# 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:** 1937
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38722 "2018-08-26T02:35:01Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > John McCain’s death reminded me of the differences between the Republican party in 2008, and now. > > In 2008, this is how the Republican Party behaved towards bigotry. > > [Watch John McCain defend Barack Obama from a voter calling him “Arab” in 2008 - Vox](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/8/25/17782572/john-mccain-barack-obama-statement-2008-video) > > In 2018, the Republican party embraces bigotry. It courts and beds bigots. And that’s one of the clues that hit us in the face in 2008 that we completely ignored. Sure, it’s just some dumb-old broad who just reads the tabloids saying she can’t trust Obama 'cause he’s an Arab. When in reality, there’s millions of Americans like her. And Sen. McCain was the only one I heard about defending Obama at the time, so the GOP is hardly different today than it was in 2008. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38723 "2018-08-26T04:08:52Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > And that’s one of the clues that hit us in the face in 2008 that we completely ignored. Sure, it’s just some dumb-old broad who just reads the tabloids saying she can’t trust Obama 'cause he’s an Arab. When in reality, there’s millions of Americans like her. > > And Sen. McCain was the only one I heard about defending Obama at the time, so the GOP is hardly different today than it was in 2008. But, wait, what did he say? > [@](#): > > “I can’t trust Obama. I have read about him, and he’s not, um, he’s an Arab,” a woman said to McCain at a town hall meeting in Lakeville, Minnesota in October 2008. > > McCain grabbed the microphone from her, cutting her off. “No, ma’m,” he said. “He’s a decent family man [and] citizen that just I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what the campaign’s all about. He’s not [an Arab].” It is ok, he is decent because, he is not an Arab. I know he had to frame it that way in the circumstances, but it still revealed a particular weakness in the Republiopath message. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38724 "2018-08-26T04:35:04Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > It is ok, he is decent because, he is not an Arab. It’s ambiguous. If you want to read “He’s decent. He’s not an Arab.” you can do that, and if you want to read “He’s decent, because he’s not an Arab.” you can read that as well. It was a nicely-phrased little save, a dog whistle without the usual dog-whistle phrases. And we knew this at the time. It’s something GOP candidates have had to do for a long time, ever since they scooped up the pro-Segregationists decades ago. I myself made a post on it, saying it was nice he didn’t dive right into racism but noting that it was a bit dog-whistly and wishing that he had said outright that Arabs could be good people. Saying it’s unalloyed good _now_ is just an example of not speaking ill of the dead, which is simple dishonesty. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2018, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38725 "2018-08-26T11:07:39Z")
Kelli Ward says that [John McCain announced he was dying in order to hurt her campaign](https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/arizona-gop-senate-candidate-kelli-ward-accuses-john-mccain-dying-push-negative-narrative/), then deletes her posts and blames “fake news” for making her say it. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38726 "2018-08-26T12:53:23Z")
Meet [Bettina Rodriguez Aguilera](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-florida-candidate-alien-abduction-20180823-story.html), running for Congress in the Miami area. By all accounts, she’s a sane adult with commitment to community service etc., and actually has the Miami Herald’s endorsement. But there’s one small detail: > [@](#): > > In an interview, she said she is grateful for the endorsement and that her tale of kidnapping by aliens does not define her. > > “It has nothing to do with what I have done. It happened when I was 7 years old,” she said. “I am so proud of the Herald and what they did.” > > Rodriguez Aguilera says she was taken aboard a spaceship as a young girl by blond extraterrestrials who resembled the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. She says they told her that the “center of the world’s energy is Africa” and that thousands of non-human skulls were once discovered in a cave on the Mediterranean island of Malta. > > She has said she witnessed paranormal activity since then and saw a UFO at 17. She also said she has been in touch with the aliens telepathically long after the abduction. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38727 "2018-08-26T15:44:20Z")
