# Stupid Republican idea of the day
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897
**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:** 239
### Author:  [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4761 "2012-03-09T16:15:10Z")
[Inhofe quotes Bible to prove climate change is wrong.](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/james-inhofe-says-bible-refutes-climate-change)
> [@](#):
>
> Eliason: Senator, we’re going to talk about your book for a minute, you state in your book which by the way is called The Greatest Hoax, you state in your book that one of your favorite Bible verses, Genesis 8:22, ‘while the earth remaineth seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease,’ what is the significance of these verses to this issue?
>
> Inhofe: Well actually the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.
Well, that settles it for me! A single sentence somebody wrote thousands of years ago in a book of myths that’s been translated and retranslated totally obviates decades of modern data collection and analysis.
Never mind that what he quoted doesn’t even REFUTE climate change on a semantic level. Yes, there will still be winter and summer and plants will still grow. There’s not a single climatologist that will say that’s not true. How cold the winter is, how much rain certain areas get, what seeds will grow where, they will change though. They ARE changing. They HAVE changed.
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### Author:  [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4762 "2012-03-09T17:23:44Z")
“Jesus wept.”
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4763 "2012-03-09T17:29:36Z")
“…and slammed his head on his desk.”
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4764 "2012-03-09T18:32:58Z")
It probably would have said that, [but he apparently wasn’t that good a carpenter.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGQRBkv4di8) The desk slowly collapsed into a pile of undifferentiated kindling even before his forehead made contact, so they decided to leave that part out of the verse.
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### Author:  [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4765 "2012-03-09T19:56:23Z")
Help me out here: is it just selection bias? Are there incidences of modern Republicans saying things that aren’t stupid? Ever? On any subject? Because I have a hard time believing that lowlifes like Inhofe or Palin or Bush or Perry or Santorum (or Limbaugh or Hannity or Coulter or Grace or O’Reilly) might occasionally get something right even by chance. It seems to me that someone would have to be a total meathead - the sort who forgets to breathe now and then - to read (or have read to them) what these . . . these Republicans have to say and then think “Yeah, these people have reasonable political stances on important issues” then head off to vote for them. I’d be impressed if they could manage to think “I like soup.”
It staggers the mind that Republicans are a viable force in American politics. They make me think the best thing America could do as a nation is to flood the continental US and leave it to the cephalopods. How do they (Republicans, not cuttlefish) attain positions of power, seeing as how they’re so very, very stupid?
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4766 "2012-03-09T20:00:49Z")
Try starting a thread called “Smart Republican Idea of the Day” and see what comes up.
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### Author:  [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4767 "2012-03-09T20:09:41Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#):
>
> Help me out here: is it just selection bias? Are there incidences of modern Republicans saying things that aren’t stupid? Ever? On any subject?
I’d say yes, they certainly do say things that make sense. But whenever this occurs (IMHO) the larger Republican party / conservative mindset seems to quickly swoop in and kill it.
Two instances come to mind with GW Bush: His initial position on port sales to foreign entities and his suggested immigration policy. Both times I remember thinking, “Finally! He says something that makes sense, I can agree with, and there’s the added bonus of showing my conservative friends that I don’t automatically hate everything associated with Bush.”
Bush fairly quickly lost on both of those, as I recall. Not due to Democratic pressure, but because of the outcry from his own party. :smack:
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4768 "2012-03-09T20:16:36Z")
Barry Goldwater said that the whole argument about gays serving in the military was stupid because you didn’t need to be straight to pull a trigger. Not all that smart, but still, by comparison…
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### Author:  [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4769 "2012-03-09T20:48:37Z")
I have no particular fealty towards Ron Paul (dislike anarchocapitalism in general), but he is capable of independent thought rather than pandering.
He was actually very courageous [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIeW0DY64bE), but that fact is hampered somewhat because he was talking to an individual that thinks that homosexuals are born of the devil.
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4770 "2012-03-09T20:55:41Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#):
>
> I’d say yes, they certainly do say things that make sense. But whenever this occurs (IMHO) the larger Republican party / conservative mindset seems to quickly swoop in and kill it.
>
> Two instances come to mind with GW Bush: His initial position on port sales to foreign entities and his suggested immigration policy. Both times I remember thinking, “Finally! He says something that makes sense, I can agree with, and there’s the added bonus of showing my conservative friends that I don’t automatically hate everything associated with Bush.”
