# 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:** 1851
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37002 "2018-03-14T17:16:13Z")
Well, it’s getting harder and harder for wingnuts to get any coverage, especially from a district where even the other side doesn’t care to mount an opposition. Gotta amp up the stupid to get noticed. Regular stupid doesn’t cut it anymore. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37003 "2018-03-14T17:35:49Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > … Gotta amp up the stupid to get noticed. Regular stupid doesn’t cut it anymore. I have a feeling these people are up to the challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37004 "2018-03-14T17:42:37Z")
Wait, **Derleth** is younger than me? I thought that he was some sort of eldritch horror from beyond the bounds of time. Or at least, like, 50. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37005 "2018-03-14T17:49:04Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Where’s all the conservative denunciation of this moron? A candidate for a seat in the Maine House is not very high profile. To the Party, this guy might be like a pimple on the ankle. If they ignore him, maybe he will fade into obscurity. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37006 "2018-03-14T17:52:18Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Ya know, at 34, I’m one of the _younger_ active Dopers. > > (And this marks my first post on my birthday. And I deliberately delayed so it would be.) > > I saw a perfect opening, and you know the rule: When you see a good chance, never let it go! > > We’re a little ways from an era when a skinhead lesbian could be a GOP candidate. Modern GOPpers are more likely to be a Bob than a Louise in general, and I wonder if Log Cabin Republicans even still exist. Aw, Happy Birthday…and on Pi Day, too! ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37007 "2018-03-14T18:14:50Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > A candidate for a seat in the Maine House is not very high profile. To the Party, this guy might be like a pimple on the ankle. If they ignore him, maybe he will fade into obscurity. At least he’s a candidate for something. Liberals are supposed to denounce every moron with a twitter account. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37008 "2018-03-14T19:27:15Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > … If they ignore him, maybe he will fade into obscurity. No. He’ll be elected and be responsible for shaping policy in the state house in Maine. He’s running unopposed. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37009 "2018-03-14T23:58:27Z")
Sad. No one should ever run unopposed. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37010 "2018-03-15T00:28:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wait, **Derleth** is younger than me? I thought that he was some sort of eldritch horror from beyond the bounds of time. Or at least, like, 50. I have broad tastes in pop culture (although my being 50 would make me an older Xer, which still wouldn’t be old enough for some of my references) and a very pragmatic view of politics. > [@carrps](#): > > Aw, Happy Birthday…and on Pi Day, too! Thank you. (Einstein’s Birthday, too!) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37011 "2018-03-15T00:35:41Z")
Hey, I just realized something: If you turned 18 in 1968, you’ll turn 68 this year! ---
**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:** [March 15, 2018, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37012 "2018-03-15T01:20:19Z")
Republicans? White nationalists? Shouldn’t we just treat the two groups as congruent now? While the MAGA leader is off to North Korea to play liar’s dice with KimJong-un, his disciples are fighting evil closer to home. [This story’s funny,](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/03/13/white-nationalist-leader-matthew-heimbach-arrested-for-domestic-battery/?utm_term=.cc2765754477) given the fact that Matt Heimbach (already famous for protecting a Trump rally from a black woman) was sleeping with his stepfather-in-law’s wife. These Trumpists out to make America great again aren’t actually from the inbred Kentucky heartland, but Orange County, Indiana is pretty close. Matt and his stepfather-in-law aren’t just ordinary GOP brownshirts; but top Trumpists — they co-founded the Traditionalist Worker Party (though Matt’s choking his stepfather-in-law unconscious may embitter that relationship). I guess stepfather-in-law’s wife wasn’t Matt’s mother-in-law. Do paid subscribers to Washington Post get a Gedcom to help sort all this out? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37013 "2018-03-15T01:56:32Z")
Side note on that: the woman he pushed is part of a lawsuit filed against Trump. One of the attorneys representing her is Dan Canon, who was involved in the lawsuit against Kim Davis for her gay marriage fiasco. He’s a friend of mine, and he’s running for Congress. ---
