# NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 4) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 22, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678 "2025-02-22T21:08:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 163
**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:** [February 13, 2026, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3241 "2026-02-13T17:02:09Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > > [@Horatius](#): > > > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > > > Brown people of every shade getting along with each other, and with white people, while all are acting like the normal happy friendly people they are. > > > > And being shown as hard workers, and business owners/operators. > > And getting married. It’s almost like Puerto Ricans have American values! I think you folks have nailed it. THIS was exactly what got the Republican talking heads so incensed. “Stop showing those good people! This hurts our propaganda!” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3242 "2026-02-13T17:42:01Z")
As has been said many times in many places, a hefty fraction of Latins are big family religiously and culturally conservative folks who would generally be natural R voters if only the Rs hadn’t turned into reactionary White Supremacists hell bent on destroying all brown people, even the light ones. Oh, and also the party of Fascist Oligarchs intent on gutting the economic lives of all low wage workers via the destruction of what little job and consumer protections and social safety nets the USA ever had. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2026, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3243 "2026-02-13T17:48:56Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Senator John Husted (R-OH) accepted thousands of dollars in “donations” from Epstein accomplice Les Wexner, then voted against releasing the Epstein files. You know, it’s no so much the corruption that bothers me. I expected nothing better from Trump and MAGA. It’s that the corruption is so _staggeringly cheap_ that really bothers me. Okay, so most people have their price, sure. Except for all us paragons of virtue here at the SDMB, of course. But imagine if you were this guy. You’re willing to go out in public and cover for the most notorious international pedophile ring of our time, okay, sure, but would you do it for “thousands” of dollars? Fuck that. If I’m risking my reputation and possible re-election on this, I’m getting paid enough to live on for the rest of my life. They’re all fucking billionaires, right? Cough up a few million, at least, or I’m taking the easy way out and just condemning you like 99% of the world wants me to. At least Trump gets that much right, none of this penny-ante stuff. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3244 "2026-02-13T18:45:52Z")
Similar comments have been made about all the various Cold War era spies. > You’d sell out your country, and destroy the effectiveness of millions or billions of taxpayer dollars in exchange for a one-time payment of $100K (2026 dollars) and 3 visits with an over-the-hill hooker? What a stupid cheap fuck you are! ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3245 "2026-02-13T19:35:24Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Assuming the data is even real of course) What immediately catches my attention is the label on the y- axis. “Percentage of maximum viewership”. That strikes me as either seriously massaged data to make a pretty picture, or AI slop. From just seeing the graph, I have no information on how maximum viewership was determined, nor what the data is even showing. TV channels tuned to the Superbowl channels? ---
**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:** [February 13, 2026, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3246 "2026-02-13T19:59:54Z")
Tim Burchett says Obama was the mastermind behind Epstein, that he was “created” and “not an organic man”, and also the Rothschilds are involved somehow, because what’s a conspiracy theory without some casual antisemitism? > **['Obama was created': GOP lawmaker claims first Black president 'not organic' man](https://www.rawstory.com/tim-burchett-barack-obama-created/?utm_source=front-sidebar-watch)** > > Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) asserted that former President Barack Obama was "created" and not an "organic" person.During an interview with Burchett on Friday, MAGA influencer Benny Johnson suggested that Obama was implicated in covering up the crimes of... ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3247 "2026-02-13T20:05:24Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > From just seeing the graph, I have no information on how maximum viewership was determined, nor what the data is even showing. TV channels tuned to the Superbowl channels? I think what it’s _trying_ to convey is that 100% is when the most number of people were watching the show. However, how they arrived at those figures is another question. The graph is reportedly from this company: > **[Samba TV](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samba_TV)** > > Samba TV is a television technology company that offers real-time insights and audience analytics. It was founded in 2008 by early employees of BitTorrent, including Samba TV's current chief executive officer, Ashwin Navin. The company develops software for televisions, set-top boxes, smart phones and tablets to enable interactive television through personalization. Through its portfolio of applications and TV platform technologies, Samba TV is built directly into the TV or set-top box and wil Apparently, they install their spyware into “Smart TVs”, then get viewership info from that. I’m not sure how reliable the info is. And yes, reading between the lines of what I see about this company (including their own advertising), I suspect that AI is heavily involved. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3248 "2026-02-13T20:26:06Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Tim Burchett says Obama was the mastermind behind Epstein, that he was “created” and “not an organic man”, “Dammit, who sprayed the pesticide on our field of Obamas?!?” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3249 "2026-02-13T20:35:25Z")
