# NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 7, 2022, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018 "2022-02-07T00:52:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 278
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5542 "2022-11-01T20:20:04Z")
WI gubernatorial candidate says that if he wins, only Republicans will be elected from now on. > **[Biden says Democratic election wins will bring ‘fundamental shift’ on economy](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/01/election-2022-latest-news/#link-BLQLPJK5YRHS7GHUTU5G7GIYVU)** > > The Nov. 8 general election is one week away. Follow our live coverage to get the latest news on the 2022 midterm elections. > [@](#): > > “Republicans will never lose another election in Wisconsin after I’m elected governor,” construction executive Tim Michels told supporters Monday at a campaign stop. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2022, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5543 "2022-11-01T21:20:03Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > “Fan fiction” about an actual person? > > That seems more than a little weird. I think that’s normally called “historical fiction.” The article calls it “fan fiction” because that has some mildly pejorative connotations, but the book the guy wrote isn’t anything like fan fiction. It’s fiction featuring historical characters, which is very common genre. Which isn’t meant to defend it - this is wildly inappropriate in all sorts of ways. But it’s not “fan fiction.” ---
**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:** [November 1, 2022, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5544 "2022-11-01T21:28:49Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I think that’s normally called “historical fiction.” Sometimes also known as historical revisionism. > [@Miller](#): > > But it’s not “fan fiction.” Yeah, my guess is that he was _not_ a fan. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5545 "2022-11-01T21:36:39Z")
I dunno, I think “fan fiction” is a better descriptor here than “historical fiction”. Historical fiction usually creates a fictional character who’s living through some historical event, which this didn’t. Fan fiction, meanwhile, is defined by its being non-canonical. For a story about a real, actual person who really, actually lived, surely the “canon” would be the actual facts of their life, and this drek doesn’t follow that canon. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5546 "2022-11-01T21:36:59Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Sometimes also known as historical revisionism. No, historical revisionism is an agenda, while historical fiction is a genre. Certainly, historical fiction can sometime be employed in advancing an agenda of historical revisionism, but they aren’t the same thing, and most historical fiction doesn’t have an agenda beyond, “This would be a cool story.” ---
**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:** [November 1, 2022, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5547 "2022-11-01T21:47:24Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > No, historical revisionism is an agenda, while historical fiction is a genre. Right, which is why I said “sometimes”. For instance, this time. > [@Miller](#): > > Certainly, historical fiction can sometime be employed in advancing an agenda of historical revisionism, but they aren’t the same thing, and most historical fiction doesn’t have an agenda Like this one. I’m not disagreeing with anything you said here, I’m just talking shit about someone pushing an antisemitic agenda as seen here. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2022, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5548 "2022-11-01T22:10:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I dunno, I think “fan fiction” is a better descriptor here than “historical fiction”. Historical fiction usually creates a fictional character who’s living through some historical event, which this didn’t. Fan fiction, meanwhile, is defined by its being non-canonical. For a story about a real, actual person who really, actually lived, surely the “canon” would be the actual facts of their life, and this drek doesn’t follow that canon. Fan fiction is defined as non-canonical, but only in a specific context where canon is determined by the property’s legal owner. Disney’s _Hunchback of Notre Dame_ is non-canonical to the Victor Hugo novel, but nobody would describe it as “fan fiction.” As for historical fiction, I think it’s a spectrum. On one side, there’s “Everything here is well attested to in the historical record.” On the other side, there’s “Fuck it, let’s put aliens in.” I don’t think having a protagonist or major supporting character who’s a historical figure is disqualifying from the genre - rather, it seems a pretty standard feature. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2022, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5549 "2022-11-01T22:43:40Z")
Mehmet Oz thinks Pennsylvania has an Atlantic coast. > **[Dr. Oz Makes A Geography Goof And Twitter Puts Him In His Place](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dr-mehmet-oz-atlantic-coast_n_6360f3ebe4b0ff210e674877)** > > Pennsylvania's GOP nominee for senator might want to get better acquainted with the state he's running in. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2022, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5550 "2022-11-01T23:11:13Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > “Republicans will never lose another election in Wisconsin after I’m elected governor,” construction executive Tim Michels told supporters Monday at a campaign stop. Talk about saying the quiet part out loud! ---
