The art of the hedge: A linguistic dissection of Marco Rubio's comments on Earth's age

The Tea Party star cast doubt on whether Earth is really 4.5 billion years old, largely through a hedging strategy known as "the plausibility shield"

Marco Rubio's primary hedging strategy when discussing the Earth's age? The plausibility shield.
(Image credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

In a GQ interview published yesterday, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was asked how old he thinks the Earth is. His answer, the gist of which was basically "nobody knows," was prefaced by a good deal of hedging:

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.

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