# 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:** 301
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6001 "2026-10-13T10:16:07Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > You never said anything about “the founding of the United States”. Tuberville did. It ain’t about me. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6002 "2026-10-13T13:26:47Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Tuberville did. So when you wrote: > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Columbus never set foot in what would become the United States. You were quoting Tuberville? Because you were “splitting hairs” about my response to that. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6003 "2026-10-13T13:32:57Z")
It ain’t about me. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6004 "2026-10-13T14:24:01Z")
Anyone actually think that Tuberville thinks that Puerto Rico is a part of the United States? ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6005 "2026-10-13T14:48:59Z")
I actually think he does. Supposedly in a video statement in June 2022, he said: > “As long as they’re not a state where they have the same voting rights and stuff that we have … no, I’m not for that … I’m for Puerto Rico, but we got enough problems with the fifty states we got.” I can’t find the actual video, just a Puerto Rican political “news” group (they operate on Patreon, not sure if they are legit or not) making the claim on social media, and something called “The Latino Newsletter” [repeating the claim](https://thelatinonewsletter.org/p/republican-opposition-puerto-rico-statehood). But if it’s true, and Tuberville opined on how he opposes adding Puerto Rico as the 51st state, he probably knows that it’s a territory of the US. (He also [opposed the Bad Bunny performance at the Super Bowl](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/music/articles/u-senator-announces-hes-boycotting-143142905.html), calling it the “Woke Bowl”, and said he was going to watch the TPUSA performance instead, but wasn’t one of the people calling for Bad Bunny to be “deported” or called him a “foreigner”.) ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6006 "2026-10-13T17:18:45Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Puerto Rico, which is part of the United States (despite what many conservatives believe) was one of the locations that Columbus discovered and landed at (and reportedly spent 2 days on the island before leaving). So technically speaking, he did set foot in the United States. Though there has been a debate here for a couple of centuries (ever since people started caring about setting up monuments) about what beach he anchored off, as the description he and other chroniclers of the 2d voyage (in which he also recorded the Virgin Islands) wrote applied to a handful of different places. But even more fun yet, later writers gave pointed out that _he may have stayed himself on the flagship and sent a shore party._ So, ehh… (Even further yet there is the issue of whether Martin Pinzon really was the first to spot PR during the time the surviving ships became separated in the prior voyage.) ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6007 "2026-10-13T17:23:51Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > But even more fun yet, later writers gave pointed out that _he may have stayed himself on the flagship and sent a shore party._ So, ehh… Absolutely. There is a lot of murkiness surrounding that account. I’m just saying we can’t say with certainty that he never set foot on what became the United States of America; there’s at least a very good chance that he did. Not that this is in any way should be seen as a reason to give him the sort of national hero status that I remember him having when I was a kid, and we had entire activities at school based around honoring him. In retrospect that seems at best silly, and at worst glossing over exploitation and other repugnant actions taken by him and his people on his voyages to the New World. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6008 "2026-10-13T17:38:00Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > to give him the sort of national hero status that I remember him having when I was a kid, and we had entire activities at school based around honoring him I’ve mentioned in other threads, that no other country in the Americas, nor Spain, brands the commemoration officially for Columbus. Mark the event, not the man, is the more common rule. Discovery Day, Día de la Raza, Encounter Day, Cultures Day, Native People’s Day, Fiesta de la Hispanidad, etc. but never “Día de Colón”. That one is very USAmerican. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6009 "2026-10-13T17:49:23Z")
As an annual and national tradition, it’s not even a century old. The history of the holiday is actually rather fascinating in a class struggle sort of way. The first time it was celebrated was due to unrest surrounding Italian immigrants. It later became a federal holiday when labor groups just wanted another national holiday and the Knights of Columbus happened to have enough clout to oblige with one they wanted to promote. The strange bedfellows of labor movements and religion in this country led to some interesting results that have persisted to the current day, both good and bad ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6010 "2026-10-13T17:51:28Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > The first time it was celebrated was due to unrest surrounding Italian immigrants. It later became a federal holiday when labor groups just wanted another national holiday and the Knights of Columbus happened to have enough clout to oblige with one they wanted to promote. And in practice, it’s always been Italian Heritage Day - no one was really using it to commemorate Columbus. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6011 "2026-10-13T18:00:32Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > That one is very USAmerican. I’m glad we’re moving away from it, at least a little. Growing up in Washington State, we celebrated “Columbus Day” but have since replaced it with “Indigenous Peoples’ Day”. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6012 "2026-10-13T18:07:42Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > And in practice, it’s always been Italian Heritage Day - no one was really using it to commemorate Columbus. Maybe in the parts of the country with lots of Italian immigration. I got the full on Columbus as brave explorer bit in elementary school and not a single thing about Italian heritage. Got more about Spain than Italy, at that. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6013 "2026-10-13T18:08:54Z")
ETA: Ninja’ed. > [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > And in practice, it’s always been Italian Heritage Day - no one was really using it to commemorate Columbus. That may be regional. When and where I was a kid (Southern California 1960s) there was zero Italian-ness associated with Columbus. Yes he was born there as an academic fact, but it was a Spanish mission to the New World that he led, and the Spanish crown was the outfit he claimed all the land for. All Glory to Spain! I also grew up in a region where Italian was not really an identifiable US ethnic heritage. To the degree any people of Italian heritage lived there, they were just white people. The term “Italian-American” may have existed then (I do not know), but nobody used it or thought to use it. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6014 "2026-10-13T18:12:46Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > I got the full on Columbus as brave explorer bit in elementary school and not a single thing about Italian heritage. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6015 "2026-10-13T18:26:17Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > > [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > > > I got the full on Columbus as brave explorer bit in elementary school and not a single thing about Italian heritage. > > Same here. Fair enough - this may come down to how the day gets observed in schools vs. how it’s celebrated at parades and festivals, and likely varies by region. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6016 "2026-10-13T18:27:28Z")
To put this in context, this was specifically in the 80s we went through this “Columbus is a hero” indoctrination. (Elementary school primarily.) ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6017 "2026-10-13T19:42:09Z")
Kari Lake (remember her?) claims that James Talarico’s nine-day absence from the campaign trail while he recovered from the flu was so he could have a secret vaginoplasty. > **[Kari Lake turns James Talarico’s flu recovery into a ridiculous ‘bottom...](https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/james-talarico-bottom-surgery-conspiracy?1)** > > An AI-generated answer about surgical recovery became fodder for a baseless attack against the LGBTQ+ ally, whose campaign had already explained his illness. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6018 "2026-10-13T19:49:58Z")
He should respond with ‘even if I was, so what?’. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6019 "2026-10-13T19:55:11Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Kari Lake (remember her?) Just off the top of my head, I think she was a former Arizona newscaster turned total MAGA nutjob, who people speculated might be a possible 2024 running mate for Trump (nope, it was Vance) and was also supposedly a real up-and-comer for the Republican Party (though she faded into obscurity and I haven’t heard her name in over a year). ---
**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:** [October 13, 2026, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/6020 "2026-10-13T20:31:26Z")
She ran for governor of Arizona four years ago and lost, then ran for senator two years ago and lost again. The bloom is off the rose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=300) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=302)