**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:** [March 15, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37014 "2018-03-15T02:31:54Z")
In a rare moment of sense, Rand Paul has announced he’s opposed to the nomination of Gina Haspel to be the next director of the CIA. Because, ya know, she oversaw a program of torture and all that. In an all-too-common and expected moment of malignancy, Liz Cheney accused Paul of “defending and sympathizing with terrorists”. > **[Liz Cheney: Rand Paul Is ‘Sympathizing With Terrorists’ By Opposing Haspel](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/liz-cheney-rand-paul-is-sympathizing-with-terrorists-for-opposing-haspel)** > > Editor’s Note: The ProPublica report on Haspel’s role in the torture program, cited in the TPM story below, has been corrected. ProPublica now reports that Haspel didn’t begin supervising the Thailand… Read the whole article. It’s short. It cites a report that, when she was running the torture site in Thailand, Haspel personally dropped by Abu Zubaydah’s cell to taunt him after he’d been waterboarded. So, she takes a personal interest in her work. She was described as “gleeful” in her approach to the torture of detainees. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37015 "2018-03-15T05:17:46Z")
Kentucky is considering banning the abortion of fetuses with Down’s Syndrome, if that is given as the reason for having the abortion in the first place. > **[Down syndrome kids being exploited in Kentucky abortion debate, critics argue](https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/13/kentucky-abortion-down-syndrome-ban/406676002/)** > > Lawmakers are considering making it illegal for a physician to perform abortions involving a fetus with Down syndrome ---
**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:** [March 15, 2018, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37016 "2018-03-15T05:28:49Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > I mean, what kind of lowlife would say in earnest “Hooray for reducing health care for poor kids!”? Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, and Orrin Hatch, for starters. Although Cruz would probably say he was giving the kids “choice” and “access to options” because freedom. Hatch would say “we don’t have the money” (and leave out that we just added $90 billion per year to the military budget. Which was already $610 billion. We have the money - we just don’t give a shit.) Ryan on the other hand would proudly say [he’s been dreaming of taking healthcare away from poor kids since college.](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/paul-ryan-medicaidHGNGjFUbChuD_1) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37017 "2018-03-15T14:43:22Z")
Republicans may be stupid, but apparently they aren’t stupid enough to [offend their base voters](https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/03/14/tennessee-legislature-refuse-condemn-neo-nazi-white-nationalist/425083002): > [@](#): > > A House committee declined to pass a resolution that stated Tennessee denounces white nationalism and neo-Nazism… > > The subcommittee’s sole Democrat, Rep. Darren Jernigan, D-Old Hickory, made the first motion, which was met with silence by the subcommittee’s four Republican members, Reps. Bill Sanderson, Bud Hulsey, Mary Littleton and Bob Ramsey. > > After being cut off by Sanderson, subcommittee chairman, from discussing the resolution, Clemmons was immediately granted a second motion to talk about an unrelated bill on studying state government contracts… ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37018 "2018-03-15T15:16:57Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Kentucky is considering banning the abortion of fetuses with Down’s Syndrome, if that is given as the reason for having the abortion in the first place. > > [Kentucky lawmakers consider ban on Down syndrome abortions](https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/13/kentucky-abortion-down-syndrome-ban/406676002/) Apparently Down syndrome is the new front in the abortion wars. My excessively pro-life Facebook friend has been banging that drum for a while. He was supporting a boycott of Iceland which may be encouraging the abortion of all fetuses with Down Syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37019 "2018-03-15T17:12:52Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Read the whole article. It’s short. It cites a report that, when she was running the torture site in Thailand, Haspel personally dropped by Abu Zubaydah’s cell to taunt him after he’d been waterboarded. So, she takes a personal interest in her work. She was described as “gleeful” in her approach to the torture of detainees. You are saying that people can’t enjoy their work now? ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37020 "2018-03-15T19:19:23Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > In a rare moment of sense, Rand Paul has announced he’s opposed to the nomination of Gina Haspel to be the next director of the CIA. Because, ya know, she oversaw a program of torture and all that. In an all-too-common and expected moment of malignancy, Liz Cheney accused Paul of “defending and sympathizing with terrorists”. Meghan McCain had [a few words](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/15/mccain-cheney-spar-over-torture-465532) for Ms. Cheney after the latter accused folks of “slander[ing] the brave men & women who carried out this crucial program”: > [@](#): > > My father doesn’t need torture explained to him I don’t know if McCain dropped the mic afterwards. ---
**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:** [March 15, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/37021 "2018-03-15T20:12:57Z")
Well, not now that he doesn’t have to fundraise for re-election, anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1850) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1852)