Again, the _Herald_ endorsed her because the other GOP candidates refused to talk to the newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38728 "2018-08-26T15:53:43Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Again, the _Herald_ endorsed her because the other GOP candidates refused to talk to the newspaper. They were not legally obligated to endorse _either_ candidate, so that is not a valid excuse. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38729 "2018-08-26T16:19:18Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Meet [Bettina Rodriguez Aguilera](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-florida-candidate-alien-abduction-20180823-story.html), running for Congress in the Miami area. By all accounts, she’s a sane adult with commitment to community service etc., and actually has the Miami Herald’s endorsement. But there’s one small detail: That’s not really the craziest or stupidest thing that republicans have professed belief in. I do wonder if that is an intentional part of the platform at this point. Just pushing and pushing against the idea that there is an objective reality. It doesn’t matter if you believe in UFO’s, you believe in a fairy in the sky, or you believe that climate change is a hoax perpetuated by China, or you believe that John Kerry gets to pull the trigger on a hurricane splitting weather machine; you believe in things that simply are not true, and can be shown to not be true with a moment of critical thinking. It wears down the critical thinking of not only the believers, but their interlocutors as well. After a while, in order to try to get through to these people important things like climate change, responsible fiscal policies, functional health care systems, or socioeconomic issues and their relations to law enforcement, you start letting things like bigfoot, or UFO’s, or even the moon landing go, trying to focus on what is important. The problem is, is that what is important isn’t just these issues themselves, but people having the ability to actually understand these issues, and there seems to be a growing number of people who not only do not understand the issues, not only mock the understanding of the issues, but also distract the people who are trying to work on solutions to these issues into explaining, once again, for the nth time, basic logic. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38730 "2018-08-26T18:24:44Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > the other GOP candidates refused to talk to the newspaper. You know, you’re right - _that’s_ a far more stupid Republican idea than simply believing in UFO’s. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38731 "2018-08-26T19:11:20Z")
I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic. But the GOP have been disparaging non-partisan press for a while now. I don’t blame a newspaper for endorsing a UFO kook over candidates who apparently hate and/or fear the independent press. The kook is probably far less dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38732 "2018-08-26T19:16:03Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic. This time, not at all. Refusing to take all possible advantage of free publicity, and all avenues to get your message out, is a Stupid Republican Idea. It makes you look like you’re afraid to let voters know what you really think and what you’d really do. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38733 "2018-08-27T00:23:22Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Infowars: Hurricane Lane was split in half by an energy beam shot out of Antarctica by John Kerry. > [https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2018/08/24/infowars-host-hurricane-threatening-hawaii-has-been-split-two-energy-beam-shot-antarctica-possibly/221094](https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2018/08/24/infowars-host-hurricane-threatening-hawaii-has-been-split-two-energy-beam-shot-antarctica-possibly/221094) I guess parody of this stuff has become absolutely impossible because I can’t imagine writing a parody that is any more ridiculous than what was actually said there. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38734 "2018-08-27T06:49:03Z")
They are just doing this absurd stuff to bolster the idiot’s claim that his abusive tirades about Sandy Hook were crazy talk that no one would take seriously. The parents of the dead children “child actors” are worked up over harmless conjecture rather than calculated abuse. “…can’t imagine…” How about a story where Senator, Secretary of State, and Presidential hopeful Hilary Clinton is running a child sex slave ring out of a pizzeria in D.C.? No one could possibly imagine this to be true and take a semi-automatic rifle and shoot up said pizzeria.:smack: ---
**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:** [August 27, 2018, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38735 "2018-08-27T16:01:54Z")
McCain was one of only three GOP Senators to stand up and say ‘NO’ twice when Trump’s original cabinet was up for vote. (Interestingly no two of these three voted against the _same_ nominee. McCain said no to Mulvaney (OMB) and Lighthizer (Trade Rep); Rand Paul voted against Pompeo and Coats (both confirmed easily); Susan Collins voted aganst DeVos and Pruitt. DeVos was the one 50-50 Cabinet official where Pence was forced to mount the dais and make his Constitutional Fart.) McCain’s strengths were integrity and trying to put the country ahead of politics … but not intellect nor intelligent stances on the issues. > [@Derleth](#): > > … I myself made a post on it, saying it was nice he didn’t dive right into racism but noting that it was a bit dog-whistly and wishing that he had said outright that Arabs could be good people. Saying it’s unalloyed good _now_ is just an example of not speaking ill of the dead, which is simple dishonesty. He was confronted with a woman who said " {Lie 1} because {Lie 2} because {I am racist}." It was not the time or place for McCain to deliver a long lecture on a plurality of lies or about how despicable and ignorant the woman was. McCain did the best he could. A more eloquent man _might_ have killed two lies with one pithy sentence … or just sowed further confusion. ---
