# 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:** 392
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7821 "2012-12-06T23:02:12Z")
> [@yanceylebeef](#): > > If there was ever a concrete example of why the current filibuster is broken this is it… > > Mitch McConnell had to[filibuster his own bill today](http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/mcconnell-filibusters-his-own-bill-to-lift-debt-limit.php?ref=fpa) when the Democrats called his bluff. > > Awesome! Wait, I don’t get it. Why did McConnell propose a bill in the first place to let Obama have control of the debt ceiling if he didn’t want it in the first place? Couldn’t he have proven his point with a bill he supports? ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7822 "2012-12-06T23:07:33Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Shit, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn someone somewhere has full transcripts of my pillow talk. Help me out here. What night are we talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7823 "2012-12-06T23:39:44Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Wait, I don’t get it. Why did McConnell propose a bill in the first place to let Obama have control of the debt ceiling if he didn’t want it in the first place? Couldn’t he have proven his point with a bill he supports? He was grandstanding, trying to show that even the Dems wouldn’t support handing that authority over to the President. He didn’t expect them to try to put it to a vote. Which, of course, is further evidence (if anyone needed it) that the man is a fool and a living caricature of a partisan hack. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7824 "2012-12-07T04:02:12Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Help me out here. What night are we talking about? Don’t you remember? I mean, I thought you were there. Get the transcript, Candy. Per the transcript, I was not there. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7825 "2012-12-07T15:40:05Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Wait, I don’t get it. Why did McConnell propose a bill in the first place to let Obama have control of the debt ceiling if he didn’t want it in the first place? Couldn’t he have proven his point with a bill he supports? It really was a gift to Harry Ried. When the Dems change the filibuster rules for the next congress, McConnell filibustering his own bill will be exhibit A as to why this is long overdue. When the republicans whine and moan over it, the response will be “Well maybe if you hadn’t been such jerks about it, it wouldn’t have come to this. Which of his own bills is this reform going to prevent the minority leader from filibustering, anyway?” ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7826 "2012-12-07T15:52:26Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Wait, I don’t get it. Why did McConnell propose a bill in the first place to let Obama have control of the debt ceiling if he didn’t want it in the first place? Couldn’t he have proven his point with a bill he supports? His idea was that they would not get the 60 votes needed to over come a filibuster vote, forgetting that it only needed a 51-vote majority to pass. Harry Reid moved to put it to an immediate up-or-down vote and McConnell shat himself on the Senate floor (that may not even be metaphorically). End result: McConnell ends up fillibustering his own bill and gives Dems an X-mas present that will keep on giving. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7827 "2012-12-07T18:22:41Z")
**[Remember when the NRSC was done with Akin](http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/12/remember-when-the-nrsc-was-done-with-akin-151375.html)** \*\*Highlights:dubious: \*\* Sen John Cornyn, the National Repub Senate Committee Chair said they were done with Akin after the legitimate rape comments. Turns out the NRSC sent $750,000.00 at the last minute in November to help him out. Lied about abandoning support.:eek: Dumped money into a campaign they lost by FIFTEEN points.:rolleyes:😃 The NRSC refused to say if it was involved at the time the cash was infused. Cornyn and others refused to say whether the NRSC was involved at all with the funds post election. Finally comes to light after campaign filings. Then Cornyn still gets elected to Republican Senate post #2, minority whip, after losing seats in the Senate when they expected to pick up same. Expecting change in the Republicans? Women? Honesty? What? ---
**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:** [December 7, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7828 "2012-12-07T18:23:38Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > His idea was that they would not get the 60 votes needed to over come a filibuster vote, forgetting that it only needed a 51-vote majority to pass. Harry Reid moved to put it to an immediate up-or-down vote and McConnell shat himself on the Senate floor (that may not even be metaphorically). > > End result: McConnell ends up fillibustering his own bill and gives Dems an X-mas present that will keep on giving. 😃 Seems he could have saved himself a _little_ embarrassment by having a different Pubbie Senator say the magic words… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7829 "2012-12-07T18:30:33Z")
“Please” and “Fuck you!”? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7830 "2012-12-07T19:42:22Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > His idea was that they would not get the 60 votes needed to over come a filibuster vote, forgetting that it only needed a 51-vote majority to pass. I don’t know if it is such a good for a fellow who can not count to make a major money bill. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7831 "2012-12-07T21:36:37Z")
> [@rogerbox](#): > > I thought the proof that Fox was colluding with the Republican party was in the elections a few days ago when they kept referring to it as “we”? Do you (or anyone lses) by any chance have a cite for this? I’ve heard it a lot but since I watched PBS on election night I missed it, and would like to see it first hand. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7832 "2012-12-07T22:32:08Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Do you (or anyone lses) by any chance have a cite for this? I’ve heard it a lot but since I watched PBS on election night I missed it, and would like to see it first hand. Not the best example but: > **[Fox's Gretchen Carlson: "Do We Need A Better Mouthpiece For The Republicans?"](https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends/foxs-gretchen-carlson-do-we-need-better-mouthpiece-republicans)** > > From the December 6 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends: I will try to find the specific video I saw when I’m at home, but one of the women on Fox specifically referred to “we” or “us” when talking about the Republicans’ loss. I saw it myself and thought it was shameful, but at least honest for once. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7833 "2012-12-09T19:35:33Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/4pvqYiXoIE8/hqdefault.jpg "Republicans own Fox News: Admission by Bush Apologist Robert G. Kaufman") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pvqYiXoIE8) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uL86LRA0-8Q/hqdefault.jpg "Fair and Balanced? Fox Reporter on Republicans: "We're Not Divided."") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL86LRA0-8Q) [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVFHOusYp0A) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8MgQ2pKDwkI/hqdefault.jpg "Fox-Fueled "We Built It" Distortion on Display as Republican National Convention Theme") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MgQ2pKDwkI) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qkAn_qJdgBs/hqdefault.jpg "FOX News Cuts Off President Obama's QA With GOP") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkAn_qJdgBs) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7834 "2012-12-09T19:58:27Z")
