# 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:** 1050
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20982 "2015-04-14T00:28:11Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Maybe he means the 1850s. Before women had the vote and could own property. And yes, he’s still alive - he’s on my death pool list. I had Cheney on my list for a few years, took him off so he’d croak. They went and gave him a new heart - sometimes you just can’t win.:smack: I’d really like to know how much the taxpayers have spent on Cheney’s health care over the years, while all his pals fight tooth and nail to make sure that poor people can’t get insurance. When Cheney shot that guy in the face, it was kind of lost in the noise, but the victim was put into Cheney’s personal ambulance. Which implies that wherever Cheney went, there was an ambulance and crew standing by, 24x7, just in case he needed it. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2015, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20983 "2015-04-14T05:13:50Z")
[Marshall County, Illinois is billing Aaron Schock for the costs of the special election to replace him after he resigned because he’s under corruption charges.](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/04/13/disgraced-republican-slapped-with-76000-bill-for-special-election-to-replace-him/) ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20984 "2015-04-14T08:15:27Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Wait, weren’t the 50s that there dream-quality utopic (uchronistic ?) America that was the bestest everest that there ever was or will be ? Paging Dr. **Starving Artist** for confirmation ? You forgot to say STAT! 😃 And no, the 50s weren’t a utopia, except in the minds of idjits who think _Ozzie & Harriet_ and _Leave It To Beaver_ were serialized real life documentaries. It’s only in comparison to the way things are now that the 50s seem so idilic. I must say, however, that if Hillary Clinton could really take us back to the 50s, even I would vote for her. Just think about it for a minute. Kids would actually get educated. Criminals would actually stay in prison. Drugs and their associated ills would be little known or cared about by 99.9% of the population. Adults behaved like adults and children knew they were expected to act like adults once they were grown. Etc., etc. I could go on, but what’s the point? If there’s one thing I’ve learned about my liberal brethren, it’s that they’re totally oblivious to the harm they do. I used to think their denials were simple dishonesty, but as the years have gone by and I’ve had the opportunity to talk to relatives who’ve voted Democrat and to read memoirs by people with liberal leanings, and come to find them complaining about the way things are today in many of the same ways that conservatives do, while at the same time being totally blind to the fact that it’s been their own ideological brethren who’re responsible for them. Just like the liberals on this board, they’re of the opinion that all of this crap ‘just happened’ all on its own accord. They’re totally oblivious to the fact that liberals are responsible for the cesspool that entertainment has become; for the crass and vulgar way much of society behaves now; that we can somehow no longer figure out how to educate our students (and actually have high school graduates walking around unable to read at a first grade level); for the fact that drugs have become such a huge and widespread problem; for the fact that it’s become commonplace and more or less expected for criminals to be walking the streets with a dozen or more serious convictions on their record; for the fact that people no longer are free to hold their own opinions and live their lives accordingly and that we’ve become nation of PC bullies; and for the fact that each half of the country seems to hate the other half. They gripe about these things just like I do, then they turn right around and vote for the very Democrats whose laws, judicial appointments and like-minded lackeys in the media made it all possible in the first place, all the while rolling their eyes and closing their minds to the fact that Democrats and liberals have caused any of it and insisting like most of you will that it all just happened on its own. But, c’est la vie, eh wot? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20985 "2015-04-14T08:23:19Z")
Always nice to hear from your weird uncle who watches Fox News. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20986 "2015-04-14T09:37:30Z")
Don’t watch Fox News, don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh. But I did grow up in the fabled 50s and early 60s and had a ringside seat as all this nonsense unfolded, so there isn’t much that Fox or Limbaugh could tell me that I haven’t already seen firsthand. But you need a glib throw-away line so you don’t have to confront the actual issues and I understand that. After all, I did say you types were oblivious and can’t be expected to own up to or even recognize the harm you do, so it’s pointless to expect otherwise. And now I’ll back on out of this ridiculous thread - at least until the next time **luci** expresses fear that I’ll return. