# 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:** 361
**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:** [October 10, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7201 "2012-10-10T16:58:15Z")
> [@xenophon41](#): > > Yes, because it’s a _question_, not an observation. The report which results from an interview such as the Ryan one can certainly point out contradictions, correct factual misrepresentations and otherwise set the story straight (or present a particular editorial slant through selective emphases, etc.), but that’s honest analysis and reportage of a politician’s actual pronouncements. > > A leading question which presumes an unsatisfactory answer is as unethical as a “push poll” question; it portrays the desired or anticipated p.o.v. without regard to the actual response. It’s lazy and dishonest journalism which is effective for exploiting controversy or for provoking a target, but it sucks at uncovering actual policy positions. Which makes it bad, stupid journalism in addition to the bad ethics. > > (And I should probably stop the thread hijack, now.) (If one can even hijack something this big.) Indulge me a bit more, if you would. The thread is at almost 7,200 replies; I think it will survive. I guess I don’t see this question as assuming an unsatisfactory answer, if it’s based on satisfactorily accepted premises. To only point out the policy contradictions in reporting the interview would deprive Ryan of the chance to explain his position. I find that to be a worse way to handle the situation. For the sake of argument, how would you have asked the question? Would something like this be okay? > [@](#): > > This new initiative you’re proposing would have some cost associated with it, and you’ve also promised to cut taxes. Where would you make up the difference? ---
**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:** [October 10, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7202 "2012-10-10T17:02:57Z")
Asking how the question could have been asked better is pointless. It’s a silly question, because the underlying assumption is that Ryan’s only policy is cutting taxes. I know we like to point out how Republicans talk about little else, but even the most rabid leftists among us will concede that they _do_ talk about other things. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7203 "2012-10-10T17:32:28Z")
[Sometimes karma strikes hard and fast:](http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/10/joe-walsh-debate-tammy-duckworth-dress-photo.php) > [@](#): > > Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) deployed a strange attack on his Democratic opponent, Iraq War veteran and former Veterans Affairs official Tammy Duckworth, at a debate Tuesday night — brandishing a photo of her picking out a dress for the Democratic National Convention… > > Members of the audience booed profusely, but Walsh wasn’t fazed. He went on to address his criticism of Duckworth picking out her clothes for the Democratic convention — by holding up the photo. > > The audience booed again, very loudly, as Walsh was finishing his statement. For her part, Duckworth accused Walsh of trying to distract from the issues — and she got in a kicker of her own. > > “And yes, I do sometimes look at the clothes that I wear,” she said. “But for most of my adult life, I’ve worn one color — it’s called camouflage.”… ---
**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:** [October 10, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7204 "2012-10-10T18:32:34Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I guess I don’t see this question as assuming an unsatisfactory answer, if it’s based on satisfactorily accepted premises. The problem appears to be that the questioner did not go to the trouble of establishing that the premises had been satisfactorily accepted by all parties to the interview. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7205 "2012-10-10T18:53:43Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Indulge me a bit more, if you would. The thread is at almost 7,200 replies; I think it will survive. No problem, I’m enjoying the discussion. I don’t think we’ll exactly drown out stupid Republican ideas even if we try. > [@](#): > > I guess I don’t see this question as assuming an unsatisfactory answer, if it’s based on satisfactorily accepted premises. > > To only point out the policy contradictions in reporting the interview would deprive Ryan of the chance to explain his position. I find that to be a worse way to handle the situation. > > For the sake of argument, how would you have asked the question? Would something like this be okay? > > > [@](#): > > > > This new initiative you’re proposing would have some cost associated with it, and you’ve also promised to cut taxes. Where would you make up the difference? Yes, I think that question would be fine. But that’s because it’s focused on providing Ryan “the chance to explain his position.” And that’s my point, which you seem to have elided above. It doesn’t matter whether a question assumes an unsatisfactory answer, an ideologically problematical answer or the most brilliant answer possible in the most brilliant of possible worlds. The irresponsible thing about the question is just that it assumes _ **a particular** _ answer. And in this case, a particular