# 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:** 1794
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35862 "2017-12-04T03:03:40Z")
Can’t the Senate refuse to seat a newly elected member …? ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35863 "2017-12-04T03:34:33Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Can’t the Senate refuse to seat a newly elected member …? They can and there was talk of that from Republicans a few weeks ago when they thought Moore probably couldn’t get past this. But now that it really looks like Moore will win, the “let the voters decide” approach has taken hold. It was all just talk - they never intended to have to actually go against one of their own. If he wins, I hope he makes their lives even more miserable than they already are with Trump around. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35864 "2017-12-04T03:37:13Z")
“How the Republicans Broke Congress” > **[Opinion | How the Republicans Broke Congress (Published 2017)](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/02/opinion/sunday/republicans-broke-congress-politics.html)** > > We used to blame both parties for our poisonous political environment. Not anymore. > [@](#): > > …Republican leaders have been blunt about their motivation: to deliver on their promises to wealthy donors, and down the road, to use the leverage of huge deficits to cut and privatize Medicare and Social Security. > > Congress no longer works the way it’s supposed to. > … > What is astounding, and still largely unappreciated, is the unexpected and rapid nature of the decline in American national politics, and how one-sided its cause. If in 2006 one could cast aspersions on both parties, over the past decade it has become clear that it is the Republican Party — as an institution, as a movement, as a collection of politicians — that has done unique, extensive and possibly irreparable damage to the American political system. > … > The Republican Party is now rationalizing and enabling Mr. Trump’s autocratic, kleptocratic, dangerous and downright embarrassing behavior in hopes of salvaging key elements of its ideological agenda: cutting taxes for the wealthy (as part of possibly the worst tax bill in American history), hobbling the regulatory regime, gutting core government functions and repealing Obamacare without any reasonable plan to replace it. > … > It’s an agenda bereft of any serious efforts to remedy the problems that trouble vast segments of the American public, including the disaffected voters who flocked to Mr. Trump. > … It’s alarming how blind many, if not most, ordinary, garden-variety Republicans are to this dissolution of government. I have some friends and family who do not see it. These are older, middle class people who rely on Medicare and Social Security. Their party loyalty makes no sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35865 "2017-12-04T04:16:19Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Why does no reporter follow that non-statement up with “If you lived in Alabama, how would you vote?” McConnell, “I’m not going to answer a hypothetical.” Or he just blows it off completely. > [@](#): > > or “Do you want Roy Moore to be one of your colleagues?” or something with an actual point to it? Again, gives a non answer or refuses to answer. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35866 "2017-12-04T04:20:13Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > McConnell, “I’m not going to answer a hypothetical.” Or he just blows it off completely. > > Again, gives a non answer or refuses to answer. Short version: pulls his head and flippers into his shell. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35867 "2017-12-04T04:20:28Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > It’s alarming how blind many, if not most, ordinary, garden-variety Republicans are to this dissolution of government. I have some friends and family who do not see it. These are older, middle class people who rely on Medicare and Social Security. Their party loyalty makes no sense to me. That’s due to willing ignorance, eating up right wing propaganda, fear and hatred of anything liberal/progressive, and acting on emotion only without any logic, unless the logic, normal or twisted, confirms to their already held beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35868 "2017-12-04T05:23:45Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > … older, middle class people who rely on Medicare and Social Security. Their party loyalty makes no sense to me. They think they will die before the worst effects are felt, and expected to reap some benefit before that. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35869 "2017-12-04T13:08:22Z")
> [@j666](#): > > They think they will die before the worst effects are felt, and expected to reap some benefit before that. But they all have children and grandchildren. (I don’t.) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35870 "2017-12-04T13:38:47Z")
That always amazes me - that selfish people simply can’t conceive how anyone else could \*not \*be selfish. ---
