# 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:** 142
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2821 "2011-04-15T03:53:22Z")
Next time there’s a thread like this it oughtta be named “Stupid Republican Idea of the **Hour** ”, or maybe even of the _minute_. If only stupid ideas were a resource that could be used up… Better yet, if only we could figure out how to turn them into electrical energy. I would suggest burning Republicans in ovens that would generate steam to turn a turbine, but that would be wrong! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2822 "2011-04-15T04:00:12Z")
“Next time?” This thread has been going for more than two years. What makes you think it will ever be replaced? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2823 "2011-04-15T04:39:22Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Next time there’s a thread like this it oughtta be named “Stupid Republican Idea of the **Hour** ”, or maybe even of the _minute_. If only stupid ideas were a resource that could be used up… Better yet, if only we could figure out how to turn them into electrical energy. > > I would suggest burning Republicans in ovens that would generate steam to turn a turbine, but that would be wrong! It would be worse than Chernobyl if it breeched containment. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2824 "2011-04-15T04:43:10Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > “Next time?” > > This thread has been going for more than two years. What makes you think it will ever be replaced? I’m guessing the board software will eventually hit some numerical overflow on the number of posts it will support for a single thread. When the program was written none of the programmers could conceive of just how many bad ideas Republicans could have. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2825 "2011-04-15T06:11:13Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > … We’re cool. “We”? You live in California, which is sorta cool. But you live in Anaheim. Please. ---
**Author:** ![Batfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Batfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batfish)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2826 "2011-04-15T11:28:21Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I think you may have missed the point of my post. That you want to show your circumcision to Arizona election officials? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2827 "2011-04-15T14:03:12Z")
Well, I think that’s just sort of taken as read. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2828 "2011-04-15T17:25:18Z")
The Repubs are pushing to have vouchers in Medicare. They also want to boot most of the seniors off of it. 58 percent of the Repubs polled don’t want Medicare trashed. How can that be a winning strategy? ---
**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:** [April 15, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2829 "2011-04-15T17:37:27Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > The Repubs are pushing to have vouchers in Medicare. They also want to boot most of the seniors off of it. 58 percent of the Repubs polled don’t want Medicare trashed. How can that be a winning strategy? If it somehow turns the crisis around and ushers a new age of American prosperity by putting the elderly poor on ice floes, then they were courageous in passing a much needed albeit unpopular measure. If it turns out to be a piece of shit legislation which only makes life just that much harder for everyone (except the upper 2% of course), then it happened on Obama’s watch. Win/Win ---
**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:** [April 15, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2830 "2011-04-15T19:06:21Z")
Here are four consecutive posts from this thread: > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Next time there’s a thread like this it oughtta be named “Stupid Republican Idea of the **Hour** ”, or maybe even of the _minute_. If only stupid ideas were a resource that could be used up… Better yet, if only we could figure out how to turn them into electrical energy. > > I would suggest burning Republicans in ovens that would generate steam to turn a turbine, but that would be wrong! > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I’m guessing the board software will eventually hit some numerical overflow on the number of posts it will support for a single thread. When the program was written none of the programmers could conceive of just how many bad ideas Republicans could have. > [@elucidator](#): > > “We”? You live in California, which is sorta cool. But you live in Anaheim. Please. > [@Batfish](#): > > That you want to show your circumcision to Arizona election officials? 😛 If this doesn’t win the _Funniest SDMB thread of the Day_ award, I’ll be surprised. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2831 "2011-04-19T02:47:54Z")
Here a stupid Republican idea, in the same way that suicide is stupid: [Republicans threaten filibuster on the debt ceiling](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/18/sen-demint-threatens-filibuster-debt-ceiling-vote/) if Congress doesn’t pass a balanced budget amendment. Of course, they don’t realize a balanced budget is going to require tax increases or significant defense cuts. There just aren’t enough socialist, atheist social programs to cut to make up the difference. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2832 "2011-04-19T03:56:37Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Here a stupid Republican idea, in the same way that suicide is stupid: > > [Republicans threaten filibuster on the debt ceiling](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/18/sen-demint-threatens-filibuster-debt-ceiling-vote/) if Congress doesn’t pass a balanced budget amendment. > > Of course, they don’t realize a balanced budget is going to require tax increases or significant defense cuts. There just aren’t enough socialist, atheist social programs to cut to make up the difference. Well, they’re likely referring to the Balanced Budget Amendment bill that all 47 Republican Senators have signed on to, also known, and this may be hyperbole, but really not by much, as “The Worst Idea In Washington.” Since there’s so much wrong with it, Ezra Klein breaks up some of the biggies into four parts. In [Part I](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-worst-idea-in-washington/2011/03/10/AFzQaOIC_blog.html) we see that: > [@](#): > > It also includes a provision saying that tax increases would require a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress — so, it includes a provision making it harder to balance the budget — and another saying that total spending couldn’t exceed 18 percent of GDP. So, Congress wants to balance the budget by adopting California’s method of fiscal sanity. I’ll also note that [Bruce Bartlett points out](http://capitalgainsandgames.com/blog/bruce-bartlett/2194/dopiest-constitutional-amendment-all-time) that since the 18% is calculated from the previous year’s GDP, in reality we’d be looking at something along the lines of 16.6% of the current year’s GDP, numbers not seen since Hoover’s presidency. In [Part