# Freakouts of the Right **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 28, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631 "2022-04-28T22:36:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/41 "2022-04-29T12:17:59Z")
And on that note, this thread teeters off the edge of just barely being a P&E thread and into the Pit for ranting. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/42 "2022-04-29T12:50:08Z")
What was that thing back in the Clinton administration? Something about Bill getting a haircut while riding in Air Force One, and the cost thereof. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/43 "2022-04-29T13:05:13Z")
That’s probably before 2000? Anyway, this whole grooming thing is a major freak out that will get people killed. I cannot believe that most Democrats are just letting accusations of pedophilia and child grooming just go past without comment. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/44 "2022-04-29T13:27:29Z")
Belgians in the Congo! Seriously, someone needs to re-write “We Didn’t Start the Fire” with this stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/45 "2022-04-29T13:42:51Z")
I seem to remember some wingnuts taking the side of the Somali pirates after Obama had them shot. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/46 "2022-04-29T13:50:10Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > To be fair, “Obamacare” doesn’t really belong as it was a legitimate policy debate. Are you kidding? Obamacare absolutely belongs on the list and in fact, much like Hillary Clinton, is an entire list in its own right. Sure, there was a legitimate policy debate, too, but the whole issue of “Socialized Medicine”, aka “government-run health care”, has been the basis of some of the most entertaining right-wing scaremongering for years. Remember “death panels”? They were going to come after your grandma, and soon they’d be coming after you, too. There was no end of horror stories allegedly happening in countries with universal health care, much to the amusement of those of us actually living in those countries. The noted right-wing lunatic Betsy McCaughey had stories like the one about how in the UK, the NHS will not provide treatment for macular degeneration until you’ve gone completely blind in one eye. Or the life-threatening wait times for medical care, so that under UHC people spend so long waiting for medical care that they’re dropping like flies. There can hardly be better examples of classic (and funny) freakouts of the right! ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/47 "2022-04-29T13:55:01Z")
The best was that article from, uh, IB Times maybe? that claimed that if Stephen Hawking lived under socialized medicine, he would have been left to die years ago. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/48 "2022-04-29T14:11:29Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > IB Times maybe? Similar names, but it was actually the right-wing **[Investor’s Business Daily](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investor%27s_Business_Daily#July_2009_error_in_editorial)**. IB Times (International Business Times) is quite respectable, whereas IBD is so right-wing that Murdoch’s News Corp bought it in 2021. Hawking himself responded to that piece with praise for the National Health Service. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/49 "2022-04-29T14:12:55Z")
Obama’s half assed coffee cup salute to a Marine. Michelle Obama trying to get people to eat healthy. (Wasn’t that the origin of the "Stupid Republican Idea of the Day thread?) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/50 "2022-04-29T14:20:56Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > [Hysteria over Jade Helm exercise in Texas was fueled by Russians, former CIA director says | The Texas Tribune](https://www.texastribune.org/2018/05/03/hysteria-over-jade-helm-exercise-texas-was-fueled-russians-former-cia-/) I have a mental image of their PsyOps department coming up with new schemes: > **Boris:** That’s too ridiculous; they’ll never fall for that! > **Nikolai:** Bah! Those morons will fall for anything! I bet you a hundred rubles they will fall for it! > _(a few weeks later)_ > **Boris:** Very well, here is your hundred rubles. Good luck finding something to buy with it! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/51 "2022-04-29T14:27:15Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Obama’s Mustard IIRC, this was the scandal of asking for Dijon mustard on his burger on Air Force 1. This was scandalous since Dijon is a funny-sounding name that obviously refers to some foreign location (probably in Kenya) and hence asking for their mustard is un-American. ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/52 "2022-04-29T14:34:45Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Obama’s half assed coffee cup salute to a Marine. Wasn’t there also one where they dared to hold an umbrella over him for some speech that was outdoors? I guess you are not allowed to protect the president from the weather. `//i\\` ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/53 "2022-04-29T14:36:02Z")
Trying to imagine how odious a “Freakouts of the Left” thread could get, say, in an 8-chan thread. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/54 "2022-04-29T15:11:43Z")
Sharia law. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/55 "2022-04-29T15:19:00Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > IIRC, this was the scandal of asking for Dijon mustard on his burger on Air Force 1. {…} From what I can find, and sort of trust, Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington, Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/56 "2022-04-29T15:38:09Z")
Here was a predominantly Right Wing freakout that cost us a lot: [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guantanamo-qa/qa-why-did-obama-reverse-decision-on-9-11-trials-idUSTRE7335T020110404](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guantanamo-qa/qa-why-did-obama-reverse-decision-on-9-11-trials-idUSTRE7335T020110404) To be fair, some dumb Dems were on the side of this one, too. Because of this one, Guantanamo remains open to this day and we continue to suffer the shame of that on the world stage. As if we are/were incapable of conducting trials of very dangerous people in our federal courts. For fuck’s sake. * * * > [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > Sharia law. Oh, god, yes. I will never forget my father, who is wholly co-opted by Faux News (and now OAN, too), telling me at least 20 years ago that I wouldn’t be so smug when I was made to wear a burka. Because Sharia law!! ---
**Author:** ![irae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f0a364/32.png) [@irae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irae)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/57 "2022-04-29T15:50:48Z")
Sure Jade Helm 15 was the usual “conservative” BS, but does anyone argue that having a network of detention/education facilities deep beneath the nation’s Walmarts where the Red Hats could be safely warehoused and deprogrammed would have been a bad idea? ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/58 "2022-04-29T16:07:36Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > They were going to come after your grandma, and soon they’d be coming after you, too. Instead we got COVID, and suddenly Republicans didn’t care about grandma anymore. Anyone remember TX AG Paxton, or whatever his name is, saying that the older generation should be willing to die to keep our economy running? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/59 "2022-04-29T16:08:42Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Anyone remember TX AG Paxton, or whatever his name is, saying that the older generation should be willing to die to keep our economy running? Yes, it’s already included. 🙂 I dug up the ‘stupid Republican idea’ threads, my God, what a rich vein of wasted energy and talent. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631/60 "2022-04-29T16:21:26Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I dug up the ‘stupid Republican idea’ threads, my God, what a rich vein of wasted energy and talent. We should mine that and publish a calendar with daily stupid ideas (and why they are stupid). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631.md?page=4)