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20987 "2015-04-14T11:37:14Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Don’t watch Fox News, don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh. > > But I did grow up in the fabled 50s and early 60s and had a ringside seat as all this nonsense unfolded, so there isn’t much that Fox or Limbaugh could tell me that I haven’t already seen firsthand. Ringside seats as a white man who refuses to accept that experience was quite different for others. All of the older black people I’ve spoken to feel differently – times were much, much worse back then. Many of the older women I’ve spoken to feel the same way. **I’ll take your word for what the 50s was like as a white man; I take their word for what the 50s was like as a black person or a woman.** Huge swaths of America in the '50s were bad, bad places to be black. Much of the country was a bad place to be a woman who wanted any sort of independent life (like a checking account). There were very few places in which one could lead a decent life as an openly gay person. America was a good place and a good country in the 50s, _for some people_. For some people, it was a bad place and a bad country. We’re much, much better now. Crime is not any worse, statistically. Oppression is a lot better (but still far, far from perfect). Gay people can live as themselves and be happy, for the most part, while still fighting for fully equal rights. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2015, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20988 "2015-04-14T13:22:13Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > [QUOTE=Kobal2 View Post] > Paging Dr. Starving Artist for confirmation ? You forgot to say STAT! 😃 [/QUOTE] Holy moly! It worked! Now for the real test: Kibo ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20989 "2015-04-14T13:26:02Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Pat Robertson says that a President Hillary Clinton [would take America “back to the '50s”.](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/04/pat-robertson-fears-president-hillary-clinton-will-take-us-back-to-the-50s/) Not enough for her to carry the Starving Artist caucus. She’s still a Democrat, see. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20990 "2015-04-14T13:45:18Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > And no, the 50s weren’t a utopia, except in the minds of idjits who think _Ozzie & Harriet_ and _Leave It To Beaver_ were serialized real life documentaries. It’s only in comparison to the way things are now that the 50s seem so idilic. > > I must say, however, that if Hillary Clinton could really take us back to the 50s, even I would vote for her. > > Just think about it for a minute. Kids would actually get educated. As in learning how to spell idyllic? > [@](#): > > Criminals would actually stay in prison. Drugs and their associated ills would be little known or cared about by 99.9% of the population. Adults behaved like adults and children knew they were expected to act like adults once they were grown. > > Etc., etc. I could go on, but what’s the point? Exactly. But yet you do… > [@](#): > > If there’s one thing I’ve learned about my liberal brethren, it’s that they’re totally oblivious to the harm they do. I used to think their denials were simple dishonesty, but as the years have gone by and I’ve had the opportunity to talk to relatives who’ve voted Democrat and to read memoirs by people with liberal leanings, and come to find them complaining about the way things are today in many of the same ways that conservatives do, while at the same time being totally blind to the fact that it’s been their own ideological brethren who’re responsible for them. Just like the liberals on this board, they’re of the opinion that all of this crap ‘just happened’ all on its own accord. They’re totally oblivious to the fact that liberals are responsible for the cesspool that entertainment has become; for the crass and vulgar way much of society behaves now; that we can somehow no longer figure out how to educate our students (and actually have high school graduates walking around unable to read at a first grade level); for the fact that drugs have become such a huge and widespread problem; for the fact that it’s become commonplace and more or less expected for criminals to be walking the streets with a dozen or more serious convictions on their record; for the fact that people no longer are free to hold their own opinions and live their lives accordingly and that we’ve become nation of PC bullies; and for the fact that each half of the country seems to hate the other half. Ah yes, the Right Wing Legacy since 1980. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah effin blah… > [@](#): > > They gripe about these things just like I do, then they turn right around and vote for the very Democrats whose laws, judicial appointments and like-minded lackeys in the media made it all possible in the first place, all the while rolling their eyes and closing their minds to the fact that Democrats and liberals have caused any of it and insisting like most of you will that it all just happened on its own. Irony from the political wing that relies on it’s ignorant selfish fearful base, consistently voting against their own best interests. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20991 "2015-04-14T15:21:19Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Actually, Cheney would automatically be their best candidate. > > He’s strong, and he’s not stupid or crazy. Evil, yes, but not stupid or crazy. I would disagree with that. Instead of “strong”, how about violent minded? Instead of “not Stupid” I would say he is clever. Crazy? Anyone who can say with a straight face that Barack Obama is the worst president ever, especially when compared to his immediate predecessor, doesn’t have all his bolts on tight. More on the “not stupid” part. How smart was that whole coterie of neo-cons who thought the US military would be greeted by cheering crowds of Iraqis waving American flags and that Iraq’s oil would pay all the costs of the war? That’s some serious stupidity. