# More Republican brilliance: body parts are like tires. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 6, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622 "2011-01-06T16:24:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/1 "2011-01-06T16:24:24Z")
Really. [According to Mitch Daniels](http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/qa-with-gov-mitch-daniels/?src=busln). > [@](#): > > What you’re saying to these younger people is – who, by the way, I think, barring disasters, are going to live to possibly old ages, as we have always thought of it…. They will live to be more than 100, because, again, barring accidents or something, or war, well over. They should. They’ll be replacing body parts like we do tires. Um, okay then. He continues: > [@](#): > > If you ask a young person who’s paying any attention to this, “How old do you expect to be, and how long would you like to be a vital working person?” they’re not going to find this offensive. Speaking as a young person, I just hope my new pancreas doesn’t go like those [Firestone tires on Ford Explorers](http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2000/09/06/ford000906.html) ten years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/2 "2011-01-06T16:42:36Z")
I want a job at the boob bank. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/3 "2011-01-06T16:55:19Z")
What’s the pitting about? A poor analogy? The prediction that medical engineering will prolong lifespans? ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/4 "2011-01-06T17:02:23Z")
Will the average person be able to afford to replace body parts as though they were tires? (Will the average person be able to afford to replace tires?) ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/5 "2011-01-06T17:05:09Z")
Hmmm. Looks like a prediction on the direction (and cost) of medicine, not anything _I’d_ bother to get bent about… Maybe he’s right. Maybe he’s wrong, but hardly pit-worthy. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/6 "2011-01-06T17:08:42Z")
Will be. Not are. And they will be. Almost certainly within the normal lifespan of a 20-something. BTW, the context of that quote was that he was saying we need to raise the SS retirement age going forward, which we do. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/7 "2011-01-06T17:13:58Z")
Good God, don’t we already have enough Spare Tires around here? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/8 "2011-01-06T17:15:55Z")
The Firestone tire thing was ten years ago??? Wow. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/9 "2011-01-06T17:18:06Z")
So can I count on a new liver soon? 'cause that changes everything. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/10 "2011-01-06T17:27:17Z")
So they’re cool with embryonic stem cells now? I can’t wait to work at age 70! ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/11 "2011-01-06T17:28:22Z")
Thinking about it some more: does the OP implicitly put forth some kind of natural law-esque sanctity-of-the-body premise? I’m aware of the Catholic teachings on contraception, artificial conception, and other human medlings in the natural workings of the human body, but I’m not aware of a strong opinion against organ transplantation. (I understand that some natural law theorists dislike use of, e.g., animal organs, but that’s somewhat orthogonal, I think.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/12 "2011-01-06T18:29:11Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > So can I count on a new liver soon? 'cause that changes everything. Get in line. I was here first! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/13 "2011-01-06T19:09:38Z")
Of course body parts are like tires. You’ve never let air out of your colon? ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/14 "2011-01-06T19:50:00Z")
> [@Paranoid\_Randroid](#): > > I’m not aware of a strong opinion against organ transplantation. Well, I should clarify – I mean a strong opinion against transplantation _per se_. I’ve seen, er, cranks who believe that a culture encouraging organ transplantation leads to euthanasia (I suppose they think of doctors as greedy vultures, ready and willing to kill for precious kidneys and retinas). I see no reason to be against, say, medical technology breakthroughs that replace damaged limbs and organs with mechanical devices. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/15 "2011-01-06T19:53:56Z")
Can I get my body parts to be replaced BY tires?? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/16 "2011-01-06T20:10:36Z")
How long, do you figure, before we read about some guy selling a kidney in order to get chemo for his child without insurance? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/17 "2011-01-06T20:55:56Z")
This is a pretty fucking weaksauce pitting. So the guy made a prediction about a long time in the future with medical technology. I don’t even find it to be that outlandish. The irony here is that the medical advances that will give us these extended lifespans and radical changes in medical technology will be opposed by the republicans. OH YOU CAN’T PLAY GOD. Oh, right, when we stick someone on a ventilator because they’re brain damaged, that’s not playing god, but if we give them cells to rebuild that damaged brain, that’s playing god… God is a stickler for nonsensical technicalities. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/18 "2011-01-06T21:05:57Z")
Yeah, but God is a Republican. I read that somewhere on the internet, so it must be true. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/19 "2011-01-07T01:55:37Z")
I grew up on science fiction. And learned that a lot of sci-fi ideas won’t really work. I sigh when I see people who aren’t steeped in the science just assume that our grandchildren will be living in space, while others on Earth are commuting in personal aircraft, & all science & medicine will work like magic. This is like that to me. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622/20 "2011-01-07T02:10:39Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I grew up on science fiction. And learned that a lot of sci-fi ideas won’t really work. I sigh when I see people who aren’t steeped in the science just assume that our grandchildren will be living in space, while others on Earth are commuting in personal aircraft, & all science & medicine will work like magic. > > This is like that to me. Great strides have been made in growing skin in labs for grafts and actually growing a [liver](http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/june2010/06282010liver.htm). Years and years away, but it certainly appears possible. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-republican-brilliance-body-parts-are-like-tires/566622.md?page=2)