# 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:** 1258
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25142 "2015-10-28T19:10:20Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > “You can always hire half the poor to kill the other half” > > Variously attributed. What do you think an army is but the practical expression of this idea? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25143 "2015-10-28T19:35:25Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Ben Carson’s budget plan](http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/ben-carsons-budget-plan-makes-absolutely-no-sense/). Even conservatives think his numbers are ridiculous. Surely the guy has some advisors who aren’t idiots. How do they let him put out something that dumb? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25144 "2015-10-28T20:04:00Z")
It’s better than Herman Cain’s “9, 9, 9” - and he was a CEO. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25145 "2015-10-28T21:15:51Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Surely the guy has some advisors who aren’t idiots. OBJECTION ! Assumes facts not in evidence. ---
**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 28, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25146 "2015-10-28T22:13:23Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Ben Carson’s budget plan](http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/ben-carsons-budget-plan-makes-absolutely-no-sense/). Even conservatives think his numbers are ridiculous. I think you’re entirely missing the point of the clowns’ show if you think it even makes sense to talk about whether a clown’s plan makes sense. If you really think Ben! uses advisors, perhaps **Sam Stone** is the finance guru; teradollar deficits are nothing to him: he’s on record as calling $5 trillion chump change, $20 trillion a rounding error, and mentioning any amount less than $1 trillion is nitpicking. (That’s when the talk turns to taxing the rich of course; Welfare Mama’s 69-cent bottle of catsup is a collosal fraud.) (I’m waiting for Carson to blurt out that he’s found a way around Braess’ Paradox; then we’ll know Stone is his boy!) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25147 "2015-10-28T22:55:01Z")
**Sam** is wrong in a complex way, Carson is just flat wrong. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25148 "2015-10-29T00:02:45Z")
I’m willing to bet Carson doesn’t actually have advisors. He’s a brain surgeon, and the only difference between a brain surgeon abd God is that God doesn’t think he’s a brain surgeon. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25149 "2015-10-29T03:51:10Z")
Rep. Lamar Smith reminds everyone how all Republicans in the house are Stupid for making him a Chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee. > **[Congressman doubles down, accuses NOAA scientists of doctoring results](https://arstechnica.com/science/2015/10/congressman-doubles-down-accuses-noaa-scientists-of-doctoring-results/)** > > Rep. Lamar Smith claims temperature data were fudged for Obama Administration. > [@](#): > > Congressman doubles down, accuses NOAA scientists of doctoring results > > … > > That’s where the subpoena came in. > > We noted that although the demand for internal communications obviously implies suspicion of skullduggery, Rep. Smith had stopped short of actually accusing the NOAA of anything like that. That has changed with a statement Rep. Smith provided Nature for its news coverage of the subpoena. > > The full statement, which Rep. Smith’s office provided to Ars, reads as follows: > > > [@](#): > > > > It was inconvenient for this administration that climate data has clearly showed no warming for the past two decades. The American people have every right to be suspicious when NOAA alters data to get the politically correct results they want and then refuses to reveal how those decisions were made. NOAA needs to come clean about why they altered the data to get the results they needed to advance this administration’s extreme climate change agenda. The agency has yet to identify any legal basis for withholding these documents. The Committee intends to use all tools at its disposal to undertake its Constitutionally-mandated oversight responsibilities. > > \*\*No ambiguity there—Smith is clearly suggesting that the NOAA is manipulating its results to further an external agenda. \*\* … > [@](#): > > The claim of “no warming for the past two decades” is simply false. But more importantly, the NOAA’s numbers don’t differ in any meaningful way from NASA’s or from any of the other independent surface temperature datasets. But Rep. Smith, who chairs the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, thinks that digging through the e-mails of the NOAA’s scientists will somehow show that they were pawns of the Obama administration. As a poster from Ars Technica said on the previous article: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Texas Congressman Lamar Smith, in his position as Chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology > > Just kill me now. For a better reply and more about the #1 enemy of science check Tamino’s take: > **[Lamar Smith: #1 Enemy of Science](https://tamino.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/lamar-smith-1-enemy-of-science/)** > > In a rebuke to the #1 enemy of science, Congressman Lamar Smith of Texas, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has refused to comply with his attempt “to subpoena intern… > [@](#): > > We should also mention that what Lamar Smith really objects to is that research by Karl et al. disproved the “pause” that climate deniers loved so much. Lamar Smith wants to revive that zombie, so he can use it to push his anti-science agenda. But the zombie “pause” was already dead, even without the research of Karl et al. I showed it in my own research, using data without the sea-surface temperature revision, so did Cahill et al., in fact it’s now been shown in no fewer than five scientific publications, including the NOAA research that Lamar Smith hates so much, he’ll resort to the nastiest, costliest, and most vicious tactics to destroy. > > That’s what Lamar Smith does. He’s the #1 enemy of science. ---
**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 30, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25150 "2015-10-30T18:39:01Z")
Kevin Swanson is a Colorado pastor who wants gays put to death. He thinks that the [Girl Scouts](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kevin-swanson-girl-scouts-turn-girls-lesbians-and-i-dont-want-my-little-girl-turning-lesbian),[the movie _Frozen_](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/swanson-disneys-frozen-satanic-push-turn-kids-gay), and the [US Women’s Soccer Team](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kevin-swanson-womens-world-cup-team-will-recruit-children-lesbianism) will turn little girls into lesbians. He will be hosting a "National Religious \*Liberties \*Conference in Des Moines next week, [Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal will be attending.](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cruz-huckabee-and-jindal-will-join-pastor-who-wants-gays-put-death) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25151 "2015-10-30T19:09:53Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Kevin Swanson is a Colorado pastor who wants