind?
Also an unfrozen caveman lawyer quality to Rubio’s answer:
“I am just a Senator. I was elected by Republicans in Florida and later got selected a potential presidential nominee. I don’t really understand your science… As I said during the campaign, I’m just a caveman [err, Senator]. But there is one thing I *do* know – we must do everything in our power to lower the Capital Gains Tax. Thank you!”
The whole Republican Party has an unfrozen caveman lawyer thing going on these days.
Somewhere there is a dude whose entire universe is a single atom in my little finger (or is my entire universe a single atom in his little finger? Or both?) who is asking that same question at this exact same time. Like, whoa.
One of these things is not like the other…
This is actually not a bad answer for a national Republican. And I can’t say it’s any scarier than what I would have expected. They have to pander to the fundie base now. And it leads to pretty terrible social policy, though that is related to birth control much less than it is education policy.
I blame hipster’s ironic sensibilities for our inability to know how old the Earth is.
+ trombones
I have tried to extend the principle of charity several times by reading Rubio’s response to the question, but I am forced to conclude, based on reading his words, that he is either a complete idiot, or a pandering idiot, or both.
The other possibility is he is a lying, pandering panderer, and not necessarily any kind of idiot.
Just one man’s opinion.
Is Rubio an economist? Because he sure seems confident about economic matters. Why this seeming unfounded confidence on economics but the equivocation on the other question? Hmmm…
In fairness to Rubio, I think economics being the only discipline where two people can share the Nobel Prize for saying completely opposite things is part of the problem.
If you can stomach the scabrous scabrousitude of the article’s editorial voice, this is worth a read.
Reporter: Marco, thanks for the interview. How do I get to the interstate from here?
Rubio: Hey, man, I’m not a map.
Reporter: But you’ve got a smartphone; it looks like a Samsung Galaxy III–
Rubio: Hey, quit depending on the government for assistance, moocher! Besides, I have people who tell me this stuff now. *turns away, boots up Angry Birds*
Dumber than your average pile of dogshit.
Rubio should ask people who are Christian who actually know things.
Christianity can and does answer this question – with something called “Apologetics.” This applies science to Christian questions. For example, one of my sources on the below answer is a professor of electrical engineering at Johns Hopkins.
The basic answer is: Apologetics has determined is that the Biblical use of “day” in Genesis does not refer to what we today term a 24-hour day. It means more of an epoch. So, carbon dating fits perfectly.. I’m comfortable with the wiki definition of the age of the earth.
In short, the people who claim to “know the bible” and assert that God “did” such things as make the earth in one 24-hour day are.. crazy. Ignore them. If you must talk with them, ask them if they’ve heard of apologetics. A good book explaining this in greater detail is Lee Strobel’s The Case For Faith.
I don’t care if my next-door neighbor believes that the universe was created in Hoboken, New Jersey on January 1, 1937. I do care if that neighbor was vested with the power to make decisions on government policies that involved science.
Even the liberal Forbes magazine is calling out Rubio’s idiocy: