# 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:** 1630
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32582 "2017-02-12T18:48:28Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Representative Terri Lynn Weaver (R-Lancaster), state representative in Tennessee, has introduced a bill that would [repeal Tennessee Annotated Code 68-3-306](http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/34478833/proposed-bill-deems-children-born-through-artificial-insemination-illegitimate-children), that declared that a child born of artificial insemination is legitimate. > > I’m still trying to wrap my mind around why they even bothered with originally declaring such children to be legitimate, much less why they’re now considering reversing that position to make the children _illegitimate_. I’m not sure, but I think the equivalent senate bill has either already been passed by the senate, or has been approved to be sent to the senate for a vote. > > I mean, seriously, WTF? The really gorgeous thing about this proposal is that it would make Jesus illegitimate. ---
**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:** [February 12, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32583 "2017-02-12T19:06:24Z")
> [@Hung\_Mung](#): > > The really gorgeous thing about this proposal is that it would make Jesus illegitimate. I think that would come under the ex post facto clause, meaning Jesus would be legitimate. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32584 "2017-02-12T19:43:34Z")
> [@Hung\_Mung](#): > > The really gorgeous thing about this proposal is that it would make Jesus illegitimate. I’m not sure Jesus would have been legitimate under the old legislation - it only applied to situations where the woman’s husband consented, and as I remember the story, Joseph was never even consulted. (Nor, for that matter, was Mary.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32585 "2017-02-12T22:29:53Z")
I haven’t seen anything about this yet. It’s so weird I had to check multiple sites. It’s apparently for real: **GOP Posts Fake Lincoln Quote, Twitter Appropriately Goes Nuts** > [@](#): > > If we’ve learned one thing so far this year, it’s that not everything you see on the internet is true. > The Republican National Committee celebrated what would have been President Abraham Lincoln’s 208th birthday on Sunday by gifting him with a quote that he likely never said. > The GOP shared a photo of the Lincoln Memorial on Twitter, and accompanied it with a quote attributed to the 16th president: “And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” > … > Problem is, there’s no evidence that Lincoln ever used that expression, according to Quote Investigator. > The site, which is run by quote sleuth Garson O’Toole, says the line was probably first used in the 1940s to advertise a book on aging by Dr. Edward J. Stieglitz. > “The important thing to you is not how many years in your life, but how much life in your years!” the ad read. > Adlai Stevenson II, a former governor of Illinois and Democratic presidential nominee, reportedly used a similar version of the quote in speeches a few years later. > Twitter users were quick to point out this gaffe, as well as suggest some other lines Lincoln could have said — but we can all but guarantee he didn’t. [GOP Posts Fake Lincoln Quote, Twitter Appropriately Goes Nuts | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-posts-fake-lincoln-quote_us_58a0b778e4b094a129ec104c)? It’s reported by other sites as well: [http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/319147-gop-tweets-quote-wrongly-attributed-to-lincoln](http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/319147-gop-tweets-quote-wrongly-attributed-to-lincoln) [http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article132305454.html](http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article132305454.html) > **[The Republican Party’s Twitter account is celebrating Lincoln’s birthday with...](https://www.vox.com/2017/2/12/14591880/gop-lincoln-birthday)** > > Here are two real ones. My favorite comeback? “Don’t trust everything you read on the Internet” – Abraham Lincoln. This should’ve been a no-brainer. It doesn’t sound remotely like anything Lincoln (or anyone else in the 19th century) ever said. ---
**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:** [February 12, 2017, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32586 "2017-02-12T22:40:21Z")
n/m ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32587 "2017-02-12T23:11:04Z")
Warren Love is a state representative from Western Missouri. In honor of Lincoln’s birthday, Love posted to Facebook to call Lincoln the greatest tyrant in American history and to say that Lincoln had destroyed the Republic envisioned by the founders. I can’t get to his FB page, but here’s a screen grab. [[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/s5pV0Xf.jpeg?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/31jU3) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32588 "2017-02-12T23:25:38Z")
