# NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 22, 2020, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140 "2020-06-22T07:01:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 189
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3770 "2021-03-03T21:20:20Z")
A sock with forty commemorative CFEFWSG golden coins. The sock is lined with double-sewn duck to insure the extremely valuable coins remain inside as the sleep-inducing tolchok is delivered. Yours for only 45 easy monthly payments of $44.99! ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3771 "2021-03-04T00:27:16Z")
The Transportation Department’s internal watchdog has referred Elaine Chao to the Justice Department for ethics violations. > **[Ethics probe led to criminal referral involving Elaine Chao, Transportation...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/elaine-chao-ig-report/2021/03/03/169d0e36-7c53-11eb-b3d1-9e5aa3d5220c_story.html)** > > The Justice Department declined to prosecute the secretary after internal investigators found evidence of potential issues. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3772 "2021-03-04T16:45:42Z")
More on that (non-paywalled): > **[Elaine Chao Used DOT Resources For Personal Errands, Family Business, IG...](https://www.npr.org/2021/03/04/973564687/elaine-chao-used-dot-resources-for-personal-errands-family-business-inspector-sa)** > > The Transportation Department's inspector general referred the findings to the Justice Department in December 2020. The DOJ declined to open its own investigation. Well, of course she did! Duh. 🙄 No big surprise there. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3773 "2021-03-04T16:50:09Z")
I pitted her this morning: > [@F Former Sec'y of Transportation, Elaine Chao](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-former-secy-of-transportation-elaine-chao/937177): > > Former Labor Secretary under Bush 43, former Transportation Secretary under the Cheeto-Faced Shit Gibbon, wife of Mitch McConnell – arguably, no stranger to politics – has been implicated in ethics violations by an IG report: Regarding using taxpayer resources to pimp her dad’s ride: In defense of her actions, Chao’s office sent a memo dated Sept. 24, 2020, citing “filial piety.” The memo states, “Anyone familiar with Asian culture knows it is a core value in Asian communities to express ho… Donald Trump ‘draining the swamp’ would be like a logger, sitting high up in a tree, cutting through the trunk below him. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3774 "2021-03-04T23:40:18Z")
“When all else fails, blame Asian culture.” – Elaine Chao (paraphrased). ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3775 "2021-03-04T23:44:50Z")
She should be kept under a close watch, less she attack herself on strictly racial grounds. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3776 "2021-03-05T00:02:01Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > I pitted her this morning: > > > [@](#): > > > > In defense of her actions, Chao’s office sent a memo dated Sept. 24, 2020, citing “filial piety.” The memo states, “Anyone familiar with Asian culture knows it is a core value in Asian communities to express … > > [F Former Sec'y of Transportation, Elaine Chao](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-former-secy-of-transportation-elaine-chao/937177) > … These excuses are getting more and more pathetic. No one was saying Elaine Chao shouldn’t do nice things for her family. Obviously, the problem was that Elaine Chao was sticking the bill to the taxpayers, instead of paying for it herself. If she wants to claim that it’s an essential core value in Asian communities to shift your personal expenses onto taxpayers, then…give it a shot, Elaine. Give it your best shot. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3777 "2021-03-05T00:05:33Z")
“Mitch made me do it! Wha-wah-wah! He said it was okay. He said it was the ~~American Asian American Asian~~ _patriotic_ thing to do! Family values!” 😩 😭 ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3778 "2021-03-05T00:08:22Z")
That would be entertaining, I suppose, but she’d never do it (break down, I mean). They will brazen it through. The only thing that might change the usual ‘they get away with it’ outcome is if enough of the public keeps the story—and the disgust—in the forefront of the news. (Some prominent Asian-Americans giving their opinions on Chao’s “excuse” might help.) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3779 "2021-03-05T02:18:46Z")
Also, some racist anti-Chinese Trumpublicans might find their racist Sinophobia overcoming their Trumpublicanism long enough to disapprove of Chao for this. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3780 "2021-03-05T03:55:35Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Also, some racist anti-Chinese Trumpublicans might find their racist Sinophobia overcoming their Trumpublicanism long enough to disapprove of Chao for this.   That’s unlikely. It’s okay when a Chinese-American Republican does it. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3781 "2021-03-05T07:18:48Z")
I seriously doubt I’m going out on a limb here by thinking the clown, er, pastor in [this story out of Missouri](https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article249693258.html) is Republican: > A Missouri pastor is on leave after delivering a sermon telling women to lose weight and submit to the sexual desires of their husbands to keep them from straying. If you want your irony meter to get pegged, check out the article’s picture of that preacher. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3782 "2021-03-05T10:02:09Z")
I wasn’t aware the Eleventh Commandment was “No fat chicks”. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3783 "2021-03-05T11:25:18Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > If you want your irony meter to get pegged, check out the article’s picture of that preacher. He didn’t say nuthin’ 'bout _men_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3784 "2021-03-05T11:42:47Z")
OK, the first four are obviously Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, but I’m not sure whether you’re calling Taoism, Falun Gong, Shintoism, or atheism the fifth major religion. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3785 "2021-03-05T12:40:55Z")
Sen. Ron fucking Johnson is frosting my shorts this morning. I sincerely hope he sat in chambers and listened to the full damn reading of the Covid relief bill that he demanded because “we should know what’s in the bill”. ([nope, he didn’t](https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2021/03/04/senate-chamber-empties-as-reading-of-628-page-relief-bill-gets-underway/?sh=147434f87c15)) My understanding is that it was read to an empty chamber with only one token Democrat and one Republican in attendance. Btw, 80 Americans died during each hour that the bill was read and delayed. Fucking fucker. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3786 "2021-03-05T13:26:22Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, the first four are obviously Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, but I’m not sure whether you’re calling Taoism, Falun Gong, Shintoism, or atheism the fifth major religion. I would have guessed Judaism. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3787 "2021-03-05T16:20:36Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I would have guessed Judaism. Correct. I suppose argument could be made for a sixth – [Jainism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism). It has the appeal of symmetry, three Abrahamic, three dharmic. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3788 "2021-03-05T17:00:07Z")
Going by [number of adherents](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_populations#By_population), both Judaism and Jainism would be _way_ down on the list. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/3789 "2021-03-05T17:19:26Z")
True, but since they’re the root from which the others sprung, I have a soft spot for them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140.md?page=188) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140.md?page=190)