# Stupid Republican idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897 "2009-03-26T18:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1006
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20102 "2015-03-18T21:28:14Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Is there a pill that can help me deal with this? Yes, several, but you can’t buy them legally. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20103 "2015-03-18T21:54:23Z")
I’m pretty sure this will end up being stupid, but the article > **[WSJ Contributor: Blacks Progressed Faster ‘When Whites Were Still Lynching’](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jason-riley-race-lynching-whites)** > > A Wall Street Journal contributor published a column on Tuesday in which he argued that blacks made faster progress "at a time when whites were still lynching" them. Jason Riley, who is black… only gives a few sentences, possibly out of context, and the original is behind a pay wall. Does anyone have access to the original? Is it stupid? ---
**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:** [March 18, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20104 "2015-03-18T21:54:50Z")
Does anyone remember the thread (must have been last October, or so) where **adaher** was challenged to predict what specific legislative priorities the Republicans would put forward in the new Congress? Might be interesting to revisit that now, or in the months to come. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20105 "2015-03-18T22:02:46Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Palin was asked by a child what the Vice-President does, and was vilified for her reply, which I thought was in fact a kid-understandable and factually accurate – although certainly missing nuance – answer. Palin replied that the Vice-President is in charge of the Senate, and in fact that’s precisely the role the Constitution assign to the Vice-President: to serve as President of the Senate. Although modern practice makes it rare for the Vice-President to do so, he is constitutionally entitled to preside over the Senate every single day it’s in session. Is there a point to give an answer that’s technically correct but practically inconceivable? Someone could answer that the job of a Congressman would be to impeach the president. The answer, while incomplete and tells you little of the day to day duties, would not be a lie, but it would be a terrible answer. > [@Bricker](#): > > I’m trying to think about how I would have handled it if I were he. Maybe: “I care very much about climate change, but not everyone agrees that the climate is changing because of what people do. After all, we once had woolly mammoths and an Ice Age, like the movie with Manny and Sid and their friends, and the world got warmer even though people back then didn’t have factories or drive SUVs. But I care very much about making sure the world’s natural resources are kept safe and used carefully, but still to benefit people that need gas to drive to work, to school, and to go shopping.” Look, you just came up with a better answer than Walker, and you’re not a professional politician. Its factual and has the added distinction of being inclusive and understandable to a kid. You’ll excuse me if I think any politician is an idiot for not being able to answer that. There’s no reason for me not to default to simply “He’s a climate change denier who didn’t want to reveal his true colors to his moronic constituents.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20106 "2015-03-18T22:28:26Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Look, you just came up with a better answer than Walker, and you’re not a professional politician. Its factual and has the added distinction of being inclusive and understandable to a kid. You’ll excuse me if I think any politician is an idiot for not being able to answer that. There’s no reason for me not to default to simply “He’s a climate change denier who didn’t want to reveal his true colors to his moronic constituents.” Or, “He accepts/is indifferent to/has no opinion on the reality of climate change, but he doesn’t want to say anything to upset his hard-RW party-base or his corporate campaign-donors.” ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20107 "2015-03-18T22:36:37Z")
> **[Glenn Beck: 'I'm out of the Republican Party — I am not a Republican'](https://news.yahoo.com/glenn-beck-done-with-the-republican-party-162656735.html)** > > The former Fox News host and founder of the Blaze says he's become so disillusioned with the GOP in recent years that he can no longer support it. Sure, because if there’s anything I think of when I think of Republicans, it’s that they’re too much of a rubber stamp for anything Obama wants to accomplish. That’s really what I would consider their main fault. I think we can all agree. Glenn Beck has absolutely perfected the art of selling stupid ideas to the stupidest people on the planet. He’s too good at it, and too successful, to actually be stupid. He knows what he’s selling is horse manure, but he has a talent for reaching that demographic of people who are missing a cavity inside their skull, and their cranium is just solid bone from one side all the way to the other. He’s mastered the art of the big lie, really. It’s fascinating to watch. There are hundreds of thousands of idiots who really would pack up their lives and go live inside a glass dome bubble with Glenn Beck and live under His Word as if he were the second coming. He is the guy who takes the discarded egg shells of society, and tapes them back together and tells them they’re special, and that they still have great yolks inside, and that no thought they ever had on their own was ever wrong. Oh, really, you think it would be a great idea if businesses were legally allowed to stop serving black people, because freedom? You’re my special little guy, aren’t you? Yes you are. Yes you are. Who’s my little pudding head? Who’s the cutest spittle-dribbling moron in the whole big wide world? Yes you are. Extreme libertarianism is so awesome! You’re not a complete fuckhead for buying into Randian crap! You’re smarter than everyone else, actually. They think they’re so smart, and that you’re so dumb, but you… you’re something else. Glenn Beck has packaged that act and trademarked it, and he’s living very well off of the money that comes from selling stupid. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20108 "2015-03-18T22:41:13Z")
> [@Askthepizzaguy](#): > > Glenn Beck has absolutely perfected the art of selling stupid ideas to the stupidest people on the planet. He’s too good at it, and too successful, to actually be stupid. Why? Reagan and W were. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20109 "2015-03-18T23:01:57Z")
