# 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:** 1336
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26702 "2016-01-13T20:34:55Z")
And what oath did Sheriff David Clarke swear/affirm to uphold? From this [website](http://county.milwaukee.gov/LawEnforcementOathof9155.htm): > [@](#): > > On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character or the public trust. > > I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. > > I will always uphold the _Constitution_, my community, and the agency I serve. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26703 "2016-01-13T20:36:27Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > This is one thing that drives me nuts, the idea that a flat tax means a simple tax. Figuring out your income tax boils down to two things, one simple, and one very complicated. A flat tax means you take the simple part and make it just a little simpler. Yes. The hard part about taxes is not figuring out what you pay, it’s figuring out what you’ve earned. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26704 "2016-01-13T20:46:26Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Yes. The hard part about taxes is not figuring out what you pay Speak for yourself. Rows and columns confuse me. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2016, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26705 "2016-01-13T21:24:56Z")
[Only Republicans have the right to talk about the Bible.](http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/tea-party-lawmaker-doesnt-think-obama-should-cite-the-bible-we-own-the-entire-tradition/) ---
**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:** [January 13, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26706 "2016-01-13T21:37:45Z")
[Obama is anti-cancer, so Fox news is for it.](http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/watch-cynical-fox-news-hosts-find-way-to-bash-curing-cancer-because-obama-said-it/) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26707 "2016-01-13T22:21:56Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Obama is anti-cancer, so Fox news is for it.](http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/watch-cynical-fox-news-hosts-find-way-to-bash-curing-cancer-because-obama-said-it/) Cancer is a growing industry. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26708 "2016-01-13T22:55:46Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > John Kasich says it would be easy as pie for new moms to work from home while caring for the kid: > > [John Kasich Says Women Could Do Maternity Leave Online, If Bosses Let Them](http://wonkette.com/597794/john-kasich-says-women-could-do-maternity-leave-online-if-bosses-let-them) > > He’s not a big fan of paid maternity leave, and he’s not so sure he likes paid sick leave, either. > [http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/01/11/3737921/kasich-paid-family-leave/](http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/01/11/3737921/kasich-paid-family-leave/) > (see last paragraph) > > What a guy. > > These 'pubs blather on about being pro-family, but these policies are really pro-fuck-you-and-your-fucking-family. I keep seeing Kasich held up as the “sane” one, and I’ve never understood it. He’s as bonkers as the rest of them. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26709 "2016-01-13T23:53:42Z")
> [@Katriona](#): > > I keep seeing Kasich held up as the “sane” one, and I’ve never understood it. He’s as bonkers as the rest of them. _At least_; Katich is _at least_ as bonkers as the rest of them. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26710 "2016-01-14T00:56:31Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Cancer is a growing industry. Why are we even fighting cancer anyway? It’s the natural way of things. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26711 "2016-01-14T02:19:51Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Why are we even fighting cancer anyway? It’s the natural way of things. True that. It’s a classic case of allowing the free market to remain unhindered. Why, there’s even a name for it: _neoplasm_ Thanks Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26712 "2016-01-14T03:14:49Z")
I think forgetting about a [$750,000 loan from Goldman Sachs](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/us/politics/ted-cruz-wall-street-loan-senate-bid-2012.html) for your 2012 Senatorial campaign counts as stupid. And that’s $750,000 in real dollars, not Canadian. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26713 "2016-01-14T04:40:11Z")
> [@Katriona](#): > > I keep seeing Kasich held up as the “sane” one, and I’ve never understood it. He’s as bonkers as the rest of them. I think it must be catching. When there aren’t too many of them and they aren’t in charge they can actually sound reasonable occasionally. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2016, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26714 "2016-01-14T04:58:21Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Only Republicans have the right to talk about the Bible.](http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/tea-party-lawmaker-doesnt-think-obama-should-cite-the-bible-we-own-the-entire-tradition/) Huh. _“… we need to reclaim the moral argument, where we’re so strong.”_ So, you do that by engaging in moral and ethical behavior. Can you do that? _yeah, didn’t think so_ ---
**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:** [January 14, 2016, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26715 "2016-01-14T13:14:47Z")
In his criticism of the President’s State of the Union address, Rep. Scott Garrett, (R-NJ) says there were actually [only one or two uninsured people that were helped by Obamacare](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gop-rep-scott-garrett-only-one-or-two-people-were-uninsured-obamacare#sthash.GUxL6gPe.dpuf): > [@](#): > > “If I were him, and what he would do, is probably pull out the one or two people in the country who didn’t have health insurance before and say, ‘Look, so and so here has it now and he didn’t have it then, and so and so didn’t have it before and now he has it then [sic],’” he said. “But the question is: Was Obamacare the best way to provide health insurance to those few people who did not have it before at the same time that millions of Americans suffered under the results of it?” ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26716 "2016-01-14T19:21:26Z")
