# 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:** 2220
**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:** [May 15, 2020, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44389 "2020-05-15T06:38:47Z")
Idiots on Twitter are now [calling Stone Cold Steve Austin a Communist because he wears a face mask](https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2020/05/steve-austin-responds-to-fan-who-called-his-face-mask-670336/). ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44390 "2020-05-15T06:53:28Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Idiots on Twitter are now [calling Stone Cold Steve Austin a Communist because he wears a face mask](https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2020/05/steve-austin-responds-to-fan-who-called-his-face-mask-670336/). He’s got the right response though: > [@](#): > > The fan commented, “The mask goes against your reputation! Stay strong, be a rebel, and do not conform! Cool mask, but strip off the communism!” > > Steve Austin simply responded, “Shut up dude.” ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44391 "2020-05-15T09:52:47Z")
Steve Austin is “stone cold”? No, Steve Austin is a pencil-necked, bleeding heart liberal weenie. Stalin was stone cold, and Beria made _him_ look like Santa Claus. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2020, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44392 "2020-05-18T03:02:43Z")
Ben Sasse [thinks he a comedian](https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-sen-sasse-criticized-jokes-213417027.html) at a (online) high school comencement address. > [@](#): > > U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse’s attempt at humor during a speech at a Nebraska high school’s online commencement — \*\*which included jokes about students’ fitness and psychologists and also blamed China for the coronavirus outbreak \*\*— drew strong criticism. > > The Republican senator’s speech on Saturday was panned by a Fremont High School board member and his Democratic opponent in the November election. Sasse’s spokesman, James Wegmann, told the Omaha World-Herald Sunday the senator was joking during the graduation speech. > > Sasse said during the speech "95% of all gainfully employed psychologists — and I’m serious there are dozens of them that are gainfully employed —- their job is really just to help people forget high school … If you’re headed to college, do not — do not — major in psychology. That part’s not a joke.” > > **Sasse, who was unshaven and wore a loosened red tie and white dress shirt,** also said that in life, the graduates would at times be asked to climb giant ropes. “If you don’t get that joke, talk to your mom and dad. Back in the day when we were a lot fitter than you people are, we used to have to climb ropes all the way up to the ceiling of the gym all the time.” > > Sasse suggested that the graduates would remember their senior years at their future reunions as “that time when China started a big global pandemic that created the worst public health crisis in over a century and brought the economy to its knees and we had to stay home and everybody was hoarding toilet paper.” So who was the bigger idiot, Sasse or the person who asked him to do the address? ---
**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:** [May 18, 2020, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44393 "2020-05-18T10:50:46Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Ben Sasse [thinks he a comedian](https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-sen-sasse-criticized-jokes-213417027.html) at a (online) high school comencement address. > > So who was the bigger idiot, Sasse or the person who asked him to do the address? Oh, definitely Sasse. I believe (too lazy to look up cites) that he at time has sounded like that rarest of unicorn’s, a reasonable Republican that occasionally pushes back against Trump. No reason to expect a sitting US Senator to be an asshole in public (although they have started saying the quiet parts out loud a lot lately). ---
**Author:** ![MN\_Maenad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44394 "2020-05-18T13:07:01Z")
On the last day of the MN legislative session, none of the Republican members wore masks on the floor: > **['Flurry of negotiations' but no deal on Minnesota Legislature's final day](https://www.startribune.com/flurry-of-negotiations-but-no-deal-on-final-day-of-session/570547242/)** > > Minnesota lawmakers failed to reach agreement on a major construction package, tax relief and spending on economic aid during the COVID-19 pandemic as an end-of-session deadline passed Sunday night. I’m honestly getting to the point that I’m encouraging this - maybe they’ll kill themselves off and the country will finally return to sanity. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44395 "2020-05-18T15:12:43Z")
> [@MN\_Maenad](#): > > I’m honestly getting to the point that I’m encouraging this - maybe they’ll kill themselves off and the country will finally return to sanity. I have the same fantasy but unfortunately the death rate is way too low for it to be of much effect. What I’m hoping for is that enough of them are too sick to go and vote come November but the timing’s not really right on that either. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44396 "2020-05-18T17:26:12Z")
