Rubio Not Convinced on Climate Change, Fox News Goes After Hillary, and More

Change He Should Believe In:

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate, contends that there’s still “reasonable debate” on the cause of climate change (there’s not) and that he doesn’t see global warming as a threat to his home state. “The climate is always changing, that’s not the question,” Rubio told BuzzFeed. “The question is if man made activity is what’s contributing the most to it. I know people said there’s a significant scientific consensus on that issue, but I’ve actually seen reasonable debate on that principle.” Evidently Rubio is not aware of the study that shows that climate change could cost Florida up to $345 billion—not exactly chump change—by the end of the 21st century. (Read more)

Dirty Tricks Denied: Surprise redistricting changes in Virginia that were narrowly pushed through by the state’s GOP-controlled Senate while a Democrat was absent have been dealt a major blow by—shocker—someone in the party. Republican House Speaker William Howell used a procedural move to effectively kill the controversial plan, which would have given the GOP control of the Senate for “decades to come.” Said Howell: “House Bill 259 has been modified to stray dramatically, in my opinion, from the original legislative proposal.” (Read more)

Body Blow: Following Virginia’s lead, Michigan Republicans are pushing for legislation that would effectively require women who want to get an abortion to undergo an invasive transvaginal ultrasound first. The dubious rationale for the procedure is to “protect” the woman. The irony, as pointed out by Eclectablog, is that “Republicans are fighting the practical, most effective steps we can take to actually prevent abortions.” (Read more)

Dystopian Desire: A Republican lawmaker in Idaho has put forth a proposal that would require every high school student in the state to read Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” in order to graduate. State Sen. John Goedde, who introduced the bill, wants all students to read the book because he said it “made my son a Republican.” Rand’s novel, written in 1967, has become a favorite among libertarians and the tea party in recent years. Goedde said he didn’t actually “plan on moving this forward,” however, and that it was merely meant to be “a statement.” (Read more)

Mixed Signals: Fox News is the most and least trusted news network, according to Public Policy Polling’s 4th Annual TV News Trust Poll. The survey revealed that the conservative cable news channel’s credibility is at an all-time low; however, Fox also won distinction as the single news outlet viewers trust the most. Go figure. (Read more)

Video of the Day: “Fox & Friends” may have hit another new low (and that’s saying a lot) Wednesday when host Steve Doocy suggested that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had had a face-lift. “Days after retiring as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, somebody has launched a new website for her showing off this glamorous new face. Face-lift, perhaps?” Doocy said. He later tried to play it off as if he was referring to the website, and not Clinton.