# 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:** 1253
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25042 "2015-10-23T19:55:19Z")
> **[Carson On Secret Service: "I'm In Great Danger" Because I Challenge "Secular...](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/andrewkaczynski/ben-carson-on-secret-service-protection-im-in-great-danger-f)** > > "I'd prefer not to talk about security issues but I have recognized — and people have been telling me for many many months — that I'm in great danger because I challenge the secular progressive movement to the very core." Carson needs Secret Service protection because liberals are out to get him! **Carson On Secret Service: “I’m In Great Danger” Because I Challenge “Secular Progressive Movement”** > [@](#): > > “I’d prefer not to talk about security issues but I have recognized — and people have been telling me for many many months — that I’m in great danger because I challenge the secular progressive movement to the very core.” I, for one, though far too weird to be a liberal, would take drastic measures to prevent anyone from shooting Dr. Carson. I would, for instance, point out a more suitable target for the gun man. Gutsy, I know, but that’s just the kind of hero I am. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25043 "2015-10-23T22:25:57Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > Whoever thought it was a good idea to drag Hillary in front of the Keystone Kops for 11 hours of mind-numbingly stupid questions has to win this thread, right? Their line of questioning confused me. For awhile I thought they were going to accuse her of having an affair with Blumenthal. He had full acess to you, right? He sent you all these e-mails? Were you alone? All night? No one showed up? They seemed frustrated that Clinton didn’t break down and admit to hating America and giving a stand down order, or…whatever the CT even is anymore. But that’s the thing. If she’s a criminal mastermind who’s been eluding your grasp all these years, shouldn’t you bring in the big guns? ---
**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:** [October 23, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25044 "2015-10-23T22:34:56Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > [Carson On Secret Service: "I'm In Great Danger" Because I Challenge "Secular Progressive Movement"](http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/ben-carson-on-secret-service-protection-im-in-great-danger-f#.ucjplW5kzM) > > Carson needs Secret Service protection because liberals are out to get him! > > **Carson On Secret Service: “I’m In Great Danger” Because I Challenge “Secular Progressive Movement”** I can challenge a Guernsey bull in essentially the same way, but it will not amount to much as far as the bull is concerned. I mean, if I am armed against the bull in the same way that Carson is armed against the so called secular progressive movement, I would end up part of the muddy pasture. David-with-a-sling he is not. The “core” has observed the “challenge” and met it with derision, mockery and indifference. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25045 "2015-10-23T22:45:05Z")
All three at once? Don’t know about anyone else, but I have to be pretty riled up for weapons-grade derision and mockery. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25046 "2015-10-23T23:56:17Z")
[Donald Trump insults Iowa voters on Twitter, then blames an intern for the tweet. An intern says that his interns don’t have access to his Twitter account.](http://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-intern-says-the-interns-dont-actually-have-access-to-his-twitter-account/) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25047 "2015-10-24T00:07:08Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Donald Trump insults Iowa voters on Twitter, then blames an intern for the tweet. An intern says that his interns don’t have access to his Twitter account.](http://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-intern-says-the-interns-dont-actually-have-access-to-his-twitter-account/) Well, the story says at the end that other people do tweet for him, based on what he dictates. On the other hand Trump said the intern did a retweet, which implies Trump did the original tweet internally. I think the intern can be excused for not differentiating insults which should go out from insults which shouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25048 "2015-10-24T01:56:39Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > In honor of the 25,000th post (and because I’m a major stats nerd). I took it upon myself to try to actually estimate the number of stupid ideas that were recorded. To do this I looked at every tenth page and did my best to count the number of unique links to stupid Republican ideas. > > From this I estimate that there were approximately 3,260 stupid ideas, with a 95% confidence interval of between 2,884 and 3,635, making for about 1.38 stupid ideas posted each day, with a fairly constant rate of about 1 stupid idea for every 6.7 snark posts. > > Looking across time it seems that the number of stupid ideas was only about one every other day until the start of 2012. In 2012 through 2013 this number became more variable but increased to about 1.5 per day. Then finally settled down to a steady rate of 2.5 stupid ideas per day starting in 2014 through today. I was looking forward to seeing someone do some kind of statistical analysis like this. I hope your sample of looking at every tenth page was a good statistically representative sample. Anyway, it does look like we have some serious concentration of Stupid here! It looks like we are getting a bit over 500 new Stupid Ideas per _year!_ (That’s approx. 3,260 stupid ideas divided by the approx. 6.5 years this thread has been running.) I wonder if there are finitely many Stupid Ideas. I think the number of Stupid Ideas is infinite. And many of them being irrational, they aren’t even countable. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25049 "2015-10-24T03:46:08Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I think the number of Stupid Ideas is infinite. And many of them being irrational, they aren’t even countable. Golf clap. ETA: although I’d like to hear Eric Cantor’s take on this. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2015, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25050 "2015-10-24T03:54:17Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > All three at once? Don’t know about anyone else, but I have to be pretty riled up for weapons-grade derision and mockery. The indifference is part of the derision: “_Ben, you just don’t matter. No one cares what you think_.” Proactive apathy. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2015, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25051 "2015-10-24T09:08:21Z")
