# 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:** 270
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5381 "2012-05-09T17:17:27Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, he’s not polling well among grown-ups, and kids eventually get the vote… Well, with Newt out of the picture, it might net him Herman Cain’s endorsement. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5382 "2012-05-09T22:51:50Z")
Indiana Senate GOP nominee [Richard Mourdock](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/09/1090032/-Richard-Mourdock-responds-to-Dick-Lugar-It-ll-be-my-way-or-the-highway?detail=hide): > [@](#): > > CHUCK TODD: You have said that there needs to be more partisanship in Washington. How do you square that with being a legislator? > RICHARD MOURDOCK: Well, what I’ve said is that I certainly think bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view. […] Bipartisanship means they have to come our way […] To me, the highlight of politics, frankly, is to inflict my opinion on someone else with a microphone or in front of a camera. […] Even those Republicans who more often than not vote the right way aren’t coming back into their states or their districts and getting in front of the unfriendly crowds and unfriendly microphones to make the point as to why our point of view is good. […] I feel I can defend the purpose of conservatism, and more Republicans should be doing it just as I want to. Proving the truth of Lugar’s [Greatest. Concession statement. Ever.](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/08/in-statement-lugar-defends-campaign-while-criticizing-partisan-environment/) > [@](#): > > If Mr. Mourdock is elected, I want him to be a good Senator. But that will require him to revise his stated goal of bringing more partisanship to Washington. He and I share many positions, but his embrace of an unrelenting partisan mindset is irreconcilable with my philosophy of governance and my experience of what brings results for Hoosiers in the Senate. In effect, what he has promised in this campaign is reflexive votes for a rejectionist orthodoxy and rigid opposition to the actions and proposals of the other party. His answer to the inevitable roadblocks he will encounter in Congress is merely to campaign for more Republicans who embrace the same partisan outlook. He has pledged his support to groups whose prime mission is to cleanse the Republican party of those who stray from orthodoxy as they see it. > This is not conducive to problem solving and governance. And he will find that unless he modifies his approach, he will achieve little as a legislator. Worse, he will help delay solutions that are totally beyond the capacity of partisan majorities to achieve. The most consequential of these is stabilizing and reversing the Federal debt in an era when millions of baby boomers are retiring. There is little likelihood that either party will be able to impose their favored budget solutions on the other without some degree of compromise. Well, he did go on to add the usual shit, required for approval by the Beltway Heathers, about “both sides do it”, but still … ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5383 "2012-05-10T00:16:56Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > [Paul Ryan says “Ayn who?”](http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/05/07/479298/ayn-rand-paul-ryan/) Maybe he’s just a fan of Rand’s nuanced characters, flowing dialogue, and totally not-that-misogynistic sex scenes. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5384 "2012-05-10T01:33:59Z")
Her sex scenes make a powerful argument for celibacy. ---
**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:** [May 10, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5385 "2012-05-10T02:05:16Z")
> [@waterj2](#): > > Maybe he’s just a fan of Rand’s nuanced characters, flowing dialogue, and totally not-that-misogynistic sex scenes. Maybe he, like the grand majority of us, figured halfway through that speech: “you know, I actually don’t give a hoot who this John Galt fellow is. But he sure sounds like a cunt”. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5386 "2012-05-10T23:18:19Z")
Mitt Romney [asks his old classmates for help](https://twitter.com/#!/EmilyABC/status/200638924501164032) with his efforts to fog up [the latest window into his soul](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mitt-romneys-prep-school-classmates-recall-pranks-but-also-troubling-incidents/2012/05/10/gIQA3WOKFU_story.html). So far… he’s mostly been getting a Windex-and-squeegee squad, [e.g.](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/former-romney-classmate-describes-bullying-supreme-a-pack-of-dogs-who-targeted-differentboy/): > [@](#): > > A high school classmate of presidential candidate Mitt Romney told ABC News today that he considers a particular prank the two pulled at Michigan’s Cranbrook School to be “assault and battery” and that he witnessed Romney hold the scissors to cut the hair of a student who was being physically pinned to the ground by several others… ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5387 "2012-05-10T23:29:51Z")
