# 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:** 213
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4241 "2012-01-22T20:39:15Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I think he means whether he applied for college loans and listed himself as a foreign national rather than a US citizen. Of course, we’re clearly in la-la land here, so maybe he wants to know if Obama borrowed money to go to school on Mars. Ah, see, I was reading it as did he apply for loans to go to school in a foreign country, which he did\* - in Indonesia, when he was six. Silly me, imagining situations based on reality rather than Tea Party fantasy. \*Er, went to school, not applied for loans. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4242 "2012-01-22T20:46:24Z")
So, when he went to school in Indonesia, he claimed to be Indonesian! Well, was he lying then, or is he lying _now_! ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4243 "2012-01-22T21:13:47Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > So, when he went to school in Indonesia, he claimed to be Indonesian! Well, was he lying then, or is he lying _now_! Well, he was 6, so he probably wasn’t claiming much of anything. And I doubt his mother and step-father listed him as Indonesian on any entrance forms. I’m guessing that in Indonesia as in the US, the children of legal residents are able to attend public schools. And if he attended a private school, his nationality was presumably even less of an issue. ---
**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:** [January 22, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4244 "2012-01-22T21:25:15Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > In Kenya? Well, yes. The bus fare from Hawaii is not cheap. ---
**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:** [January 22, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4245 "2012-01-22T21:28:27Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > So, when he went to school in Indonesia, he claimed to be Indonesian! Well, was he lying then, or is he lying _now_! I think the people of Indonesia deserve to know that Obama is not eligible to be their… _googles_ …president. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4246 "2012-01-22T21:30:02Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Well, he was 6, so he probably wasn’t claiming much of anything. And I doubt his mother and step-father listed him as Indonesian on any entrance forms. I’m guessing that in Indonesia as in the US, the children of legal residents are able to attend public schools. > > And if he attended a private school, his nationality was presumably even less of an issue. _When you whooosh upon a star Makes no difference who you are! For when you whoosh upon a star Your dreams…come…true!_ ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4247 "2012-01-23T00:27:52Z")
From, Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > From January 1968 to December 1969, Obama’s mother taught English and was an assistant director of the U.S. government-subsidized Indonesia-America Friendship Institute,[21] while Obama attended the Indonesian-language Santo Fransiskus Asisi (St. Francis of Assisi) Catholic School around the corner from their house for 1st, 2nd, and part of 3rd grade.[19] > > In 1970, Obama’s stepfather’s financial situation was improved by a new job in Union Oil Company’s government relations office,[8][22][23][24] and the family moved two miles north to 22 Taman Amir Hamzah Street in the Matraman Dalam neighborhood in the Pegangsaan administrative village of the Menteng subdistrict in Central Jakarta.[19][25] From January 1970 to August 1972, Obama’s mother taught English and was a department head and a director of the Institute of Management Education and Development,[21] while Obama attended the Indonesian-language government-run [Besuki School](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Elementary_School_Menteng_0), one and half miles east in the exclusive Menteng administrative village, for part of 3rd grade and for 4th grade,[19] and was a Cub Scout. (Internal link supplied by me) So: First and second grades at a Catholic parochial school, third grade at an exclusive government-run school, thereafter a student at Honolulu’s prestigious [Punahou School](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punahou_School). 1 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4248 "2012-01-23T01:16:05Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Well, here’s a new one on me. > > Black, Tea Party leader [Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/rev-jesse-lee-peterson-agrees-with-gingrich_n_1211651.html?ref=mostpopular%20target=): > > It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to know that Republican stupidity knows no color or race. Republican stupidity is a really fucking big tent. [The good Reverend reminds me of this guy.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jxtHzMOe1w) ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4249 "2012-01-23T01:47:17Z")
> [@Truman\_Burbank](#): > > Meet Mike O’Neal, (R), speaker of the state senate. > [Mike O'Neal, Kansas House Speaker, Apologizes For Email, Says He Wasn't Urging Obama's Death | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/20/mike-oneal-obama-email_n_1218601.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl12%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D129088) > > “A Kansas Republican leader under fire for sending an email invoking a bible verse to suggest that Democratic President Barack Obama’s “days be few in number” apologized on Thursday but said that he would not resign.” > He says he was just referring to political longevity, not advocating assassination of the Pres. > The article later notes: The following verse reads, “May his children be orphans and his wife a widow.” > Moron redux… Isn’t that a repeat from three or four years ago? ---
**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:** [January 23, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4250 "2012-01-23T02:09:19Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Isn’t that a repeat from three or four years ago? That email has been circulating at least that long. He probably just forwarded it. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4251 "2012-01-23T02:43:25Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > _When you whooosh upon a star > Makes no difference who you are! > For when you whoosh upon a star > Your dreams…come…true!_ Yeah, I was going to start with a “unless I’m being wooshed here”. I’m getting confused about who is crazy on which side. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4252 "2012-01-23T04:12:28Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Yeah, I was going to start with a “unless I’m being wooshed here”. I’m getting confused about who is crazy on which side. We are all crazy on the inside. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4253 "2012-01-23T05:11:40Z")
I heart you. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4254 "2012-01-23T17:20:33Z")
[Tennessee Tea Party joins Texas in demanding that schoolbooks go back to glossing over all that minority rights stuff so kids won’t think our Founders weren’t perfect.](http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/jan/13/tea-parties-cite-legislative-demands/) > [@](#): > > The material calls… …for textbook selection criteria to say that “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership." ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4255 "2012-01-23T18:17:25Z")
Heh – I think the next paragraph is even more galling: > [@](#): > > Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group’s lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address “an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another…The thing we need to focus on about the founders is that, given the social structure of their time, **they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world where it hadn’t existed, to everybody — not all equally instantly** — and it was their progress that we need to look at…” Uh, Mrs. Higglebottom? I have a masters in history, but can you explain to me using third-grade words how the Founding Fathers brought freedom to black slaves in America at such time that was (a) well after the Founders all died and (b) only after the Constitution was specifically changed to rid it of the provisions which enshrined slavery as an American institution? I sure hope that my own personal legacy involves people in the distant future doing the exact opposite of what I thought was right, having it turn out well, and then giving me credit for their actions. That, my friends, is WINNING. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4256 "2012-01-23T18:18:55Z")
Not all equally instantly. I love it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4257 "2012-01-23T18:51:39Z")
In other words, minorities can expect civil rights sometime around the next Ice Age. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4258 "2012-01-23T19:03:56Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Not all equally instantly. > > I love it. Seriously. Remind me, again, Tennessee board: when did women get the right to vote? How close to equally instantly was that compared to when it was given to men? You don’t think that’s worth some time in the classroom? Women as a whole are hardly a minority, but my guess is these new guidelines give women’s contributions short shrift as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4259 "2012-01-23T19:33:43Z")
Can we now start saying that the Founding Fathers supported gay marriage? You know, not _instantly_. But _eventually_. And maybe _soon_. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4260 "2012-01-23T19:55:47Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > That email has been circulating at least that long. He probably just forwarded it. IIRC, his forwarding of the Bible verse email came to light after he got nailed for sending this one: > **[Lawmaker Apologizes After Forwarding Email Calling Michelle Obama 'Mrs. YoMama'](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mike-oneal-michelle-obama-email-mrs-yomama_n_1189124)** > > Lawmaker Apologizes After Forwarding Email Calling Michelle Obama 'Mrs. YoMama' So it’s just one in a series of several tasteless acts on his part. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=212) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=214)