The most moronic statement I ever heard a politician make about climate change – here is Kentucky State Senator Brandon Smith:

As you (Energy & Environment Cabinet official) sit there in your chair with your data, we sit up here in ours with our data and our constituents and stuff behind us. I don’t want to get into the debate about climate change, but I will simply point out that I think in academia we all agree that the temperature on Mars is exactly as it is here. Nobody will dispute that. Yet there are no coal mines on Mars. There are no factories on Mars that I’m aware of.

— Sen. Brandon Smith

If you don’t believe this is what he actually said, hear for yourself:

I can’t even figure out what his statement is supposed to mean or what his point is.

On Earth, the average temperature is about 58 degrees F, the average temperature on Mars is  -80 degrees F. Depending on the time of day and the direction of the sun, Mars temperatures can reach a high of 70 degrees F and a low of -225 degrees F. The atmosphere on Mars is of an entirely different chemical composition and density. Mars has a different mass and size than Earth, and has no molten core and thus no magnetic field. This results in lethal levels of high energy radiation at the surface.

This man is a senator sitting on the bench of some hearing, so he looks important. There are people in our country that think he knows what he is talking about. People listen to him. He has power over people’s lives.

He sounds really smart when he says the doesn’t “want to get into the debate about climate change.”

Yes, I don’t think I’d want to get into a scientific debate if I were Brandon Smith.