**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:** [November 1, 2022, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5551 "2022-11-01T23:29:33Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Mehmet Oz thinks Pennsylvania has an Atlantic coast. To be fair, it’s easy to see how a Joisey boy like him could get confused. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2022, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5552 "2022-11-01T23:48:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Historical fiction usually creates a fictional character who’s living through some historical event, which this didn’t. Or places historical characters in a fictional storyline but one that is consistent with what is known – _I, Claudius_ has been mentioned as an example. The referenced work in the recent posts however is just propagandistic appropriation. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2022, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5553 "2022-11-01T23:54:29Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Or places historical characters in a fictional storyline but one that is consistent with what is known – _I, Claudius_ has been mentioned as an example. Sure, but there’s also a kind of historical fiction that asks, “What if aliens invaded in the middle of WWII?” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2022, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5554 "2022-11-01T23:57:46Z")
Fleetlord, is that _you_? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5555 "2022-11-02T00:02:58Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > To be fair, it’s easy to see how a Joisey boy like him could get confused I had to look at a map, but then I’m not running in that state. I did spot an interesting feature, though, which is an almost perfect circular arc dividing Pennsylvania and Delaware. Some Googling revealed: > **[Twelve-Mile Circle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Mile_Circle)** > > The Twelve-Mile Circle is an approximately circular arc that forms most of the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania. It is a combination of different circular arcs that have been feathered together. > It is nominally a circle with an approximate and variable 12-mile (19 km) radius, centered in the town of New Castle, Delaware. In 1750, the center of the circle was fixed at the cupola of the courthouse in New Castle. The Twelve-Mile Circle continues into the Delaware River. A small portion... It dates back to 1681. Neat. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5556 "2022-11-02T00:34:34Z")
That is seriously gross. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2022, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5557 "2022-11-02T02:40:18Z")
Tim Michels, the Republican candidate for Governor of Wisconsin, says that if he’s elected, he’ll make sure that Republicans never lose another election. > **[Trump-backed Wisconsin GOP candidate and 2020 election denier claims...](https://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-will-never-lose-wisconsin-tim-michels-tony-evers2022-11)** > > Michels has declined to answer questions as to whether or not he would certify the 2024 presidential election as governor should a Democrat win the state. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2022, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5558 "2022-11-02T12:15:26Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > As for historical fiction, I think it’s a spectrum. On one side, there’s “Everything here is well attested to in the historical record.” On the other side, there’s “Fuck it, let’s put aliens in.” I don’t think having a protagonist or major supporting character who’s a historical figure is disqualifying from the genre - rather, it seems a pretty standard feature. Where on that spectrum would you place the hypothetical and yet probably upcoming movie, “Abraham Lincoln: Slave Hunter”? In my mind, at least, there is a distinct difference between making stuff up about what a historical figure did, even if you are throwing in vampires or aliens, and fundamentally altering who they are. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5559 "2022-11-02T12:28:13Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Where on that spectrum would you place the hypothetical and yet probably upcoming movie, “Abraham Lincoln: Slave Hunter”? I’d have to see a review. I could see a drama based on the life of Lincoln that shows how people develop the attitudes they do, and how easily it could have been for even someone like Lincoln to end up on the other side of such a huge divide. But that would require actual talent and no small amount of historical knowledge to pull off successfully. “Gee, wouldn’t it have been neat if Anne Frank had finally realized the error of her Jewish Ways?!?” doesn’t _quite_ meet that standard, though. Especially when being hunted and killed for being Jewish is the big reason why any of us even know her name. Writing such a book would be more like making a movie, “Abraham Lincoln: Guy Who Never Really Did Anything Important”. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2022, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5560 "2022-11-02T12:30:38Z")
Aside: It’s amusing the way this thread repeatedly wanders gently off-topic for a few posts and then it’s brought back when someone cites a new Republican Stupidity. Age (of the thread, that is) may have something to do with it. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018/5561 "2022-11-02T12:43:38Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Age (of the thread, that is) may have something to do with it. It’s the Thread Equivalent of explaining why I had an onion on my belt. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018.md?page=277) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-2/959018.md?page=279)