For a good laugh – or cry – [read about Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Michael Eakin](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/23/top-judge-joked-about-raping-tasing-women.html): > [@](#): > > One email from Eakin among many obtained by The Daily Beast suggests a battered wife treat her wounds by “keeping her mouth shut.” > … > Another email from Eakin contains a joke about a man using a Taser to rape a woman. > … > McGowan, Eakin and Baxter also shared jokes at the expense of Muslims, black students, and women. Several pictures depict women as animals: one with deer antlers, one naked and on all-fours, costumed like a pig (“How do you know your house is infected with swine-flu?”). Remember this is a State Supreme Court Justice, not just some Teabagging Ted Cruz supporter mouthing off in a bar. I “knew” the turd had to be a Republican, even though Pennsylvania is somewhat blueish. Sure enough: [QUOTE=Google search summaryy] Michael Eakin, 66, a Republican, is a former Cumberland County district attorney who was elected to the court 14 years ago. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25052 "2015-10-24T11:05:12Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > For a good laugh – or cry – [read about Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Michael Eakin](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/23/top-judge-joked-about-raping-tasing-women.html): > > Remember this is a State Supreme Court Justice, not just some Teabagging Ted Cruz supporter mouthing off in a bar. > > I “knew” the turd had to be a Republican, even though Pennsylvania is somewhat blueish. Sure enough: You’re just nitpicking. The important thing is that he gives out his email address. ---
**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 24, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25053 "2015-10-24T14:11:53Z")
Mitt Romney now claims [Obamacare was his idea all along](http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/mitt-romney-takes-credit-inspiring-obamacare) and he’s the reason it’s been such a success. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25054 "2015-10-24T14:32:10Z")
This is just the break the…oh, forget it. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25055 "2015-10-24T15:40:49Z")
People are talking about him, the momentum is building! ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25056 "2015-10-24T18:06:30Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > All three at once? Don’t know about anyone else, but I have to be pretty riled up for weapons-grade derision and mockery. If I manage to conjure up two of those in the same day, I need a nap. ---
**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 24, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25057 "2015-10-24T18:43:14Z")
My Congressidiot, Frank Guinta, sent out this push poll today: > [@](#): > > \*\*Pick the Worst News or All: \*\* > > Obamacare will cost a trillion dollars more than expected. > > Federally backed insurance exchanges in nine states have failed. HHS warns a dozen more could soon fail. > > Obamacare sign-ups are half of what the Congressional Budget Office (CB0) predicted. > > Over 30 million Americans remain uninsured. > > CBO reports 10 million could lose employer-based coverage, in addition to 5 million who already lost their private plans. > > Obamacare is working well. But he made the mistake of linking to the poll results: [https://iqconnect.lmhostediq.com/iqextranet/INSTAPOLL.ASPX?\_\_cid=NH01FG&\_\_sid=100028](https://iqconnect.lmhostediq.com/iqextranet/INSTAPOLL.ASPX? __cid=NH01FG&__ sid=100028) ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25058 "2015-10-24T21:36:33Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > …although I’d like to hear Eric Cantor’s take on this. Hee, hee. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25059 "2015-10-24T23:42:49Z")
Still, there is much division in Republican ranks, even as problems multiply! ---
**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:** [October 25, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25060 "2015-10-25T02:35:36Z")
> [@](#): > > My Congressidiot, Frank Guinta, sent out this push poll today: > Quote: > Pick the Worst News or All: > Obamacare will cost a trillion dollars more than expected. > > Federally backed insurance exchanges in nine states have failed. HHS warns a dozen more could soon fail. > > Obamacare sign-ups are half of what the Congressional Budget Office (CB0) predicted. > > Over 30 million Americans remain uninsured. > > CBO reports 10 million could lose employer-based coverage, in addition to 5 million who already lost their private plans. > > Obamacare is working well. > But he made the mistake of linking to the poll results: > > [https://iqconnect.lmhostediq.com/iqe...G&\_\_sid=100028](https://iqconnect.lmhostediq.com/iqe...G&__sid=100028) I don’t understand. How do you take a survey on whether facts are true or not? ---
**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 25, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25061 "2015-10-25T02:44:04Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I don’t understand. How do you take a survey on whether facts are true or not? Exactly. It is right wing anti-Obamacare propaganda, masquerading as a poll. Still, the most popular choice is “Obamacare is working well.” Not what he expected, but it will not change his position. Obamacare is bad, because Obama. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1252) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1254)