To be honest, for all the reasons i wouldn’t vote for Romney, the fact that he might have been an asshole or a bully in high school doesn’t make the top 500. I was a homophobe and a racist in high school. My school was predominantly Anglo-Australian, and my buddies and i spent plenty of time making racist comments about Vietnamese and Lebanese and Cambodian immigrants, as well as about Australian Aborigines. And anyone who was suspected, on even the flimsiest evidence, of being gay was mercilessly hounded. I’m not proud of it, but it’s how i was. I’m a very different person now, though, and i like to think that my previous self is now only relevant in that it serves as a reminder of how i’ve changed. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5388 "2012-05-10T23:44:14Z")
The stupidity thickens with Romney’s response – first claiming not to remember the incident (er, I think one President in a generation showing early Alzheimer’s symptoms is quite enough, thank you very much…), then issuing a standard “I’m sorry if anyone was offended” non-apology. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5389 "2012-05-10T23:50:51Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > …then [Romney] issuing a standard “I’m sorry if anyone was offended” non-apology. I disagree. According to the [Associated Press](http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h5hZOGaXunUrQtq0FY00bktlQzHA?docId=1476bb1a74254c5280a4fb9ad2c35ab8), he said, “I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some may have gone too far. And for that I apologize,” to Biran Kilmeade on Fox News. That’s about as close as you can get to an apology by a politician. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5390 "2012-05-11T00:02:20Z")
“I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some **may have** gone too far. And for that I apologize,” As I said, a standard BS “sorry if anyone was offended” non-apology that implies that the problem is not the deed itself, but people’s allegedly excessive reactions thereto. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5391 "2012-05-11T00:06:57Z")
For me, it’s the claim of not remembering the incident that really chaps my hide. If he’s lying, that says something not very good. If its true, it says something rather more troubling. So I gather from these posts that he has abandoned that position? Well, good. Sorta. Kinda. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5392 "2012-05-11T00:13:18Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > For me, it’s the claim of not remembering the incident that really chaps my hide. If he’s lying, that says something not very good. If its true, it says something rather more troubling. So I gather from these posts that he has abandoned that position? Well, good. Sorta. Kinda. If he doesn’t remember, then either there’s something seriously wrong with him and his mental faculties are breaking down, or there’s something seriously wrong with him and he did that kind of stuff so often that no particular incident stands out from the background. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5393 "2012-05-11T00:46:51Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > To be honest, for all the reasons i wouldn’t vote for Romney, the fact that he might have been an asshole or a bully in high school doesn’t make the top 500. > > I was a homophobe and a racist in high school. My school was predominantly Anglo-Australian, and my buddies and i spent plenty of time making racist comments about Vietnamese and Lebanese and Cambodian immigrants, as well as about Australian Aborigines. And anyone who was suspected, on even the flimsiest evidence, of being gay was mercilessly hounded. > > I’m not proud of it, but it’s how i was. I’m a very different person now, though, and i like to think that my previous self is now only relevant in that it serves as a reminder of how i’ve changed. I wasn’t quite a homophonic rasinist, but I wouldn’t want to be judged by my conduct in high school. But then again, there were plenty of people in HS that had naturally good disposition that didn’t take part in bullying or mean-spirited shenanigans, so perhaps it does have some bearing. Maybe not enough to crack that top 500, but it’s not weightless. I’m also not totally put off by his failure to remember. Forget high school, I’m sure I’ve forgotten a ton of dumb shit just ten years ago that, if I were suddenly confronted with, would certainly sound memorable but I’d be hesitant to claim ownership at first. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5394 "2012-05-11T08:28:55Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > I’m also not totally put off by his failure to remember. Forget high school, I’m sure I’ve forgotten a ton of dumb shit just ten years ago that, if I were suddenly confronted with, would certainly sound memorable but I’d be hesitant to claim ownership at first. On the other hand, Obama remembered an incident of bullying (sort of, where he pushed a girl) from when he was ten. I think it reflects on his character that he remained contrite enough to put it in his memoir as a form of apology. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5395 "2012-05-11T09:11:05Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > I wasn’t quite a **homophonic rasinist** , but I wouldn’t want to be judged by my conduct in high school. But then again, there were plenty of people in HS that had naturally good disposition that didn’t take part in bullying or mean-spirited shenanigans, so perhaps it does have some bearing. Maybe not enough to crack that top 500, but it’s not weightless. > > I’m also not totally put off by his failure to remember. Forget high school, I’m sure I’ve forgotten a ton of dumb shit just ten years ago that, if I were suddenly confronted with, would certainly sound memorable but I’d be hesitant to claim ownership at first. Best typo ever? ---
