# 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:** 1670
**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:** [April 3, 2017, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33382 "2017-04-03T04:05:59Z")
Local Florida Republican official suspended _with pay_ after calling for the murder of an African-American State Attorney. [http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/facebook-comments-by-seminole-county-official-spark-outrage/2317219](http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/facebook-comments-by-seminole-county-official-spark-outrage/2317219) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33383 "2017-04-03T04:36:20Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Local Florida Republican official suspended _with pay_ after calling for the murder of an African-American State Attorney. > [http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/facebook-comments-by-seminole-county-official-spark-outrage/2317219](http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/facebook-comments-by-seminole-county-official-spark-outrage/2317219) “Maybe she should get the death penalty,”\*\* McCullars\*\* said, referencing Ayala, the state’s first African-American state attorney. “She should be tarred and feathered if not hung from a tree.” Nice. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33384 "2017-04-03T06:01:46Z")
I feel like there should be some test, like anyone who goes on the internet to defend that behavior gets put on a depopulation list. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33385 "2017-04-03T06:09:50Z")
“Rex, the Vietnamese and the Indonesians are about to go to war over fishing rights. I don’t even know where those places are! You’re my Secretary of State, what should I do?” “Mr. President, fire the unions.” ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33386 "2017-04-03T06:11:21Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > …What happened to prayer in the face of temptation? Nothing “happened”, it works just as well as it ever did! ---
**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:** [April 3, 2017, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33387 "2017-04-03T12:44:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Sunday defended his decision not to consider the nomination of Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that Democrats would have done the same thing if they’d controlled the Senate and a vacancy on the court had opened up during an election year. > “If the shoe had been on the other foot, they wouldn’t have filled a Republican president’s vacancy,” McConnell said during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” when asked if he had any regrets over the matter. Totally unsupported assertion and a classic case of projection. Every time in the past, Democrats _did_ fill the vacancy. It was a severe break with practice and expectation that the Republicans did not. [Mitch McConnell: Democrats Would Have Blocked A GOP Supreme Court Nominee Too | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mitch-mcconnell-garland-nominee_us_58e0fb18e4b0ba359595a697)? And don’t go saying “Bork”. The Democrats rejected Bork the man, not Bork the Supreme Court nominee. The second nominee, Arthur Kennedy, was elected unanimously. The Democrats had warned Reagan when he was considering Bork that they would not elect him. It was in large part for his conservative views, but I suspect also in large part because Bork fired Archibald Cox at Nixon’s request after Eliot Richardson refused, and resigned. Nixon then promised Bork the next Supreme Court seat, although it was Reagan who proposed him. Nominating Bork must have seemed like a slap in the face to the Democrats. This is nothing like the Republican refusal to even hold hearings on Merrick Garland. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33388 "2017-04-03T13:48:08Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The second nominee, Arthur Kennedy, was elected unanimously. \*\*\*Anthony \*\*Kennedy ---
**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 3, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33389 "2017-04-03T14:01:34Z")
_Confirmed_ unanimously, not elected. > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Local Florida Republican official suspended _with pay_ after calling for the murder of an African-American State Attorney. > [http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/facebook-comments-by-seminole-county-official-spark-outrage/2317219](http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/facebook-comments-by-seminole-county-official-spark-outrage/2317219) There’s no evidence that McCullars is a Republican. The Clerk is a Republican, but McCullars was a career civil servant, not a political appointee. He resigned two days after being suspended, incidentally. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33390 "2017-04-03T14:14:38Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > “Rex, the Vietnamese and the Indonesians are about to go to war over fishing rights. I don’t even know where those places are! You’re my Secretary of State, what should I do?” > > “Mr. President, fire the unions.” This is totally unrealistic. Trump would have asked his son-in-law, not his Secretary of State. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33391 "2017-04-03T14:26:58Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > There’s no evidence that McCullars is a Republican. The Clerk is a Republican, but McCullars was a career civil servant, not a political appointee. The story does say that registration records reveal him to be a registered Republican, so in that sense, i guess there is some evidence that he’s a Republican. But you are absolutely right that he was NOT a “Republican official” in the sense implied by **Rick Kitchen** ’s post. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33392 "2017-04-03T15:43:54Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Local Florida Republican official suspended _with pay_ after calling for the murder of an African-American State Attorney. > [http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/facebook-comments-by-seminole-county-official-spark-outrage/2317219](http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/facebook-comments-by-seminole-county-official-spark-outrage/2317219) Not just murder, but lynching. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33393 "2017-04-03T16:21:08Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Local Florida Republican official suspended _with pay_ after calling for the murder of an African-American State Attorney. > [http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/facebook-comments-by-seminole-county-official-spark-outrage/2317219](http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/facebook-comments-by-seminole-county-official-spark-outrage/2317219) Nice, paid vacation! ---