II](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-worst-idea-in-washington-part-ii/2011/03/28/AFvXOXIC_blog.html), he explains who’s likely to be hit the hardest: > [@](#): > > It’s fairly obvious why rules making it hard to pass new taxes would lead to more regressive taxation: If passing taxes is extremely difficult, then passing taxes plus overcoming the opposition of powerful interests becomes almost impossible. And so you focus on passing taxes that don’t arouse powerful interests. In practice, that means passing more regressive taxes, as the poor have less political power than the rich. Although today’s Republican Party probably considers this more a feature than a bug. In [Part III](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-worst-idea-in-washington-part-iii/2011/03/28/AFa2urIC_blog.html), we see that since emulating California’s budget process isn’t likely to actually balance the budget, the courts are likely to get involved. So the Republicans also plan to tie their hands: > [@](#): > > If you have a constitutional amendment that says the budget needs to be balanced and you don’t balance the budget, the courts get involved to make sure Congress is carrying out its constitutional duties. And if you write into the Constitution that the courts cannot tell Congress to raise taxes, then what you’re saying is that the courts have to tell Congress to cut spending. In [Part IV](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-worst-idea-in-washington-part-iv/2011/03/28/AFLF4SbC_blog.html), I think Ezra’s just getting in the gratuitous, though justified, jab that the proposed amendment would declare Paul Ryan’s Roadmap (I think this was written before the current Ryan budget plan was released, but I think is true of it as well) unconstitutional. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2833 "2011-04-19T04:03:23Z")
If they persist in holding the debt ceiling hostage for the balanced budget amendment, I see no alternative for Democrats other than the nuclear option, to change the Senate rules and do away with the filibuster altogether. Good riddance. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2834 "2011-04-19T04:14:56Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Here a stupid Republican idea, in the same way that suicide is stupid: > > [Republicans threaten filibuster on the debt ceiling](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/18/sen-demint-threatens-filibuster-debt-ceiling-vote/) if Congress doesn’t pass a balanced budget amendment. > > Of course, they don’t realize a balanced budget is going to require tax increases or significant defense cuts. There just aren’t enough socialist, atheist social programs to cut to make up the difference. Nonsense! They can simply cut all spending, except for the costs incurred in collecting the dead. And they have lots of stuff to sell off to the private sector. I’ll bet any major corporation would love to acquire a squadron of B2 bombers. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2835 "2011-04-19T04:38:41Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > The Repubs are pushing to have vouchers in Medicare. They also want to boot most of the seniors off of it. 58 percent of the Repubs polled don’t want Medicare trashed. How can that be a winning strategy? Simple. In 2016, blame Obama for it. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2836 "2011-04-19T04:50:32Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > If they persist in holding the debt ceiling hostage for the balanced budget amendment, I see no alternative for Democrats other than the nuclear option, to change the Senate rules and do away with the filibuster altogether. Good riddance. I guarantee the Republicans would filibuster that vote. BTW, whatever happened to the Democrats’ idea of changing the filibuster rules on Day 1 of the new Congress? There was all this buzz about how they could do it with a simple majority vote, but only on the first day because of some obscure procedural rules. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2837 "2011-04-19T04:59:40Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Here a stupid Republican idea, in the same way that suicide is stupid: > > [Republicans threaten filibuster on the debt ceiling](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/18/sen-demint-threatens-filibuster-debt-ceiling-vote/) if Congress doesn’t pass a balanced budget amendment. > > Of course, they don’t realize a balanced budget is going to require tax increases or significant defense cuts. There just aren’t enough socialist, atheist social programs to cut to make up the difference. \ I’m confused. I read somewhere that Planned Parenthood was responsible for 90% of the deficit. I can’ t possibly be incorrect, so therefore the democrats would rather kill babies than balance the budget. \ ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2838 "2011-04-19T05:26:02Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I guarantee the Republicans would filibuster that vote. > > BTW, whatever happened to the Democrats’ idea of changing the filibuster rules on Day 1 of the new Congress? There was all this buzz about how they could do it with a simple majority vote, but only on the first day because of some obscure procedural rules. I think they agreed to some rule changes far short of abolishing the filibuster. As for why it has to be done on the first day, as I understand it, it’s because the Senate meets as a continuing body, keeping the same rules from one session to the next, unlike the House. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that no Congress can tie the hands of a future Congress. So, at the beginning of a session, the Senate can adopt new rules, and they wouldn’t be bound by any of the previous rules when doing so. I’m not sure if this maneuver can be overruled as a breach of the rules by the President of the Senate (the VP), but in this case that’s not an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Sinaptics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Sinaptics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaptics)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2839 "2011-04-19T13:36:28Z")
> [@waterj2](#): > > I think they agreed to some rule changes far short of abolishing the filibuster. As for why it has to be done on the first day, as I understand it, it’s because the Senate meets as a continuing body, keeping the same rules from one session to the next, unlike the House. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that no Congress can tie the hands of a future Congress. So, at the beginning of a session, the Senate can adopt new rules, and they wouldn’t be bound by any of the previous rules when doing so. I’m not sure if this maneuver can be overruled as a breach of the rules by the President of the Senate (the VP), but in this case that’s not an issue. As I understand it, on the first day, Senate rules can be changed with a simple majority. Senate rules can be changed during the session, but it requires 60%. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/2840 "2011-04-19T13:48:22Z")
So why did the Democrats fail to do it? Not that they need a reason to fail. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=141) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=143)