# 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:** 540
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10781 "2013-10-01T20:54:26Z")
I see that there is at least one opinion pole out there that suggest that the present close up of the federal government is doing the Republican Party all sorts of harm. The problem is that the general opinion of the party can just about drop through the floor nationally and still not adversely affect the re-electability of the 80 or so Congressmen who are driving the effort simply because, by deliberate Gerrymandering or accident of geography and demographics, those Representatives come from districts so red that a yellow dog would be elected if it ran as a Republican. For instance, our own dear Representative Steve King (ex-farm implement dealer, Kiron, Iowa), one of the leading wind bags and thinkers of great thoughts of the movement, represents a wide and pretty much depopulated swath of fertile prairie covering a fair part of Western and North Central Iowa. The district is just about the most rural, elderly, conservative Protestant (read: Dutch Reform), Northern European white and under educated one could imagine. These people vote Republican because Lincoln won the war. The irony is that a big percentage is getting federal agricultural subsidies, social security and Medicare. Our only chance of being shed of Congressman King is that the gradual depopulation of his district and the general demographic shift in the State catch up with him before the Grim Pepper does. There is nothing he can do or say that will lose him the support of his constituency. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10782 "2013-10-01T20:56:04Z")
Can we just nominate the government shutdown as the Stupid Republican Idea of the Ever and vote to shutdown this thread? I’m almost serious. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10783 "2013-10-01T20:57:15Z")
No, I’m actually morbidly curious to see if it can be topped. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10784 "2013-10-01T20:57:41Z")
Give 'em time. They’ll top it. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10785 "2013-10-01T21:02:37Z")
> [@Spavined\_Gelding](#): > > The problem is that the general opinion of the party can just about drop through the floor nationally and still not adversely affect the re-electability of the 80 or so Congressmen who are driving the effort That’s all of them, you think? That isn’t even a majority of the caucus. But anyway, it only takes 17 seats, loony faction or not as long as they’re Republicans, to flip in 2014 and they’ll be back outside, still howling at the moon. Don’t you think that the 17 weakest of them just might be underwater after this? And don’t lament gerrymandering, necessarily. The process inevitably involves weakening your support by spreading it over more districts. If the tide goes against your party, as is what seems to be happening, you have \*more \*seats vulnerable than if you hadn’t pulled that crap. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10786 "2013-10-01T21:12:51Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > And don’t lament gerrymandering, necessarily. The process inevitably involves weakening your support by spreading it over more districts. If the tide goes against your party, as is what seems to be happening, you have \*more \*seats vulnerable than if you hadn’t pulled that crap. I lament gerrymandering. Even when a party is out of favor nationally, most people like their own particular congress person. Besides, even if gerrymandering eventually overreaches (which isn’t much of a comeuppance), it subverts the will of the people. Its intent is to give greater voice to one party over and above their representation in the populace. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10787 "2013-10-01T23:36:58Z")
Obama conspired to create the Shipyard shooting to distract us from the fact that he was about to be arrested for treason because he got caught planning to set off a nuclear device in Washington, DC as a false flag to get into war with Syria, or something. [Erik Rush: Navy Yard Shooting Carried Out To Prevent Obama From Being Arrested For Treason | Right Wing Watch](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/erik-rush-navy-yard-shooting-carried-out-prevent-obama-being-arrested) :smack: ---
**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:** [October 2, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10788 "2013-10-02T00:00:43Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Can we just nominate the government shutdown as the Stupid Republican Idea of the Ever and vote to shutdown this thread? > > I’m almost serious. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > No, I’m actually morbidly curious to see if it can be topped. > [@elucidator](#): > > Give 'em time. They’ll top it. A partial governmental shut-down is nothing compared to a default on debt payments. Let’s see if the fools cause a default in a few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10789 "2013-10-02T00:06:25Z")
> [@Spavined\_Gelding](#): > > For instance, our own dear Representative Steve King (ex-farm implement dealer, Kiron, Iowa), one of the leading wind bags and thinkers of great thoughts of the movement, represents a wide and pretty much depopulated swath of fertile prairie covering a fair part of Western and North Central Iowa. The district is just about the most rural, elderly, conservative Protestant (read: Dutch Reform) . . . [shrug] So bribe the voters with federal tulip-farm subsidies and gouda-cheese handouts. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10790 "2013-10-02T00:23:34Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > A partial governmental shut-down is nothing compared to a default on debt payments. Let’s see if the fools cause a default in a few weeks. The most disturbing thing is that they can orchestrate all of this with a slim majority in _one_ house of congress, which, taking purely the popular vote, _they should have lost_. How the fuck is the American political system that easy to completely destroy? ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10791 "2013-10-02T00:36:51Z")
