# 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:** 2094
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41867 "2019-08-18T21:18:03Z")
Kinda bizarre the reaction one gets when you point out that Mount Vernon and Monticello were forced labor camps ala Stalin’s Russia. It was just done by private citizens and not as an act of governance. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41868 "2019-08-18T22:00:52Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Well damn! I’d like to report a murder. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41869 "2019-08-18T22:01:54Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > John Cornyn is trying to claim that his summer comment was a joke and liberals have no sense of humor. It would have helped if his joke was actually funny and not just the same old ‘gotcha’ we’ve seen a hundred times. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41870 "2019-08-18T22:04:26Z")
Republicans can’t do humor. They only know how to punch _down._ ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41871 "2019-08-18T22:09:52Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Republicans can’t do humor. They only know how to punch _down._ Well…yeah. If you punch _up_, you might get punched back and most Republican’s I know are terrified little children at heart. Selfish fucking cowards, the lot of them. ---
**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 19, 2019, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41872 "2019-08-19T05:45:45Z")
[Bolsonaro](https://www.iflscience.com/environment/brazilian-president-says-poop-every-other-day-to-save-the-planet/). Technically not a Republican, as such, but, close enough. “_We have to cut on our rainforest 4 times as fast, butt if you want to save the world, everyone needs to make defecation an every-other-day kind of thing._” I mean, how much more GOP can he get? Does he have to say it in Inglés? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41873 "2019-08-19T08:04:34Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > I live in China where the carnage is limited by gun control laws. Also, major public transportation outfits (subways, inter-city buses, trains) screen all luggage and persons for weapons. The wife and I had to take a taxi home after buying kitchen cutlery because we couldn’t take knives sealed in those plastic oystershells onto the subway. Given how hard they are, the rage they cause and the way they tend to break with sharp edges, I think the subway may have been worried about the oystershells themselves. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2019, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41874 "2019-08-19T08:25:30Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Given how hard they are, the rage they cause and the way they tend to break with sharp edges, I think the subway may have been worried about the oystershells themselves. Given that this was in January, they might’ve better worried about the wife’s reaction! ---
**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:** [August 20, 2019, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41876 "2019-08-20T00:12:12Z")
59% of Republicans say colleges and universities have a negative effect on the US. > **[The Growing Partisan Divide in Views of Higher Education](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/08/19/the-growing-partisan-divide-in-views-of-higher-education-2/)** > > Americans see value in higher education whether they graduated from college or not. Even so, there is an undercurrent of dissatisfaction – even suspicion – among the public about the role colleges play in society. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41877 "2019-08-20T00:52:20Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > \ > > Mike drop right there. LOL, ooooohhhhhh, burn!!! I’m going to giggle over this all night!! ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41878 "2019-08-20T12:32:35Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > 59% of Republicans say colleges and universities have a negative effect on the US. > > [Views of Higher Education Divided by Party | Pew Research Center](https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/the-growing-partisan-divide-in-views-of-higher-education/) A couple of twitter pundits I follow have been predicting the Republican War on Knowledge and Education for a while now. The ramifications of this are pretty big and not just a little funny/sad. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2019, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41879 "2019-08-20T12:42:49Z")
Now I understand how the Dark Ages happened. Willful ignorance promoted by authority. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41880 "2019-08-20T13:25:10Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > 59% of Republicans say colleges and universities have a negative effect on the US. > > [Views of Higher Education Divided by Party | Pew Research Center](https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/the-growing-partisan-divide-in-views-of-higher-education/) Holy Cow! These people are so fuckin’ pathetic… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41881 "2019-08-20T14:20:23Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Now I understand how the Dark Ages happened. Willful ignorance promoted by authority. The author Robert Heinlein (as his character Lazarus Long) said something along these lines: > [@](#): > > Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of > man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded–here > and there, now and then-- are the work of an extremely small > minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost > always opposed by all right thinking people. Whenever this > tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) > is driven out of a society, the people then slip back > into abject poverty. > This is known as “bad luck.” He also called this time “The Crazy Years” in his future history–which ends up with a Fundamentalist ruler of America… Maybe Ol’Robert knew something… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41882 "2019-08-20T16:05:17Z")
Heinlein was the Dollar Store of science fiction. If he so much as touched Ursula le Guinn’s typewriter, she’d burn it. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41883 "2019-08-20T16:17:12Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Heinlein was the Dollar Store of science fiction. If he so much as touched Ursula le Guinn’s typewriter, she’d burn it. What if he touched Ursula K. Le Guin’s typewriter? 😉 ---
**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:** [August 20, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41884 "2019-08-20T16:43:32Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > 59% of Republicans say colleges and universities have a negative effect on the US. > > [Views of Higher Education Divided by Party | Pew Research Center](https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/the-growing-partisan-divide-in-views-of-higher-education/) I wonder if that is reflective of a CHANGE in Republican attitudes towards higher education from 2012 to present, or if it is actually more indicative that the more intelligent Republicans who value higher education have simply left the party in the last 7 years. In other words, the defection of intelligent Republicans has just made the party tilt more towards the idiotic. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41885 "2019-08-20T16:51:48Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I wonder if that is reflective of a CHANGE in Republican attitudes towards higher education from 2012 to present, or if it is actually more indicative that the more intelligent Republicans who value higher education have simply left the party in the last 7 years. > > In other words, the defection of intelligent Republicans has just made the party tilt more towards the idiotic. Isn’t college the place Trump learned all the best words? ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41886 "2019-08-20T16:52:15Z")
That poll result came up in another thread and the defense for it was along the lines that they didn’t ask for why you thought higher education was negative, and that it could be due to student loan debt or the whole free speech thing and not that the think people being educated is bad for America. Not that I bought that defense. But get ready to hear it again. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2019, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/41887 "2019-08-20T16:53:40Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I wonder if that is reflective of a CHANGE in Republican attitudes towards higher education from 2012 to present, or if it is actually more indicative that the more intelligent Republicans who value higher education have simply left the party in the last 7 years. > > In other words, the defection of intelligent Republicans has just made the party tilt more towards the idiotic. Given that there is a sharp dip in the approval of education over the entire population, it would seem to be a shift in attitudes rather than a shift in party identification. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=2093) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=2095)