# 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:** 43
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/846 "2020-09-09T18:11:50Z")
To be fair, I wouldn’t trust Bill Gates to protect me from viruses either. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/847 "2020-09-09T18:19:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > To be fair, I wouldn’t trust Bill Gates to protect me from viruses either. Yeah, all he can do is nag you to constantly update yourself. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2020, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/848 "2020-09-09T20:18:12Z")
Michelle Bachmann: The Bible warned us that Black transgender Marxists would try to elect Biden President. > **[Michele Bachmann: The Bible warned that ‘transgender Black Marxists’ would...](https://deadstate.org/michele-bachmann-the-bible-warned-that-transgender-black-marxists-would-try-to-elect-biden)** > > During an appearance on televangelist Kenneth Copeland’s program last week, former Minnesota GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann proclaimed that the Black Lives Matter movement, coupled with unrest in the streets, was prophesied in the bible as events designed... ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/849 "2020-09-09T20:24:16Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Kenneth Copeland How’s he doing with giving COVID a blowjob? > **[Tarrant County Megachurch Pastor Says He'll 'Blow the Stinkin Virus Away'](https://www.wbap.com/2020/04/06/tarrant-county-megachurch-pastor-says-hell-blow-the-stinkin-virus-away/)** > > Tarrant County (WBAP/KLIF) A fiery message from a Tarrant County megachurch pastor who summoned the “wind of God” to destroy the novel coronavirus during a recent sermon. : > "COVID19 (CoVID19) \[blows into camera) I blow the wind of God you." > After... ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/850 "2020-09-09T20:24:39Z")
The Bible also warned about the coming of the Antichrist; filling people’s heads with lies. For 2000 years, that was the message. Then people like Michele helped elect him President! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/851 "2020-09-09T21:50:45Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Michelle Bachmann: The Bible warned us that Black transgender Marxists would try to elect Biden President. > [Michele Bachmann: The Bible warned that ‘transgender Black Marxists’ would try to elect Biden – DeadState](https://deadstate.org/michele-bachmann-the-bible-warned-that-transgender-black-marxists-would-try-to-elect-biden) The Bible? Notwithstanding the fact that I personally don’t accept that text as authoritative on ANY subject, I’d be grateful if you’d unpack that for me, chapter and verse, Mrs. Bachman. If nothing else, it should prove amusing. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/852 "2020-09-09T22:19:32Z")
They don’t even nag anymore. They just update you whether you want it or not! ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/853 "2020-09-09T23:56:39Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > How’s he doing with giving COVID a blowjob? He might not be doing a good job with COVID, but he’s got a wicked bass line. [_pffffffff_](https://youtu.be/m2s0nB2VPvs) ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/854 "2020-09-10T00:10:03Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > They don’t even nag anymore. They just update you whether you want it or not! And then tell you that you need to restart. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/855 "2020-09-10T02:56:44Z")
Trump’s claim to be protecting Americans from panic by lying about the severity of the COVID-19 health crisis was pretty damned stupid. Not only did he blame Democrats for speaking the truth, but he let 150,000 plus Americans die, so that they would not feel stressed out. I think he flat out lied because he didn’t want to face the problem, but claiming that he treated everyone like children, so as to avoid panic, is perhaps even worse than actually being a lazy, uncaring SOB. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2020, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/856 "2020-09-10T03:21:55Z")
Tom Cotton, after he showed up on the list of potential Individual 1 Supreme Court nominees: “It’s time for Roe v. Wade to go.” > So they aren’t even going to pretend to not have preconceived views, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/857 "2020-09-10T05:26:11Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Trump’s claim to be protecting Americans from panic by lying about the severity of the COVID-19 health crisis was pretty damned stupid. Not only did he blame Democrats for speaking the truth, but he let 150,000 plus Americans die, so that they would not feel stressed out. I think he flat out lied because he didn’t want to face the problem, but claiming that he treated everyone like children, so as to avoid panic, is perhaps even worse than actually being a lazy, uncaring SOB. Well, how mature could Americans be? They elected _Trump_, after all. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2020, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/858 "2020-09-10T08:06:53Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > So they aren’t even going to pretend to not have preconceived views, huh? You can’t blame them - after all, once the views have been preconceived, they can’t abort them. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/859 "2020-09-10T10:29:30Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > So they aren’t even going to pretend to not have preconceived views, huh? Any one who hasn’t decided where they are on Roe v Wade is either completely detached from the American experience or lying. In particular, I would not be surprised that a Harvard lawyer has come to a conclusion on the merits of the case (even if he IMHO is wrong). It is a decided case - I would expect a justice (or prospective justice) to withhold expressing an opinion on any pending cases, but not something already decided. I remember brother #3 (liberal Harvard lawyer as it turns out) discussing with brother #4 the complete impossibility of Clarence Thomas _not_ having a fully formed opinion on the correctness of Roe v. Wade during Thomas’s confirmation hearing. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/860 "2020-09-10T14:33:45Z")
