As we have all long suspected, Ted Cruz really is as stupid as we always assumed. So says a group of scientists who evaluated some of the preposterous claims the Texas Senator has made regarding the topic of climate change.
Here’s the back story: A group of climate and biological scientists graded comments made about the environment by 2016 Presidential candidates. Some, like Democrat Hillary Clinton, scored highly. Others–mostly the Republicans– flunked.
But the winner of the dubious honor for who knew and understood the least was none other than Ted Cruz.
Just so you know, any political bias was overcome in the survey by having statements identified only by numbers and the comments graded anonymously.
Michael Mann, a Pennsylvania State University meteorology professor, had this to say about Cruz’s remarks:
“This individual understands less about science [and climate change] than the average kindergartner. That sort of ignorance would be dangerous in a doorman, let alone a president.”
What statements from Cruz led the scientists to make their conclusions? Try this one on for size:
“If you look at satellite data for the last 18 years, there’s been zero warming….The satellite says it ain’t happening.”
That is patently false. Laughably so. Florida State University’s James Elsner noted that data shows every decade has been warmer than the one that preceded it, going back as far as the mid-1900s. Also, satellite data shows “continued warming over the past several decades. And 2015 was the hottest year on record.
Also coming in for criticism from the climate scientists was Donald Trump, for saying in September:
“It could be warming and it’s going to start to cool at some point. And you know in the 1920s people talked about global cooling. I don’t know if you know that or not. They thought the Earth was cooling. Now it’s global warming. Actually, we’ve had times where the weather wasn’t working out so they changed it to extreme weather and they have all different names, you know, so that it fits the bill.”
Professor Jim McCarthy of Harvard University called that assertion “nonsense.”
So apparently we have a bunch of Republicans seeking the White House who would likely fail a kindergarten level science class. And yet they claim they can be trusted to run the most powerful nation on earth?
Don’t make me laugh! Oops, too late.
Featured image by Gage Skidmore for Flickr, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