> [@MN\_Maenad](#): > > On the last day of the MN legislative session, none of the Republican members wore masks on the floor: > > [https://www.startribune.com/flurry-of-negotiations-but-no-deal-on-final-day-of-session/570547242/](https://www.startribune.com/flurry-of-negotiations-but-no-deal-on-final-day-of-session/570547242/) > > I’m honestly getting to the point that I’m encouraging this - maybe they’ll kill themselves off and the country will finally return to sanity. If only that were how pandemics worked. Unfortunately, they are endangering others more than they are endangering 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:** [May 18, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44397 "2020-05-18T20:39:41Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I have the same fantasy but unfortunately the death rate is way too low for it to be of much effect. What I’m hoping for is that enough of them are too sick to go and vote come November but the timing’s not really right on that either. If enough of them get sick, then all of a sudden mail-in ballots will be perfectly acceptable to them. As a curently overseas voter and previously military deployed voter, I’m rather peeved at their current attitude towards mail-in ballots. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44398 "2020-05-18T20:47:00Z")
I think this qualifies for this thread: Trump announces accelerated vaccine development program, names it **Operation Warp Speed**. So he’s named it after a science fiction trope, something that so far as we know is impossible. Will the program be led by people who have played scientists on TV? ---
**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:** [May 19, 2020, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44399 "2020-05-19T02:17:20Z")
Here we go! \*\*From The New York Times: Freed by Court Ruling, Republicans Step Up Effort to Patrol Voting Officials seek to recruit 50,000 poll watchers and spend millions to fight voter fraud. Democrats say the real goal is to stop them from voting. \*\* > **[Freed by Court Ruling, Republicans Step Up Effort to Patrol Voting (Published...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/us/Voting-republicans-trump.html?smid=em-share)** > > Officials seek to recruit 50,000 poll watchers and spend millions to fight voter fraud. Democrats say the real goal is to stop them from voting. > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON — Six months before a presidential election in which turnout could matter more than persuasion, the Republican Party, the Trump campaign and conservative activists are mounting an aggressive national effort to shape who gets to vote in November — and whose ballots are counted. > > Its premise is that a Republican victory in November is imperiled by widespread voter fraud, a baseless charge embraced by President Trumpbut repeatedly debunked by research.Democrats and voting rights advocates say the driving factor is politics, not fraud — especially since Mr. Trump’s narrow win in 2016 underscored the potentially crucial value of depressing turnout by Democrats, particularly minorities. > > The Republican program, which has gained steam in recent weeks, envisions recruiting up to 50,000 volunteers in 15 key states to monitor polling places and challenge ballots and voters deemed suspicious. That is part of a $20 million plan that also allots millions to challenge lawsuits by Democrats and voting-rights advocates seeking to loosen state restrictions on balloting. The party and its allies also intend to use advertising,the internetand Mr. Trump’s command of the airwaves to cast Democrats as agents of election theft. > > The efforts are bolstered by a 2018 federal court ruling that for the first time in nearly four decades allows the national Republican Party to mount campaigns against purported voter fraud without court approval. The court ban on Republican Party voter-fraud operationswas imposed in 1982, and then modified in 1986 and again in 1990,each time after courts found instances of Republicans intimidating or working to exclude minority voters in the name of preventing fraud. The party was found to have violated it yet again in 2004. > > … ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44400 "2020-05-19T02:59:20Z")
The state of Georgia put out a graph showing that the number of virus cases is going down. Until people looked closely and realized that the dates were not in chronological order. > **[Georgia Governor Apologizes After Misleading Graph Showing Virus Cases...](https://secondnexus.com/brian-kemp-misleading-graph-virus)** > > What were they thinking? ---
**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:** [May 19, 2020, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44401 "2020-05-19T03:06:02Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The state of Georgia put out a graph showing that the number of virus cases is going down. Until people looked closely and realized that the dates were not in chronological order. > [READ: Georgia Governor Brian Kemp's Office Apologizes for Misleading Graph: 'Our Mission Failed. We Apologize. It Is Fixed.' - Second Nexus](https://secondnexus.com/brian-kemp-misleading-graph-virus) Shouda just used a Sharpie. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44402 "2020-05-19T05:34:07Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I think this qualifies for this thread: > > Trump announces accelerated vaccine development program, names it **Operation Warp Speed**. So he’s named it after a science fiction trope, something that so far as we know is impossible. Will the program be led by people who have played scientists on TV? They should rather have named the program **Operation Infinite Improbability Drive** because it takes you somewhere arbitrarily fast but you can’t predict where nor what species of animal you will be when you get there. So you should plan ahead and dress appropriately. The object is to get a vaccine out there in mass production and mass distribution, with less regard over whether it is safe or if it actually works. We can address those question later. :smack: > [@Alex Azar](#): > > “What we’re doing is wringing the inefficiency out of the development process to make the development side faster to get to a safe and effective vaccine,” Azar said Sunday. “And at the same time, we’re going to scale up commercial-sized manufacturing to produce hundreds of millions of doses at risk. They may not pan out. **They might not prove to be safe and effective, but we’ll have it so we can begin administration right away.