Taps talk converts all linking text to images. Would anyone care to summarize what that series of links is about? ---
**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:** [December 9, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7835 "2012-12-09T20:23:51Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Taps talk converts all linking text to images. Would anyone care to summarize what that series of links is about? Just evidence that Fox really really really wanted Romney and the Republicans to win. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7836 "2012-12-09T20:37:24Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Taps talk converts all linking text to images. Would anyone care to summarize what that series of links is about? The second one is the best - where the Fox News person refers to the Republicans as “we”. Others show a varying degree of connection of Faux News to the GOP. I thought I had responded with a quote to the person, but I see I did not - sorry. Tiny little bit of time for editing long past. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7837 "2012-12-09T20:39:13Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Taps talk converts all linking text to images. Would anyone care to summarize what that series of links is about? [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pvqYiXoIE8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pvqYiXoIE8) Robert G Kaufman in 2009 saying on C-Span that the best thing the Republican party could do would be to “acquire” ANOTHER television network so it’s not just FOX, but multiple sources of information that will do a much better job than in 2008. [http://youtu.be/uL86LRA0-8Q?t=20s](http://youtu.be/uL86LRA0-8Q?t=20s) Media Matters audio only file of Todd Sterns (FOX News reporter) Saying “If you listen to the mainstream media, the Republican Party is divided. WE’RE not divided…” Later he says, “I think WE’RE going to come out of this stronger…” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVFHOusYp0A](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVFHOusYp0A) Ten minute compilation of election night reactions from Bill O’Reilly (“no longer living in Traditional America ['cos people want STUFF]”); Karl Rove (arguing that the outstanding Republican precincts in Hamilton County will surely throw Ohio to Mitt) Megan something-or-other walking down to the decision room to get the analyst’s to explain why they think Rove is full of shit; some anchor coming up with an ELECTION ALERT!!! FOX News is now projecting that Obama takes Ohio They dither among each other for a while about what this portends, and finally admit that it means Obama’s been reelected (but insisting that there were a buttload of reasons why he shouldn’t have). [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MgQ2pKDwkI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MgQ2pKDwkI) Another audio-only clip from Media Matters: tracing the several days that FOX News devoted to distorting President Obama’s “You didn’t build that” quote into a sound-byte attacking businessmen in general, and linking it to the RNC thems turning out to be “We Built This.” [http://youtu.be/qkAn\_qJdgBs](http://youtu.be/qkAn_qJdgBs) A 2010 video compilation about Roger Ailes justifying cutting the FOX News feed during a Q&A President Obama was having with GOP leaders. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7838 "2012-12-10T09:38:13Z")
Here’s Roger `Fox is the most trusted news source’ Ailes claiming in 2010 that Glen Beck’s mention of slaughter referred to Hitler and Stalin, though Beck was clear that he referred to Obama Administration: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ooPOmlm81Ro/hqdefault.jpg "Fox News President Roger Ailes Caught Lying: Defends Glenn Beck's Smears") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooPOmlm81Ro) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7839 "2012-12-10T09:51:03Z")
I just posted a 3-year old stupidity from Roger Ailes, despite that this thread is “Stupid Republican idea of the day.” Am I hijacking? If not, here’s a 5-year old stupidity that continues to astound me. I posted it a few days ago in the “GOP … insanity” thread but “stupidity” fits it better. Sam Brownback, once a prestigious GOP candidate for President, denied believing in evolution (though he tried to appeal to rationalists [with a letter to the N.Y. Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/opinion/31brownback.html) in which he admitted that he believed in “microevolution, small changes over time within a species”). I don’t think Brownback was hoping for voters among N.Y. Times readers; he was presumably trying to appeal to main-stream commentators who might read his letter and decide Brownback wasn’t as stupid as the rest. But wasn’t it bizarrely stupid for him to bother with such a letter if his concession to science was only to accept changes “within a species”? 😕 Was Darwin’s book named _Origin of (Microbreeds Within a) Species_ ? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/7840 "2012-12-10T12:46:41Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Sam Brownback, once a prestigious GOP candidate for President, denied believing in evolution (though he tried to appeal to rationalists [with a letter to the N.Y. Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/opinion/31brownback.html) in which he admitted that he believed in “microevolution, small changes over time within a species”). Actually, that puts him to the right of many Bible literalists. > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Genesis, KJV: > > 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Young-earth creationists usually interpret “kind” as much broader than species — probably more like family. So they accept evolution from dingo to jackal to fox to wolf to poodle, or sabertooth cat to pussycat — which appears to go beyond Brownback’s view. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=391) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=393)