# 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:** 558
**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:** [October 15, 2013, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11141 "2013-10-15T07:49:59Z")
[Obamacare is much like slavery.](http://www.salon.com/2013/10/14/ignorant_tea_party_outrage_sarah_palins_latest_obamacare_lie/singleton/) [QUOTE=Dr. Ben Carson, African-American Fox News contributor] [Obamacare is] the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery. And it is slavery, it is, in a way, slavery, because it is making all of us subservient. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Sarah Palin, leading GOP candidate and intellectual] What Barack Obama seems to want is to go back before those days when we were in different classes based on different incomes, based on color of skin. [/QUOTE] (I think she slipped up on her intended meaning with her preposition choice, but I’m sure that’s part of her appealing humility.) Former Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives William O’Brien has compared healthcare reform to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. And > [@](#): > > Ted Cruz goes a step further. He claims that only the South can save American freedom and defeat Obamacare. And why does the Texas Senator resent the handful of Republicans from outside the South who have clamored for an end to the government shutdown? Because for southern politicians, still steeped in a nostalgia for the unequal, impoverished Confederacy, the government shutdown is a stand-in for secession. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11142 "2013-10-15T08:48:55Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > [Obamacare is much like slavery.](http://www.salon.com/2013/10/14/ignorant_tea_party_outrage_sarah_palins_latest_obamacare_lie/singleton/) > > (I think she slipped up on her intended meaning with her preposition choice, but I’m sure that’s part of her appealing humility.) > > Former Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives William O’Brien has compared healthcare reform to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. After many years of looking at the issue I have concluded that they are worse than liars, they are borderline criminals telling people to endure less freedoms and to live under more fear with the current irrational health care that we have. Link to a post of mine from 2009 with supporting links: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11563954&postcount=43](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11563954&postcount=43) TL : DNR: We have less freedom in the US now. Many Americans do not have freedom from the fear… of going bankrupt for health reasons. Many Americans do not have the freedom to seek a different job or to work on their own. Many Americans (and foreign companies) have less freedom to start a company in the USA thanks to the health care cost. \*\* People who are against changes to the current American health care system, are actually in favor of Americans having less freedoms. \*\* ---
**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:** [October 15, 2013, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11143 "2013-10-15T08:55:30Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > And here’s the latest attempt by the right to undermine the ACA - which is not only stupid itself, but assumes its target demographic are stupid; > > [Koch-funded ad campaign tells millennials to “opt out” of getting health insurance.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2013/09/23/creepy-uncle-sam-asks-young-adults-to-opt-out-of-obamacare/) And the “best” part is that it’s the GOP that are the party of mandatory intravaginal ultrasounds for women wanting abortions, which is a helluva lot closer to what that ad portrays than Obamacare is. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11144 "2013-10-15T08:59:42Z")
[QUOTE=septimus] [Obamacare is much like slavery.](http://www.salon.com/2013/10/14/ignorant_tea_party_outrage_sarah_palins_latest_obamacare_lie/singleton/) [/QUOTE] Well, when you think about it (although he’d really prefer you didn’t), Obamacare is just like a very specific kind of slavery where you don’t get beaten, raped, made to perform back-breaking labour you aren’t paid for, precluded from assiociating or speaking or voting, and once in a while get forcibly separated from your family. And don’t get any healthcare. Oh, and it doesn’t make you subservient in any way. But other than that, it’s exactly like slavery. ---
**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 15, 2013, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11145 "2013-10-15T10:26:08Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > It’s a fake. No real news site is reporting this. “[codewit.com](http://codewit.com)” filled with Nigerian news. BrainGlutton, check your cites closer. Seriously. This is ridiculous. If you can’t reason this out better than that, then stay away from the multiple threads where you posted this nonsense. You aren’t helping. [Poe’s Law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law) is the master of us all. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11146 "2013-10-15T13:43:51Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Oh, and it doesn’t make you subservient in any way. Except that you **have** to pay for insurance coverage one or another or be fined. So, it’s exactly like slavery, in the sense that taxation is exactly like slavery. And there are some, including some here, who actually would argue against both in those terms. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11147 "2013-10-15T13:52:41Z")
I haven’t seen anything about the [Truckers Ride for the Constitution](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/11/truckers-ride-for-the-constitution_n_4086156.html). Thousands, possibly millions\*, of Tea Party Truckers decided to protest all things bad by blocking the Beltway in DC > [@](#): > > In an interview with WTVR-TV ahead of Friday’s start, Michael Schaffner of [RideForTheConstitution.org](http://RideForTheConstitution.org) said that the two-party system is causing more grief than good. > > “I’m not all for the divisional structure of Republican and Democrats, because it creates more division within the country,” Schaffner said. I guess they want a one party state? \*the liberal media reports actual number to be 6 ---
**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 15, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11148 "2013-10-15T14:05:19Z")
[How the fuck does anyone defend this shit?](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/13/house-republicans-rules-change_n_4095129.html) The republicans changed the rules of the house of representatives so that the _only_ person who can bring a bill to “privileged” vote is the majority leader. _Wow_. [http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/the-house-gop-s-little-rule-change-that-guaranteed-a-shutdown](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/the-house-gop-s-little-rule-change-that-guaranteed-a-shutdown) Just fucking _wow_. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11149 "2013-10-15T14:08:31Z")
