That’s a really good point. Can I vote for this?
Hey! At least he called them “ladies”. Gotta give him points for politeness.
If the Koch brothers, Exxon and other corporations were funneling millions of dollars into moon landing deniers pockets, and belief in the moon landings was totally politicized, you can bet your bottom dollar that the moon landings would not be “settled” either.
He represents my district in Congress. I think he’s a fucking moron, even for a congressman. Unfortunately, though, you’re mostly correct in thinking that a large, large percentage of his constituents share Kingston’s appalling ignorance of science. And math.
One of Maher’s other guests, the rabid republican, D.H. Hughely, also did not believe in evolution.
Good point! As well as Republicans, there are other morons. And we shouldn’t forget that any number of Republicans are not ignorant, but merely pander to morons for the sake of cynical, grasping ambition.
Mediocre people deserve representation, too.
Sen. Roman Hruska abides:
It may be convenient to bookmark this thread now for when one wants to throw this quote back into What the … !!!'s face in future threads.
I know–I was alluding to the Senator from Nebraska, in my own subtle manner.
The funny part is that we CAN have all frankfurters, though it would be a pretty boring diet.
Strange. I would have thought that a flying fuck would be pretty conclusive proof of evolution.
And I’m not sure why we needed this thread. Has everyone already forgotten that time when three Republican Presidential candidates didn’t “believe” in evolution?
True. maybe. On the other hand , perhaps we need to draw a line somewhat above chimps for those life forms deserving of all the rights, responsibilities, and privileges that we normally wish to accredit those who are classified as homo sapiens.
OK. I am going to go on record as noting that in Great Debates it is still not sufficient to merely link to this post as a rebuttal of any nonsense its author posts in that forum.
(I do recognize what sort of temptation that will be, but posters will still be expected to respond with facts and logic rather than a link to this post.)
But we can use it as evidence of his dumbassery, correct? So long as we provide additional arguments?
Shouldn’t be too hard to do.
Kingston is the Repbulican party, he represents it perfectly, there are people like him and people who pander to people like him to stay in power. During the Bush years I thought that the Repblican party might split with old school fiscal conservatives forming a powerful bloc within the party, but they went the other way. It is quickly reaching the point where there is no such thing as “rational conservatives” in the Republican Party.
It’s too bad, because I wish there was a reasonable counter to the Democratic Party. As an American, I think it is in our interests to provide a competition of ideas to the voters, but look at the Republicans, where are their thinkers? They are serving the good people of Georgia and elsewhere.
I keep reading the title and wondering how any one can get elected in Georgia when they’re on record as saying “Jesus: What a fucking dumbass!”
No, politicians aren’t paid to be smart.
Before we give Bill Maher credit for getting a Republican evolution denialist to embarrass himself on Maher’s show, let’s remember that the host himself is an unrepentant anti-science loon of another sort.
Maher is an antivaxer who’s claimed, among other things, that flu shots give you Alzheimer’s disease and that polio was wiped out by better sanitation. Here’s Maher in the process of getting schooled on his show by former GOP Sen. Bill Frist*:
*Mr. Maher: Why would you let them be the ones to stick a disease into your arm? *(here Maher is apparently unaware that flu shots do not contain live influenza virus). *I would never get a swine flu vaccine or any vaccine. I don’t trust the government, especially with my health.
Dr. Frist: On the swine flu, I know you really believe that. And let me just …
Mr. Maher: (interrupting) You say that like I’m a crazy person.
Dr. Frist: Well, here you are. I think here you are.*
*Frist of course is also the guy who embarrassed himself doing a video diagnosis of Terry Schiavo, insisting she was not brain dead, when an autopsy later demonstrated otherwise.
Posted by Madmonk28:
That’s quite a leap there, don’t you think? You can’t say “nigger,” so you simply switch to being against forced busing and cutting taxes instead?
What about all the people who just, you know, opposed forced busing? A lot of blacks did too, you know. It isn’t a sign that you don’t like black people just because you don’t want your children to have to leave for school an hour early in the morning and stand in the snow in the dark and get bused to some school clear across town when a perfectly good one sits half a mile away.
And people oppose taxes for all sorts of legitimate reasons. They might just like to keep more of the money they can make so they can take better care of their families. Or they might be philosophically opposed to income redistribution and consider it unfair. Or they might think that nanny-state governments are bad because the more that government does for you, the more control it has over you. Or it can be a combination of all three, plus any number of other perfectly legitimate reasons. Claiming that a desire for lower taxes and an opposition to forced busing is just another way of saying “nigger” is one of the most stupid things I’ve ever seen posted on this board, and I’ve read a lot of incredibly stupid things on this board.
Now, as to the OP, I couldn’t give a shit less if Republican congressmen believe in Biblical creation. William F. Buckley, Jr. believed in Biblical creation, Jesus Christ, salvation, and the teachings of the Catholic Church. And I’ll wager that Buckley was very likely smarter than anyone likely to read or post to this thread.
I also don’t care if Republican congressmen think that man evolved from apes or otherwise say they don’t believe in evolution. For one thing, when most non-SDMBers say they don’t believe in evolution, I am almost certain that they mean they don’t believe evolution explains the creation of life and not that evolution doesn’t exist at all. I think almost everyone is aware of adaptive changes that have taken place over time. And for another, their views on evolution aren’t likely to impact the laws I have to live under.
Now, what do I care about when it comes to Republican congressmens’ beliefs? I care about whether they believe in government-enforced income redistribution. I care about whether they think people are better off under a nanny-state form of government or whether they are better off and more free if they’re allowed to call their own shots in life. I care about whether they favor small government or whether they’re always looking to increase the size and cost of government and whether they are always looking to increase taxes or lower them. I care about whether they’ll put up with bullshit from other countries that would be harmful to us or our allies. I care about whether they favor private gun ownership and keeping felons in jail. And I care about whether they are going to do anything about the growing problem of illegal immigration, the effects of which are starting to cause a lot of serious problems in this country.
In light of all that, their possible belief that there should be a missing link is about the last thing I care about.
Now, as to intelligence, during my lifetime I have seen: the family unit rent asunder, with the result that millions of kids have no adult guidance and supervision; drug use and its associated crime explode exponentially; the evolvement of a revolving-door prision systems that results in felons with multiple major convictions walking the streets committing murders, rapes and robberies while still in their twenties; the rise of entertainment and music that glamorizes crime and misogyny and fosters all sorts of negative character traits; and an educational system that began passing kids from one grade to the next because to flunk them would harm their “self-esteem”. Each of these is directly attributable to liberalism in one way or another, and none of them in my opinion rises in intelligence anywhere near to the belief that man descended from apes.
Bill Maher is not a member of Congress, and I didn’t say anything about giving him “credit” anyway.