# 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:** 447
**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:** [March 9, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8921 "2013-03-09T00:36:37Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Link? So sorry. Simply forgot. This is the link where I saw the story, even though a number of others have provided it. I was posting while a drank a glass of water to cool off from shoveling snow and went back outside. [http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/03/08/kansas-bill-would-ban-abortion-clinic-employees-from-bringing-cupcakes-to-their-childs-school/](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/03/08/kansas-bill-would-ban-abortion-clinic-employees-from-bringing-cupcakes-to-their-childs-school/) ---
**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:** [March 9, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8922 "2013-03-09T01:18:45Z")
**Pamela Geller: CPAC Is “Enforcing the Shariah”** > **[Pamela Geller: CPAC Is “Enforcing the Shariah”](https://www.alternet.org/2013/03/pamela-geller-cpac-enforcing-shariah)** > > Anti-Islam bloggers have a bizarre theory for their CPAC snubs. I, too, think many of the Teahadists act like the most radical of Muslims. Interesting to see someone from the far (very far) right agree. > [@](#): > > Right Wing Watch reports that Geller was speaking on “The Janet Mefferd Show” about her recent snub from this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, at which she usually holds an unofficial panel. “This year I could not get an event, I was banned,” she said, though also noted that in the past, “I wasn’t warmly welcomed because of the influence of what can only be described as Muslim Brotherhood facilitators or operatives like [ex-Bush staffer and Muslim] Suhail Khan and [anti-tax conservative] Grover Norquist.” Grover Norquist - the Muslim Brotherhood facilitator. hehehehe ---
**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:** [March 9, 2013, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8923 "2013-03-09T01:26:04Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > Grover Norquist - the Muslim Brotherhood facilitator. hehehehe They say that because he’s married to a Muslim woman. Which is an unforgivable taint, to them. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8924 "2013-03-09T03:25:39Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > They say that because he’s married to a Muslim woman. Which is an unforgivable taint, to them. Unforgivable Taint - [del]Ba…[/del] - Naw, not gonna do it. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8925 "2013-03-10T20:54:18Z")
[House GOP proposes a budget that assumes Obamacare will be repealed.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/10/paul-ryan-obamacare-repeal-gop-budget_n_2847843.html) Even Chris Wallace of Fox thought that was a dumb thing to assume. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8926 "2013-03-11T16:34:10Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I hadn’t realized until this story that O’Keefe even faked the pimp outfit; He must have pimped up before or after the ACORN visit and cut it in the pimp dress footage later. He wore a normal suit and tie when he visited ACORN. Thanks for the new (to me) information. If there were real justice, he’d get a judgment that would include a requirement that he may not wear anything other than the pimp outfit for a few years. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8927 "2013-03-11T17:04:17Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I hadn’t realized until this story that O’Keefe even faked the pimp outfit; He must have pimped up before or after the ACORN visit and cut it in the pimp dress footage later. He wore a normal suit and tie when he visited ACORN. Thanks for the new (to me) information. Yeah, you’d think that the liberal-biased “lamestream” media would have hammered that point home… ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8928 "2013-03-11T17:15:58Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > They say that because he’s married to a Muslim woman. Which is an unforgivable taint, to them. Taint misbehavin’? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8929 "2013-03-11T17:45:57Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > **Kansas Bill Would Ban Abortion Clinic Employees From ‘Bringing Cupcakes’ To Their Child’s School** What you’re missing is that because it’s in scare quotes, “Bringing Cupcakes” is obviously a euphemism for staging a donkey show. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8930 "2013-03-11T18:18:59Z")
Someone at [breitbart.com](http://breitbart.com) reported on Paul Krugman filing for bankruptcy. One small problem, [it’s not true](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/03/11/breitbart_the_daily_currant_conservative_outlet_tricked_by_same_satirical.html). The story originated at the Daily Currant. Oddly, just last month someone at [breitbart.com](http://breitbart.com) chastised the Washington Post for falling for a satirical story that also originated at the Daily Currant. And in that case, the Post admitted the error and issued a correction. After breitbart fell for a hoax, they just deleted the story with no comment. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8931 "2013-03-11T19:03:35Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > A discussion as to the dangers and benefits of home birthing probably needs to take place on the IMHO board. Last I read, infant mortality is twice as high in home births than in hospitals in the US (though extraneous variables may be at play since COBRA doesn’t cover pregnancies without complications, so people may simply not be able to afford to give birth in a hospital). > [@user\_hostile](#): > > It’s lead loss item. They make their money with contraception and popcorn in the lobby. Actually, I heard most of their profit comes from adverts on the back of the vacuum (presumably for Gun Grabbing classes, Liberal Hollywood movies and Union made cakes). ---
**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:** [March 12, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8932 "2013-03-12T17:30:30Z")
[Oops – did I say that out loud?](http://www.buzzfeed.com/dorsey/paul-ryan-accidentally-says-he-is-destroying-the-health-care) [QUOTE=Paul Ryan] This is something we will not give up on because we are not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Michael Kinsley] A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth - some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say. [/QUOTE] ---