Ahem… > [@saje](#): > > Not stupid, per se, but seriously Not Cool and very underhanded: > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jd-iaYLO1A&feature=youtube\_gdata\_player](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jd-iaYLO1A&feature=youtube_gdata_player) ---
**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 15, 2013, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11150 "2013-10-15T14:08:55Z")
I don’t really understand how that works. Doesn’t the House adopt its rules at the beginning of the session, and not in the middle of it? ---
**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 15, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11151 "2013-10-15T14:14:15Z")
> [@saje](#): > > Ahem… I don’t click youtube links or read more than a page back. One of these is acceptable policy here. ---
**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 15, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11152 "2013-10-15T14:20:00Z")
[http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/14/house-gop-changed-rules-before-shutdown-to-prevent-senate-bill-from-easily-returning-to-house-floor/](http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/14/house-gop-changed-rules-before-shutdown-to-prevent-senate-bill-from-easily-returning-to-house-floor/) > [@](#): > > House Republicans see the issue differently, saying that their rule change simply ensures that what they see as the Senate’s refusal to negotiate is not rewarded with control of the House floor. > > “The House acted in good faith to open up negotiations with Senate Democrats but Majority Leader Harry Reid dismissed the idea of bipartisan talks,” said Doug Andres, spokesman for the majority on the House Rules Committee. “That partisan refusal to negotiate should not be rewarded with control of the House floor. The easiest way to settle this is for both sides to sit down and finally talk.” Are you fucking shitting me? “Rewarded with control of the house floor”? What, you mean to _vote on a fucking bill_ that would almost certainly pass? Dude. These people have balls the size of watermelons. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11153 "2013-10-15T15:08:32Z")
But they have brains the size of testicles. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2013, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11154 "2013-10-15T15:10:28Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > But they have brains the size of testicles. Hmmm… brains the size of testicles, or testicles the size of brains? Tough choice! ---
**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 15, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11155 "2013-10-15T15:36:06Z")
And once again, the House Republicans have attached poison pill clauses attacking Obamacare to the compromise bill that the Senate has approved. This time, they were in such a hurry to get it done that they didn’t even bother to check if their proposal was constitutional. [Turns out it’s not;](http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/10/15/2780121/boehners-latest-shutdown-proposal-unconstitutional/) > [@](#): > > The Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the Constitution provides that “[n]o law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.” A law eliminating federal contributions to congressmembers’ health benefits is a law “varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives.” So it cannot take effect until after the next federal election in November 2014. ---
**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 15, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11156 "2013-10-15T15:39:01Z")
Republicans hate the consequences of the shutdown they caused. (Too bad the TSA and air traffic controllers didn’t get furloughed.) [http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rachel-maddow/53281428#53281428](http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rachel-maddow/53281428#53281428) ---
**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:** [October 15, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11157 "2013-10-15T15:40:35Z")
I just read that to my 1st period Government class. They busted up laughing. Even they knew it was unconstitutional. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11158 "2013-10-15T15:46:22Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > I guess they want a one party state? Or perhaps a multiparty state. ---
**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 15, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11159 "2013-10-15T16:23:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And now [Bachmann is trying to schedule actual impeachment hearings.](http://www.codewit.com/north-america/13034-house-republicans-schedule-obama-impeachment-hearings) **This week.** > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I can’t believe that’s a real story; it has to be a fake. I just can’t believe that even Louie Gohmert is dumb enough to go on record with this: > [@Zakalwe](#): > > It’s a fake. No real news site is reporting this. “[codewit.com](http://codewit.com)” filled with Nigerian news. BrainGlutton, check your cites closer. Seriously. This is ridiculous. If you can’t reason this out better than that, then stay away from the multiple threads where you posted this nonsense. You aren’t helping. > [@GIGObuster](#): > > I have to agree with **Zakalwe** , the closest was a report from the 9th where [The Hill](http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/327491-bachmann-house-could-impeach-dictator-obama)reported that she \*\*could \*\*start impeachment procedures, so just wishful thinking from crazy eyes, no confirmation of actual moves for impeachment. > > Check your sources next time please. Funny you should bring up “sources.” There’s a link right at the end of that story marked “SOURCE.” When I click it, it goes to the story on The Daily Currant. :dubious: Honestly, **BG**. The Republicans put out plenty enough stupid shit to keep us occupied and amused without adding filler from satirists. ---
**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 15, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/11160 "2013-10-15T16:30:02Z")
**House GOPer Slams Pending Deal From ‘Senate Surrender Caucus’** > [@](#): > > Senate leaders said Monday that they are nearing a deal to reopen the government and increase the debt limit, but at least one House Republican is down on the measure’s prospects in the lower chamber. “We’ve got a name for it in the House: it’s called the **Senate surrender caucus,” Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) said,** as quoted by the New York Times. “Anybody who would vote for that in the House as Republican would virtually guarantee a primary challenger.” Not making the best deal possible at this point is just another sign of the streak of insanity going through the House GOP. Taking revenge on the more responsible adults in the Senate is even crazier. > **[House GOPer Slams Pending Deal From ‘Senate Surrender Caucus’](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/house-goper-slams-pending-deal-from-senate-surrender-caucus)** > > Senate leaders said Monday that they are nearing a deal to reopen... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=557) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=559)