answer of a broadly stereotypical stripe. Again, it’s the reporter’s business to find out who, what, where, when, why and how, and then to report and possibly explain that information to the public. It may even be the reporter’s job to analyze the info and place it in a particular context (depending on the type of story). It’s not the reporter’s job to _tell_ the interviewee (or the viewer/reader) what (s)he is thinking is in the guise of asking about it. -Particularly when they’re pitching straw, as the reporter in question was doing by implying Ryan believes he can shore up law enforcement by: > [@Actual ABC Reporter](#): > > And you can do all that by cutting taxes? By…with a big tax cut? In other words, **Reporter** is pretending Ryan’s expressed methodology for improving any given social policy priority is _through the mechanism_ of tax reduction, which even to Paul Ryan is ridiculous and insulting. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7206 "2012-10-10T19:46:44Z")
Congress critter Paul Broun, member of Committee on Science, Space and Technology, says evolution and ideas that the earth is 4 billion years old are [“lies, straight from the pit of hell.”](http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/10/congressman-draws-fire-for-calling-evolution-big-bang-lies-from-the-pit-of-hell/?hpt=hp_t2) I think he’s confused. The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology is not supposed to be a debate about whether science should exist or not. That’s taken as a given, is my understanding. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7207 "2012-10-10T20:31:40Z")
Psst . . .post 7116 You gotta catch up! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7208 "2012-10-10T20:38:42Z")
CNN Political Ticker - yesterday’s news tomorrow! Totally their fault. Not mine. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7209 "2012-10-11T15:20:03Z")
[House Republicans let us (and our enemies) in on a secret:](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-letting-us-in-on-a-secret/2012/10/10/ba3136ca-132b-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_story.html) > [@](#): > > When House Republicans called a hearing in the middle of their long recess, you knew it would be something big, and indeed it was: They accidentally blew the CIA’s cover. > > The purpose of Wednesday’s hearing of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee was to examine security lapses that led to the killing in Benghazi last month of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three others. But in doing so, the lawmakers reminded us why “congressional intelligence” is an oxymoron. > > Through their outbursts, cryptic language and boneheaded questioning of State Department officials, the committee members left little doubt that one of the two compounds at which the Americans were killed, described by the administration as a “consulate” and a nearby “annex,” was a CIA base. They did this, helpfully, in a televised public hearing… ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7210 "2012-10-11T16:39:31Z")
I guess only blowing CIA covers accidentally is progress over them doing it maliciously (Valerie Plame). ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7211 "2012-10-11T16:49:35Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > [House Republicans let us (and our enemies) in on a secret:](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-letting-us-in-on-a-secret/2012/10/10/ba3136ca-132b-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_story.html) Same Yahoos who voted to reduce funding for embassy security. > **[Jason Chaffetz Admits House GOP Cut Funding For Embassy Security: 'You Have...](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jason-chaffetz-embassy_n_1954912)** > > Jason Chaffetz Admits House GOP Cut Funding For Embassy Security: 'You Have To Prioritize Things' ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7212 "2012-10-11T16:51:10Z")
Mitt Romney has [some odd views](http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/10/11/health-care-called-choice.html) on health care in this country, IMO: > [@Mitt Romney](#): > > We don’t have a setting across this country where if you don’t have insurance, we just say to you, “Tough luck, you’re going to die when you have your heart attack,”… No, you go to the hospital, you get treated, you get care, and it’s paid for, either by charity, the government or by the hospital. We don’t have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don’t have insurance. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7213 "2012-10-11T16:53:35Z")
[http://theater.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/theater/reviews/lewis-black-running-on-empty-at-richard-rodgers-theater.html](http://theater.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/theater/reviews/lewis-black-running-on-empty-at-richard-rodgers-theater.html) > [@](#): > > But he admits that complaints that he doesn’t do enough jokes about Democrats are well founded, for the obvious reason that Democrats just aren’t that funny. > > For surefire proof he includes a hilarious bit about a Republican lawmaker in Indiana who was the lone member of the state House to oppose a resolution celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts. After doing a “small amount of Web-based research,” this fellow apparently decided that those Thin Mint-selling tykes are part of a homosexuality-promoting “radicalized institution.” No Democrat is likely to top that for lunacy any time soon. Is that lunacy even in the top 50 of this thread? ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7214 "2012-10-11T16:54:29Z")