**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:** [August 27, 2018, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38736 "2018-08-27T16:20:57Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > McCain was one of only three GOP Senators to stand up and say ‘NO’ twice when Trump’s original cabinet was up for vote. (Interestingly no two of these three voted against the _same_ nominee. Almost as if they wanted to ensure they got some credit without actually accomplishing anything. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38737 "2018-08-27T17:14:05Z")
[McCain’s family’s announcement about John McCain’s impending death was all about _ME!_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/08/26/arizona-senate-candidate-suggests-mccain-timed-his-pre-death-announcement-hurt-her-campaign/?utm_term=.cc95842c0147): > [@Washington Post](#): > > Kelli Ward, a U.S. Senate hopeful and onetime rival of Sen. John McCain, is facing a torrent of criticism after she appeared to suggest that his announcement Friday to halt medical treatment for his brain cancer was timed to hurt her campaign. McCain, 81, died a day after his announcement. > > One of Ward’s staffers on Saturday wrote a Facebook post wondering whether the timing of the statement from McCain’s family, made on the same day that Ward’s statewide bus tour kicked off, was simply a coincidence or a tactic “to take media attention off her campaign.” > > Ward did not dispute the notion and said in reply: “I think they wanted to have a particular narrative that they hope is negative to me." > > McCain died just hours after Ward’s Facebook comments. She’s a Trumpling, by which I mean she supports Donald Trump’s stated agenda and she’s a delusional narcissist with her feet so far in her mouth she can kick her own ass from the inside: > [@](#): > > In a follow-up comment, Ward said it’s the media that is creating a negative narrative about her, not the McCains. > > “The media loves a narrative. I’ve said again and again to pray for Senator McCain & his family. These decisions are terrible to have to make. I feel compassion for him and his family as they go through this. … The media, the left, and the Establishment have the agenda. They’ve been attacking me over fake stories for a year on this issue. I ran against McCain. I don’t agree with his voting record and rhetoric. I pray for him as a man who is suffering,” Ward wrote, according to the Arizona Republic. [ThinkProgress has screenshots](https://thinkprogress.org/arizona-republican-kelli-ward-blames-mccain-of-dying-to-hurt-senate-campaign-d4f8480d0e36/) because she deleted the comments but the Internet never forgets. ---
**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:** [August 27, 2018, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38738 "2018-08-27T17:37:11Z")
Musing… the immediacy and ubiquity of social media has made it possible for us to see how stupid people really are. In the past, she would have said these things to a couple of friends and unless a reporter picked it up, that would have been that. Actually, even if a reporter had picked it up, the comment might have been repeated in a few outlets and died a natural and deserved death. Now that people can urp out every lame, destructive, cruel, ignorant thought as soon as they think it, with no possibility of retraction, we’re finding out that lots of people we assumed were reasonably intelligent are, in fact, dumb as a box of hair. ---
**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:** [August 27, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38739 "2018-08-27T17:39:05Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > [McCain’s family’s announcement about John McCain’s impending death was all about _ME!_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/08/26/arizona-senate-candidate-suggests-mccain-timed-his-pre-death-announcement-hurt-her-campaign/?utm_term=.cc95842c0147):She’s a Trumpling, by which I mean she supports Donald Trump’s stated agenda and she’s a delusional narcissist with her feet so far in her mouth she can kick her own ass from the inside:[ThinkProgress has screenshots](https://thinkprogress.org/arizona-republican-kelli-ward-blames-mccain-of-dying-to-hurt-senate-campaign-d4f8480d0e36/) because she deleted the comments but the Internet never forgets. She also has posted today that “Political correctness is a cancer.” ---
**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:** [August 27, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38740 "2018-08-27T17:49:44Z")
Apparently Alex Jones watches trans porn… > **[Transphobe Alex Jones Seems to Watch Trans Porn](https://www.transadvocate.com/transphobe-alex-jones-seems-to-watch-trans-porn_n_24499.htm)** > > Alex Jones, recently banned from various platforms such as Facebook and YouTube for, in part, his dehumanization of trans people, accidentally revealed that he watches trans porn on his phone. In a… ---
**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:** [August 27, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/38741 "2018-08-27T18:57:46Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Musing… the immediacy and ubiquity of social media has made it possible for us to see how stupid people really are. In the past, she would have said these things to a couple of friends and unless a reporter picked it up, that would have been that. Actually, even if a reporter had picked it up, the comment might have been repeated in a few outlets and died a natural and deserved death. Now that people can urp out every lame, destructive, cruel, ignorant thought as soon as they think it, with no possibility of retraction, we’re finding out that lots of people we assumed were reasonably intelligent are, in fact, dumb as a box of hair. It’s a good thing, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1936) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1938)