What @Folacin said. Any Supreme Court nominee who can’t or won’t answer whether they believe _Roe v. Wade_ to have been correctly decided is being completely disingenuous. It’s also worth noting that one’s opinion of the decision need not necessarily comport with one’s opinion about abortion. I’m one of the (maybe, being generous) one percent of Americans who has actually read the whole opinion, the concurrences, and the dissents in _Roe_, and has also read in their entirety the opinions, concurrences and dissents in related cases like _Griswold v. Connecticut_, as well as later abortion-related cases like _Planned Parenthood v. Casey_, _Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt_, and _June Medical Services v. Russo_. I support, absolutely and unequivocally, a woman’s right to procure an abortion, for any reason or for no reason. In my ideal world, governments (federal, state, or local) would not attempt to put any barriers in the way of abortion access. And I’m still not in complete agreement with the rationale used to support a constitutional right to abortion in cases like _Roe_. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/861 "2020-09-10T14:37:32Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > So they aren’t even going to pretend to not have preconceived views, huh? Why should they? Would you have the same criticism of a potential Supreme Court nominee who stood up and said, “I believe, based on my legal training and experience, that _Roe v. Wade_ was correctly decided, and if appointed to the court my rulings will reflect that analysis”? ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/862 "2020-09-10T14:48:30Z")
Well, it tends to be the pro-life nominee’s who pretend to not have an opinion, probably because the majority of American’s don’t want to ban abortion (although many would support more restrictions then we currently have in place). So they have to dance around the question to get confirmed (or used to, at any rate). ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/863 "2020-09-10T14:51:57Z")
I don’t think the problem is that Tom Cotton disagrees with Roe v. Wade. Many people do. The problem is that, by saying it’s time for it to “go”, shows that, if put on the Court, he has no problem ignoring stare decisis to get the result he wants. That’s the real issue. He’s a judicial activist. He clearly states he has no issue ignoring 40+ years of precedent and all the cases that have upheld Roe v. Wades’ holding. He’s on Asshole in Chief’s list because of that fact. It’s a blatant effort to get somewhat sane Republicans back into Trump’s camp by promising to stack the judiciary and overturn Roe. The question is how many deaths, how much corruption, how many lies, how many laws broken, how much damage to this country are those Republicans going to tolerate so they can get control of the Supreme Court. So far, it’s been a whole hell of alot of all those evils. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/864 "2020-09-10T15:16:53Z")
And this is straight up politicizing. It is saying that if we reelect Trump, then he will probably get a chance to overturn Roe V Wade. Not that SCOTUS hasn’t been politicized, but at least we pretended that it was not. This admits that it is simply a political tool to be wielded by whichever party happens to be able to nominate and confirm justices. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140/865 "2020-09-10T15:24:54Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I don’t think the problem is that Tom Cotton disagrees with Roe v. Wade. Many people do. The problem is that, by saying it’s time for it to “go”, shows that, if put on the Court, he has no problem ignoring stare decisis to get the result he wants. That’s the real issue. He’s a judicial activist. He clearly states he has no issue ignoring 40+ years of precedent and all the cases that have upheld Roe v. Wades’ holding. I see where you’re coming from here, but judicial activism can take a variety of forms. For example, I can see the argument that _Roe_ itself was the judicial activism, and that overturning it would be effectively engaging in a proper reading of the Constitution. I tend to agree with Clarence Thomas on the general point here: if a decision was wrong, the court should be willing to say it was wrong, and reach the right decision based on the facts of the case and the constitution. I understand that the court shouldn’t just overthrow prior decisions for the sake of it, and that there is considerable value in continuity and predictability and reliance on prior case law, but I also don’t think we should hold _stare decisis_ up as the legal god to which we owe greatest obeisance. Should the court have found for the the Topeka Board of Education in 1954, and upheld _Plessy v. Ferguson_ out of deference to its own prior rulings? Should the court now countenance internment based on ethnicity out of deference to _Korematsu v. United States_, which has never been over-ruled? These are hard questions. The problem here, I think, is that there are some people who treat them as the difficult questions that they are, and might reach different outcomes based on an honest and genuine effort to apply the legal and constitutional principles involved. Cotton, though, seems like one of those people who works back from political outcomes and would shoehorn in whatever theory of the case happens to accord with his preferred results. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140.md?page=42) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-1/911140.md?page=44)