# 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:** 2050
**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:** [April 26, 2019, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40984 "2019-04-26T18:33:40Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > I fully expect a re-tweet to correcting it to being “the worst thing since the fall of Hitler.” > > With the question of whether this means that worse stuff happened before the fall of Hitler, or Hitler’s fall itself being bad, left up to the audience. “Many fine people in Germany were treated very unfairly by our military under Lazy Frankie Roosevelt - who, many people are finding out, was a Democrat.” ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40985 "2019-04-26T18:55:48Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Throw in a couple of misspellings, and you’re there. Don’t forget some random capitalization’s… Smapti does have that covered though. ---
**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 26, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40986 "2019-04-26T20:38:02Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > “Many fine people in Germany were treated very unfairly by our military under Lazy Frankie Roosevelt - who, many people are finding out, was a Democrat.” And he was a crip in a wheelchair. _Womp-womp_ > [@MacCat](#): > > Don’t forget some random capitalization’s… > … No to mention some random apostrophes. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40987 "2019-04-26T20:52:30Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > No to mention some random apostrophes. :dubious: Not to mention a forgotten T 🙂 What law is that? I plead accepting spell check. Three times I edited Smapti because it gave me Smart. I wasn’t sure about my spelling of capitalizations and when I saw it highlighted I assumed (I know) it corrected me and I didn’t check myself. ☹ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40988 "2019-04-26T23:05:02Z")
Gaudere’s Law. What happened to her? I liked her. She was cute and snarky. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2019, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40989 "2019-04-26T23:51:11Z")
Last post was in 2015. Last activity in October, 2018. I miss her. ---
**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 27, 2019, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40990 "2019-04-27T00:07:05Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Last post was in 2015. Last activity in October, 2018. > > I miss her. I met her nearly 20 years ago at one of the first SDMB corporeal meet-ups, in Chicago, along with **Jophiel** (still here) and **UncleBeer** (sadly missed). She was great. If I hadn’t already been married, I would have eventually made her Missus Ukulele. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40991 "2019-04-27T00:43:45Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I met her nearly 20 years ago at one of the first SDMB corporeal meet-ups, in Chicago, along with **Jophiel** (still here) and **UncleBeer** (sadly missed). > > She was great. If I hadn’t already been married, I would have eventually made her Missus Ukulele. Really plucked the right strings, did she? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40992 "2019-04-27T05:57:23Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Really plucked the right strings, did she? Careful, puns make him fret. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40993 "2019-04-27T06:47:32Z")
In a rare Smart Republican idea of the day event, I was watching Rachel Maddow and she played [this clip from Andrew Napolitano](https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/judge-andrew-napolitano-did-president-trump-obstruct-justice) saying how the Muller report shows multiple attempts at obstruction of justice and that William "Barr has a personal view of obstruction at odds with the statute itself. " I wonder how much blow-back his Fox News colleagues have given him. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2019, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40994 "2019-04-27T07:06:38Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Careful, puns make him fret. You certainly have him pegged. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40995 "2019-04-27T10:41:33Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > You certainly have him pegged. That’s a bridge too far. ---
**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 27, 2019, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40996 "2019-04-27T10:45:13Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > In a rare Smart Republican idea of the day event, I was watching Rachel Maddow and she played [this clip from Andrew Napolitano](https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/judge-andrew-napolitano-did-president-trump-obstruct-justice) saying how the Muller report shows multiple attempts at obstruction of justice and that William "Barr has a personal view of obstruction at odds with the statute itself. " > > I wonder how much blow-back his Fox News colleagues have given him. Here’s a [link to the article](https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBWgzwF?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare) BY Napolitano for those who (like me) resist watching videos. I couldn’t believe it was on FOX. :eek: > [@](#): > > … > Mueller laid out at least a half-dozen crimes of obstruction committed by Trump – from asking former Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland to write an untruthful letter about the reason for Flynn’s chat with Kislyak, to asking Corey Lewandowski and then-former White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller and McGahn to lie about it, to firing Comey to impede the FBI’s investigations, to dangling a pardon in front of Michael Cohen to stay silent, to ordering his aides to hide and delete records. > > The essence of obstruction is deception or diversion – to prevent the government from finding the truth. To Mueller, the issue was not if Trump committed crimes of obstruction. Rather, it was if Trump could be charged successfully with those crimes. > > Mueller knew that Barr would block an indictment of Trump because Barr has a personal view of obstruction at odds with the statute itself. Barr’s view requires that the obstructer has done his obstructing in order to impede the investigation or prosecution of a crime that the obstructer himself has committed. Thus, in this narrow view, because Trump did not commit the crime of conspiracy with the Russians, it was legally impossible for Trump to have obstructed the FBI investigation of that crime. > > The nearly universal view of law enforcement, however, is that the obstruction statute prohibits all attempted self-serving interference with government investigations or proceedings. > … ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40997 "2019-04-27T12:07:43Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Here’s a [link to the article](https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBWgzwF?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare) BY Napolitano for those who (like me) resist watching videos. I couldn’t believe it was on FOX. :eek: Napolitano has actually, pardon the pun, been pretty fair and balanced in his assessment of Trump’s legal problems from what I can tell. And while I’m not a lawyer, everything I’ve ever understood about obstruction is in line with what he said about Barr – the AG is simply flat out wrong in his application of the obstruction statute. It’s not necessary for there to be evidence of an actual crime to have been committed for obstruction to exist. Obstruction is about the act of deliberately interfering with a lawful criminal investigation – whether you’re interfering with an investigation related to a possible criminal act that ultimately doesn’t lead to prosecution doesn’t matter, nor does it matter whether the president was actually successful in getting his aides to carry out his obstructionist intent. Donald Trump committed acts in which he deliberately tried to interfere with a federal investigation that was lawful; therefore, he committed obstruction. Bob Barr is acting not as the attorney general but almost as a legal intermediary between the DoJ and the White House counsel, and I can’t think of a precedent in recent history. ---
**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 29, 2019, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40998 "2019-04-29T09:18:39Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Tweeting like Trump isn’t difficult. Just write a tweet and take away reason and accountability. For what it’s worth ISWYDT, Mr. Udall. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2019, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40999 "2019-04-29T17:09:56Z")
Oh, should we lampshade the reference? I got it too, but I imagine a lot of Dopers didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2019, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41000 "2019-04-29T17:14:36Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Napolitano has actually, pardon the pun, been pretty fair and balanced in his assessment of Trump’s legal problems from what I can tell. And while I’m not a lawyer, everything I’ve ever understood about obstruction is in line with what he said about Barr – the AG is simply flat out wrong in his application of the obstruction statute. It’s not necessary for there to be evidence of an actual crime to have been committed for obstruction to exist. Obstruction is about the act of deliberately interfering with a lawful criminal investigation – whether you’re interfering with an investigation related to a possible criminal act that ultimately doesn’t lead to prosecution doesn’t matter, nor does it matter whether the president was actually successful in getting his aides to carry out his obstructionist intent. Donald Trump committed acts in which he deliberately tried to interfere with a federal investigation that was lawful; therefore, he committed obstruction. > > Bob Barr is acting not as the attorney general but almost as a legal intermediary between the DoJ and the White House counsel, and I can’t think of a precedent in recent history. The saga continues: > [@](#): > > Trump could’ve ignored the criticisms, but he instead responded the way he always does: by publishing some unfortunate tweets. > > The president wrote over the weekend that Napolitano’s argument was “very dumb,” and was actually the result of corrupt motives. “Ever since Andrew came to my office to ask that I appoint him to the U.S. Supreme Court, and I said NO, he has been very hostile!” Trump wrote. “Also asked for pardon for his friend. A good ‘pal’ of low ratings Shepard Smith.” > > I don’t know why Trump included the word “pal” in quotes, though the president has repeatedly made clear that he doesn’t know how quotation marks work. > > Legal professor Orin Kerr noted soon after, “In Trump’s world, everyone who turns on him at one point asked him for a favor and was turned down, making Trump the top dog in the end.” Kerr published a list of examples, and it wasn’t brief. > > Napolitano himself responded this morning, denying Trump’s claims, and taking the dispute one step further. > In terms of the “pardon” situation, Napolitano said Trump once asked for his opinion about the conviction of a “mutual friend” of theirs. Napolitano said he thought that the conviction was just, to which, Trump offered “a very strong term” to express his disagreement. > > “He said, ‘You know this person as well as I do. Call this person up and tell this person he’s going to be on the list of pardons that I will seriously consider.’ That was the extent of that conversation.” > > Well, that’s sort of interesting, isn’t it? Did Trump really urge the Fox News legal analyst to dangle a pardon to a mutual friend? Why would he do that? > **[Why Trump has targeted a Fox News legal analyst so aggressively](https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/why-trump-has-targeted-fox-news-legal-analyst-so-aggressively-msna1224196)** > > It's not every day that Trump goes after a prominent Fox News voice -- but in this case, the network's legal analyst believes the president obstructed justice. See also: > **[Andrew Napolitano Denies Trump's Allegations in TV Response](https://www.mediaite.com/tv/napolitano-denies-trumps-allegations-in-on-air-response-this-is-how-you-treat-a-friend/)** > > Andrew Napolitano accused Donald Trump of mischaracterizing their conversations together when the president swiped at him over the weekend. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2019, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41001 "2019-04-29T22:01:15Z")
‘Pal’ presumably is a way of implying that Napolitano is less than heterosexual, & therefore one of _them._ (Shep, of course, is openly gay.) ---
**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:** [April 29, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41002 "2019-04-29T22:05:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Napolitano himself responded this morning, denying Trump’s claims, and taking the dispute one step further. > In terms of the “pardon” situation, Napolitano said Trump once asked for his opinion about the conviction of a “mutual friend” of theirs. Napolitano said he thought that the conviction was just, to which, Trump offered “a very strong term” to express his disagreement. An obvious lie. Trump has no friends. ---
**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:** [April 30, 2019, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41003 "2019-04-30T07:40:44Z")
Remember Jacob Wohl, the professional troll who tried to falsely accuse Robert Mueller of rape and embarrassed himself in the process? He apparently learned nothing, as [he’s tried it again with Pete Buttigieg](https://www.thedailybeast.com/far-right-smear-merchants-jacob-wohl-and-jack-burkman-try-to-slime-pete-buttigieg-with-bogus-sex-assault-claim), just as sloppily as before, and this time even the alleged “victim” says he wants no part of this. > [@](#): > > “It’s important for everyone to know that I was not sexually assaulted and would never falsely accuse anyone,” he wrote. “To keep it brief for now, I was approached by a political figure to come to DC to discuss political situations from the standpoint of a gay Republican. When I arrived they discussed Peter Buttigieg and started talking about how they would be working a campaign against him.” > > “I went to bed and woke up to a fake Twitter @RealHunterKelly and an article that I in no way endorsed or wrote. I have since left and am working on a formal statement to give to everyone including the Buttigieg family.” > > After publication, Kelly told The Advocate that Wohl and Burkman flew him to Washington, D.C. on Sunday evening to participate in the scheme. But Kelly said he didn’t realize what they had planned, and that he didn’t consent to their publication of the Buttigieg allegations under his name. How this idiot isn’t in prison yet is beyond me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=2049) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=2051)