# 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:** 2039
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40764 "2019-03-31T19:53:10Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I can only think of Mexico and \*New \*Mexico. Trump must be a fucking genius! I suppose there’s Illegal Mexico, which is where the Illegal Mexicans come from. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40765 "2019-03-31T20:08:37Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Fox News chyron: [“Trump cuts aid to 3 Mexican countries”](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3AOgOZVAAE0c_9.jpg). Too bad they corrected it and issued an apology. It would’ve been the only goid thing to come from the current administration if Tan the Conman had repeated it in one of his tweets. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40766 "2019-04-01T13:14:34Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Oh god damn. Those fuckers are just as smart as Trump is. I promise you that there are dumfucks at my job who would reply “Yeah! Fuckin’ A!” when I ask them how they feel about Trump cutting funding to the Mexican countries. I guess ‘mexican’ has become a generic term, like zipper and aspirin. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40767 "2019-04-01T14:11:14Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Too bad they corrected it and issued an apology. It would’ve been the only goid thing to come from the current administration if Tan the Conman had repeated it in one of his tweets. Fox News issued an apology? I’m gonna need a cite on that. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40768 "2019-04-01T14:11:35Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Too bad they corrected it and issued an apology. It would’ve been the only goid thing to come from the current administration if Tan the Conman had repeated it in one of his tweets. Given Fox’ history, I have trouble believing this wasn’t done on purpose, perhaps even higher up on the Fox food chain than some random schmuck who types up chyrons. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40769 "2019-04-01T15:47:32Z")
What does this say about the respect for reality that exists in an organization where somebody with responsibility could even think of writing the words “Mexican countries”? Yes, I know, the one that puts “(D)” after the names of Republicans who get caught. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40770 "2019-04-02T00:46:55Z")
Doubling down on the racism, Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn says that until the US-Mexico border is closed, “every town is a border town.” That’s right----if we don’t seal that border, scary brown people can enter ANY town and turn it into the type of hellhole that scary brown people prefer! > [@](#): > > “We need to realize until we close the southern border, a every town is a border town, every state is a border state, drugs, human sex trafficking, gangs, all there on the southern border,” Blackburn said. Glad I’m not in the dog-whistle business—the Republicans have clearly stopped using them. > **[Marsha Blackburn: Dems Need to Work With Us Because Until the Border Is...](https://www.mediaite.com/politics/gop-sen-blackburn-until-the-border-is-closed-every-towns-a-border-town/)** > > Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-KY) agreed with President Donald Trump's threat to close down the U.S.-Mexico border in order to pressure Mexico to help stem the tide of illegal immigration. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40771 "2019-04-02T02:10:50Z")
> [@](#): > > drugs, human sex trafficking, gangs So, they’re going to keep it closed until they completely eliminate drugs, human sex trafficking, and gangs? Good luck with that. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2019, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40772 "2019-04-02T09:02:26Z")
And if they find and drugs, human sex trafficking and gangs that originate in the US, well, goddamn it, they’ll just go ahead and shut that down too! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40773 "2019-04-02T09:18:45Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Doubling down on the racism, Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn says that until the US-Mexico border is closed, “every town is a border town.” > > That’s right----if we don’t seal that border, scary brown people can enter ANY town and turn it into the type of hellhole that scary brown people prefer! Have the troglodyte right-wing always been such fucking cowards, or is this a more recent development? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2019, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40774 "2019-04-02T10:20:27Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Have the troglodyte right-wing always been such fucking cowards Yes. Black people, Jewish “anarchists”, Communists, Muslims, Mexicans, whoever: the right-wing has always met any indication of a threat from some small subset of any group with hysterical paranoia about needing to destroy or expel all members of the group. To be fair, the wealthy-elite leaders who encourage their paranoia are generally not so much scared themselves as opportunistically trying to exploit the paranoia for the benefit of wealthy elites. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40775 "2019-04-03T00:30:44Z")
Yes, FUD is a frequent resort for the right. (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.) Their target voters may be psychologically more responsive to those stimuli than are voters on the left. There’s a lot of research on voting behavior in response to stimuli intended to provoke fear and/or anxiety. One recent write-up offers an overview of a lot of research relating to the use of emotion-provoking components in politics: > [@](#): > > … Societal threats without clear solutions, such as immigration (Albertson and Gadarian 2015), lead anxious citizens to cope in political ways. To cope with the unpleasantness of the feelings, anxious individuals might seek more news on the subject. Specifically, anxious citizens are likely to consume more pro-attitudinal news, but this additional consumption does not necessarily impede their consumption of news they do not agree with (Song 2016). Similarly Parker and Isbell (2010) found that anxious individuals are more likely to look for information online regarding candidates than their angry counterparts. These same individuals were then more likely to report that they would vote for the candidate closest to them on the issues, suggesting a normatively desirable product of anxiety. … > **[The Use and Consequences of Emotions in Politics | Emotion Researcher](http://emotionresearcher.com/the-use-and-consequences-of-emotions-in-politics/)** > > Kathleen Searles, Louisiana State University & Travis N. Ridout, Washington State University February 2017 - Emotional appeals are a central part of politics in America, and examples of their use in political campaigns are many. The classic... ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40776 "2019-04-03T15:42:38Z")
