# 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:** 24
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/461 "2009-07-09T01:06:21Z")
Well, you left out the Tilde in América, so… ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/462 "2009-07-09T01:36:43Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Holy shit, that’s pretty stupid! Love that “We marry other species” bit. What other species would that be, Brian? Who is he talking about? You’d think those couples would be interviewed on Jerry Springer, at least. As a person of mixed racial heritage who married a Scandinavian, I would like to apologize to the rest of the world for having married to a member of an inferior species. Or something. Can somebody find out what brand of coffee they serve to Fox’s employees? I also need to know if it comes from Colombia. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/463 "2009-07-09T01:41:29Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > Can somebody find out what brand of coffee they serve to Fox’s employees? I also need to know if it comes from Colombia. Well, duh…they have no problem with Juan Valdez, as long as he stays both poor and IN Colombia. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/464 "2009-07-09T01:46:22Z")
It makes me feel old that I get that joke. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2009, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/465 "2009-07-09T01:57:14Z")
Biggirl is from New York City where there are many Black and Puerto Ricans mutts around. I’ve never heard negrito/a used in the same way nigger is. Perhaps in the sense of ‘that black one’ but never like 'that nigger". ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/466 "2009-07-09T02:04:09Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Biggirl is from New York City where there are many Black and Puerto Ricans mutts around. I’ve never heard negrito/a used in the same way nigger is. Perhaps in the sense of ‘that black one’ but never like 'that nigger". Its not as offensive as “nigger” (I suppose since I’ve never seen somebody saying that outside a movie). But is IMHO extremely despective, I could not believe he really said that. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/467 "2009-07-09T02:12:28Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Biggirl is from New York City where there are many Black and Puerto Ricans mutts around. I’ve never heard negrito/a used in the same way nigger is. Perhaps in the sense of ‘that black one’ but never like 'that nigger". No word in Spanish is used in the same way as “nigger”, we lack the same racial history as America, for one. For lack of a similar word we make up for it by using “negrito”, a diminutive that, in the proper context, sounds like it diminishes the person. Of course, in the proper context is also a very sweet expression, funny that. But as I said, I fail to see in what context the Honduran in question would mean it as a term of endearment. Dominicans, for the most part, prefer “morenito(a)”, which I use with my daughter sometimes (we speak English at home), even though she is a blond and has blue eyes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/468 "2009-07-09T03:03:18Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > Well, you left out the Tilde in América, so… Not to be pedantic, though I love to do it, that’s an “accent acute.” A tilde is the “squigly line” (~) over a letter. Spanish does not use it over a vowel. ETA: That’s “acute accent.” Funny how much French one can pick up while still not speaking enough French to order lunch. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/469 "2009-07-09T05:13:42Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Not to be pedantic, though I love to do it, that’s an “accent acute.” A tilde is the “squigly line” (~) over a letter. Spanish does not use it over a vowel. > > ETA: That’s “acute accent.” Funny how much French one can pick up while still not speaking enough French to order lunch. ☹ I was about to nitpick that myself, but thanks all the same for saving me the trouble of looking up how your species say “accent aigu” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/470 "2009-07-09T14:14:29Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Not to be pedantic, though I love to do it, that’s an “accent acute.” A tilde is the “squigly line” (~) over a letter. Spanish does not use it over a vowel. > > ETA: That’s “acute accent.” Funny how much French one can pick up while still not speaking enough French to order lunch. ☹ Strange, I speak spanish and we always called it a tilde or an accent interchangeably, yesterday a fellow nitpicker friend told me it was properly called tilde, now you say is not… Intriguing… To the wikitubes Robin!. Ok, according to the english wikipedia you are right, and according to the spanish wikipedia we are both right. Also according to the english wikipedia: “The tilded “n” (“ñ”, “Ñ”) developed from the digraph “nn” in Spanish. In this language, ñ is considered a separate letter called eñe (IPA ['eɲe]), rather than a letter-diacritic combination; it is placed in Spanish dictionaries between the letters n and o. In addition, the word tilde can refer to any diacritic in this language; for example, the acute accent in José is also called a tilde in Spanish.” As for the squigly line ~ we usually call it with the technical term “that squigly line on top of the Ñ” (spanish only uses it over the N to create an Ñ) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/471 "2009-07-09T17:51:11Z")
