# 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:** 189
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3761 "2011-11-20T13:24:05Z")
Newt kills two birds with one stone: Fire overpaid union workers and get rid of those pesky child labor laws at the same time: [http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/19/gingrich-laws-preventing-child-labor-are-truly-stupid/](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/19/gingrich-laws-preventing-child-labor-are-truly-stupid/) ---
**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:** [November 20, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3762 "2011-11-20T13:37:30Z")
You know, I actually don’t think that’s such a terrible idea, as long as it’s restricted to very certain jobs. I mean, it’s not like he wants to completely remove laws against child labor… And personally, I think modern child labor laws are a bit dated. They shouldn’t be removed, but revised? Definitely. And being able to take jobs like cleaning up the school for decent pay as a kid? Hell, some schools I go to do that _without_ paying you; why should offering payment be wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3763 "2011-11-20T16:35:57Z")
Hey, **BPC** , let’s give Gingrich full credit here. He doesn’t just want to put kids to work cleaning up their schools (which isn’t a totally bad idea, in some cases); he wants to use the kids to _get rid of union janitors_. Union busting by child labor! What’s not to like? They’ll all be singing and dancing like _Newsies_ or _Annie_ or something! Not to mention, how would putting inner city kids to work as a janitorial detail help them improve their educational standing, since turning our educational system around is imperative? Or do we just make these inner city schools janitorial academies? In other Gingrich news (how is this guy the front runner again?), he was at the disgustingly self-righteous Iowa Family Leader event yesterday. Hey, GOP, tell me again how being the sex police is going to turn our economy around? Or is it just more fun to tell other people what to do with their private lives? Anyway, Newt [tore into the Occupy Wall Street movement](http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/11/19/family-leader-forum-gingrich-slams-occupy-movement/) as a bunch of selfish whiners, telling them to “get a job after you take a bath.” Well, Newtie, perhaps if you’d drop the smugness and stop banging women you’re not married to at the time, we’d think of you as less of a hypocritical pig. Or maybe that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![Chris2011](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Chris2011](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chris2011)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3764 "2011-11-20T16:48:15Z")
Biggirl…I think you might have a few valid points, but when you start posts by cursing, the rest of your words are lost. Just a thought. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3765 "2011-11-20T17:11:27Z")
> [@Chris2011](#): > > Biggirl…I think you might have a few valid points, but when you start posts by cursing, the rest of your words are lost. Just a thought. Hey, fuckwad, don’t march into an already-existing community and begin by scolding the members. If cursing worries you, then you might want to find another message board. I hear there’s one over at Nickelodeon that is child-friendly. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3766 "2011-11-20T17:22:01Z")
Not to mention that in this forum (and only this forum), cursing is pretty fucking mandatory. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3767 "2011-11-20T17:23:42Z")
> [@Chris2011](#): > > Biggirl…I think you might have a few valid points, but when you start posts by cursing, the rest of your words are lost. Just a thought. Those who minds snap shut at the utterance of a little profanity are beyond redemption anyway. No loss. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3768 "2011-11-20T17:54:08Z")
I love how it’s only Biggirl who should watch her mouth. Bad, Biggirl! BAD! ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3769 "2011-11-20T18:16:36Z")
> [@Chris2011](#): > > Biggirl…I think you might have a few valid points, but when you start posts by cursing, the rest of your words are lost. Just a thought. Piss off, you prissy little busybody. This is a forum that’s designed for venting and ranting, and it’s been here for a lot longer than you have. Don’t bust into somebody else’s party and start tsk-tsking complete strangers because they happened to hurt your pwecious feewings. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3770 "2011-11-20T18:24:38Z")
> [@Chris2011](#): > > Biggirl…I think you might have a few valid points, but when you start posts by cursing, the rest of your words are lost. Just a thought. Fuck Yes, thank peter-sucking Jesus that someone came right the fuck out and laid that shit on the cunt-luvin’ table. You sir are a prick and a half, you jizz-bomb, you. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3771 "2011-11-20T18:46:45Z")
