# 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:** 286
**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:** [September 22, 2026, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5701 "2026-09-22T23:27:01Z")
> [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > You know, they don’t need a polio vaccine because no one gets polio anymore. Sort of, but the antivax argument is worse because they _are_ getting the vaccine and it’s doing something. This is more like if people were having antivenom made and nobody was using it because they weren’t being bitten by snakes. I guess you can argue that the polio vaccine is a fraud because there’s no polio to defend against, but there’s no 100% surefire way to determine that’s actually the case. Just because a person isn’t getting sick, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t actively working; that might just mean it’s doing what it’s supposed to. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2026, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5702 "2026-09-22T23:28:09Z")
The only logic that might make sense is … This is about government subsidized insurance. Obamacare or medicaid or whatever. A customer who never makes claims is probably a fake customer who’s just a vehicle to help the insurance co defraud the government out of the premiums the taxpayers are paying on behalf of the fake customer. Now I’m sure there are such things going on _in small number_, but I’m more sure the real idea here is just government sponsored terrorism on innocent citizens, plus cost cutting on the backs of the deserving but less well-off. Like DOGE, they’re going to take a chainsaw to a hangnail. With a side order of vandalizing Obamacare just because that’s how RW traitor criminals roll. But rest assured the regime, if asked to justify this, will say that they’re eliminating fraudulent fake customers and saving precious taxpayer dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5703 "2026-09-23T00:38:05Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I guess you can argue that the polio vaccine is a fraud because there’s no polio to defend against, but there’s no 100% surefire way to determine that’s actually the case. In fact, it’s surefire **not** the case, as in [the example of the unvaccinated person who contracted polio paralysis **in New York State in 2022**](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10468811/). Residual viral shedding in people vaccinated with live oral polio vaccine (now replaced in most developed nations by inactivated polio vaccine, but still used elsewhere for low cost and ease of administration) is enough to generate poliovirus infection in the unvaccinated exposed to it (and wastewater analyses in the NY counties confirmed the presence of residual poliovirus). NY suggests that some high-risk adults should consider a polio booster, and unvaxxed people should get their standard lifetime polio vax soonest. That’s how much _“there’s no polio”_ has become obsolete in US public health nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5704 "2026-09-23T05:35:00Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [@atrupar.com on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mw4mfjv5cx26) That quote ("Dr Oz says the Trump administration will kick more than a million people off health insurance because some of them have “never filed a claim”) is taken completely out of context. He’s referring to people who are wrongly signed up for Medicaid when they don’t qualify. It’s has to do with people below the poverty line who originally _were_ able to sign up for Medicaid, until the court ruled that states could refuse the Medicaid expansion, leaving those people unknowingly without coverage. When they try to file a claim, they get flagged and removed. But if they haven’t filed a claim, apparently there’s no way for the govt to know they signed up for it. The part the govt _should_ be concerned about is how to get these people coverage, instead of how to get rid of them. Honestly @smapti, I don’t know why you keep reposting Aaron Rupar’s one-liners without bothering to check. Now there are 9 posts by people baffled by it. I like Rupar, but he does this a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5705 "2026-09-23T14:14:36Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > The part the govt _should_ be concerned about is how to get these people coverage, instead of how to get rid of them. But that would cost money. And money should be reserved for wars, tax breaks for the rich, and useless construction projects in DC. The teeming masses would just waste it on staying healthy. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5706 "2026-09-23T19:20:37Z")
Tommy “Derp” Tuberville says parents are forcing their children to become transgender, doctors are secretly transing kids without their parents’ knowledge, all trans people should be institutionalized before they invade your church, and commercial airline pilots are all secret furries. > **[Senator says "furry" pilots are taking over airlines because of trans people:...](https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/09/senator-says-furry-pilots-are-taking-over-airlines-because-of-trans-people-were-sitting-ducks/)** > > Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) claimed doctors are performing secret surgeries on trans kids & that furry aviation workers are endangering us all. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5707 "2026-09-23T19:34:09Z")
