# 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:** 620
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12381 "2014-01-15T17:03:27Z")
[GOP Congressional candidate: Spousal rape should not be a crime.](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/gop-congressional-candidate-richard-dick-black-spousal-rape-not-a-crime) ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12382 "2014-01-15T17:16:50Z")
Please, please let Dick Black win the nomination. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12383 "2014-01-15T21:45:51Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [GOP Congressional candidate: Spousal rape should not be a crime.](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/gop-congressional-candidate-richard-dick-black-spousal-rape-not-a-crime) When I read a title like that I always think they use a flashy headline to paint someone in the worst light like maybe it’s just one interpretation of what he did or said. Reading the article, holy shit, this guy really is un-redeemable. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the existence of this man. > [@](#): > > And once, to demonstrate why libraries should block pornography on their computers, Black invited a TV reporter to film him using a library terminal to watch violent rape porn. > [@](#): > > Loudoun librarians say they only ever received one complaint about porn on their computers—against Black, when he pulled his rape pornography stunt. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12384 "2014-01-15T21:55:28Z")
Why don’t they ever interview the wife? They gotta interview the wife. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12385 "2014-01-15T22:16:47Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [GOP Congressional candidate: Spousal rape should not be a crime.](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/gop-congressional-candidate-richard-dick-black-spousal-rape-not-a-crime) Republicans are very good at “staying on message”, ie reading only from the talking points they (presumably) get each morning in their email. You would think by now that somebody at the RNC would have sent out a memo saying FOR GOD’S SAKE STOP TALKING ABOUT RAPE. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12386 "2014-01-15T22:35:16Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Republicans are very good at “staying on message”, ie reading only from the talking points they (presumably) get each morning in their email. You would think by now that somebody at the RNC would have sent out a memo saying FOR GOD’S SAKE STOP TALKING ABOUT RAPE. I’m pretty sure that memo has gone out. They just can’t help themselves. I loved Stephen Colbert’s [advice](http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/420541/october-24-2012/richard-mourdock-s-rape-comment) on the matter. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12387 "2014-01-15T22:45:27Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Republicans are very good at “staying on message”, ie reading only from the talking points they (presumably) get each morning in their email. You would think by now that somebody at the RNC would have sent out a memo saying FOR GOD’S SAKE STOP TALKING ABOUT RAPE. I guess we have to conclude that down playing the seriousness of rape **is** being on message for Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12388 "2014-01-15T23:23:29Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > When I read a title like that I always think they use a flashy headline to paint someone in the worst light like maybe it’s just one interpretation of what he did or said. Reading the article, holy shit, this guy really is un-redeemable. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the existence of this man. I find some of the other stuff even more interesting. > [@](#): > > After taking a drubbing in last year’s state elections, Virginia Republicans are debating whether their party has come to be defined by its extremists. But in a congressional district in Northern Virginia, one of the state’s main instigators of culture warfare, state Sen. Richard H. “Dick” Black, is running in the Republican primary to replace longtime GOP moderate Rep. Frank Wolf, who is retiring. And he’s guaranteed to ignite wedge-issue passion. Exhibit A: As a state legislator, Black opposed making spousal rape a crime, citing the impossibility of convicting a husband accused of raping his wife “when they’re living together, sleeping in the same bed, she’s in a nightie, and so forth.” > > Black has referred to emergency contraception, which does not cause abortions, as “baby pesticide.” Black also fought to block a statue of Abraham Lincoln at a former Confederate site in Richmond. He wasn’t sure, he explained at the time, that statues of Lincoln belonged in Virginia. He has argued that abortion is a worse evil than slavery. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12389 "2014-01-15T23:29:10Z")
At least Black’s stated problem with intra-marital rape as a crime (i.e., difficulty of proof) makes a bit more sense than [Phyllis Schlafly’s.](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Phyllis_Schlafly#Marital_rape) > [@](#): > > The controversial lady who fought successfully to scare politicians away from the ERA back in 1977 has now revealed some of her underlying thinking, including—incredibly—the notion that husbands have carte blanche when it comes to raping their wives: “By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape,” she has said. Phyllis thinks a husband can rape his wife any time he wants to.[5] > > Roger Schlafly defended Phyllis: “Even today, many people do not accept the notion that marital rape is comparable to stranger rape…There are some feminists who argue that marital rape is worse than stranger rape. Most people disagree.”[6] > > Phyllis Schlafly defended herself too: “That’s what marriage is all about, I don’t know if maybe these girls missed sex ed.[7] That doesn’t mean the husband can beat you up, we have plenty of laws against assault and battery. If there is any violence or mistreatment that can be dealt with by criminal prosecution, by divorce or in various ways. When it gets down to calling it rape though, it isn’t rape, it’s a he said-she said where it’s just too easy to lie about it.”[8] > > No one has witnessed how such concepts has worked out with Phyllis Schlafly, and since her husband died back in 1993, we do not expect to see that happening in the foreseeable future. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12390 "2014-01-15T23:32:37Z")
I’m surprised Mr. Schlaffly stuck it out until 1993, considering the temptation to step in front of a train he must have been feeling living next to that thing. I’m NOT surprised she hasn’t found a willing replacement yet. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2014, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12391 "2014-01-16T01:20:21Z")