It is nice to have a Republican admitting they’re not the party of Lincoln any more, though it’s pretty hilarious that he does it by slandering Lincoln, instead of trying to pretend the Democrats’ leftward turn and the Southern Strategy didn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32589 "2017-02-12T23:38:47Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Representative Terri Lynn Weaver (R-Lancaster), state representative in Tennessee, has introduced a bill that would [repeal Tennessee Annotated Code 68-3-306](http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/34478833/proposed-bill-deems-children-born-through-artificial-insemination-illegitimate-children), that declared that a child born of artificial insemination is legitimate. Saw that on FB the other day and was also wondering, then today I ran across this on the [Friendly Athiest](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/02/12/tn-republicans-introduce-bills-suggesting-kids-born-from-artificial-insemination-are-illegitimate/?ref_widget=trending&ref_blog=tippling&ref_post=free-will-compromised): > [@](#): > > … the repeal of the law does not de-legitimize a child conceived by insemination and, to be honest, the law that will remain on the books is less intrusive into the relationship of a husband and wife than the statute being repealed. Unlike the law being repealed, the remaining law that will now govern the situation does not have the government inquiring into the means by which the couple’s child came into existence or whose sperm, the husband’s or a donor’s, was used. It’s easy to be suspicious given the sponsors’ histories. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32590 "2017-02-12T23:51:54Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Warren Love is a state representative from Western Missouri. In honor of Lincoln’s birthday, Love posted to Facebook to call Lincoln the greatest tyrant in American history and to say that Lincoln had destroyed the Republic envisioned by the founders. Well, he ran unopposed this last year. Let’s hope someone decides to change that next time. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32591 "2017-02-13T02:56:42Z")
[Senator Ron Johnson is upset that so many people are calling his Congressional phone number.](http://www.cbs58.com/story/34479606/sen-johnson-concerned-with-call-overload) ---
**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:** [February 13, 2017, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32592 "2017-02-13T05:51:09Z")
[Jebus, they’re \*still \*talking about death panels.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/02/11/gop-official-in-viral-town-hall-video-is-known-for-sharing-misleading-stories-bigoted-jokes/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_fla-rep-545pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.f0e26e471145) ---
**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:** [February 13, 2017, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32593 "2017-02-13T07:42:39Z")
[Chaffetz had a rough town hall thingy](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-oversight-chair-jason-chaffetz-paid-town-hall-protesters/) > [@](#): > > Chaffetz told the Deseret News that the protest crowd included people brought in from outside his district specifically to be disruptive. “Absolutely. I know there were,” Chaffetz told the Salt Lake City-based paper. He added that the meeting, held at a high school auditorium, was “more of a paid attempt to bully and intimidate” rather than a true showcase of how voters in his Utah district felt. > > The newspaper didn’t say how he supported his assertions. Because, having [your ass handed to you by a 10-year-old girl](http://www.theverge.com/tldr/2017/2/10/14579380/senator-jason-chaffetz-town-hall-science-question-boos-watch) has to be an evil leftist conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32594 "2017-02-13T08:10:08Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > [Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R - Calif) is having](http://http://www.10news.com/newsy/gop-rep-says-macedonia-is-not-a-country-macedonia-isnt-thrilled)[a bit of difficulty with geography](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/macedonia-not-a-country-senior-us-republican-congressman-dana-rohrabacher-a7569666.html): To his credit, he doesn’t think it’s an imaginary place like, say, Ubeki-beki-stan-stan-stan; he just thinks all those so-called Macedonians should just man up and join Kosovo or Bulgaria or wherever. Because it’s not like there’s ever been any local issues in the Balkans over ethnic and cultural identity or indeed over the name “[Macedonia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_naming_dispute)”. > > Also to his credit, he was right that his idiocy made a lot of people mad at him. How does one even get to that conclusion? Does he also want to divide Belgium between France and the Netherlands? Or Finland between Sweden and Russia? What’s his take on Canada? Or the Arabian Peninsula? How does this clown have this high position in Congress? ---
