# 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:** 198
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3941 "2011-12-13T14:09:21Z")
The Russians actually tried that mirror thingie. > **[Znamya (satellite)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Znamya_%28space_mirror%29)** > > The Znamya project was a series of orbital mirror experiments in the 1990s that intended to beam solar power to Earth by reflecting sunlight. It consisted of two experiments – the Znamya 2 experiment, and the failed Znamya 2.5 – and the proposed Znamya 3. The project was abandoned by the Russian Federal Space Agency after the failed deployment of the Znamya 2.5. > The Znamya 2 was a 20-metre wide space solar mirror. Znamya-2 was launched aboard Progress M-15 from Baikonur on 27 October 1992. Af... ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3942 "2011-12-13T15:12:04Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > The Russians actually tried that mirror thingie. > > [Znamya (satellite) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Znamya_%28space_mirror%29) They should just wait a few decades. At the rate we’re going, Siberia will thaw on its own. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3943 "2011-12-13T16:18:06Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > Fuck polite. And fuck Romney. > > It’s one thing to declare other people’s rights insignificant in a policy speech. It’s another to kick them in the teeth in person. More honest? Perhaps. But it’s a special kind of incivility to smile at the person you’re trying to dehumanize. To be fair I’m pretty sure that Mitt didn’t know that they were a gay couple. He just assumed veteran = god fearing Republican. He’s still a slimeball though. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3944 "2011-12-13T16:35:35Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > To be fair I’m pretty sure that Mitt didn’t know that they were a gay couple. He just assumed veteran = god fearing Republican. He’s still a slimeball though. He’s also an idiot: (From the article linked above) > [@](#): > > Romney replied: “Actually, I think at the time the Constitution was written marriage was between a man and a woman and I don’t believe the Supreme Court has changed that.” Ummm, at the time the Constitution was written, it made no mention of marriage. It still doesn’t, for that matter. :rolleyes: ---
**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:** [December 13, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3945 "2011-12-13T17:57:13Z")
> [@saje](#): > > Ummm, at the time the Constitution was written, it made no mention of marriage. It still doesn’t, for that matter. :rolleyes: In the interest of defending the indefensible, I’m pretty sure he meant the institution which did exist, even though it wasn’t on the books because back then marriage was mostly a Church thing. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3946 "2011-12-14T18:48:21Z")
In which Mitt accuses Newt of the unthinkable - collaborating with the Enemy! [http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/) God forbid we should ever work together to achieve something. Mitt stands firmly for partisan gridlock! ---
**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:** [December 15, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3947 "2011-12-15T04:38:26Z")
[Fox News Uses an Obama Image to Identify Mitt Romney](http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/12/fox-news-uses-obama-picture-identify-mitt-romney/46212/) For when putting the wrong party letter in the chyron isn’t enough… ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3948 "2011-12-15T04:44:11Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > [Fox News Uses an Obama Image to Identify Mitt Romney](http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/12/fox-news-uses-obama-picture-identify-mitt-romney/46212/) That cracks me up. I love it. How the hell are they going to blame that on some fumble-fingered intern? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3949 "2011-12-15T04:50:42Z")
No one knows the name yet, but the intern is running three points ahead of Santorum in the Iowa Republican Caucus. ---
**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 15, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3950 "2011-12-15T05:03:22Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > [Fox News Uses an Obama Image to Identify Mitt Romney](http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/12/fox-news-uses-obama-picture-identify-mitt-romney/46212/) …and they used one of Andy Rooney to identify Newt! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3951 "2011-12-15T05:43:44Z")
The one captioned “Ron Paul”? Isn’t that the Cryptkeeper? ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3952 "2011-12-15T17:29:12Z")
> [@saje](#): > > He’s also an idiot: > > (From the article linked above) > Ummm, at the time the Constitution was written, it made no mention of marriage. It still doesn’t, for that matter. :rolleyes: > [@Kobal2](#): > > In the interest of defending the indefensible, I’m pretty sure he meant the institution which did exist, even though it wasn’t on the books because back then marriage was mostly a Church thing. Yes, the institution of marriage did exist at the time the Constitution was written, but the federal government did not concern itself with it at the time. You’d think Romney would know that the legality of marriage can change. For example, bigamy was not made illegal until 1862\*. Times change, Mitt, old boy. Marriage also changes. \*Illinois made it illegal in the early 1840s and the US gov’t took it nationwide in 1862. ---
**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:** [December 15, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3953 "2011-12-15T17:44:32Z")
Informative post, **legalsnugs**. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3954 "2011-12-15T18:37:37Z")
> [@legalsnugs](#): > > Yes, the institution of marriage did exist at the time the Constitution was written, but the federal government did not concern itself with it at the time. You’d think Romney would know that the legality of marriage can change. That’s an excellent point. Mitt’s argument could also be used to reinstate miscegenation laws. The Supremes had no business finding those laws unconstitutional! ---