> [@Truman\_Burbank](#): > > Obama conspired to create the Shipyard shooting to distract us from the fact that he was about to be arrested for treason because he got caught planning to set off a nuclear device in Washington, DC as a false flag to get into war with Syria, or something. > [Erik Rush: Navy Yard Shooting Carried Out To Prevent Obama From Being Arrested For Treason | People For](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/erik-rush-navy-yard-shooting-carried-out-prevent-obama-being-arrested) :smack: Wow. That is some world-class nonconsensual reality going on right there. One small step away from an Onion article. (Remember when we didn’t have The Onion as a ‘gold standard’? Remember when we didn’t need one?) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10792 "2013-10-02T00:39:22Z")
Stupid/Clever-as-a-Fox lying to achieve political points: > **[Political committees look to capitalize on shutdown](https://www.yahoo.com/news/political-committees-try-to-capitalize-on-shutdown-201949042.html)** > > As lawmakers across Washington try to deflect blame for the first federal government shutdown in 17 years, their political operatives are trying to capitalize on the stalemate. > [@](#): > > The National Republican Congressional Committee, which funds GOP House campaigns, tried to use the peaceful takeover of the World War II Memorial to gather email addresses. > > “DEMOCRATS SHUT DOWN WWII MEMORIAL,” the NRCC wrote in font normally reserved for funny cat photos. “GREATEST GENERATION STORMS THROUGH ANYWAYS.” ---
**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:** [October 2, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10793 "2013-10-02T00:40:41Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > The most disturbing thing is that they can orchestrate all of this with a slim majority in _one_ house of congress, which, taking purely the popular vote, _they should have lost_. How the fuck is the American political system that easy to completely destroy? You might as well ask how five guys with box cutters could highjack a jet with hundreds of people on board. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10794 "2013-10-02T01:17:35Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > The most disturbing thing is that they can orchestrate all of this with a slim majority in _one_ house of congress, which, taking purely the popular vote, _they should have lost_. How the fuck is the American political system that easy to completely destroy? Let’s start thinking about the possibility that it’s a bug, not a feature. ---
**Author:** ![Robb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Robb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robb)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10795 "2013-10-02T01:25:00Z")
I wonder if Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are sleeper agents sent from Cuba to destroy us. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10796 "2013-10-02T01:47:43Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > A partial governmental shut-down is nothing compared to a default on debt payments. Let’s see if the fools cause a default in a few weeks. You’re complaining in the wrong thread. The liberal Senate is the one you should be complaining about; they have not passed a budget bill since 2009. And yet they sit and whine about how the evil Republicans are causing a crisis. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10797 "2013-10-02T02:14:45Z")
You suck Republicants. Temper tantrum throwing assholes: > [@](#): > > [The Saddest Paragraph You'll Read About the Government Shutdown Today - The Atlantic](http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/10/the-saddest-paragraph-youll-read-about-the-government-shutdown-today/280174/) > > At the National Institutes of Health, nearly three-quarters of the staff was furloughed. One result: director Francis Collins said about 200 patients who otherwise would be admitted to the NIH Clinical Center into clinical trials each week will be turned away. This includes about 30 children, most of them cancer patients, he said. You’re all so “pro-life” you’ll delay cancer treatment for little kids so the fucking one-percenters don’t have to pay more in taxes. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10798 "2013-10-02T02:17:50Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > You suck Republicants. Temper tantrum throwing assholes: > > You’re all so “pro-life” you’ll delay cancer treatment for little kids so the fucking one-percenters don’t have to pay more in taxes. It’s only “pro-life” until birth. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10799 "2013-10-02T02:18:02Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > You’re complaining in the wrong thread. The liberal Senate is the one you should be complaining about; they have not passed a budget bill since 2009. And yet they sit and whine about how the evil Republicans are causing a crisis. And you are blithering in the wrong thread. As I just posted over [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16716942&postcount=1179) Harry Reid has been proposing a conference to work out differences on the budget for months. The Republicans have consistently refused. Dipshit. ---
**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:** [October 2, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/10800 "2013-10-02T02:19:04Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > You’re complaining in the wrong thread. The liberal Senate is the one you should be complaining about; they have not passed a budget bill since 2009. You have been misinformed, again: > [@](#): > > After an all-night debate that ended just before 5 a.m., the Senate on Saturday adopted its first budget in four years, a $3.7 trillion blueprint for 2014 that would provide a fast track for passage of tax increases, trim spending modestly and leave the government still deeply in the red a decade from now. > **[Senate Passes $3.7 Trillion Budget, Setting Up Contentious Negotiations...](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/us/politics/senate-passes-3-7-trillion-budget-its-first-in-4-years.html)** > > The 50-to-49 vote early Saturday sets up contentious — and potentially fruitless — negotiations with the Republican-dominated House to reconcile two vastly different visions for dealing with America’s economic and budgetary problems. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=539) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=541)