A staffer in a Romney campaign office in Bedford, Virginia [has some very interesting ideas](http://www.progressive.org/meet-romney-extremist-in-virginia) about how to address poverty: > [@](#): > > “Look, there’s always something you can do. You telling me people can’t make a choice for a better life? We have to help all of them? No. I’ll tell you what really need to do with these illegitimate families on welfare—give all the kids up for adoption and execute the parents.” > > I stare at him and blink in a glaze of shock. > > Just to be sure I heard him right, I ask him to repeat it, twice. > > "Yes, I mean it. Get rid of all of them, give the kids up for adoption, execute the parents, and you get rid of the problem.” (When I call him back to revisit the issue, he elaborates: “put the children up for adoption and execute the parents, and word would get out soon” that poor people shouldn’t have kids.) He later sent a letter to The Progressive attacking them for misrepresenting him: > [@](#): > > The Title and Subtitle of what was put on the Progressive Website read, “Meet a Romney Extremist in Virginia - A staffer in a Romney campaign office wants to execute parents on welfare and give their kids up for adoption.” > > I did not say that I wanted to execute parents on welfare and give their kids up for adoption. > > I said that it would be better to execute the parents of an illegitimate child and put their child up for adoption. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7215 "2012-10-11T16:57:11Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Congress critter Paul Broun, member of Committee on Science, Space and Technology, says evolution and ideas that the earth is 4 billion years old are [“lies, straight from the pit of hell.”](http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/10/congressman-draws-fire-for-calling-evolution-big-bang-lies-from-the-pit-of-hell/?hpt=hp_t2) > > I think he’s confused. The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology is not supposed to be a debate about whether science should exist or not. That’s taken as a given, is my understanding. Somebody figure out what med school he went to and revoke its accreditation. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7216 "2012-10-11T17:03:49Z")
Didn’t that Akins guy also say he got his information about women being able to self-abort in cases of rape from a doctor, too? I want to meet that “doctor,” assuming he exists… ---
**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:** [October 11, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7217 "2012-10-11T17:07:06Z")
There is _a_ doctor who’s been pushing the theory for years but IIRC Akin got hos “information” from an anti-abortion pamphlet. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7218 "2012-10-11T17:12:03Z")
Jeff Flake, GOP congressman and candidate for John Kyl’s Senate seat, has promised not to sign Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge. A fine proposition, with just one small problem; [He has already signed it.](http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/10/11/990771/jeff-flake-norquist-tax-pledge/) ---
**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:** [October 11, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7219 "2012-10-11T17:16:07Z")
It’s possible that Norquist lied. Just saying. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7220 "2012-10-11T19:23:49Z")
Somehow, this story seems like the Platonic ideal of this thread: > [@](#): > > [Woman Tells Police Being a Republican Should Keep Her Out of Jail](http://westdesmoines.patch.com/articles/woman-jailed-after-allegedly-telling-west-des-moines-police-they-couldn-t-arrest-her-because-she-s-a-republican) > > …Authorities were called to P.F. Chang’s China Bistro at Jordan Creek Town Center about 3:45 p.m. Friday after restaurant employees tried to eject Hunziker for upsetting other diners with her political rant, according to a report on file at the West Des Moines Police Department. > > Officer Chris Morgan said in his report that when he arrived, Hunziker reportedly yelled at him and said he didn’t need to be there because “she was a Republican.”… > > The woman’s daughter proclaimed her mother “an embarrassment” and walked out of the restaurant, the witness said. When restaurant employees asked Hunziker to leave, she “got in the employees’ face and told them that she had rights and was refusing to leave.” > > After the woman told Morgan she was a Republican, he told her that he couldn’t just leave – a statement she reportedly argued, according to the officer’s narrative of the encounter. The report said Hunziker kicked, screamed and struggled as Morgan and a backup officer tried to handcuff her and place her in the squad car… One comment on the story notes: Good thing the cop wasn’t a Republican or she might have gone on top of the car. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=360) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=362)