Okay okay, back to Stupid Republicans… Jim DeMint, that reliably stupid wingnut senator from South Carolina, [implied](http://washingtonindependent.com/50152/demint-america-is-where-germany-was-before-world-war-ii) that the US was on the verge of WWII Nazism or fascism, or something like that. [QUOTE=Demented DeMint] They [Iranian immigrants] understand socialism. They understand tyrants. But none of us have ever had it here. We don’t even know what it looks like. Part of what we’re trying to do in “Saving Freedom” is just show that where we are, we’re about where Germany was before World War II where they became a social democracy. You still had votes but the votes were just power grabs like you see in Iran, and other places in South America, like Chavez is running down in Venezuela. People become more dependent on the government so that they’re easy to manipulate. And they keep voting for more government because that’s where their security is. When our immigrants get here, they’re worried, because they see it happening here. [/QUOTE] What a stinking asshole. D-list wingnut celebrities are easy pickings, but worth a laugh anyway. Victoria Jackson, who went off the rails during the campaign, is bumping along the wooden ties not even realizing it. > [@](#): > > [Victoria Jackson, Former SNL Star, Compares Obama To Hitler In Mad Rant](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/08/victoria-jackson-former-s_n_227781.html) > > Former “Saturday Night Live” star Victoria Jackson posted an incoherent rant against President Obama on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Hollywood website on Tuesday. > > Taking aim at everything from health care reform to rock bands, Jackson’s rambling diatribe describes Obama as a kind of wolf in sheep’s clothing. > > “You see, evil doesn’t just show up. It disguises itself as something nice; so you’ll let it in. It tricks you,” she writes. > > … > > During the 2008 presidential election, Jackson came out against then-Senator Barack Obama, calling him everything from a racist to a communist. > > In a particularly irrational appearance on “The O’Reilly Factor,” she told O’Reilly that Obama reminds her of “Castro In Cuba, the guy in China.” (Presumably Mao.) > > Jackson also joined other B-list celebrities in a National Republican Senatorial Committee ad against Al Franken. > > This latest rant is a real gem: > > [QUOTE=Victoria Wingnut] > I woke up in the middle of the night and realized the trick. > > You see, evil doesn’t just show up. It disguises itself as something nice; so you’ll let it in. It tricks you. […] > > Social Security and Medicare are broke. Baby boomers, like me, are getting old and will soon be asking for it. Socialized medicine makes people die. You stand in a long, long line with a breast lump, clogged artery, or sharp pencil stuck in your eye, and someone like the DMV person, who can’t speak English, has chewing gum, an attitiude [sic], really long fake nails that curl up at the end, and is talking on a cell phone, enjoying their power trip moment, is finally face to face with you. They mumble something incoherent about paperwork. You die. One less person in line for Social Security and Medicare! > > Obama legally kills babies and now he can legally kill Grandmas! > > Hitler did this. He killed the weak, the sick, the old, and babies and races/religions he didn’t like. Hitler also controlled the media. (Where’s the public debate between scientists on “Climate Change/Global Warming?”) Hitler had the VW bug invented as the state car. What will O’s nationalized car be? So… kill off the weak. That’s the plan. Tax the workers to death. Erase the middle class. Sounds like the evil governments we studied in high school long ago. The evil governments were : kings, oligarchies, facist [sic], socialist, and communist. Now it’s called the Obama Administration. Sounds like candy or a rock band. [/QUOTE] Koo koo koo koo koo koo. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/472 "2009-07-09T18:44:30Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > Strange, I speak spanish and we always called it a tilde … Ñ" (spanish only uses it over the N to create an Ñ) A scene in Havana, 1898 “Commandante! We have done as you ordered, we have destroyed the vessel, the Mayanyay!” “That stinking fishing boat at the end of the pier! Good riddance!” “Ah, no, Commandante, it was a big damn boat made of iron, with guns…” “Aieee! Caramba!” “Que?” “Fuck!” “Oh.” ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/473 "2009-07-09T18:59:09Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > A scene in Havana, 1898 > > “Commandante! We have done as you ordered, we have destroyed the vessel, the Mayanyay!” > > “That stinking fishing boat at the end of the pier! Good riddance!” > > “Ah, no, Commandante, it was a big damn boat made of iron, with guns…” > > “Aieee! Caramba!” > > “Que?” > > “Fuck!” > > “Oh.” Remember the Mañe! ---
