# 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:** 1068
**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:** [May 1, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21342 "2015-05-01T18:33:16Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > This is where stupid and crass converge in a tsunami that leaves a bad taste in _your_[sup]\*[/sup] mouth. > (emphasis mine) > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by [**Todd Smith, formerly of the Texas Lege**](http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/texas-gop-ex-lawmaker-schools-governor-for-pandering-to-idiots-who-fear-jade-helm-15-military-takeover/) > > Pandering to idiots who believe that U.S. Navy SEALs and other U.S. military personnel are somehow a threat to be watched has left me livid. > > > > I am horrified that I have to choose between the possibility that my Governor actually believes this stuff and the possibility that my Governor doesn’t have the backbone to stand up to those who do. I’m not sure which is worse. > > I mean, yeah, Rs eating there own is fun to watch. But IIUC, governor Abbot is in _a wheelchair_. Could Smith, maybe, have worded that a little differently, so that it did not sound like it came right out of, oh, a book by Molly Ivins? > > \*“your” as in “one’s” A poor choice of metaphor, to be sure, but the basic point, er, stands. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21343 "2015-05-01T19:21:22Z")
[Cotton and Rubio throw a tantrum and stink up the room.](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/iran-bill-gop-amendment-fight-117516.html) > [@](#): > > After being blocked by Democrats for several days, Cotton (R-Ark.) and Rubio (R-Fla.) used a parliamentary procedure to try to compel votes on amendments that would make Iran relinquish its nuclear facilities before getting economic sanctions relief and require that Iran recognize Israel’s statehood as a condition of any nuclear deal. > > The move blindsided Democrats who had been working with Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and ranking member Ben Cardin (D-Md.) to pass the bipartisan bill. Afterwards, Corker offered a grim assessment of the amendment process. Still, the bill is likely to pass eventually, albeit with few alterations requested by the GOP. > > \ > > Senators in both parties said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would likely have to move to cut off debate on the bill after Democrats sent clear intentions to GOP leadership that they would no longer play nice on voting on GOP amendments. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21344 "2015-05-01T19:24:11Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I mean, yeah, Rs eating there own is fun to watch. But IIUC, governor Abbot is in _a wheelchair_. Could Smith, maybe, have worded that a little differently, so that it did not sound like it came right out of, oh, a book by Molly Ivins? What we’ve shown here is that Abbot both figuratively and literally doesn’t have the backbone to stand up to the kooks. I’d call it win-win, as I hop in my hand basket for a trip. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21345 "2015-05-01T19:55:53Z")
Ted Cruz claims [there are no Latino panhandlers, because work is a conservative value](http://www.latinpost.com/articles/51022/20150501/ted-cruz-doesn-t-believe-hispanic-panhandlers-exist.htm). ---
**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:** [May 1, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21346 "2015-05-01T22:54:54Z")
[The Baltimore riots are Obama’s fault because he has intentionally inflamed black sensibilities so that when they riot, he can federalize the police so they can take over the country so that he can redistribute the wealth.](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/paranoia-rama-obama-behind-baltimore-riots-military-coup-imminent-bullet-ban-brewin) Yeah, no, I didn’t make that up. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2015, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21347 "2015-05-01T22:57:38Z")
[Steve King thinks Congress can pass a law which overturns the 14th amendment, without actually, y’know, amending the Constitution.](http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-lawmakers-take-aim-constitutional-principle) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21348 "2015-05-01T23:31:14Z")
I’ve actually met conservatives who argue that the phrase “…and subject to the jurisdiction thereof…” means that the children of illegal residents do not automatically gain citizenship. Since they’re “illegal” they aren’t “subject to the jurisdiction.” i.e., they can’t vote, don’t get counted in the census…and thus don’t get citizenship for their kids. It’s horribly and sadly wrong, but it is a fringe view that’s out there. (Along with the gold fringe on the flags in admiralty courts, I guess.) ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21349 "2015-05-01T23:32:49Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Cotton and Rubio throw a tantrum and stink up the room.](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/iran-bill-gop-amendment-fight-117516.html) Although I strongly disagree with their proposed amendments, I don’t see what’s stupid about wanting a vote on them. If they are going to throw up one silly amendment after another just to derail the process, that’s despicable but not stupid, but I don’t see any indication that they’re doing even that – the amendments seem to express their sincere position on the issue, although IMO they are wrongheaded. In a related story, I have always thought that it’s stupid for the leaders of the House and Senate to have the power to indefinitely prevent votes on bills or amendments that would pass if voted on. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21350 "2015-05-02T01:15:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Mike Huckabee doesn’t speak Spanish, but he does “speak Jesus” That would be refreshing. He can start with The Beatitudes. > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [The Baltimore riots are Obama’s fault because he has intentionally inflamed black sensibilities so that when they riot, he can federalize the police so they can take over the country so that he can redistribute the wealth.](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/paranoia-rama-obama-behind-baltimore-riots-military-coup-imminent-bullet-ban-brewin) Sounds like a plot point from _The Turner Diaries_. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21351 "2015-05-02T01:28:59Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Although I strongly disagree with their proposed amendments, I don’t see what’s stupid about wanting a vote on them. If they are going to throw up one silly amendment after another just to derail the process, that’s despicable but not stupid, but I don’t see any indication that they’re doing even that – the amendments seem to express their sincere position on the issue, although IMO they are wrongheaded. This bit has irked me for a while. In my last year of Youth Lege, lo those many decades ago, we started off the weekend sessions with the usual practice run, having one of the students’ bills put up for floor debate. It rather quickly devolved into members working to amend the bill. Eventually, I called a point of order, that we do not amend bills on the floor without forming a committee of the whole, and the process was ended with a motion to refer back to committee. So, how is it that these guys just blithely ignore Robert’s Rules of Order? Is it because the author was a Brit? I suspect we might complain a bit less about Congress if they did things the right way. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21352 "2015-05-02T03:25:52Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Steve King thinks Congress can pass a law which overturns the 14th amendment, without actually, y’know, amending the Constitution.](http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-lawmakers-take-aim-constitutional-principle) From the article: "The 14th Amendment, King told the panel, ‘did not contemplate that anyone who would sneak into the United States and have a baby would have automatic citizenship conferred on them’.” Can we use that same logic that the 2nd amendment didn’t contemplate semiautomatic weapons and schools being shot up? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21353 "2015-05-02T03:26:45Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > So, how is it that these guys just blithely ignore Robert’s Rules of Order? Is it because the author was a Brit? That’s a good enough reason for me. It sounds like the first step on the slippery slope to Sharia Law. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21354 "2015-05-02T03:33:20Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > From the article: "The 14th Amendment, King told the panel, ‘did not contemplate that anyone who would sneak into the United States and have a baby would have automatic citizenship conferred on them’. He’s right, sort of. Congress didn’t contemplate anybody sneaking into the US, period, because there were virtually no restrictions on immigration when the 14th Amendment was written. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21355 "2015-05-02T06:50:11Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Sounds like a plot point from _The Turner Diaries_. Almost. No Jews in it. But, Jews, Muslims, tomayto, tomahto, right? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21356 "2015-05-02T06:53:15Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Although I strongly disagree with their proposed amendments, I don’t see what’s stupid about wanting a vote on them. If they are going to throw up one silly amendment after another just to derail the process, that’s despicable but not stupid, but I don’t see any indication that they’re doing even that – the amendments seem to express their sincere position on the issue, although IMO they are wrongheaded. What’s stupid, from their own POV, is that they’re alienating Senate Democrats who were willing to go along before. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21357 "2015-05-02T08:19:50Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [The Baltimore riots are Obama’s fault because he has intentionally inflamed black sensibilities so that when they riot, he can federalize the police so they can take over the country so that he can redistribute the wealth.](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/paranoia-rama-obama-behind-baltimore-riots-military-coup-imminent-bullet-ban-brewin) 😕 I thought the Democrat plan was to keep blacks impoverished so they’d continue to vote for the crypto-Islamic Kenyanist ticket? Or is the new Kenyanist plan to impoverish rich Baltimoreans so they’ll vote crypto-Islamic ? (Meanwhile, Obama continues to say _nothing whatsoever_ about Area 51. Makes ya think, no?) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21358 "2015-05-02T13:43:47Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > This is where stupid and crass converge in a tsunami that leaves a bad taste in _your_[sup]\*[/sup] mouth. > (emphasis mine) > > I mean, yeah, Rs eating there own is fun to watch. But IIUC, governor Abbot is in _a wheelchair_. Could Smith, maybe, have worded that a little differently, so that it did not sound like it came right out of, oh, a book by Molly Ivins? > > \*“your” as in “one’s” He forgot the third option: Abbot doesn’t care. He doesn’t have to believe or be scared of them to go along, he just has to care more about getting reelected than whatever bullshit the nutjobs are clamoring about. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21359 "2015-05-02T17:38:55Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > (Meanwhile, Obama continues to say _nothing whatsoever_ about Area 51. Makes ya think, no?) Oh, if only something made them think. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21360 "2015-05-02T18:34:21Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Almost. No Jews in it. > > But, Jews, Muslims, tomayto, tomahto, right? In most Jewish conspiracies, black people are puppets of the Jews. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/21361 "2015-05-03T02:15:33Z")
[Ted Cruz has jumped on the “teh gummint is gonna invade Texas” bandwagon.](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/05/02/now-even-ted-cruz-says-hes-looking-into-whether-obama-is-invading-texas-video/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1067) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1069)