gays put to death. He thinks that the [Girl Scouts](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kevin-swanson-girl-scouts-turn-girls-lesbians-and-i-dont-want-my-little-girl-turning-lesbian),[the movie _Frozen_](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/swanson-disneys-frozen-satanic-push-turn-kids-gay), and the [US Women’s Soccer Team](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kevin-swanson-womens-world-cup-team-will-recruit-children-lesbianism) will turn little girls into lesbians. He will be hosting a "National Religious \*Liberties \*Conference in Des Moines next week, > > [Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal will be attending.](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cruz-huckabee-and-jindal-will-join-pastor-who-wants-gays-put-death) [Considering that Trump attended a meet in support of someone that is currently on trial for contempt of court for defying the limits put on his racial profiling](http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-finds-anti-immigrant-ally-sheriff-joe-arpaio); and for abusing his power to investigate the very judges that are overseeing his case, it is very clear that all those candidates do think that it will get them the support of very unsavoury republican voters. It has worked so far for Trump, and it is not surprising to me that many conservatives are declaring that they will support Trump if he becomes the Republican candidate. The bigot candidates (or the ones that pander to bigots) do not mind about the prejudice, and it is clear that many Republicans don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25152 "2015-10-30T19:55:57Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Kevin Swanson is a Colorado pastor who wants gays put to death. He thinks that the [Girl Scouts](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kevin-swanson-girl-scouts-turn-girls-lesbians-and-i-dont-want-my-little-girl-turning-lesbian),[the movie _Frozen_](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/swanson-disneys-frozen-satanic-push-turn-kids-gay), and the [US Women’s Soccer Team](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kevin-swanson-womens-world-cup-team-will-recruit-children-lesbianism) will turn little girls into lesbians. He will be hosting a "National Religious \*Liberties \*Conference in Des Moines next week, > > [Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal will be attending.](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cruz-huckabee-and-jindal-will-join-pastor-who-wants-gays-put-death) Frozen? Um, dude, Let it Go isn’t about the dick… ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25153 "2015-10-30T20:10:30Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Kevin Swanson is a Colorado pastor who wants gays put to death. He thinks that the [Girl Scouts](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kevin-swanson-girl-scouts-turn-girls-lesbians-and-i-dont-want-my-little-girl-turning-lesbian),[the movie _Frozen_](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/swanson-disneys-frozen-satanic-push-turn-kids-gay), and the [US Women’s Soccer Team](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kevin-swanson-womens-world-cup-team-will-recruit-children-lesbianism) will turn little girls into lesbians. He will be hosting a "National Religious \*Liberties \*Conference in Des Moines next week, > > [Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal will be attending.](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cruz-huckabee-and-jindal-will-join-pastor-who-wants-gays-put-death) To be fair, it is not like those three have anything better to do. At least this keeps them off the streets. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25154 "2015-10-30T20:31:05Z")
You’re right, that is the least. ---
**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 31, 2015, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25155 "2015-10-31T00:37:24Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Marco Rubio may have violated ethics rules by soliciting campaign funds while within the Senate building.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/marco-rubio-campaign-funds-ethics-rules_5626b48be4b08589ef498c7a) Thanks for calling this to our attention. I’ve not seen any mention of it on the Lame Stream Media. Can you imagine the pandemonium if Hillary had done something like this? Select committees, special reports; Rupert Murdoch might have to start another newspaper. Perhaps it’s good that America’s media is so biased. I don’t think we could stand it if they scrutinized one side as much as they do the other. ---
**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 31, 2015, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25156 "2015-10-31T01:14:10Z")
> [@Katriona](#): > > Frozen? Um, dude, Let it Go isn’t about the dick… That’s the problem. The two leads are female. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25157 "2015-10-31T01:59:05Z")
‘Winning’ a debate now just requires bombastic quotable sentences and good photo ops. No one watches and then fact checks the statements themselves, they have their news outlets to tell them what it all means and sum up who won. On both sides, though not equally. ---
**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 31, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25158 "2015-10-31T23:34:46Z")
Ted Cruz" [Only “real journalists” like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity should moderate the Republican debates](http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/258754-cruz-cnbc-debate-moderators-were-left-wing-operatives). ---
**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:** [November 1, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25159 "2015-11-01T00:05:13Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Ted Cruz" [Only “real journalists” like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity should moderate the Republican debates](http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/258754-cruz-cnbc-debate-moderators-were-left-wing-operatives). Yeah, I loved the way the candidates said the media wasn’t acting respectfully toward them, then called the media Hillary’s Super PAC. Respect goes both ways, dudes and dudette. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25160 "2015-11-01T00:21:12Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Ted Cruz" [Only “real journalists” like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity should moderate the Republican debates](http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/258754-cruz-cnbc-debate-moderators-were-left-wing-operatives). Also see this refutation of his assertion that the Dems got only softball questions: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/29/ted-cruz-says-the-democratic-debate-was-fawning-heres-what-it-really-was/](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/29/ted-cruz-says-the-democratic-debate-was-fawning-heres-what-it-really-was/) ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/25161 "2015-11-01T00:47:24Z")
How about ALL of the questions come from regular, voting citizens like us? After all, they’ll be working for us if elected… oh, never mind. I see the problem already. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1257) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1259)