# 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:** 343
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6841 "2012-09-14T20:18:49Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Those last two words, in my opinion, change quite substantially the thrust of Romney’s point. $200k or less is hardly the middle. It’s something like 98% of the income distribution. [http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/where-do-you-fall-on-the-income-curve/](http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/where-do-you-fall-on-the-income-curve/) No matter - this simply means Romney shouldn’t use words like “the middle” when he means “everyone but the super-rich.” EDIT - and now I see someone else has beat me to the punch. As usual. ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6842 "2012-09-14T20:40:52Z")
I am not likely to vote for Romney, but is Romney defining as anything less than $250K as “middle class” really any different than the rhetoric that Obama has been using? Sure, he has never straight out stated that the middle class ends at $250K but when he talks about maintaining the Bush tax cuts for the “middle class” that is the cutoff he has been using. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6843 "2012-09-14T20:45:29Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Proof they are the American Taliban. Wellllll. The Taliban are being just a bit more emphatic than merely [handing out pamphlets in favor of dressing conservatively at a meeting of social conservatives](http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/09/values-voters-americas-last-prudes). > [@](#): > > Modesty Matters, the group behind the flyer, is a new addition to the event this year. It was founded by a modestly dressed retired pharmacist from Roanoke, Virginia named J.H. Woolwine. […] > > A “back porch thing” run by Woolwine and his wife, Modesty Matters is a somewhat quixotic effort to “move the media back to modesty,” which Woolwine believes could be a compelling nonpolitical issue that people on all sides could agree on. He could be right about that. Anyone who has struggled to find clothes for young girls that don’t make them look like hookers might agree. […] > > But Woolwine insists that his activism isn’t just aimed at women. “It’s for guys, too,” he says. So far though, his group hasn’t really picked up steam. He’s got flyers out asking for someone to make him a website, and the table in the exhibit hall features a little box for donations. But he says he’s gotten quite a few signatures for his petition to ask Congress to make the day after Labor Day national “Modesty Day,” to remind kids going back to school to put some clothes on. This effort to encourage purely voluntary change in social mores about clothing strikes me as no more intimidating than, say, a vegan group handing out pamphlets at the People’s Summit exhorting the attendees to consume fewer animal products. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6844 "2012-09-14T21:01:07Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Thank you. If I don’t have a reputation for integrity as an anonymous persona on an internet message board, what do I have? One of the greatest log-in names of all time? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6845 "2012-09-14T21:12:52Z")
_And_ pizza. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6846 "2012-09-14T21:22:19Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > $200k or less is hardly the middle. It’s something like 98% of the income distribution. Look, idiot, i’ve already made clear that i understand this fact, in three separate posts. But it’s a separate issue from my original point, which was about properly representing what people say. As it turns out, **Hentor** did not misrepresent the article (there was a correction), but i think that the original version of the article did misrepresent Romney’s statement. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6847 "2012-09-15T00:27:10Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > _And_ pizza. Chicken, surely? No, wait, that was that other guy. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6848 "2012-09-15T01:49:00Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I think there is a separate birther nonsense thread around here somewhere, but: > > > [@](#): > > > > TOPEKA — Kansas election officials said Thursday that they want more information before deciding whether to remove President Obama from the state’s November ballot. > > > > The all-Republican State Objections Board heard arguments Thursday on a claim from a Manhattan resident that Obama is not eligible to be president because his father was from Kenya. The resident, Joe Montgomery, also questions whether Obama has a valid birth certificate. > > > > Read more here: [http://www.kansas.com/2012/09/14/248](http://www.kansas.com/2012/09/14/248)…#storylink=cpy > > And everyone’s favorite Attorney General Kris Kobach has taken time off from his busy schedule of immigrant bashing to help determine (yet again) that Obama was born in the US. Well, turns out Obama’s going to be on the ballot after all. The guy who originally filed the objection has withdrawn it. Kobach is apparently disappointed that he won’t get the opportunity to consider pulling Obama off the ballot. > **[Kansas Birther Case Ends After Complaint Is Withdrawn](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kansas-birther-case-obama-joe-montgomery_n_1884936?utm_hp_ref=politics)** > > Kansas Birther Case Ends After Complaint Is Withdrawn > [@](#): > > [Joe]Montgomery told The Huffington Post Friday afternoon that public reaction to the complaint led him to decide against continuing. He declined to say exactly what was said in the calls and emails he received, but indicated that people who knew him both personally and professionally were also contacted about the complaint. > > “I didn’t file this objection with the desire to involve anyone else. This is me expressing myself on a personal political level,” he said. “I would appreciate it if people would not call anyone associated with me, whether a personal or professional association.” Translation: Everybody and their dog was calling me up and telling me what an idiot I am, and then they called up my boss and asked him if he knew he had a complete idiot working for him, and they called my mom and asked if she knew she’d given birth to an idiot, and they called my wife and asked what it was like being married to a total idiot… > [@](#): > > Montgomery, who works at Kansas State University, filed the objection Monday, claiming Obama was not a “natural born citizen” because his father was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Kenya, and that U.S. citizenship is conferred “primarily” through the father. He also said that Obama has not shown “valid, certified documentary evidence” of being born in the United States. This is who they’ve got working at Kansas State University? Please tell me he’s there cleaning toilets or something instead of teaching students. Look, shit-for-brains, if you’re going to try to make claims against someone’s citizenship you better fucking know what the requirements for citizenship ARE before you make a goddamned fool of yourself. (Plus, you’re apparently a sexist pig.) What, you didn’t think [Hawaii making the Arizona SOS dance like a monkey](http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/ken_bennett_birther_hawaii_arizona_emails.php) was funny enough and you wanted some more of that action for Kansas? ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6849 "2012-09-15T02:06:59Z")
There’s a “Joseph S. Montgomery” in the KSU website: the entry reads “Comm. Coord-CVM Development - Foundation KSU Local Agency.” No idea what that means. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6850 "2012-09-15T02:21:04Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > There’s a “Joseph S. Montgomery” in the KSU website: the entry reads “Comm. Coord-CVM Development - Foundation KSU Local Agency.” No idea what that means. Communications Coordinator for the College of Veterinary Medicine. Maybe he talks to cow poop all day, and somewhere along the line this stunt started to seem like a good idea. You should never listen to the cow poop. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6851 "2012-09-15T02:42:14Z")
I’m suspicious of the guy, Montgomery, who challenged Obama’s eligibility. TPM (I think) had a copy of the challenge posted on-line. The whole thing was about 30 pages long and written entirely in legalese, with legal references. I looked at Montgomery’s Facebook page, and it is the same guy but his page is entirely mundane and normal- just sports stuff and kid pics- no politics, no TeaParty nonsense, nothing. I wonder if he even came up with the challenge idea himself. Seems curious to me. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6852 "2012-09-15T02:52:18Z")
Of course he didn’t come up with it himself. He’s Kobach’s monkey, and bailed when the shitstorm threatened to engulf him. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6853 "2012-09-15T10:33:30Z")
> [@lance strongarm](#): > > I’m shocked, shocked, that a multimillionaire has no clue what average people make. and yet you’re perfectly placid in the face of [this](http://graphics.latimes.com/2012-election-superpac-spending/). > [@Pamphlet](#): > > is it really reasonable for the women of the church to make it THIS difficult for us? [That’s all on you bro](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A27-28&version=NIV): > [@Jesus](#): > > You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. > [@Mother Jones](#): > > But he says he’s gotten quite a few signatures for his petition to ask Congress to make the day after Labor Day national “Modesty Day,” to remind kids going back to school to put some clothes on. Strong paedo vibes. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6854 "2012-09-15T16:01:30Z")
> [@](#): > > “I didn’t file this objection with the desire to involve anyone else. This is me expressing myself on a personal political level,” he said. “I would appreciate it if people would not call anyone associated with me, whether a personal or professional association.” Perhaps nobody told Montgomery that other people are also allowed to vote for President. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6855 "2012-09-15T16:08:50Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Perhaps nobody told Montgomery that other people are also allowed to vote for President. Yeah, he was “expressing [himself] on a personal political level” but his actions would have changed the options available to every single voter in his miserable, flat, backwards, redneck state. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6856 "2012-09-15T18:27:23Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Of course he didn’t come up with it himself. He’s Kobach’s monkey, and bailed when the shitstorm threatened to engulf him. Like I said, you should never listen to the cow poop. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6857 "2012-09-15T18:47:25Z")
[Rick Santorum: ‘Smart People’ Will Never Be On Our Side](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/15/rick-santorum-smart-peopl_n_1886684.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6858 "2012-09-15T19:05:04Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > [Rick Santorum: ‘Smart People’ Will Never Be On Our Side](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/15/rick-santorum-smart-peopl_n_1886684.html) Unfortunately, that doesn’t specifically betray a problem in conservative thinking. It betrays a problem in _American_ thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6859 "2012-09-15T22:15:15Z")
That’s a good point. There seems to be this school of thought that says, “damn more educated people think they’re better than me, and want to run my life like some kinda puppetmaster or dictator! Well, _fuck_ that, and _fuck_ them!” Funny thing is, that’s exactly what a good many Republican/conservative leaders probably actually think (though which do and which don’t, I’m not sure I can guess most of the time). Though I gotta wonder what the conservatives on this board think of the Santorum comment. Being Dopers, they probably consider themselves more intelligent than average, so what do they think of such words coming out of the mouth of a major star of their party? (Not that they’ll ever answer, because of the thread this post appears in, but I’m curious.) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/6860 "2012-09-15T22:27:55Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Unfortunately, that doesn’t specifically betray a problem in conservative thinking. It betrays a problem in _American_ thinking. I’m a little confused – as are all Americans. Is the problem in believing that smart people will take one side over another? Or is the problem believing that there are enough smart people to make a difference no matter which side they take? Or is the problems believing that there are any smart people? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=342) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=344)