A new definition of chutzpah: [Mitch McConnell: Time to stop Democrats’ ‘obstruction for the sake of obstruction’](https://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article228754454.html#storylink=cpy) ---
**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:** [April 3, 2019, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40777 "2019-04-03T16:10:27Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > A new definition of chutzpah: > > [Mitch McConnell: Time to stop Democrats’ ‘obstruction for the sake of obstruction’](https://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article228754454.html#storylink=cpy) I’ve got two words for that M.F. S.O.B.: _Merrick Garland_. I don’t hate the president, but I hate Mitch McConnell with the fire of a thousand suns. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40778 "2019-04-03T16:11:29Z")
Oh, what did Democrats do now, refuse to hold hearings on a Supreme Court nominee? One of these days that flap-necked motherfucker is going to be out of the picture, and American democracy will be far better for it. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40779 "2019-04-03T17:35:33Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Oh, what did Democrats do now, refuse to hold hearings on a Supreme Court nominee? One of these days that flap-necked motherfucker is going to be out of the picture, and American democracy will be far better for it. I used to say the same about Jesse Helms. It didn’t get any better when left the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40780 "2019-04-03T18:36:05Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I don’t hate the president, but I hate Mitch McConnell with the fire of a thousand suns. :mad: Come on. There’s enough hate to go around! ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40781 "2019-04-03T19:56:07Z")
The man has no shame, as evidenced by this nugget from his piece: _Originally posted by **Mitch McConnell:** _ > [@](#): > > The all-encompassing, systematic nature of this obstruction is not part of the Senate’s important tradition of minority rights. It is a new departure from that tradition. And this break with tradition is hurting the Senate, hamstringing our duly elected president, and denying citizens the government they elected. > > Moreover, if we let this partisan paralysis continue, it will define a new norm for the future. It’s hard to imagine any future presidency of either party would be spared. > > We can’t accept this. We need to stop this bizarre, new practice. Gee, Mitch, maybe you shouldn’t have started it in the first place! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40782 "2019-04-03T22:21:59Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > … hate Mitch McConnell with the fire of a thousand suns. :mad: Considering how many people feel that way, it’s odd that certain mysterious elements of McConnell’s past don’t get more attention. For example: > [@](#): > > Whispers about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) military service during the Vietnam War have been floating around Washington for years… > > McConnell enlisted in March of 1967 and was abruptly discharged four months later for a minor medical condition, optic neurosis. During a time of war, one might appropriately presume the armed forces would want to minimize the number of departing soldiers. > > Again, from the Kernel: > Dr. Mike Minix, with the department of ophthalmology at the UK Med Center, explained that optic neuritis usually affects individuals 15-45 years of age. > > According to Minix, the condition can usually be treated with steroids. “Within three-four weeks of having the condition, individuals will usually have their eyesight return to 20-20 vision or normal vision.” > This same type of treatment would have been prescribed in 1967… > **[What is Mitch McConnell Hiding?](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-is-mitch-mcconnell-h_b_137083)** > > Like when I investigated and reported on Larry Craig after 26 years of rumors, I've turned fresh eyes on this case and recently noticed an interesting inconsistency with McConnell's public Army record. That’s just the beginning, but I’ll leave it there. DailyKos also has a write-up of the evidence for…odd doings, at > **[The Strange and Possibly Sordid Story of Mitch McConnell's Military Service](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2013/2/24/1189537/-The-Strange-and-Possibly-Sordid-Story-of-Mitch-McConnell-s-Military-Service)** > > I saw a tweet today that startled me: > > Ohio Citizen ‏@OhioCitizen > I don't know if Judd is running but McConnell is going to have a hard time. His court martial for sodomy in 67 will be huge. ... The perquisites of power, apparently, keep all this out of the news. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40783 "2019-04-03T22:55:47Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > A new definition of chutzpah: > > [Mitch McConnell: Time to stop Democrats’ ‘obstruction for the sake of obstruction’](https://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article228754454.html#storylink=cpy) In my view that’s not so much chutzpah as a BDSM thing. He’s begging for someone, anyone to kick him in the nuts, repeatedly. No, but seriously, there are not enough "fuck youuuuu"s in the world. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=2038) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=2040)