# 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:** 1347
**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 23, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26922 "2016-01-23T00:45:57Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Most of the politicians and officials live there and fight for DC’s interests. No, they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26923 "2016-01-23T00:50:42Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > You guys are either bitterly envious of my wit or of my capacity to ignore scorn and abuse. Either way, I win. Eat your hearts out. It would be a real shame if you had a fatal occident. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26924 "2016-01-23T01:22:34Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Most of the politicians and officials live there and fight for DC’s interests. You misspelled “fight to impose their ideological stupidities on DC’s population”…mostly the Republicans, of course, although the Democrats in Congress aren’t blameless in the Fucking Over The District sweepstakes. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26925 "2016-01-23T02:39:06Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > It would be a real shame if you had a fatal occident. You might not even know unless you noticed all those women crying. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26926 "2016-01-23T04:41:06Z")
> [@TheSeaOtter](#): > > [GOP Kansas senator offers his ‘detailed guidance’ for women’s attire during testimony](http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article56028075.html) I do like the spirit of bipartisanship he has inspired ’ “Oh, for crying out loud, what century is this?” Sen. Laura Kelly, **a Topeka Democra** t, said Thursday.’ ’ “Who’s going to define low-cut?” said Sen. Vicki Schmidt,\*\* a Topeka Republican\*\*. “Does it apply to senators?” ’ ---
**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:** [January 23, 2016, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26927 "2016-01-23T11:25:29Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > That tweet was actually kind of funny. Normally I’d be inclined to forgive something like this as a careless oversight of one of his staff members not knowing where the tweet came from. The twitter account he’s responding to is called WhiteGenocide. I mean, come the fuck on. There’s oversight, and then there’s just not giving a damn. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26928 "2016-01-23T11:32:50Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > You misspelled “fight to impose their ideological stupidities on DC’s population”…mostly the Republicans, of course, although the Democrats in Congress aren’t blameless in the Fucking Over The District sweepstakes. You do realize how much money is brought into DC, and that the majority of Congressmen, in bipartisan fashion, are always fighting to bring more money into DC, right? DC is practically recession proof thanks to the efforts of Congress and the President. While the rest of the country suffered during the great recession, DC became wealthier. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2016, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26929 "2016-01-23T11:59:00Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > You do realize how much money is brought into DC, and that the majority of Congressmen, in bipartisan fashion, are always fighting to bring more money into DC, right? Why on earth would they? Congressmen do things for their constituents (because they vote for him) and lobbyists (because they give him money), the people of D.C. are neither. As long as he’s got his townhouse to sleep in, and restaurants to be wined and dined in, why should a congressman give a tinker’s damn what happens in the rest of the district, and where’s the accountability if he doesn’t? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26930 "2016-01-23T12:18:54Z")
Yet that’s what happens, because it takes a lot of people to administrate it all. The result is the wealth inequality that liberals don’t want to talk about: the inequality opening up between DC and the rest of the country. ---
**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 23, 2016, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26931 "2016-01-23T12:48:30Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Yet that’s what happens, because it takes a lot of people to administrate it all. The result is the wealth inequality that liberals don’t want to talk about: the inequality opening up between DC and the rest of the country. Have even been to Washington DC? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26932 "2016-01-23T13:07:27Z")
Yes, it’s your typical blue city, grinding poverty combined with fabulous wealth. ---
**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 23, 2016, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26933 "2016-01-23T13:26:24Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Yes, it’s your typical blue city, grinding poverty combined with fabulous wealth. So is the income inequality within Washington DC greater or less than the rest of the country? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26934 "2016-01-23T16:39:33Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Have even been to Washington DC? If he has, he’s never been more than a block or two from the Mall. DC has a hell of lot more desperately poor people actually living within its boundaries than politicians, civil servants and lobbyists. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2016, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26935 "2016-01-23T18:03:38Z")
I visited DC back in 1997, went to the Air & Space Museum, was surprised to see weeds growing through sidewalk cracks about three blocks from the Capitol, got lost trying to leave, ended up on Martin Luther King boulevard at some point… DC is (or at least was) pretty run-down. I remember thinking we’d never let _Ottawa_ get this bad. Is the U.S. fairly unusual in isolating its capital this way? Most other capital cities, as far as I can tell, participate in and are represented by regional governments. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26936 "2016-01-23T19:48:44Z")
If DC is to be a state, it should not be DC alone, but the entire Washington metropolitan area, all the suburban counties of Virginia and Maryland. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26937 "2016-01-23T19:58:05Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Indictment pending. Huh? My first reaction was “Hilary? The Bundys?” But that’s all you said… I went back through the thread. Right before that we were talking about Jane Orient, the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness lady. Before that was Cruz blaming Obama. ETA: Oh, wait… there was a post that quoted Jane Orient who believed Hilary was running guns to Benghazi. It was a couple of posts before yours, but I bet that’s it! Am I right? It’s been bugging 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 24, 2016, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26938 "2016-01-24T00:33:49Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > If DC is to be a state, it should not be DC alone, but the entire Washington metropolitan area, all the suburban counties of Virginia and Maryland. What makes you think that either state would go along with that? And why should they? And why would the residents of DC want that, either? In fact, who wants that, other than you? ---
**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:** [January 24, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26939 "2016-01-24T01:43:21Z")
MD and VA certainly wouldn’t go for it. A significant percentage of the states’ incomes come from the metro areas surrounding DC. When I lived in NoVA, there was a lot of discussion of how it ought to secede and become a state of its own, since most of its tax dollars never came back to the area and since it was very out of step, politically and culturally, with the rest of the state. That was probably 30 years ago, and NoVA is still part of VA. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26940 "2016-01-24T01:53:35Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Huh? My first reaction was “Hilary? The Bundys?” But that’s all you said… I went back through the thread. Right before that we were talking about Jane Orient, the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness lady. Before that was Cruz blaming Obama. > > ETA: Oh, wait… there was a post that quoted Jane Orient who believed Hilary was running guns to Benghazi. It was a couple of posts before yours, but I bet that’s it! Am I right? It’s been bugging me… That was actually directed at **elucidator** in reference to his horrible pun on Orient’s name. ---
**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:** [January 24, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/26941 "2016-01-24T01:55:21Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Yet that’s what happens, because it takes a lot of people to administrate it all. The result is the wealth inequality that liberals don’t want to talk about: the inequality opening up between DC and the rest of the country. Do you have a cite? Some statistics use a “metropolitan area” which includes parts of Virginia, Maryland, and W.V. Poverty stats are very different between that area and D.C. proper, right? And the comment you’re addressing concerns only D.C. itself. It appears you’re doing again what you often do: bouncing from one misstatement or misconception to another. You do understand that cities like Arlington are irrlevant to D.C.'s political rights. Or do you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1346) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1348)