**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:** [February 13, 2017, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32595 "2017-02-13T09:28:11Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > I’m not sure Jesus would have been legitimate under the old legislation - it only applied to situations where the woman’s husband consented, and as I remember the story, Joseph was never even consulted. (Nor, for that matter, was Mary.) No, she was consulted (c.f., _Ave Maria_); tradition even has her consenting (c.f., _Magnificat_). ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32596 "2017-02-13T13:56:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Because, having your ass handed to you by a 10-year-old girl has to be an evil leftist conspiracy. and then being booed off the stage 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32597 "2017-02-13T16:32:11Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > [Chaffetz had a rough town hall thingy](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-oversight-chair-jason-chaffetz-paid-town-hall-protesters/) He said the ‘outside agitators’ (man, that phrase takes me back!) weren’t even Utahns. What’s bugging me is that, as best as I can tell, no reporter has asked him where they were supposedly from. The town hall was in a suburb of Salt Lake City. Las Vegas is an 11-hour round trip from SLC; Denver’s a 15-hour round trip. And those are the two nearest cities to SLC of any appreciable size. If they got paid by the hour, George Soros must’ve been out a pretty hefty sum. And where were the bus fleets that transported the out-of-state protesters to the SLC area? It’s a mystery, I tell ya. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32598 "2017-02-13T17:11:43Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > And where were the bus fleets that transported the out-of-state protesters to the SLC area? It’s a mystery, I tell ya. Well obviously they musta used the network of tunnels FEMA has been operating cross-state under Walmarts. OBVIOUSLY. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32599 "2017-02-13T18:37:59Z")
I heard it was busloads of gay tourists, drawn to Salt Lake’s free-wheeling, “anything goes!” nightlife. Get some of that hot Mormon depravity, yowzuh! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32600 "2017-02-13T19:13:24Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I heard it was busloads of gay tourists, drawn to Salt Lake’s free-wheeling, “anything goes!” nightlife. Get some of that hot Mormon depravity, yowzuh! Probably bussed them in from that wellspring of depravity, Wendover, Nevada. That’s only a couple of hours’ drive across the flat expanse of the Salt Desert. a lot closer than Denver or Cheyenne or Vegas. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2017, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32601 "2017-02-13T19:26:01Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Has anyone mentioned [Trump’s 3am phone call](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/trump-call-to-mike-flynn/516087/)yet? > > In this case it was Trump making the call. Because he wanted to know whether a strong dollar or weak dollar was better for the economy, which I guess he couldn’t remember from his Wharton days and his acute business smartitude was too busy with other stuff to figure out. > > So naturally - instead of Googling what is a basic Econ 101 question - he called an expert on his staff. But not an expert on economics. No, he called General Flynn, who apparently told him to fuck off and call an actual economist. Let’s give Trump some credit on this one: the question is very complicated; it certainly is not a “basic Econ 101 question.” The dollar soared after Trump’s election. He probably took great pride in that … but also realized that this made his promise to bring jobs back to the Rust Belt much more difficult. Setting aside bringing those jobs back, a strong dollar might be good for the American economy in general and for American consumers. A lot depends on _why_ the dollar is moving. Banks certainly want a strong dollar, if the dollar’s rise is caused by interest rate rises. A strong dollar would be bad for some foreign countries, and good for others. _Putin’s Russia wants a strong dollar_, and so, I think, does China. However some countries (e.g. Brazil, Turkey) have huge dollar debts; a strengthening dollar weakens them. Recall that the 1997 Asian financial crisis was provoked in part by a rising dollar (countries like Thailand had borrowed dollars excessively). The role of the dollar’s strength in international affairs is very important, and should involve deep strategy. Zbigniew Brzezinski and perhaps Henry Kissinger may have been very clear about what sort of dollar they wanted. In that sense it was a legitimate question to pose to the National Security Adviser. The two NSA’s just mentioned were renowned academics with PhD’s in international affairs. Flynn is a combat soldier turned lobbyist. :smack: I agree that it is absurd that this “very VERY smart man”, who knows how to Make America Great Again would suddenly ask this question at 3 AM. And it’s pathetic that, instead of a Brzezinski or Kissinger to guide him through the intricacies of decisions with major international implications, he turns to … an ex-soldier. But it is misleading to call this a “basic Econ 101 question.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1629) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1631)