> [@Chris2011](#): > > Biggirl…I think you might have a few valid points, but when you start posts by cursing, the rest of your words are lost. Just a thought. Welcome to the Straight Dope boards, **Chris2011**! If you have any questions about posting, just ask! > [@Lobohan](#): > > You sir are a prick and a half, you jizz-bomb, you. Oh, I see I’m too slow. You’ve already been welcomed. Enjoy your stay! ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3772 "2011-11-20T19:02:50Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I love how it’s only Biggirl who should watch her mouth. Bad, Biggirl! BAD! The conclusion I’m drawing is that the rest of us have no valid points to make so whether we swear or not is irrelevant as it’s just more noise in an already signalless post. I am a little irritated at Biggirl though because I watched part of the video posted in the link and holy hannah was that ever a retarded roundtable and I blame Biggirl for bringing it to my attention. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3773 "2011-11-20T19:15:54Z")
Just a note of clarity. When someone calls you a “goat felcher”, you may suffer some confusion. You are not being called someone who retrieves a goat, that is a “goat _fetcher_”. Nor “goat fletcher”, that would be a medieval weapons crafter who specializes in the use of goat feathers for arrows. Clearly, this is absurd. If it is not clear to you why it is absurd, you could post a question in General Questions, unless your tolerance for snotty pedantry is limited. Despite our dedication to the eradication of ignorance, there are certain small areas of ignorance that may be regarded as benign, or mostly harmless. Which is to say, if you do not know what a “goat felcher” is there is no compelling reason you should. Mostly, this is all in good fun, and no actual malice is intended or admitted. Except for “burning your dog”. We will, in fact, burn your dog. If necessary, we are wiling to buy you a dog, and then burn it. Never go against a Cecilian when death is on the line. And it is. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3774 "2011-11-20T20:17:39Z")
> [@Uncle\_Jocko](#): > > Hey, **BPC** , let’s give Gingrich full credit here. He doesn’t just want to put kids to work cleaning up their schools (which isn’t a totally bad idea, in some cases); he wants to use the kids to _get rid of union janitors_. Union busting by child labor! What’s not to like? They’ll all be singing and dancing like _Newsies_ or _Annie_ or something! If that’s the primary goal, then yes, it’s pretty fucking evil. But I still think that the idea of ditching some janitorial staff and replacing them with kids who want/need the work, at their own school, is a pretty decent idea. > [@](#): > > Not to mention, how would putting inner city kids to work as a janitorial detail help them improve their educational standing, since turning our educational system around is imperative? Or do we just make these inner city schools janitorial academies? It’s not about education, but rather about work ethic, and I honestly can’t disagree with Newt here – you’re certainly not going to _help_ their work ethic by telling them that they can’t work. > [@](#): > > In other Gingrich news (how is this guy the front runner again?), he was at the disgustingly self-righteous Iowa Family Leader event yesterday. Hey, GOP, tell me again how being the sex police is going to turn our economy around? Or is it just more fun to tell other people what to do with their private lives? Anyway, Newt [tore into the Occupy Wall Street movement](http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/11/19/family-leader-forum-gingrich-slams-occupy-movement/) as a bunch of selfish whiners, telling them to “get a job after you take a bath.” Well, Newtie, perhaps if you’d drop the smugness and stop banging women you’re not married to at the time, we’d think of you as less of a hypocritical pig. Or maybe that’s just me. Now _this_ I can fully and completely get behind. 😃 To be honest, I really feel like sticking my hand up his asshole, then using him as a boxing glove in a fight against a barbed wire electric fence. > [@elucidator](#): > > Just a note of clarity. When someone calls you a “goat felcher”, you may suffer some confusion. You are not being called someone who retrieves a goat, that is a “goat _fetcher_”. Nor “goat fletcher”, that would be a medieval weapons crafter who specializes in the use of goat feathers for arrows. Clearly, this is absurd. If it is not clear to you why it is absurd, you could post a question in General Questions, unless your tolerance for snotty pedantry is limited. > > Despite our dedication to the eradication of ignorance, there are certain small areas of ignorance that may be regarded as benign, or mostly harmless. Which is to say, if you do not know what a “goat felcher” is there is no compelling reason you should. > > Mostly, this is all in good fun, and no actual malice is intended or admitted. Except for “burning your dog”. We will, in fact, burn your dog. If necessary, we are wiling to buy you a dog, and then burn it. > > Never go against a Cecilian when death is on the line. And it is. I laughed harder than I should have. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3775 "2011-11-20T20:54:23Z")
