# 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:** 15
**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:** [June 17, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/281 "2009-06-17T13:32:07Z")
I’m so glad this thread is back! It’s been so much fun, and I haven’t been keeping enough up to date with stupid Republican ideas to refresh the thread myself. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/282 "2009-06-17T13:53:15Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Which doesn’t strike me as inherently racist, just utterly stupid. I don’t see the insult there. I don’t see anything there. It’s also placed in a line-up of utterly normal pictures of all the other (white) Presidents. Were the ‘depiction’ of Obama in isolation, I _might_ agree with you, but it’s clearly meant to imply “He’s different and so doesn’t get a normal picture like the others; we’re going to reduce _him_ to a caricature.” I mean, hell, it’s arguable that [this picture](http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/barackobama/ig/Barack-Obama-Pictures/Combo-Breaker.htm) is somewhat racist, too, but the depiction of Obama is no different from the depictions of the other Presidents. It doesn’t attempt to remove the humanity from Obama, just points out the fact that he’s the first black President. It’s the difference between saying “He’s our first black President” and “He’s our first spook President.” ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/283 "2009-06-17T14:40:18Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Yeah, I’d more or less got that far. So the picture is saying, in essence, “the funny thing about black people is, their skin is darker! Get it? Get it?” And the punchline that you’re supposed to “get” is that our president is a nigger spook. You’d think that a joke that’s been making the rounds for 400+ years would be a bit stale by now. Apparently there’s a lot of neaderthals who still think it’s as funny as that time that Og Jr. threw the bear femur in the air and it came down on his head. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/284 "2009-06-17T14:51:28Z")
The specific image of a black man being invisible in the dark except for his eyes (wide open from fear) has a specific history. Think about the old joke with the punchline “Ain’t nobody here but us chickens, Massah.” The fugitive black man trying to hide from a white man who’s too stupid to realize that his glow-in-the-dark eyes (or, in the case of the joke, the idea of a chicken responding in English) would give him away. ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/285 "2009-06-17T20:37:41Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > They want him to start doing cheap Bill Clinton dates, no doubt. Well sure they were cheap. They stayed in, and the only cost was a cigar. ---
**Author:** ![ReuvenB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@ReuvenB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReuvenB)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/286 "2009-06-17T20:44:55Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > And the punchline that you’re supposed to “get” is that our president is a nigger spook. > > You’d think that a joke that’s been making the rounds for 400+ years would be a bit stale by now. Apparently there’s a lot of neaderthals who still think it’s as funny as that time that Og Jr. threw the bear femur in the air and it came down on his head. To be fair, the femur thing was pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/287 "2009-06-17T21:57:19Z")
> [@XWalrus2](#): > > To be fair, the femur thing was pretty funny. “Tragedy is when I lose my best flint knapper. Comedy is when you are trampled by a mastodon and die.” ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/288 "2009-06-17T22:50:21Z")
Ha. Ha! Oh, man. [http://www.rollcall.com/news/35940-1.html?type=printer\_friendly](http://www.rollcall.com/news/35940-1.html?type=printer_friendly) > [@](#): > > House Republicans presented a four-page outline of their health care reform plan Wednesday but said they didn’t know yet how much it would cost, how they would pay for it and how many of the nearly 50 million Americans without insurance would be covered by it. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/289 "2009-06-17T22:53:38Z")
> [@stolichnaya](#): > > Ha. Ha! Oh, man. > > [http://www.rollcall.com/news/35940-1.html?type=printer\_friendly](http://www.rollcall.com/news/35940-1.html?type=printer_friendly) They’re getting good at this “Put out a basically blank plan to try to steal some thunder from Obama”. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/290 "2009-06-17T23:05:15Z")
Yeah, but it’s not p…p…p…PUBLIC! AHHHHHHHHH!! (runs screaming) ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/291 "2009-06-17T23:32:16Z")
Didn’t… wait… didn’t they do the same thing with the budget? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/292 "2009-06-17T23:34:43Z")
[“Iranian activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut out in the House”](http://petehisameme.wordpress.com/) Oh, Pete Hoekstra. You’re a fucking moron. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/293 "2009-06-18T00:41:36Z")
It takes a real fucking winner to be redundant in a 140-character format. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/294 "2009-06-18T12:07:32Z")
I know what he means though. My cat scratched me last night and boy, now I know how Jesus felt being nailed to the cross. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/295 "2009-06-18T12:27:06Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I know what he means though. My cat scratched me last night and boy, now I know how Jesus felt being nailed to the cross. Truly. I got called into work last night which is similar to what third-world sweatshop workers are going through. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/296 "2009-06-18T13:49:16Z")
It’s probably worth noting that Carrot accidentally left out a word. I doubt it was deliberate, since you can’t C&P the twitter part from the front page of Hoekstra’s blog. “Iranian **twitter** activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut out in the House” Puts a bit of a different spin on the statement. Juuuust a tad. (Also, “Pete Hoekstra is a _meme_”? [You’re doing it wrong!](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/youre-doing-it-wrong)) ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/297 "2009-06-21T16:54:57Z")
Enough of this Republican bashing. GOP Chairman Michael Steele has single-handedly solved the health-care crisis: > **[Michael Steele Solves The Health Care Crisis](https://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/20/744744/-Michael-Steele-Solves-The-Health-Care-Crisis)** > > Who knew it could be this easy to reform health care? Michael Steele, ... > [@](#): > > If it’s an access question, people don’t have access to health care, then figure out who they are, and give them access! Now why didn’t Obama think of that? Huh? PS Clearly, this is good news for the McCain campaign. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/298 "2009-06-21T17:02:08Z")
I think what Mr. Steele means is a means for people without health insurance to observe health care being provided. Incentivizing. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/299 "2009-06-21T17:11:29Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > Enough of this Republican bashing. GOP Chairman Michael Steele has single-handedly solved the health-care crisis: > > [Michael Steele Solves The Health Care Crisis](http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/20/744744/-Michael-Steele-Solves-The-Health-Care-Crisis) > > Now why didn’t Obama think of that? Huh? > > PS Clearly, this is good news for the McCain campaign. I _really_ wish the federal government would stay the fuck away from everything and anything to do with health care. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/300 "2009-06-21T17:21:17Z")
To me, its mostly about priorities. First take away all the guns, then force Eagle Scouts into gay marriages, and _then_ universal health care. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=16)