Question: is Burchett saying Obama created Epstein as an artificial being, or is Burchett saying that Obama was created as an artificial being? Too many "he"s in that sentence for me to be sure what’s referring to who. In either case why would any entity that can create artificial humans bother with conventional politics? The super aliens (or Rothschilds; same difference) with the super tech would just announce they’re taking over and anyone who objects goes straight into the stew pot or the disintegrator depending on our mood. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2026, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3250 "2026-02-13T20:38:22Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Question: is Burchett saying Obama created Epstein as an artificial being, or is Burchett saying that Obama was created as an artificial being? Obama is the one who was created. > “Because President Obama was created,” Burchett alleged. “He was not, he’s not organic. I mean, you pick this obscure guy from college who has zero records you have college professors that don’t remember him ever being there and he runs and he’s and all of a sudden people drop out of races and he’s unopposed and he goes from a state senator to a to a U.S. senator to an unknown to be in the United States because he was created.” ---
**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:** [February 13, 2026, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3251 "2026-02-13T20:40:59Z")
Wasn’t Obama the editor of the Harvard Law Review? Pretty sure he’s “remembered”. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2026, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3252 "2026-02-13T21:09:59Z")
Facts! Pesky Facts! In a sane world, these folks (Representative and influencer) would be in mental institutions. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3253 "2026-02-13T21:27:03Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Question: is Burchett saying Obama created Epstein as an artificial being, or is Burchett saying that Obama was created as an artificial being? I doubt he really cares about or understands the distinction. The salient point is: it’s not Trump’s fault nor the fault of any Republican ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3254 "2026-02-13T21:28:38Z")
Yeah, he’s trying to make it sound like there was some huge conspiracy that swept aside all obstacles from Obama’s path to the presidency. Ultimately, it’s a way to denigrate the political instinct and accomplishments of the first Black person to become president, who positioned himself well for the 2008 race, spotted Hillary Clinton’s weakness (Iraq war vote) early and exploited it well, then had a bit of luck in the timing of the financial crisis of that year, and utilized his advantage ruthlessly. You could do the same thing about Abraham Lincoln - who was also a long shot when he started his presidential bid after falling short for Senate seats in 1856 and 1858. How could some political nonentity, a one-term congressman from over a decade before who was then part of a party that no longer existed, somehow grab the nomination over the mighty juggernaut of Senator Seward? Heck, Seward had 2/3rds of the votes needed on the first ballot. But Seward had some hidden weaknesses that Lincoln’s supporters used to carefully gather “second favorite” support on the next ballot, almost doubling his support, and generating a sense of momentum that took him to within three votes of the nomination on the third ballot. Lincoln and his floor managers worked hard to get the results they did, same as Obama did with his campaign - the rules were different 148 years later, but both situations were due to hard work on the part of the principals, not some hidden people behind the scenes smoothing the way for their favored candidate. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2026, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3255 "2026-02-13T21:45:17Z")
Plus, you’d think that if Obama had somehow been engineered by some shadowy cabal to make him the perfect presidential candidate, they wouldn’t have made him a biracial Hawaiian whose father was a Muslim. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3256 "2026-02-13T21:50:05Z")
That’s just how sneaky they are. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2026, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3257 "2026-02-13T22:09:23Z")
Funny that that article makes no mention of Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) demanding an investigation, I’d append _isn’t it_ but we all know that it is. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3258 "2026-02-13T22:40:29Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Plus, you’d think that if Obama had somehow been engineered by some shadowy cabal to make him the perfect presidential candidate, they wouldn’t have made him a biracial Hawaiian whose father was a Muslim. If they can manufacture an unbeatable presidential candidate, why did they stop after making just one? ---
**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:** [February 13, 2026, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3259 "2026-02-13T22:45:17Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > If they can manufacture an unbeatable presidential candidate, why did they stop after making just one? Ala _Captain America: The First Avenger_, the guy who did it was killed and apparently left no notes on the process, even though the world’s smartest, richest inventor was part of the team. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2026, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3260 "2026-02-14T00:23:58Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Ala _Captain America: The First Avenger_, the guy who did it was killed and apparently left no notes on the process, even though the world’s smartest, richest inventor was part of the team. Oddly relevant to this discussion, they later gave an imperfect version of the Super Soldier Serum to some Black men in the 50s (without their knowledge or consent), and sent them to track down Winter Soldier in Korea. Only one of them survived, and was tossed in prison for decades. [MCU: Isaiah Bradley](https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Isaiah_Bradley) (It was a major plot point of the show _The Falcon and The Winter Soldier_, as well as the film _Captain America: Brave New World_.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=162) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=164)