On the subject of child janitors: In all the schools I went to growing up, and I went to quite a few (admittedly all within a small region), the biggest stigma you could have was being poor. God forbid people find out your parents buy your clothes at the Goodwill, or you qualify for the free lunch program. To me, it just doesn’t seem like having the poor kids stay after school and clean up after the rich kids would really help the situation. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3776 "2011-11-20T21:56:20Z")
> [@emcee2k](#): > > On the subject of child janitors: > > In all the schools I went to growing up, and I went to quite a few (admittedly all within a small region), the biggest stigma you could have was being poor. God forbid people find out your parents buy your clothes at the Goodwill, or you qualify for the free lunch program. To me, it just doesn’t seem like having the poor kids stay after school and clean up after the rich kids would really help the situation. It would probably give them a more accurate picture of what life has in store for them, sadly. Typical of today’s Republicans, really. Rather than do anything to help poor people, just get them used to menial labor earlier. That’s how America will win the future, through giving our kids a head start at cleaning up after richer people. I mean, what’s the lesson kids are going to get from this? If you’re poor and you work hard, you’re slightly less poor. If you’re not poor, and you don’t need to put in extra time working after school in seventh grade, you’re still better off. I’d say it just teaches you the futility of having a good work ethic. The poor work more and are still worse off than the non-poor. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3777 "2011-11-20T22:25:42Z")
If you ever watched the program Bosses, where the boss disguises himself and attempts to do the work of those people in the company he looks down on, one big lesson is the low paid workers care a lot about their jobs and do a good job. The idea that poor people will fuck off without a rich bastard riding them all the time is BS. Most of the time, the boss is incapable of doing the job of the low class worker. Poor people work a hell of a lot harder and for less money. They respect their jobs and care. Before the reply. No that is not true 100 percent. What is? I think it is Undercover Boss. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3778 "2011-11-20T23:16:03Z")
From 1988: [http://www.quickchange.com/reagan/1988.html](http://www.quickchange.com/reagan/1988.html) \*\*[Mod Note: Potential virus threat from this link. Click at your own risk.] \*\*After its most famous teacher, Jamie Escalante, is immortalized in a Hollywood film, East L.A.'s Garfield High School gets a visit from George Bush. “You don’t have to go to college to be a success,” says Bush, apparently unaware that the school sends 70% of its mainly Hispanic students to college. “We need the people who run the offices, the people who do the hard physical work of our society,” continues the man who will claim to be “the Education President”. The speech becomes referred to **by aides** as the “You, too, can be a janitor” speech. (Emphasis mine.) I swear Newt Gingrich gets his goofy ideas from confusing fiction with reality. From 1994: [It’s a film that really illustrates the alternative to the modern welfare state," Gingrich said… Gingrich this month on NBC’s “Meet the Press” urged Hillary Rodham Clinton to rent the movie before she criticized his plan to deny welfare aid to teenage mothers and use the money to provide services to children, including orphanages or group homes. The first lady said promoting orphanages was “unbelievable and absurd.”](http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19941220&slug=1948340) ---
**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:** [November 20, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3779 "2011-11-20T23:21:05Z")
Just a cautionary note: My anti-virus software detected and blocked an apparent threat from the first link in **a35362** ’s post. Be careful what you click. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3780 "2011-11-20T23:22:50Z")
Whoa, sorry! ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=188) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=190)