Thursday, during testimony at the space subcommittee of the House Science Committee, questioning took a… funny turn.

When it was Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s (R-Ca) turn to ask the NASA officials question, Rep. Rohrabacher said several things in a disjointed way, but then he segued to what he described as “the most important thing.”

“You have indicated that Mars was totally different thousands of years ago.  Is it possible that there was a civilization on Mars thousands of years ago?”

As you might imagine, the room got quieter.

Apparently, it was Kenneth Farley’s turn in the barrel.  I think he’s a geochemist with the Mars 2020 project.  I’m almost distressed at how calmly he answered.

“So, the evidence is that Mars was different billions of years ago.  Not thousands of years ago,” Farley started.

“Billions, well. Yes,” Rohrabacher said.  I’m sure he knew that.  As Rachael Maddow said, the “Duh” was silent.

“There’s no evidence that I’m aware of,” Farley answered.

Incredibly, Rohrabacher kept pushing.  “Would you rule that out?  See, there’s some people…” he started, before finally realizing how deeply into crazy he’d drifted, “…well, anyway….” he stuttered out.

“I would say that is extremely unlikely,” Farley answered.

“Okay.  Well.”  After a few forced pleasantries, Rohrabacher finally managed to stop speaking.

So.  ‘Some people’?

It’s possible, I suppose, that Rohrabacher was flashing back to Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian stories, or maybe C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy, but my money is on Alex Jones, the InfoWars guy.

Apparently, Jones was interviewing Robert David Steele back in June, and Alex’s guest had an… interesting theory.

“This may strike your listeners as way out,” Steele said, “but we actually believe that there is a colony on Mars that is populated by children who were kidnapped and sent into space on a 20-year ride.  So that once they get to Mars they have no alternative but to be slaves on the Mars colony.”

Jones never saw a conspiracy he didn’t embrace, and he ran with it.

“Look, I know that 90 percent of the NASA missions are secret, and I’ve been told by high-level NASA engineers that you have no idea, there is so much stuff going on.  But then it goes off into all that, that’s the kind of thing media jumps on.  But I know this: we see a bunch of mechanical wreckage on Mars, and people say, ‘Oh look, it looks like mechanics.’  They go, ‘Oh, you’re a conspiracy theorist.’  Clearly, they don’t want us looking into what is happening.  Every time probes go over they turn them off.”

So, yeah, there’s that.

It’s possible that Rohrabacher knew that billions of years ago, Mars might have been able to host basic microbes, just the way NASA had testified earlier that day, and that Rohrabacher was scientifically curious.

But I’m going with fantastically stupid and crazy.  It’s not like Rohrabacher has shown much interest until now in stuff he didn’t make up.

Such is the high quality and unwavering drive of today’s Congress, and the Republican party that drives it.  Dana Rohrabacher, Russian apologist, incredibly bad toupee wearer, and now, Martian archeologist.

Momma would be so proud.