>
> Bush fairly quickly lost on both of those, as I recall. Not due to Democratic pressure, but because of the outcry from his own party. :smack:
Add to that his administration’s initially sensible policy of post-9/11 outreach to moderate Muslims, which was [barfed all over by the tighty-righties]([http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Far+right+wary+of+Bush’s+outreach+to+Muslim+community.+(People+%26...-a083794881)](http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Far+right+wary+of+Bush's+outreach+to+Muslim+community.+(People+%26...-a083794881)) and subsequently abandoned in favor of standard jingoism:
> [@](#):
>
> “Lots of people I’ve spoken to – not just the grassroots but also leaders of other pro-family organizations – are bewildered at why George Bush is doing so much to pay homage to Islam,” Joe Glover of the Family Policy Network, a Virginia-based group known mostly for criticizing gay rights, told [Beliefnet.com](http://Beliefnet.com).
>
> “Conservative evangelicals love Muslims,” Glover continued. “They care for them. They want to provide religious freedom for them. However, they are diametrically opposed to Islam. It’s the same difference we have with the homosexual community. We care about homosexuals, yet we’re opposed to their agenda because we know it destroys their lives. Likewise, we care about Muslims, but we’re opposed to even any tacit endorsement of Islam because it’s against the will of God.”
>
> Janet Folger, head of TV preacher D. James Kennedy’s Center for Reclaiming America, is also not pleased by Bush’s outreach to Muslims.
>
> “My heart sank when they opened the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance service in the name of God, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jesus and Allah,” she said. “I don’t pray in the name of Baal any more than I pray in the name of Allah. Because guess what? Allah is a different god. It’s not one big umbrella, and we shouldn’t just get along. If you look at the Bible, God isn’t real fond of people who pray to false gods.”
>
> David Crowe, director of Restore America, a group based in Oregon, chimed in by saying, “We don’t believe Islam needs validating at the highest level of American government. A lot of people think Bush has bent way too far over backward to say nice things about Muslims.”
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### Author:  [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4771 "2012-03-09T21:12:24Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#):
>
> I’d say yes, they certainly do say things that make sense. But whenever this occurs (IMHO) the larger Republican party / conservative mindset seems to quickly swoop in and kill it.
>
> Two instances come to mind with GW Bush: His initial position on port sales to foreign entities and his suggested immigration policy. Both times I remember thinking, “Finally! He says something that makes sense, I can agree with, and there’s the added bonus of showing my conservative friends that I don’t automatically hate everything associated with Bush.”
>
> Bush fairly quickly lost on both of those, as I recall. Not due to Democratic pressure, but because of the outcry from his own party. :smack:
This has been my impression as well. Natural selection in the present-day GOP appears to favor devolution.
(And for some reason [this](http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/000000/20000/0000/800/20873/20873.strip.zoom.gif) comes to mind.)
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### Author:  [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4772 "2012-03-09T21:23:58Z")
Chris Christie just called a veteran (former Navy Seal) an “idiot” on camera. Whatever this phenomenon is which we are observing, Scotty, perhaps we should just warp 10 in the other direction?
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### Author:  [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4773 "2012-03-09T21:39:12Z")
Gotta give those Idaho rednecks credit for spin.
[Invasive procedure will “empower” women](http://www.idahopress.com/news/local/opponents-blast-idaho-ultrasound-bill/article_af4dc2e6-69b2-11e1-a63b-001871e3ce6c.html)
> [@](#):
>
> Opponents of a bill that would require women to have an ultrasound before getting an abortion said the measure would humiliate and shame those seeking the procedure.
>
> Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, said he thinks the bill will pass. He is one of its 11 co-sponsors.
>
> \*“It’s all about empowering the woman and giving her as much information as possible so she can make an informed decision,” Crane told the Press-Tribune \*
It isn’t that the rabid rightous right wants to stick women with a completely unwarranted, invasive proceedure in hopes of intimidating them and limiting their access to abortions…No, they’re trying to _empower_ women.
Ignorant, lying intrusive self-rightous scum.
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### Author:  [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4774 "2012-03-09T21:42:47Z")
Smart Republican: NY Assemblyman says she would vote for Obama rather anybody from her own party. [“Because I really, truly think that the candidates that are out there today for the Republican side would take women back decades.”](http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/03/08/440746/ny-gop-lawmaker-women-back-decades/).
Of course she is retiring. At least partly to as she says a belief in term limits. So, she seems to be a principled person. Wish there more like this. I get the feeling I may not always agree with her, but we could have at least conversed and come to workable solutions on most things.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4775 "2012-03-09T22:27:26Z")
[http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/03/09/441316/sarah-palin-obama-civil-war/](http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/03/09/441316/sarah-palin-obama-civil-war/)
> [@Sarah Palin](#):
>
> Now, it has taken all these years for many Americans to understand that that gravity, that mistake, took place before the Civil War and why the Civil War had to really start changing America. What Barack Obama seems to want to do is go back to before those days when we were in different classes based on income, based on color of skin.
