Senator Ted Cruz, bless his heart, tries so darn hard to pretend he’s an intellectual and knows everything there is to know on every subject imaginable. But then he starts speaking and it soon becomes painfully obvious just how clueless he is.
A perfect illustration of this took place Thursday while Teddy was chairing the Senate Space, Science, and Competitiveness Subcommittee. He and his committee had invited NASA chief Charles Bolden to come testify and also to justify their request for $18.5 billion in funding. Cruz, smirking like a little boy who has just done something he knows he will never ever be caught for doing, asked Bolden what he thought NASA’s “core mission” was. To which Bolden replied:
“Our core mission from the very beginning has been to investigate, explore space and the Earth environment, and to help us make this place a better place.”
But Cruz, always seeking an opportunity to be an argumentative jackass, didn’t much care for that answer, so he attempted to put Bolden in his place and prove just how smart he thinks he is:
“Almost any American would agree that the core function of NASA is to explore space. That’s what inspires little boys and little girls across this country…and you know that I am concerned that NASA in the current environment has lost its full focus on that core mission.”
Those same boys and girls also fervently pray each and every night that they don’t grow up to be a smug, self-satisfied, preening junior Senator from the state of Texas.
Bolden, however, decided to take the Senator “to the woodshed” as my grandfather liked to say, and teach him a thing or two about what NASA does on a daily basis. He reminded Cruz that NASA regularly compiles data on the planet’s air pollution via satellite, does research on new forms of energy, and is one of the key agencies for climate change. Then Bolden smacked Senator Cruz across his goofy grin and reminded him that no one is going to space “if the Kennedy Space Center goes underwater and we don’t know it.” Bolden added:
“It is absolutely critical that we understand Earth’s environment because this is the only place that we have to live. Science helps exploration; exploration helps science.”
Boom! You just got schooled, Teddy!
Keep in mind this is the same Senator Cruz who has been denying climate change exists for years now. He never passes on an opportunity to bloviate on how ridiculous the notion is. But on Thursday he was exposed for the small-minded lugnut that he truly is.
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.
Cruz is incapable of bypassing his belief system. Can you imagine that he has anything to do with science? If he believed in science it would destroy his world view. He did not even hear the NASA guy. How he got through college is beyond me. He can regurgitate but he can’t learn.