How about fucking evil as well as stupid and short-sighted? Like, say, poisoning children to save a few bucks? Lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan: [http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/01/08/the-poisoning-of-the-children-of-flint-michigan/](http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/01/08/the-poisoning-of-the-children-of-flint-michigan/) An “emergency manager” appointed by Governor Snyder decided to switch the city’s water supply to a heavily polluted river to save some money. The acidic water corroded the plumbing, leeching dangerous amounts of lead into the drinking water. Snyder’s administration ignored (and may have actively covered up) the problem until the Feds started poking around. So, lots of potentially brain-damaged children, millions of dollars just to switch the water source back, and many millions more yet to be spent to fix the damage to the infrastructure before the water is safe again. “Austerity” in action. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26717 "2016-01-14T19:37:06Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > How about fucking evil as well as stupid and short-sighted? Like, say, poisoning children to save a few bucks? > > Lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan: [http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/01/08/the-poisoning-of-the-children-of-flint-michigan/](http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/01/08/the-poisoning-of-the-children-of-flint-michigan/) > > An “emergency manager” appointed by Governor Snyder decided to switch the city’s water supply to a heavily polluted river to save some money. The acidic water corroded the plumbing, leeching dangerous amounts of lead into the drinking water. Snyder’s administration ignored (and may have actively covered up) the problem until the Feds started poking around. > > So, lots of potentially brain-damaged children, millions of dollars just to switch the water source back, and many millions more yet to be spent to fix the damage to the infrastructure before the water is safe again. “Austerity” in action. This really is unbelievable. Even without poisoning kids, the idea that a governor can just tell a city that its elected officials no longer have any say, and that his appointee is going to decide everything for the city, is something I would not have believed possible in the US. I’m too lazy to look it up, but IIRC there were also issues about Detroit’s assets being sold off for stupidly low prices by another Snyder-appointed czar. Rachel Maddow has been all over this (the broader issue, as well as the lead poisoning) for a couple of years, at least. Anybody interested might want to look at her show archives. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26718 "2016-01-14T19:53:43Z")
Would Cruz have said something like this about any of his male opponents? My magic 8-ball says no. > **[Ted Cruz: Voters should spank Hillary Clinton like I spank my five-year old...](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/9/1467693/-Ted-Cruz-Voters-should-spank-Hillary-Clinton-like-I-spank-my-five-year-old-daughter)** > > Just when you thought no one could possibly out do Donald Trump’s misogynistic ways, here we have Ted "Calgary” Cruz campaigning in Iowa. > > When comparing all of these clowns, there are really no d ---
**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:** [January 14, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26719 "2016-01-14T21:50:44Z")
After Democratic legislators complained that a Republican WI state legislator blamed the crime in the state on black people from Milwaukee, and asked for an apology, [his response was to flip them off on the floor of the legislature](http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/wisconsin-republican-flips-off-democrats-who-called-him-out-for-racist-statements-on-crime/). ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26720 "2016-01-15T00:45:34Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Would Cruz have said something like this about any of his male opponents? > My magic 8-ball says no. > > [Ted Cruz: Voters should spank Hillary Clinton like I spank my five-year old daughter](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/9/1467693/-Ted-Cruz-Voters-should-spank-Hillary-Clinton-like-I-spank-my-five-year-old-daughter) Got love the man for single-handedly and successfully disproving all those [stereotypes about Canadians](http://imgc-cn.artprintimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/71/7159/DNQM100Z/posters/peter-c-vey-i-m-giving-you-one-last-chance-to-talk-before-vinny-says-please-new-yorker-cartoon.jpg). ---
**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:** [January 15, 2016, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26721 "2016-01-15T03:03:11Z")
[In the Baby Table debate, Carly lied that the US does not give any weaponry to our allies in the Middle East.](http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/carly-fiorina-just-told-a-whopper-about-our-support-to-the-middle-east-at-the-gopdebate/) [And once again, Fox comes out as pro-cancer because Obama is against it.](http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/fox-news-doctor-tells-obama-to-skip-the-war-on-cancer-hes-the-wrong-commander-in-chief/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1335) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1337)