**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:** [July 9, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/474 "2009-07-09T19:00:30Z")
Out of curiosity, has Chavez actually been accused of rigging elections or is DeMint just making shit up? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/475 "2009-07-09T19:43:18Z")
Well, as the New Republic put it: > [@](#): > > A social democracy? I understand the whole “Liberal Fascism” notion that has, distressingly, taken hold on the right. But does DeMint really think the most distinctive or objectionable characteristic of Nazi Germany was its overly generous social programs? > > Actually, he might. You never know with DeMint. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/476 "2009-07-09T20:40:34Z")
_does DeMint really think the most distinctive or objectionable characteristic of Nazi Germany was its overly generous social programs?_ No, but he probably believes that they led more or less directly to the death camps and gas chambers. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/477 "2009-07-09T20:41:20Z")
First they instituted a minimum wage, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t making 25 cents a day. Then they instituted food stamps, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t hungry. Then they instituted direct transfer payments for single mothers of young children, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a single mother of a young child. Then they instituted unemployment insurance, and I didn’t speak up, because I’m not unemployed. Then they instituted social security for the elderly, and I didn’t speak up, because I’m not old. And then they instituted universal single-payer health insurance, and there was no one left to speak up for me. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/478 "2009-07-09T22:01:13Z")
[Sen. Ensign Admits Parents Paid Mistress, as New Details of Affair Emerge](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/09/sen-ensigns-parents-gave-nearly-family-mistress/) > [@](#): > > The Nevada Republican, through a written statement by his attorney, admitted Thursday that his parents paid the family of his mistress nearly $100,000 last year. > > The admission came shortly after Doug Hampton, his mistress’ husband, first told a Las Vegas reporter that the senator paid his wife a hefty severance. Hampton also said that Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and others originally had urged Ensign to pay the Hamptons “millions.” ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/479 "2009-07-09T22:31:42Z")
How come I can’t find anyone anywhere making fun of [Charlotte Allen’s latest bucket o’nonsense](http://www.latimes.com/features/health/medicine/la-oe-allen5-2009jul05,0,213990.story) in the Los Angeles Times? > [@](#): > > Here’s a way for America to cut its spiraling healthcare costs: ice floes. > > This idea isn’t mine. It’s President Obama’s. Or rather, it’s where we’re likely to end up if the president prevails on Congress to pass the adventurous healthcare reform proposal currently being discussed… > [@](#): > > In looking for a way to fund healthcare, Obama has set his eye on the oldest and sickest. > [@](#): > > The Eskimos used to set their elderly and sickly adrift on the ice or otherwise abandon them during times of scarcity, and that, metaphorically speaking, is what Obama would like us all to start doing. > [@](#): > > Now, I’m well aware that having 47 million people who can’t afford medical care is a genuine social problem – although many of those millions are illegal immigrants, people between jobs and young folks who choose to go insurance-bare. I’m also aware that I can’t necessarily have everything I want, whether it’s a dozen pairs of Prada boots or a pacemaker at age 99. Young illegal immigrants between jobs who keep buying dozens of pairs of Prada boots…well, they’ve made their decision. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/480 "2009-07-09T22:52:01Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > [Sen. Ensign Admits Parents Paid Mistress, as New Details of Affair Emerge](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/09/sen-ensigns-parents-gave-nearly-family-mistress/) > [@](#): > > The Nevada Republican, through a written statement by his attorney, admitted Thursday that his parents paid the family of his mistress nearly $100,000 last year. > > The admission came shortly after Doug Hampton, his mistress’ husband, first told a Las Vegas reporter that the senator paid his wife a hefty severance. Hampton also said that Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and others originally had urged Ensign to pay the Hamptons “millions.” These kinds of fiascos happen when Republicans fail to adequately fund social programs, in this case, payoffs.. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=25)