**Author:** ![Baboonanza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f475e1/32.png) [@Baboonanza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baboonanza)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5396 "2012-05-11T10:08:37Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > To be honest, for all the reasons i wouldn’t vote for Romney, the fact that he might have been an asshole or a bully in high school doesn’t make the top 500. But then by your own admission you were one of the bullies at high school and I wonder how many of the victims out there feel the same way. Even if he’s changed, who likes the idea that the sort of person who made their life a misery in high school gets to be president? It’s not like he’s lived a life of good deeds to make up for his earlier misdeeds. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5397 "2012-05-11T16:42:24Z")
> [@Baboonanza](#): > > But then by your own admission you were one of the bullies at high school and I wonder how many of the victims out there feel the same way. I wasn’t a bully in the way we’re talking about here; i was a racist and a homophobe. My racism was the sort of generalized prejudice that was never actually directed at individuals. That is, i never used racist language against a member of a minority group, or physically assaulted anyone. The extent of my racism was my mates and i complaining to one another in derogatory terms about immigrants and Aborigines, and using racist epithets to describe them among ourselves. My homophobia was similarly non-directed; it was more of a general sense of antipathy towards the whole idea. I didn’t actually know any gay people, and to the extent that i used homophobic slurs, it was usually as a way of insulting people whom i knew were _not_ gay. There were only a couple of people at our school who were suspected of being gay, and while they were on the receiving end of quite a bit of verbal abuse from their peers, i wasn’t involved in this because they were a few years older than me, and most of this sort of peer-group bullying occurred among actual peers, in terms of age. My school had very little actual bullying, and i was never involved in the sort of thing that Romney is talking about here. My racism and homophobia were mainly things i shared with my like-minded peers. That doesn’t make it right, but it does mean that i was not a bully in the sense of actually inflicting physical and emotional distress on other students in my school. ---
**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:** [May 11, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5398 "2012-05-11T16:45:47Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > If he doesn’t remember, then either there’s something seriously wrong with him and his mental faculties are breaking down, or there’s something seriously wrong with him and he did that kind of stuff so often that no particular incident stands out from the background. He’s a Republican, and he wants America to have a Republican President. _Of COURSE_ there’s something seriously wrong with him. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5399 "2012-05-11T17:22:16Z")
> [@Baboonanza](#): > > It’s not like he’s lived a life of good deeds to make up for his earlier misdeeds. Oh, but in Republican terms, he has. He’s a Job Creator; one of those noble, self-sacrificing individuals who has stepped up to the thankless task of making our economy work. Without him, and others like him, the rest of us would be fighting over nuts and berries. When you think of how much we owe them, it’s only right that the government look for new ways to thank them, and encourage their further efforts. And who better to lead that effort than one of the Job Creators, himself? ---
**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:** [May 11, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/5400 "2012-05-11T17:56:50Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I wasn’t a bully in the way we’re talking about here; i was a racist and a homophobe. > … snip… > > My school had very little actual bullying, and i was never involved in the sort of thing that Romney is talking about here. My racism and homophobia were mainly things i shared with my like-minded peers. That doesn’t make it right, but it does mean that i was not a bully in the sense of actually inflicting physical and emotional distress on other students in my school. The thing is, you remember what you were like, and you now recognize that you were wrong to act like that around your friends: You remember. You acknowledge. You have changed. You’re now a better man. As opposed to Romeny who: Says he does not remember. Gave a half-assed apology if anyone was offended Has not changed, or gained any empathy, based on his current stand on gay marriage, and his feelings towards people whose jobs were lost because of him. Is the same man now as he was when he assaulted a fellow student. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=269) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=271)