** ” (My bold added.) As quoted in [Azar says Trump administration aiming for 300 million coronavirus vaccine doses by 2021](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-hhs-secretary-alex-azar-300-million-doses-coronavirus-vaccine-face-the-nation/), Melissa Quinn, _CBS News_, May 17, 2020, discussing interview with Azar on Face the Nation. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44403 "2020-05-19T15:27:26Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > They should rather have named the program **Operation Infinite Improbability Drive** because it takes you somewhere arbitrarily fast but you can’t predict where nor what species of animal you will be when you get there. So you should plan ahead and dress appropriately. > > The object is to get a vaccine out there in mass production and mass distribution, with less regard over whether it is safe or if it actually works. We can address those question later. :smack: > > (My bold added.) As quoted in [Azar says Trump administration aiming for 300 million coronavirus vaccine doses by 2021](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-hhs-secretary-alex-azar-300-million-doses-coronavirus-vaccine-face-the-nation/), Melissa Quinn, _CBS News_, May 17, 2020, discussing interview with Azar on Face the Nation. I think the idea is that they will be manufacturing it before it is proven to be safe, so that if it is safe, then we don’t have to wait for it to be manufactured. This is a wasteful idea, in that it means that there may be vaccines that are produced in the hundreds of millions that have to be discarded as they are discovered to have safety or efficacy issues. But, it’s not a bad idea if the goal is to have it as widely distributed as quickly as possible and you don’t care about the cost. That said, it doesn’t matter what red tape you cut, biology don’t work like that. If there is a side effect that only effects 5% of the people and doesn’t show up for 2-3 years, then we will have no way of knowing that before putting it into hundreds of millions, possibly billions of people. Then, a couple years after we’ve started relaxing again after this pandemic, suddenly millions of people start getting sick from side effects. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44404 "2020-05-19T15:50:08Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I think the idea is that they will be manufacturing it before it is proven to be safe, so that if it is safe, then we don’t have to wait for it to be manufactured. > > This is a wasteful idea, in that it means that there may be vaccines that are produced in the hundreds of millions that have to be discarded as they are discovered to have safety or efficacy issues. But, it’s not a bad idea if the goal is to have it as widely distributed as quickly as possible and you don’t care about the cost. > > That said, it doesn’t matter what red tape you cut, biology don’t work like that. If there is a side effect that only effects 5% of the people and doesn’t show up for 2-3 years, then we will have no way of knowing that before putting it into hundreds of millions, possibly billions of people. Then, a couple years after we’ve started relaxing again after this pandemic, suddenly millions of people start getting sick from side effects. Which will then be followed by a whole bunch of anti-vaxers gleefully crying “we told you so!”, leading to mass resurgence of measles and whooping cough that will make Covid look like a day in the park. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44405 "2020-05-19T17:40:24Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Which will then be followed by a whole bunch of anti-vaxers gleefully crying “we told you so!”, leading to mass resurgence of measles and whooping cough that will make Covid look like a day in the park. Yep, giving the anti-vaxx crowd anything actually legitimate to hang their hat on would be the most devastating medical mistake of the century. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44406 "2020-05-19T18:01:33Z")
The Governor of Georgia has opened up the state, because there’s nothing to worry about, but it’s too dangerous to hold an election for a state Supreme Court position, so he’s going to cancel the election and appoint a Republican to fill the seat. > **[Georgia Republicans cancel election for state Supreme Court, so governor can...](https://www.vox.com/2020/5/19/21262376/georgia-republicans-cancel-election-state-supreme-court-barrow-kemp-blackwell)** > > Republicans will control a seat on the state Supreme Court for an extra two years. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44407 "2020-05-19T18:48:26Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The Governor of Georgia has opened up the state, because there’s nothing to worry about, but it’s too dangerous to hold an election for a state Supreme Court position, so he’s going to cancel the election and appoint a Republican to fill the seat. > [Georgia GOP cancels Supreme Court election, so governor can appoint a Republican - Vox](https://www.vox.com/2020/5/19/21262376/georgia-republicans-cancel-election-state-supreme-court-barrow-kemp-blackwell) Nothing to do with Covid-19 - they just figured out that if they delay the resignation until after the November election, they can do a gubernatorial appointment that lasts two years, instead of one that only lasts until election day. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44408 "2020-05-19T19:43:11Z")
The woman who was in charge of reporting coronavirus data for the state of Florida claims she was fired because she refused to manipulate data to make the state’s numbers look better. > **[COVID-19 data chief claims she was fired for refusing to “manipulate data” to...](https://www.salon.com/2020/05/19/covid-19-data-chief-claims-she-was-fired-for-refusing-to-manipulate-data-to-back-reopening-florida/)** > > Rebekah Jones says she was fired for declining to "manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen" [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=2219) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=2221)