**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:** [March 12, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8933 "2013-03-12T18:52:23Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > \*\*Last I read, infant mortality is twice as high in home births than in hospitals in the US \*\*(though extraneous variables may be at play since COBRA doesn’t cover pregnancies without complications, so people may simply not be able to afford to give birth in a hospital). > > _Actually, I heard most of their profit comes from adverts on the back of the vacuum (presumably for Gun Grabbing classes, Liberal Hollywood movies and Union made cakes)._ 1. **Wrong** [http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1898316,00.html](http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1898316,00.html) > [@](#): > > _ **snip** _"The most comprehensive study of this was published in the British Medical Journal in 2005," says Melissa Cheyney, an assistant professor of anthropology at OSU and a practicing midwife herself. “It showed that for low-risk [home] births in the U.S. and Canada, the infant mortality rate was roughly 1.7 per 1,000, or about the same as it is in hospitals.” _ **snip** _ > [@](#): > > But when you don’t have a lot of medical intervention, you also tend to have more breast-feeding and reduced rates of postpartum depression." Cheyney acknowledges that the kinds of mothers who choose midwifery might be the very kinds who would be less inclined to suffer postpartum depression or nursing problems in the first place, and her study addressed such so-called sampling bias. > > “We do think [sampling bias] is true for about half of them,” she says. “We see women who are very well-educated and healthier to begin with and that helps them have better outcomes having home delivery. But the other big group is the uninsured or underinsured. They tend to have poor outcomes in the medical establishment but do better with home care or birthing center care.” Again, though, those better results do not mean that the risk of infant mortality is lowered with home birth, but that the postpartum health of the mother and baby may be improved. Parenthetically: > [@](#): > > For a society as technologically far along as the U.S., we do a surprisingly poor job of looking after our tiniest members. About 99% of all births in the U.S. take place in hospitals, yet we rank 29th in the world in infant mortality — below Hungary and tied with Slovakia and Poland — with 6.71 deaths per 1,000 live births. That compares to a rate of about 3.5 deaths per 1,000 live births in Far Eastern and Scandinavian countries such as Singapore, Japan, Norway and Sweden. 1. _WTF???_ ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8934 "2013-03-12T19:00:35Z")
Sorry, your cite refers to _low-risk_ home births, which is essentially backing up the second clause of my first sentence. The source I got the figures from was [this](http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/home-birth-safety/). My second sentence was presumably a Poe: I was combining the joke user\_hostile made about popcorn in the waiting rooms with a reference to the fact that the profit from movie showings mostly derives from advertising revenue. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8935 "2013-03-12T19:11:53Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > … since COBRA doesn’t cover pregnancies without complications, so people may simply not be able to afford to give birth in a hospital)… I’d like a cite for this, since having used COBRA, to the best of my knowledge it’s completely wrong. COBRA allows you to continue the identical health insurance you had with your last employer, it’s not some special cut-rate emergency medical care only package. If pregnancy was included in your regular insurance, it would be included under COBRA. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8936 "2013-03-12T19:36:33Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > Sorry, your cite refers to _low-risk_ home births, which is essentially backing up the second clause of my first sentence. The source I got the figures from was [this](http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/home-birth-safety/). > > My second sentence was presumably a Poe: I was combining the joke user\_hostile made about popcorn in the waiting rooms with a reference to the fact that the profit from movie showings mostly derives from advertising revenue. Of course home births should be limited to low risk cases. Only a fool or a poor person would avoid a hospital in the case of a high risk pregnancy. The main benefits of home birth occur after the birth, but are definite. My parenthetical points out that even though healthcare costs twice as much in the USA, we do a God awful job of avoiding infant mortality. Another study with some details: [http://www.homebirth.net.au/2008/06/homebirth-vs-hospital-statistics-to-die.html](http://www.homebirth.net.au/2008/06/homebirth-vs-hospital-statistics-to-die.html) Poe? ---
**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:** [March 12, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8937 "2013-03-12T20:44:56Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > [House GOP proposes a budget that assumes Obamacare will be repealed.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/10/paul-ryan-obamacare-repeal-gop-budget_n_2847843.html) > > Even Chris Wallace of Fox thought that was a dumb thing to assume. It gets worse than that - [the latest iteration of the Ryan budget repeals the parts of Obamacare that actually expand healthcare coverage and protections, but _keeps_ the Medicare cuts and tax increases that pay for it.](http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/03/12/1703791/ryan-doesnt-repeal-obamacare-maintains-cuts-and-taxes-eliminates-benefits/) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8938 "2013-03-12T21:15:41Z")
They put their ideas to the people, and the people handed them their asses. Which means now is the time to press their advantage! I dunno, _you_ go figure. Does he know its all horseshit, but needs to keep himself the focus of his base for a couple more years? Does he think that if he states it again, very slowly and carefully, everybody is going to suddenly come around to his way of thinking? Does he look at analysis and criticism from others and just figure they’re all lying? I figure it like this: in order to get even this shabby effort passed, Obama had to agree to put all the ugly stuff first, and not actualize the stuff most likely to meet the publics approval untll next year. The Pubbies figured that it was so unpopular, they could repeal it before it ever got to that point. But if they don’t do it damn soon, then the stuff so many people like will take effect, and the long slow slide to socialized medicine shall begin. Put simply, they’re panicking. They made a bet that they could win this last election with Tea Party Outrage jet fuel. But they didn’t. Ooopsy-Daisy, time for Plan B. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8939 "2013-03-12T21:17:16Z")
Another ‘vaginas how the fuck do they work’ moment. > [@](#): > > Speaking before the State House was one Mike Frey, a “concerned Minnesotan and father and a husband,” who appears to be under the tragically ignorant impression that A) only married people have sex, B) unprotected vaginal sex cannot transmit HIV because the vagina has a “barrier” that protects it from such diseases, and C) the mere act of unprotected anal sex (which only gay men have) causes AIDS. [http://gawker.com/5990204/marriage-equality-opponent-tells-minnesota-lawmakers-that-vaginas-repel-aids-while-gay-anal-sex-causes-it](http://gawker.com/5990204/marriage-equality-opponent-tells-minnesota-lawmakers-that-vaginas-repel-aids-while-gay-anal-sex-causes-it) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/8940 "2013-03-12T21:18:07Z")
Except there \*is \*no Plan B, as we now see. The \*only \*plan, ever, was and remains to simply oppose the 20th century. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=446) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=448)