**Author:** ![SaneBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SaneBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaneBill)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33394 "2017-04-03T16:39:42Z")
> [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > Nice, paid vacation! Yes, this will ensure it will never happen again. ---
**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 3, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33395 "2017-04-03T16:43:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Awwww – I’m touched. You people remember. > The epigraph I used for the first chapter of _Medusa – Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon_ is from Charles Finney’s wonderful _The circus of Dr. Lao_: > > > [@](#): > > > > I have made a study of this and several other medusas and. hence, am able to tell you a little about them. > > You see Finney’s Dr. Lao doing it, too – using “Medusa” interchangeably with “gorgons”. A lot of people do it, they same way they uses “Pegasus” for any flying horse. (And even in ancient Greece, there were other winged horses. Helios’ Chariot of the Sun was represented as drawn by them: > > [Pelops chariot flying horses - Yahoo Image Search Results](https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrBT4IjZeBYygUAGV5XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE0OTI1ODc3BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjM2MDRfMQRzZWMDcGl2cw--?p=Pelops+chariot+flying+horses&fr2=piv-web&fr=yfp-t#id=34&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.c.photoshelter.com%2Fimg-get%2FI0000tJme23uoMGA%2Fs%2F500%2FI0000tJme23uoMGA.jpg&action=click) > > And Pelops, son of Tantalus, was given a chariot and team of winged horses by Poseidon. (THis might be them:) > > [http://alchemical-weddings.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/wingedhorses.jpg](http://alchemical-weddings.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/wingedhorses.jpg) > > I don’t think anyone in antiquity called these “pegasi”, or called gorgons “medusa”, but it’s pretty common in modern times. If it’s not continuing the hijack too much, was Medusa the _only_ gorgon with the petrifaction special, or did they all have it? And am I misremembering, or was Medusa’s petrifaction a result of how _beautiful_ her visage was? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33396 "2017-04-03T16:48:02Z")
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In this case, permanently. ---
**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 3, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33397 "2017-04-03T17:28:25Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > “Rex, the Vietnamese and the Indonesians are about to go to war over fishing rights. I don’t even know where those places are! You’re my Secretary of State, what should I do?” “Three words Mr. President; Corporate Tax Cuts” ---
**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:** [April 3, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33398 "2017-04-03T19:00:10Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > If it’s not continuing the hijack too much, was Medusa the _only_ gorgon with the petrifaction special, or did they all have it? > > And am I misremembering, or was Medusa’s petrifaction a result of how _beautiful_ her visage was? Interesting questions. A few observations: 1.) There were three gorgons (Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale). They were the triplet daughters of Ketos, the Sea Monster and Phorkys, The Old Man of the SEa. They had another set of monstrous triplet sisters, the Phorkides or Graiae, who had one Eye among themselves that they passed from one to another. 2.) At this point, I don’t recall anyone saying if the power of petrification was restricted to one, or common to all. I think most people assumed that they all had it. 3.)…if they had it at all. Older texts don’t say that the gorgons turned you into stone. Perseus is usually shown cutting off her head while looking away, but that may have been an artistic convention. 4.) The old gorgons weren’t beautiful. they were said to have boar-like teeth and huge staring eyes. As time went by, their ugliness got smoothed out, and vase painting began to show the “beautiful” medusa. The tusks disappeared, although gorgons still retained wild hair and staring eyes. Note that they were almost invariably depicted without snakes in place of hair. On a lot of old coins and other decorations, the main clue that you’re looking at Gorgon are the oversized staring eyes. Ovid changed the myth so that Medusa was a once-beautiful woman who violated Poseidon’s temple and got turned into a monster. She was supposed to be ugly, but by that time the Beautiful Medusa was starting to take over in art. 5.) I don’t know anyone who said that Medusa petrified people by being beautiful. Not even today. But you can run with that idea if you want. It’s no more absurd than the modern theory that Medusa petrified herself by seeing her reflection in Perseus’ mirror-like shield. 6.) If you want to know what I think about Medusa’s fabled ugliness and power to petrify, look it up in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33399 "2017-04-03T19:17:10Z")
[A different take on those gorgon sisters.](http://wapsisquare.com/character/medusa/) ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33400 "2017-04-04T01:02:43Z")
> [@SaneBill](#): > > Yes, this will ensure it will never happen again. On the age of Trump, _all_ may feel perfectly safe in saying such things: > [@](#): > > “Maybe she should get the death penalty,” McCullars said, referencing Ayala, the state’s first African-American state attorney. “She should be tarred and feathered if not hung from a tree.” [from the link upthread] An emboldening—that’s what Trump has achieved. He has emboldened so many. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2017, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/33401 "2017-04-04T01:15:04Z")
We really ought to be concerned about the way he has normalized assholery. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1669) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1671)