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20992 "2015-04-14T15:33:27Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I’ll take your word for what the 50s was like as a white man;. Not as a white man. A white kid. There’s not a single kid out there who, if they’ve had a nice childhood, doesn’t long for the days when they could just be a kid again. This goes for any child at any time. Wasn’t life so much much simpler in the days when I had no responsibility? Wasn’t the world so much better when all my friends would get together and we’d swim in the summer and throw snowballs in the winter? Even though I was six years old and knew fuckall about mind altering substances, I’m sure there weren’t drugs around. It’s fortunate that no one bothered to keep statistics going back to the 1950s to discredit my assumption. And even though the US prison population [literally quintupled](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate#/media/File:U.S._incarceration_rates_1925_onwards.png) even when adjusted for US population, I’m certain that today people just aren’t locked up like they were when I was a whippersnapper watching first run episodes of Leave it to Beaver. That sense of Nostalgia is strong. The sense of historical accuracy as seen through the eyes of a child? Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20993 "2015-04-14T15:37:03Z")
> [@MacCat](#): > > Ah yes, the Right Wing Legacy since 1980. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah effin blah… Yeah, I had no idea that Ronald Reagan was such a liberal, since more than half the stuff in that list (at least, the half that count as genuine problems) are directly attributable to his policies. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20994 "2015-04-14T16:55:15Z")
**Starving Artist** posting in this thread in just perfect. What an imbecile. In other news: Clive Bundy [continues to run](http://www.npr.org/2015/04/14/399397139/year-after-denying-federal-control-bundy-still-runs-his-bit-of-nevada) his little racist and reactionary fiefdom in my home state of Nevada. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20995 "2015-04-14T17:15:26Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I must say, however, that if Hillary Clinton could really take us back to the 50s, even I would vote for her. > > Just think about it for a minute. Kids would actually get educated. Criminals would actually stay in prison. Drugs and their associated ills would be little known or cared about by 99.9% of the population. Adults behaved like adults and children knew they were expected to act like adults once they were grown. > > Etc., etc. I could go on No, no, no; it’s not optional. We **insist** that you go on. To be sure, we could complete the picture for you (Colored would know their place. Women would stay in the kitchen, Queers would stay in the closet…), but having the honesty to say it yourself would earn you some tiny crumb of respect. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20996 "2015-04-14T17:17:22Z")
> [@MacCat](#): > > As in learning how to spell idyllic? Maybe if they printed it on a toilet paper tube and held it up to him at the proper angle… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20997 "2015-04-14T17:44:29Z")
I’m always amused when Starving Artist tries to describe the 1950s. I can only assume he was never there. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20998 "2015-04-14T17:59:28Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I’m always amused when Starving Artist tries to describe the 1950s. I can only assume he was never there. I think he actually was there, but he has an astounding inability to realize that what was normative for him really might not have been normative for everybody else. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/20999 "2015-04-14T18:05:02Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > I think he actually was there, but he has an astounding inability to realize that what was normative for him really might not have been normative for everybody else. Well, there’s not much practical difference between: -never having been to a place; and -having been to a place, but clueless to what was going on. Another possibility is that he might once have known what was going in the 1950s but has since forgotten all the details, making his current ability to comment suspect at best. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21000 "2015-04-14T18:32:28Z")
[World Net Daily and their coterie of birthers are out after Marco Rubio. Apparently giving Ted Cruz a pass.](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/return-rubio-birthers) ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21001 "2015-04-14T19:34:04Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, there’s not much practical difference between: > > -never having been to a place; and > -having been to a place, but clueless to what was going on. Fair enough! > [@](#): > > Another possibility is that he might once have known what was going in the 1950s but has since forgotten all the details, making his current ability to comment suspect at best. Entirely plausible. I’ll desist lest this turn into another Starving Artist show. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1049) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1051)