# 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:** 2229
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44571 "2020-06-07T22:21:49Z")
Honestly, in the last 3 years, I’ve come to think an awful lot of Dopers are mealy-mouthed centrists who think voting Trump out will solve all of our problems. It won’t. The fascist enablers who voted him in are still out there, still totally impervious to reality, still working to make this country a shithole, as their orange savior is so fond of calling other countries. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44572 "2020-06-07T22:33:56Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Honestly, in the last 3 years, I’ve come to think an awful lot of Dopers are mealy-mouthed centrists who think voting Trump out will solve all of our problems. It won’t. The fascist enablers who voted him in are still out there, still totally impervious to reality, still working to make this country a shithole, as their orange savior is so fond of calling other countries. But we can see them now. Before sometime after 2008, I would have disagreed, _but without evidence_, with the argument that mealy-mouthed centrists are part of the problem because they’ve personally been in power for so long and there hasn’t been as much movement toward equality as there should have been. Now, starting with the anti-Obama backlash, I think it’s been made pretty clear that the problem isn’t moderates, it’s a bunch of actual fuckin’ regressives. ---
**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:** [June 7, 2020, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44573 "2020-06-07T23:38:09Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Now, starting with the anti-Obama backlash, I think it’s been made pretty clear that the problem isn’t moderates, it’s a bunch of actual fuckin’ regressives. You realize that some of the backlash is coming from the Left? Obama, in real, practical policy terms, was Reagan but slightly less assholish. That is how far to the right “conservative” has slid. I see the Republican Party sliding so far to the right that they are going to end up in BullMoose territory by the early to mid '30s, coming down well to the left of the Democrats. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2020, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44574 "2020-06-08T00:02:46Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > There IS no getting along with these people. Nothing they say or think should be acknowledged as possibly sensible. It’s the coddling of the right-wing that has led to our current situation. I don’t REALLY want them all to die, but something has to be done to discredit them. Or instead of discrediting them, give them a homeland. Declare North and South Dakota “Whitopia” and let them move right in. They can keep busy worrying about the border with Canada and building a nice big wall. It’s true that would bring us down to 48 states, but there’s no need to throw out the flags: just give D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood, and we’re good to go. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44575 "2020-06-08T00:13:37Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > You realize that some of the backlash is coming from the Left? Obama, in real, practical policy terms, was Reagan but slightly less assholish. There was definitely left-leaning criticism of Obama. I was talking about the idea that the _real_ problem with America is that there are too many moderate liberals without the guts to get tough on structural issues. The past 12 years have shown that the far right grab bag of racists and fascists had been hiding under a rock all of these years, and their surfacing to the top once Obama took office shows them to be of a size probably larger than the supposedly weak liberals and thus, by their extremism and size, they contribute a lot more to the lack of progress. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44576 "2020-06-08T00:33:43Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > That is asinine. I myself was born in the upper right-hand corner of Oregon and, though I get up there rarely, I do not want my hometown leveled. > > It is more sensible to figure out how we can get along with each other than to go wiping out the people who annoy us. Wiping them out isn’t a practical or moral option, but neither is getting along with them. Right wingers are\* never\* “gotten along with”; they are avoided, ignored or overridden, but never gotten along with. They will be filled with implacable hatred for everyone else until the day they die, and nothing anyone can do will change that. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44577 "2020-06-08T01:46:36Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I’m all for the Yellowstone supervolcano losing its cool, as long as it only takes out eastern Washington and Oregon, and Idaho. Which would absolutely irrelevant in this case because Forks is about as far west as Washington (and technically the whole continental US) gets. Whenever there’s a story about POC in the outdoors large swaths of people jump up to proclaim that there’s no discrimination!! ever!!! no one cares what color you are!!! blah blah blah blah blah. The area around Forks is gorgeous and a great place to camp, and I likely would have ended up there some time this summer as vacations to places I can drive to are a great idea. Now, that’s out. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2020, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44578 "2020-06-08T02:03:08Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > You realize that some of the backlash is coming from the Left? Obama, in real, practical policy terms, was Reagan but slightly less assholish. That is how far to the right “conservative” has slid. I see the Republican Party sliding so far to the right that they are going to end up in BullMoose territory by the early to mid '30s, coming down well to the left of the Democrats. Just want to clarify…are you speaking of the “Bull Moose” party of Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 (Officially known as the Progressives). Because _that_ party was about as far left as you got in 1912 America. To wit, their platform stated (Quotes are from wikipedia: [Bull Moose Party - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Party_(United_States,_1912)#Progressive_convention_and_platform)) > [@](#): > > To destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day > [@](#): > > \*Strict limits and disclosure requirements on political campaign contributions > \*Registration of lobbyists > \*Recording and publication of Congressional committee proceedings > [@](#): > > A national health service to include all existing government medical agencies > Social insurance, to provide for the elderly, the unemployed, and the disabled Among other points. The fact is, that’s a pretty radical agenda even today and it was 108 years ago. So please, if I am wrong, please educate. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44579 "2020-06-08T02:52:51Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > Just want to clarify…are you speaking of the “Bull Moose” party of Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 (Officially known as the Progressives). Because _that_ party was about as far left as you got in 1912 America. To wit, their platform stated (Quotes are from wikipedia: [Progressive Party (United States, 1912–1920) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Party_(United_States,_1912)#Progressive_convention_and_platform)) > > Among other points. The fact is, that’s a pretty radical agenda even today and it was 108 years ago. > > So please, if I am wrong, please educate. Yes, I do mean _that Bull Moose Party_ – for the first 50+ years of their existence, the Republicans were the party on the Left; they moved so far left that they ran out of room and came up for air on the right; they are now so far to the right that they are on the verge of repeating the transition and coming up on the left. The Democrats, by contrast, have drifted back and forth around the middle but never really moved into the extremist territory that generates that kind of polar reversal. > [@Ludovic](#): > > There was definitely left-leaning criticism of Obama. I was talking about the idea that the _real_ problem with America is that there are too many moderate liberals without the guts to get tough on structural issues. The past 12 years have shown that the far right grab bag of racists and fascists had been hiding under a rock all of these years, and their surfacing to the top once Obama took office shows them to be of a size probably larger than the supposedly weak liberals and thus, by their extremism and size, they contribute a lot more to the lack of progress. On this point, I tend to be radically pragmatic. Our system is currently configured to favor a more or less mainstream composition, which seems sensible enough, but it creates this particular problem. We have a non-trivial number of people who perceive that the system has no interest in their concerns and so become disaffected. That disaffection can be harnessed and turned into something ugly, perhaps _deplorable_, as we have recently seen. Now, I certainly would not want Aryan Nations, III% or the PETAns running the country (though Sierra might please me, unrealistic as that is), I think telling the fringes to shut up and go to their corners is dangerously unproductive. Making them at least feel heard/involved would probably improve the stability of the social order (and some of the scary people might have useful contributions outside the bounds of their weird kinks). I have some thoughts on ways that this could be done reasonably, but not to be put in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44580 "2020-06-08T04:10:25Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Yes, I do mean _that Bull Moose Party_ – for the first 50+ years of their existence, the Republicans were the party on the Left; they moved so far left that they ran out of room and came up for air on the right; they are now so far to the right that they are on the verge of repeating the transition and coming up on the left. That sounds like a vague rhetorical flourish that doesn’t have much to do with the actual [history of the Republican Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_Republican_Party). > [@](#): > > The Republican Party emerged in 1854 to combat the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the expansion of slavery into American territories. The early Republican Party consisted of African-Americans, northern white Protestants, businessmen, professionals, factory workers, and farmers. The GOP was pro-business, and it supported banks, the gold standard, railroads and high tariffs; the party opposed the expansion of slavery. […] > > Grant supported radical reconstruction programs in the South, the Fourteenth Amendment and equal civil and voting rights for the freedmen. […] > > As the Northern post-war economy boomed with industry, railroads, mines and fast-growing cities as well as prosperous agriculture, the Republicans took credit and promoted policies to keep the fast growth going. […] The GOP supported big business generally, the gold standard, high tariffs and generous pensions for Union veterans. However, by 1890 the Republicans had agreed to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission in response to complaints from owners of small businesses and farmers. […] > > Religious lines were sharply drawn.[49] Methodists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Scandinavian Lutherans and other pietists in the North were tightly linked to the GOP. In sharp contrast, liturgical groups, especially the Catholics, Episcopalians and German Lutherans, looked to the Democratic Party for protection from pietistic moralism, especially prohibition. […] > > McKinley relied heavily on finance, railroads, industry and the middle classes for his support and cemented the Republicans as the party of business. […] McKinley was the first President to promote pluralism, arguing that prosperity would be shared by all ethnic and religious groups. […] > > The party controlled the presidency throughout the 1920s, running on a platform of opposition to the League of Nations, high tariffs, and promotion of business interests. Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover were resoundingly elected in 1920, 1924 and 1928, respectively. […] > > Hoover was by nature an activist and attempted to do what he could to alleviate the widespread suffering caused by the Depression, but his strict adherence to what he believed were Republican principles precluded him from establishing relief directly from the federal government. […] > > […] after 1936 the GOP split into a conservative faction (dominant in the West and Midwest) and a liberal faction (dominant in the Northeast)—combined with a residual base of inherited progressive Republicanism active throughout the century. […] The left-wing supported most of the New Deal while promising to run it more efficiently and the right-wing opposed the New Deal from the beginning and managed to repeal large parts during the 1940s in cooperation with conservative Southern Democrats in the conservative coalition. […] > > After passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, most Southerners accepted the integration of most institutions […]. With the old barrier to becoming a Republican removed, Southerners joined the new middle class and the Northern transplants in moving toward the Republican Party. Integration thus liberated Southern politics from the old racial issues. So I think your proposed circular transitions from left to right and vice versa are basically a bunch of hooey. The Republican Party for the past century and a half has been consistently pro-business, pro-military, pro-paternalistic morality in the context of established Protestant churches, and anti-socialist. Namely, they’ve been fundamentally conservative on most matters of public policy. Republicans’ one big shift in the 20th century was switching from their previous moral-economic support for racial equality (which had significantly dwindled anyway in the period from slavery to the Civil Rights era) to moral-economic arguments against it. A lesser, longer shift was their abandonment of employer paternalism (_“we should treat our workers humanely in order to promote their docility and moral rectitude”_) in favor of a sort of paternalistic libertarianism (_“we should keep our workers docile by means of economic power alone, as coddling them with unnecessary generosity would be an affront to their independence and freedom”_). But none of that adds up to the completely unmoored traveling round in ideological circles that you hypothesize. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2020, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44581 "2020-06-08T11:42:42Z")
To exhibit my _bona fides_ as a serious politico-economic thinker, I assumed he was talking about Bashington T. Bullmoose, the tyrant billionaire from **Lil’ Abner.** “What’s good for General Bullmoose is good for the USA!” > **[What's good for General Bullmoose is good for the U.S.A.](http://itsnutsoutthere.blogspot.com/2017/01/whats-good-for-general-bullmoose-is.html)** > > General Bulllmoose General Bullmoose was real... in a manner of speaking. He was the creation of cartoonist, satirist Al Capp, cr... Warning: TPFW. (The linked article is too Pollyannaish for work. But at least there’s an image of the General. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44582 "2020-06-08T11:52:08Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > A gay porn actor says he’s about to out a senior Republican Senator, initials LG, who is known for hiring gay escorts. > [https://thegailygrind.com/2020/06/05/gay-porn-star-threatens-to-out-homophobic-gop-senator](https://thegailygrind.com/2020/06/05/gay-porn-star-threatens-to-out-homophobic-gop-senator) Since when is that a secret? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44583 "2020-06-08T12:09:05Z")
It was a very poorly guarded secret, that Leningrad Lindsey was still trying to hide. It was swept under the rug for ummmm forever and ignored. The “news” kept giving him a free megaphone for his political goals and bullshit too. I’m generally against outing anyone against their will and without their permission. But fuck Graham. he’s a closet case who enables and helps homophobic shit stains do their dirty work, he is a traitor and a Russian asset, and he is doing his best to help Trump become a dictator and create a police state. I hope the threats to expose him are real and credible. I hope they follow through on this. I hope he is ruined, and if he goes as far as committing suicide, well fuck him. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44584 "2020-06-08T12:20:58Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > It was a very poorly guarded secret, that Leningrad Lindsey was still trying to hide. It was swept under the rug for ummmm forever and ignored. The “news” kept giving him a free megaphone for his political goals and bullshit too. > > I’m generally against outing anyone against their will and without their permission. > > But fuck Graham. he’s a closet case who enables and helps homophobic shit stains do their dirty work, he is a traitor and a Russian asset, and he is doing his best to help Trump become a dictator and create a police state. > > I hope the threats to expose him are real and credible. I hope they follow through on this. I hope he is ruined, and if he goes as far as committing suicide, well fuck him. he used to claim to HATE Trump, now he’s the biggest ass kisser of the bunch. Being one of the most hypocritical of them is really quite an achievement. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44585 "2020-06-08T22:18:51Z")
The incoming chair of the Harris County, Texas GOP has stepped down after posting an MLK quote with a background of bananas. > **[Harris County GOP chair-elect resigns after sharing racist Facebook post...](https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/06/harris-county-gop-chair-resigns/)** > > Outcry over his racist post on Facebook prompted Keith Nielsen, the chair-elect of the Harris County Republican Party, to say he won't take the job in August. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44586 "2020-06-08T23:08:53Z")
So the incoming is outgoing:rolleyes: Republicans - we hardly knew you: [del]Family Values[/del] [del]Women’s rights - Rape - lie back and enjoy, if you squeeze real tight-no pregnancy, should dress like that, had it coming, didn’t practice abstinence, gift from god[/del] [del]Free trade and security alliances[/del] [del]International disarmament agreements; testing, limits, non-proliferation treaties[/del] [del]International cooperation in health research[/del] Intolerance and Racism - currently the hot button/red meat issues. Ban the mooslems, ban the Mexicans, build the wall, no more brown immigration (Norse goddesses and east euro brides are okay), the country’s full, good men on [del]both[/del] the whuh-right sides, Chinese flu, and they’ll get around to the Jews (yes, Jared) and Catholics in due time. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2020, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44587 "2020-06-08T23:48:34Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > he used to claim to HATE Trump, now he’s the biggest ass kisser of the bunch. Being one of the most hypocritical of them is really quite an achievement. Compromat is by far the most charitable explanation for his about-face. Otherwise you have to believe he became a Trump lickspittle all on his own. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44588 "2020-06-09T00:44:10Z")
Nah, he just doesn’t want to get primaried. ---
**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:** [June 9, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44589 "2020-06-09T01:16:51Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > Compromat is by far the most charitable explanation for his about-face. Otherwise you have to believe he became a Trump lickspittle all on his own. Compromat or gutless weasel who wants to keep his position and power. Whatever. Right now, whatever can be done to destroy him utterly needs to be done. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/44590 "2020-06-09T03:37:30Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Right now, whatever can be done to destroy him utterly needs to be done. Those are my exact feelings about Moscow Mitch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=2228) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=2230)