**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:** [December 15, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3955 "2011-12-15T19:30:01Z")
In other news: [Newt Gingritch prepares a tax plan which is beyond horrible](http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2011/12/gingrich_taxes.html). Among other things, it: -Makes taxes on the super-rich _lower_ than on the middle class -leads to a massive deficit, even if with _massive_ government spending cuts well beyond the scale of what republicans are even proposing -Fails to close a single corporate tax loophole while creating more -Make it _harder_ for the lower and middle class to fill out their tax returns by complicating the process …Wow. Could you even give a more blatant “fuck you” to anyone who isn’t making millions a year? ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3956 "2011-12-15T23:49:01Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > In other news: [Newt Gingritch prepares a tax plan which is beyond horrible](http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2011/12/gingrich_taxes.html). Among other things, it: > -Makes taxes on the super-rich _lower_ than on the middle class > -leads to a massive deficit, even if with _massive_ government spending cuts well beyond the scale of what republicans are even proposing > -Fails to close a single corporate tax loophole while creating more > -Make it _harder_ for the lower and middle class to fill out their tax returns by complicating the process > > …Wow. Could you even give a more blatant “fuck you” to anyone who isn’t making millions a year? Seems downright Un-American doesn’t it? This is one foreign correspondent’s view of America: > [@](#): > > Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions. I readily discovered the prodigious influence which this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society, by giving a certain direction to public opinion, and a certain tenor to the laws; by imparting new maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar habits to the governed. I speedily perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the Government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, suggests the ordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce. The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived\*\* that the equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived\*\*, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated. > > From the Introductory Chapter (opening paragraph) > > _Democracy In America_ by Alexis de Tocqueville And then, we note this [story](http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-15-Low%20Income%20America/id-bad007531a194408a6d60b504b92959c) So…do the upper classes think this a good idea for their long term self-interest? Supposing the percentage of the struggling rises to 60%? 70%? 80%? 90%? It doesn’t take a political scientist to figure the probability of violent political instability follow. I’m sure if you were to ask any presidential candidate this loaded question (even Obama), they’d be getting a might uncomfortable and evasive. But it needs to be asked. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3957 "2011-12-15T23:57:23Z")
> [@user\_hostile](#): > > So…do the upper classes think this a good idea for their long term self-interest? Supposing the percentage of the struggling rises to 60%? 70%? 80%? 90%? It doesn’t take a political scientist to figure the probability of violent political instability follow. > > I’m sure if you were to ask any presidential candidate this loaded question (even Obama), they’d be getting a might uncomfortable and evasive. But it needs to be asked. This would make an excellent debate topic for our own GD, although I’d like it even more if this question were ever asked of a conservative who would actually answer it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3958 "2011-12-16T01:00:55Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > No one knows the name yet, but the intern is running three points ahead of Santorum in the Iowa Republican Caucus. At least he is according to Fox News! ---
**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:** [December 16, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3959 "2011-12-16T15:02:36Z")
> [@user\_hostile](#): > > And then, we note this [story](http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-15-Low%20Income%20America/id-bad007531a194408a6d60b504b92959c) > > So…do the upper classes think this a good idea for their long term self-interest? Supposing the percentage of the struggling rises to 60%? 70%? 80%? 90%? It doesn’t take a political scientist to figure the probability of violent political instability follow. > > I’m sure if you were to ask any presidential candidate this loaded question (even Obama), they’d be getting a might uncomfortable and evasive. But it needs to be asked. It’s a great question. I asked a similar one in the " Conservative Dopers convince me with your best-case plans" thread, but the only answers are along the lines of “if individuals are unhappy with their lot in life, they should do something to improve their situation.” Which of course does not even answer the question of where the “tipping point” is for the good of society, and make the massive assumption that even with a growing disparity between rich and poor, that there is still equality of opportunity. The only answer from conservatives that I can see is to deny that growing income disparity will ever be a problem, and to simply assert that poor people are jealous. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3960 "2011-12-16T23:43:46Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > . . . The only answer from conservatives that I can see is to deny that growing income disparity will ever be a problem, and to simply assert that poor people are jealous. One big problem is that hugely unequal societies can exist, indefinitely, in a fairly stable fashion. The trick is to hire the “upper poor” to be your policemen. That makes them fanatically loyal to the regime, and thus totally willing to continue to oppress the “lower poor.” I live right next door to Tijuana, where income disparity is glaringly visible. A tiny few live in mansions, and hundreds of thousands live in plywood-and-tire shacks. I don’t believe that conservatives knowingly want U.S. society to come to resemble this, but I do believe that their fiscal policies lead toward it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=197) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=199)