On Monday, Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) joined an event in Houston just before the solar eclipse where she provided questionable commentary on the moon and the sun.  As seen in footage of Jackson Lee’s comments, she incorrectly claimed that the moon consists “mostly of gases” and that it is “almost impossible” to go near the sun because of its “mighty powerful heat.”

The moon is not made up of gases and it is in fact impossible to get anywhere close to the sun.  Conservatives across social media have quickly jumped on the clip, pointing out the incorrectness of the Democrat representative’s comments.

ou need light and energy from the sun so that you have the energy of the moon at night and sometimes you’ve heard the word ‘full moon,’ that’s when you take the opportunity to come out and see that the full moon is that complete rounded circle, which is made up mostly of gasses,” Jackson Lee said, defying basic astronomical knowledge.

“That’s why the question is why and how quickly as humans we could live on the moon. Are the gasses such that we could do that?” she continued, questioning if it could be possible that humans inhabit the moon.  “The sun is a mighty powerful heat, but it’s almost impossible to go near the sun. The moon is more manageable,” Jackson Lee added.” And you will see in a moment or not a moment you’ll see in a couple of years that NASA is going back to the moon.”

“Is this real? I’m having a hard time believing that even someone as vapid as Sheila Jackson-Lee thinks the moon is made of gases. Please tell me this is real,” questioned conservative commentator Paul Szypula in disbelief that the comments were genuine.

Others questioned how an elected leader of Congress could make such statements.  “This video gives hope that literally anyone can be elected to Congress,” one person joked.  Another user called out the lack of competency from Jackson Lee, stating, “Tell me again affirmative action works… LOL!”

According to reports, Jackson Lee also served as a member of the Science Committee and the Ranking Member on the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, further drawing into question how she could have such a fundamental misunderstanding of basic science.  Even more questionable is that Jackson Lee attended Ive League Yale University and the prestigious University of Virginia School of Law, which would lead one to believe she would have more insight toward the moon and the sun.

Others have pointed out that congresswoman’s comments regarding the moon and sun reflect poorly on the Democratic party, which is often touted as the “party of science.”  Liberals are constantly citing science as the ground for passing legislation related to issues such as climate change.

Watch Jackson Lee’s commentary below, where she claims the sun is “almost impossible to go near” and that the moon is “made up mostly of

gasses.”

Note:  The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.