Thomas Potatopolis spreading ignorance and/or hatred every time he opens his mouth, as usual. (No, he isn’t Greek, AFAIK, but “Tuberville” just sounds like it was meant to be an anglicization of a more unfamiliar-seeming foreign name.) ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5708 "2026-09-23T19:47:32Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > No, he isn’t Greek, Well, sure, the potato being a relatively recent New World import, it would be odd to already be a part of a Greek surname ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5709 "2026-09-23T20:35:00Z")
That raises a question; are _all_ tubers New World crops? ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5710 "2026-09-23T20:45:56Z")
Nah, though potatoes and sweet potatoes are. Taro is Asian. There are probably other tubers that originate elsewhere, too ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5711 "2026-09-23T20:46:51Z")
I recall hearing that yams (not sweet potatoes) are African. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5712 "2026-09-23T20:51:13Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Don’t most insurance companies _like_ clients who pay premiums without filing claims? Well, yeah - that’s basically how they make money. This country is run by lunatics. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5713 "2026-09-23T20:58:23Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Tommy “Derp” Tuberville says parents are forcing their children to become transgender, doctors are secretly transing kids without their parents’ knowledge, all trans people should be institutionalized before they invade your church, and commercial airline pilots are all secret furries. Look, I don’t care if my airline pilot has a strap-on squirrel tail and fuzzy suit in a closet at home, that have no relevance on how well that pilot can fly the aircraft. I don’t care if the pilot is married to someone of the same gender or the opposite gender. I don’t care if the gender of said pilot is either clear or ambiguous. All I care about with a pilot is whether or not said pilot can get me safely from point A to point B. Nevermind the rest of Tuberville’s insanity. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5714 "2026-09-23T21:10:32Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > That raises a question; are _all_ tubers New World crops? > [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Nah, though potatoes and sweet potatoes are. Taro is Asian. There are probably other tubers that originate elsewhere, too For about 10 years up until now, I’d assumed that turnips were tubers also. Previously, I had never had them and assumed that they tasted like radishes since they look like them. Then I had them and was surprised at how potato-like they taste. But apparently it’s a “taproot” instead of a “tuber”. I still think they’re culinarily in the same category, though. Huh. Looking it up on Wikipedia it appears that turnips are related to radishes which would explain the looks similarity. It’s weird to have the turnip taste so radically different and so close to the starchy potato. ---
**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:** [September 23, 2026, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5715 "2026-09-23T21:32:04Z")
It’s odd but I learn a lot of interesting stuff in these digressions. They’re certainly more intellectually stimulating than the likes of Tommy Tuberville or his orange maquillaged master ---
**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:** [September 24, 2026, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5716 "2026-09-24T01:19:07Z")
Don’t forget rutabagas! I just like saying “rutabaga”. ---
**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 24, 2026, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5717 "2026-09-24T03:24:28Z")
> **[Beliefs](https://xkcd.com/154/)** Remember the good old days when the silliest thing we could imagine a Senator thinking was that the Earth is six thousand years old? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5718 "2026-09-24T06:55:47Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Huh. Looking it up on Wikipedia it appears that turnips are related to radishes which would explain the looks similarity. It’s weird to have the turnip taste so radically different and so close to the starchy potato. Their cousin the rutabaga tastes more like a potato. I’ve actually never had a turnip that tasted like a potato. ---
**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 24, 2026, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5719 "2026-09-24T10:00:30Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Don’t forget rutabagas! > > I just like saying “rutabaga”. Confusingly known as “swede” in Britain. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2026, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/5720 "2026-09-24T10:40:16Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Tommy “Derp” Tuberville says parents are forcing their children to become transgender, doctors are secretly transing kids without their parents’ knowledge, all trans people should be institutionalized before they invade your church, and commercial airline pilots are all secret furries. This is a new one to me. I had no idea that furries had a tropism for airline pilots, or vice-versa. Hopefully there will be few bats and flying squirrels in the mix [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=285) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=287)