I started to feel bad even including this. She’s clearly ignorant like a child and perhaps mentally impaired. But she’s still a big deal, so yeah.
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4776 "2012-03-09T22:42:38Z")
From our good friend at _Daily Kos_
Thing the first:
> **[Kansas legislature contemplates allowing (and requiring) doctors to lie to women](https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/09/1072878/-Kansas-legislature-contemplates-allowing-and-requiring-doctors-to-lie-to-women?detail=hide&via=blog_1)**
>
> Republican priorities, in chart form. (Guttmacher Institute)
>
> I'm not even sure what the Republicans are going for at this point. All I know is that if it relates to women, they're against it :
> [@](#):
>
> …Among other provisions in the proposed legislation are measures allowing doctors to withhold from patients medical information that might encourage them to seek an abortion and prohibiting malpractice suits if the woman or the child suffers a health complication as a result of information being withheld. A wrongful death lawsuit could be filed if the mother dies. The bill also would require doctors to tell women that abortion causes breast cancer and would prohibit state employees from performing abortions on the job…
OK, this one won’t happen because its too fucking nuts\*. But they are willing to consider it seriously, which says a lot in and of itself.
> **[No love for the GOP among America's women](https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/09/1072824/-No-love-for-the-GOP-among-America-s-women?detail=hide&via=blog_1)**
>
> The GOP's inquisition.
>
> In probably what is the least shocking bit of public polling you can imagine, the numbers show that the GOP is losing women .
>
> When the Wall ...
Thing the second:
> [@](#):
>
> …When the Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey asked last summer which party should control Congress, a slim 46-42 percent plurality of women said it should be the Democrats. But in a survey released Monday, compiling polling since the beginning of the year, that figure had widened considerably to a 15-point advantage for the Democrats, according to polling by the team of Democratic pollster Peter Hart and Republican Bill McInturff. Fifty-one percent favored Democratic control; only 36 percent wanted to see the Republicans in charge…
No shit, Sherlock?
\*_probably_
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4777 "2012-03-09T22:57:30Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#):
>
> [http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/03/09/441316/sarah-palin-obama-civil-war/](http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/03/09/441316/sarah-palin-obama-civil-war/) I started to feel bad even including this. She’s clearly ignorant like a child and perhaps mentally impaired. But she’s still a big deal, so yeah.
:smack:Why didn’t I see that Obama was trying to re-enslave blacks?! It’s so obvious now that she’s pointed it out.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4778 "2012-03-09T23:25:22Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> I think I won the thread. No, really: [Missouri Capitol to host bronze statue of Rush Limbaugh](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/rush-limbaugh-should-he-be-honored-with-a-sculpture-in-the-missouri-capitol/2012/03/06/gIQANvIpuR_blog.html).
They could sell it as a jobs plan for the Missouri metallurgy industry. They’re gonna have to produce a LOT of bronze…
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### Author:  [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4779 "2012-03-09T23:49:51Z")
> [@elucidator](#):
>
> OK, this one won’t happen because its too fucking nuts\*. But they are willing to consider it seriously, which says a lot in and of itself.
>
> \*_probably_
Don’t get ahead of yourself. The same sort of legislation was just approved by the Arizona Senate. It’s on its way!
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/4780 "2012-03-10T12:52:48Z")
> [@howye](#):
>
> Smart Republican: NY Assemblyman says she would vote for Obama rather anybody from her own party. [“Because I really, truly think that the candidates that are out there today for the Republican side would take women back decades.”](http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/03/08/440746/ny-gop-lawmaker-women-back-decades/).
>
> Of course she is retiring. At least partly to as she says a belief in term limits. So, she seems to be a principled person. Wish there more like this.
There are. Mostly in New York. Admittedly, the Assembly is full of people who couldn’t lead a horse to water, but…
Remember this guy?
> **[Republican New York Senator Comes Out For Gay Marriage With Awesome Quote](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/gavon/republican-new-york-senator-comes-out-for-gay-marr)**
>
> New York State Senator Roy McDonald, one of a handful of Republicans bucking their own party who will vote to legalize gay marriage in the state of New York, got sick and tired of being pushed around by gay marriage opponents. He released a statement...
> [@](#):
>
> You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn’t black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing,” McDonald, 64, told reporters. “You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, fuck it, I don’t care what you think. I’m trying to do the right thing. “I’m tired of Republican-Democrat politics. They can take the job and shove it. I come from a blue-collar background. I’m trying to do the right thing, and that’s where I’m going with this.”
And that’s what it means to be a Republican in New York. Not always, but sometimes enough for it to make a difference.
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