I had hoped that the drubbing of Mitt Romney and the downfall of anti-abortion extremists in Senate races would have sunk in and persuaded promising GOP politicians that kissing the extreme right’s ass was a one-way ticket to defeat. Unfortunately, it appears that the Teabaggers are still in charge, with reason, sanity, and science the victims of the GOP’s race to vacuousness.

Case in point is Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who disqualified himself today as a future president, by revealing he is too stupid for the job. Apparently, in the December issue of GQ there is an interview with Rubio in which Michael Hainey asked, “How old do you think the Earth is?”

Mr. Rubio responded:

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.

Juliet Lapidos of the New York Times got it right when she said:

Mr. Rubio probably figured that these same Republicans have no truck with geologists, and so there was no advantage to stating clearly that the earth is 4.54 billion years old. But if his response was more proof of cunning than idiocy, it was still ludicrous.

If Rubio has a fifth grade science education, talk of his running for president are absurd. And, if he is pandering to the nation’s stupidest voters — he has a good chance at winning the Republican nomination, but will likely go down in flames in the general election. The Republican Party is making a huge mistake. They should be bouncing the Teabaggers and the Religious Right, instead of pandering to pea brains (or is it tea brains?).

If Rubio doesn’t know anything, he should change change his name to Rube-io.