**Author:** ![AI\_Proofreader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@AI\_Proofreader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AI_Proofreader)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35871 "2017-12-04T15:43:45Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > That always amazes me - that selfish people simply can’t conceive how anyone else could \*not \*be selfish. It’s the Ferrengi/Republican way… “We don’t want to stop the exploitation. We want to find a way to become the exploiters.” ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35872 "2017-12-04T19:34:14Z")
Ever notice how Mitch McConnell only seem to have two facial expressions? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35873 "2017-12-04T19:38:08Z")
Both of them are _backpfeifengesichten_. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35874 "2017-12-04T21:29:10Z")
Chuck Grassley: “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.” > **[Grassley blasts working class for spending on booze, women, and movies](https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/grassley-blasts-working-class-spending-booze-women-and-movies-msna1045541)** > > To hear Chuck Grassley tell it, multi-millionaires and billionaires -- and their heirs -- deserve an expensive tax break. You, however, need to spend less. After cutting taxes, Orrini Hatch now says there’s no money to fund children’s healthcare. > **[Author of GOP Tax Plan Says Children’s Health Insurance Program Is Held Up...](https://theintercept.com/2017/12/03/chip-childrens-health-insurance-program-tax-cuts/)** > > More than 60 percent of Americans say CHIP reauthorization should be a top federal priority, while only 28 percent say tax reform should be. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35875 "2017-12-04T21:36:10Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Chuck Grassley: > “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.” > [Grassley blasts working class for spending on booze, women, and movies](http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/grassley-blasts-working-class-spending-booze-women-and-movies) > > After cutting taxes, Orrini Hatch now says there’s no money to fund children’s healthcare. > [Congress Can't Find a Dime for Children's Health Care Program](https://theintercept.com/2017/12/03/chip-childrens-health-insurance-program-tax-cuts/) Those OTC supplements are fairly cheap compared to actual medical treatments. And they line The Dishonarable Senator Hatch’s pockets. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35876 "2017-12-05T01:31:45Z")
Turns out that in their rush to pass a bill in the dead of night without giving anyone a chance to read it, [the Senate Republicans accidentally nullified all corporate tax deductions.](http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/senate-gop-accidentally-killed-all-corporate-tax-deductions.html) SAD! ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35877 "2017-12-05T02:09:44Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > But they all have children and grandchildren. (I don’t.) I didn’t say it made sense to me, either. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35878 "2017-12-05T02:10:09Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Turns out that in their rush to pass a bill in the dead of night without giving anyone a chance to read it, [the Senate Republicans accidentally nullified all corporate tax deductions.](http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/senate-gop-accidentally-killed-all-corporate-tax-deductions.html) > > SAD! What an unbelievable pack of screw ups. The gall of them criticizing Obama’s leadership for eight years when this absolute clusterfuck is what we get when they wrest all the power. So what’s next? The Senate re-votes? With all the extra goodies that craven senators, like my very own Susan Collins, got in now taken out? Or does it go right to the house with all the goodies gone? Or do we just say fuck it and break out a Parcheesi tournament in the congressional chambers for all the good they’re doing in there trying to govern? ---
**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:** [December 5, 2017, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35879 "2017-12-05T03:00:07Z")
> [@j666](#): > > They think they will die before the worst effects are felt, and expected to reap some benefit before that. > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > But they all have children and grandchildren. (I don’t.) Of course they do. Why do you think they’ve been targeting the estate tax all this time? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35880 "2017-12-05T03:05:59Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Of course they do. Why do you think they’ve been targeting the estate tax all this time? Explain, please. I’m talking about middle class people who would never come within spitting distance of the estate tax. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2017, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35881 "2017-12-05T03:10:25Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Explain, please. > > I’m talking about middle class people who would never come within spitting distance of the estate tax. They THINK they will. Whether they’re conflating state and federal estate taxes or they think the fed estate tax lower threshold is low enough for them to qualify or they think they’ll be rich enough to qualify by the time they die, they THINK they will. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1793) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1795)