> [@Askthepizzaguy](#): > > He’s too good at it, and too successful, to actually be stupid. He knows what he’s selling is horse manure, but he has a talent for reaching that demographic of people who are missing a cavity inside their skull, and their cranium is just solid bone from one side all the way to the other. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Why? Reagan and W were. I dunno if he’s actually smart, evil possibly. Ask yourself this: how different would he look and behave if he were actually that stupid and believed what he said? ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20110 "2015-03-18T23:02:44Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Why? Reagan and W were. They were rich to begin with, and had connections, which allowed them access to the greatest marketing teams ever assembled. Glenn Beck, on the other hand, has been selling stupid for a very long time, on his own merits. Simply being stupid isn’t enough to get rich off of other stupid people. It’s the smart people who get rich by marketing to the dumb. At no point in his life did George W Bush come up with a marketable thought on his own. He’s a muppet. Glenn Beck ad-libs his on material on his radio shows, writes his books, did tv shows, and he generates the content that gets sold. That’s much, much harder. I loathe him for it but respect the fact that it is difficult. If your most coherent thought is “I’ve shat my pants”, that doesn’t make you rich. But, if you can write a book that tells dumb people that shitting their pants is socially acceptable, and get them to believe it, that’s very interesting, to me. It’s tricky, like writing a children’s book. You know how many people try and fail to write a marketable children’s book? Only the very best manage to write drivel that appeals to the burgeoning mind. Glenn Beck is like those people, except he takes minds that are already closed and disinterested in the world, and convinces them that the shit they already have inside their heads is both brilliant and timeless. He’s basically the racist who writes a book explaining why racism is okay, and that racists need to stop being such pussies about it and own their racism and wear it on their sleeve, except, for dummies. Who happen to be racist, coincidentally. But that’s beside the point. ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20111 "2015-03-18T23:05:24Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I dunno if he’s actually smart, evil possibly. Ask yourself this: how different would he look and behave if he were actually that stupid and believed what he said? There are millions of people just like that, and none of them have built what Glenn Beck has. Pay websites, his own tv channel, media publications, radio shows, books, everything. No one has marketed stupid like Glenn Beck has. He is the My PC Cleaner virus for the human mind, only vastly more profitable. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20112 "2015-03-18T23:22:32Z")
> [@Askthepizzaguy](#): > > It’s tricky, like writing a children’s book. You know how many people try and fail to write a marketable children’s book? Only the very best manage to write drivel that appeals to the burgeoning mind. [There is](http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Sweater-Picture-Book/dp/1416995439) [that.](http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Angel-Deckle-Edge/dp/1439187207/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8) ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20113 "2015-03-18T23:40:53Z")
The thought of Glenn Beck being a part of one’s childhood is truly disturbing. Please, let him only influence adults whose brains never fully matured, not the actually immature. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20114 "2015-03-18T23:52:50Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Does anyone have access to the original? Is it stupid? I dunno; if I had people out to lynch me, I’d progress \*real \*fuckin’ fast. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20115 "2015-03-18T23:54:42Z")
> [@Askthepizzaguy](#): > > The thought of Glenn Beck being a part of one’s childhood is truly disturbing. > > Please, let him only influence adults whose brains never fully matured, not the actually immature. [Hey, it could be worse!](http://www.amazon.com/Ted-Cruz-Future-Coloring-Activity/dp/1619530953) ---
**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:** [March 19, 2015, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20116 "2015-03-19T00:00:14Z")
Speaking of Glenn Beck, [he thinks Netanyahu’s electoral victory is proof that God exists.](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-netanyahus-victory-shows-lord-does-exist-and-he-sitting-his-throne) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20117 "2015-03-19T00:00:57Z")
[More happy hijinx from James O’Keefe.](http://www.salon.com/2015/03/18/i_wish_i_could_kill_some_of_these_cops_james_okeefes_plan_to_infiltrate_anti_police_protesters/) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20118 "2015-03-19T00:02:42Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I’m pretty sure this will end up being stupid, but the article > [WSJ Contributor: Blacks Progressed Faster ‘When Whites Were Still Lynching’ - TPM – Talking Points Memo](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jason-riley-race-lynching-whites) > only gives a few sentences, possibly out of context, and the original is behind a pay wall. > > Does anyone have access to the original? Is it stupid? I dunno, but this direct quote sure is: > [@](#): > > He went on to blame the problems of “black America” on “post-Civil Rights era social pathology and misguided government interventions.” ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20119 "2015-03-19T00:13:36Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Hey, it could be worse!](http://www.amazon.com/Ted-Cruz-Future-Coloring-Activity/dp/1619530953) Some of those reviews are hilarious. > [@](#): > > 4,046 of 4,232 people found the following review helpful > **Easiest Coloring Book, Ever!** , December 17, 2013 > By > **norse** > > ``` > **This review is from: Ted Cruz to the Future - Comic Coloring Activity Book (Paperback)** > > ``` > > I didn’t know how well I’d enjoy this book, seeing as how I only have white crayons. But, as it turns out, that’s the only color required! Magnificent! ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20120 "2015-03-19T00:15:49Z")
So apparently Ted Cruz is trying to get into DC city law (!) to muck about with our contraception coverage and GLBT rights. WTF, Ted Cruz? How is DC city law even remotely your business? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20121 "2015-03-19T00:50:41Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > So apparently Ted Cruz is trying to get into DC city law (!) to muck about with our contraception coverage and GLBT rights. > > WTF, Ted Cruz? How is DC city law even remotely your business? Because it is Congress’ business. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1005) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1007)