I’m sure she’s found a replacement, but showerheads are quite reluctant to talk to reporters. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2014, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12392 "2014-01-16T10:21:05Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I find some of the other stuff even more interesting. Never mind that other stuff: this is what set the hairs on the back of my neck standing: > [@](#): > > Black entered politics in the late 1990s after retiring as a military prosecutor. He spoke frequently to media outlets about sexual assault in the military, and called military rape “as predictable as human nature.” “Think of yourself at 25,” Black told a newspaper in 1996. “Wouldn’t you love to have a group of 19-year-old girls under your control, day in, day out?” There’s excusing rape and then there’s openly fantasizing about it, especially when you’re the guy who is supposed to be responsible for prosecuting the rapists. Holy shit, Dick, but you’re a massive creep who shouldn’t be allowed out without a chaperone. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2014, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12393 "2014-01-16T10:37:29Z")
As I was getting in my car on the way home from work tonight, I noticed a tiny piece of notepaper that had been stuck to the windshield by rainwater. I peeled it off and read the following; [QUOTE=Anonymous stupid Republican] Hello friend I just wanted you to know someone placed some Obama stickers on your car. I wouldn’t want you to drive around looking foolish and dumb [/QUOTE] Just goes to show that stupid Republican ideas exist at all levels, great and petty. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12394 "2014-01-16T20:41:57Z")
_sigh_ My own state senator Mae Beavers sponsored this new bill to the TN Legislature: > [@](#): > > Several Middle Tennessee Republicans are taking on the Affordable Care Act, with a new bill that would bar state and local governments — and possibly also companies that do business with them — from buying health insurance through the federal website. > > State Sen. Mae Beavers and three House Republicans released a bill Wednesday designed to stop President Barack Obama’s health care reform law by discouraging use of its health insurance exchange, [HealthCare.gov](http://HealthCare.gov)… > > That could cause immediate problems for TennCare. Since Jan. 1, the state’s Medicaid program has been using [HealthCare.gov](http://HealthCare.gov) to sign up new enrollees until a new state-run website is completed. > > The bill also extends to state contractors, although there is some ambiguity about the extent to which private companies would be affected. They’re not even pretending that this bill helps Tennesseans. They’re just throwing a political snit and they don’t particularly care if poor people have insurance or not. There is a bright side though: unlike most of the Republicans named in this thread, here’s one I actually get to vote and campaign against! ETA: Oops, [linky](http://www.tennessean.com/article/20140116/NEWS0201/301160051/Tennessee-lawmakers-file-bill-block-Affordable-Care-Act). ---
**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:** [January 16, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12395 "2014-01-16T21:41:26Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > _sigh_ My own state senator Mae Beavers sponsored this new bill to the TN Legislature: > > They’re not even pretending that this bill helps Tennesseans. They’re just throwing a political snit and they don’t particularly care if poor people have insurance or not. > > There is a bright side though: unlike most of the Republicans named in this thread, here’s one I actually get to vote and campaign against! > > ETA: Oops, [linky](http://www.tennessean.com/article/20140116/NEWS0201/301160051/Tennessee-lawmakers-file-bill-block-Affordable-Care-Act). Here’s my favorite quote from that story: > [@](#): > > State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, R-Lancaster, said the measure, Senate Bill 1680, would form “a firewall” around Tennessee, keeping out the Affordable Care Act. Similar legislation is under consideration in South Carolina and Georgia, Beavers said. > > “ **It’s quite evident the federal government is wanting a monopoly on insurance coverage in this country** ,” the Mt. Juliet Republican said. It is? :dubious: ---
**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:** [January 16, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12396 "2014-01-16T22:16:28Z")
[The latest craze](http://news.yahoo.com/tea-party-author-hitler-escaped-104500583--politics.html) from the Grand High Poobah Swiftboat Birther himself, Jerome Corsi: > [@](#): > > Corsi’s latest hypothesis, detailed in his new book _Hunting Hitler_, is that the German dictator didn’t actually kill himself alongside wife Eva Braun in his Berlin bunker as history books would have us believe. According to Corsi, Hitler actually escaped Germany as the Third Reich fell, and he did it with the help of none other than the U.S. government. > > Corsi’s argument is that there’s no real proof Hitler _didn’t_ escape… ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12397 "2014-01-16T22:18:29Z")
Sure, don’t you see their plan? Step 1, you force everyone to buy insurance from private insurance companies. If they can’t afford it, you give them a little help so that the insurance company still gets all its money. Step 2, ??? \ Step 3, presto! A government monopoly on insurance coverage! The only way to prevent it is to find people who are currently on government insurance - like the poor, the elderly, and veterans - and prevent them from getting it! ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12398 "2014-01-16T22:37:54Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > _sigh_ My own state senator Mae Beavers sponsored this new bill to the TN Legislature: > > They’re not even pretending that this bill helps Tennesseans. They’re just throwing a political snit and they don’t particularly care if poor people have insurance or not. > > There is a bright side though: unlike most of the Republicans named in this thread, here’s one I actually get to vote and campaign against! > > ETA: Oops, [linky](http://www.tennessean.com/article/20140116/NEWS0201/301160051/Tennessee-lawmakers-file-bill-block-Affordable-Care-Act). Maybe one of the legal minds on the board can help out with this one. Leaving aside any feelings on Obamacare, what are the ramifications of a state law that, on it’s face, is intended to thwart federal law? > [@](#): > > The Supremacy Clause is the provision in Article Six of the United States Constitution, Clause 2, that establishes the U.S. Constitution, federal statutes, and U.S. treaties as “the supreme law of the land.” The text provides that these are the highest form of law in the U.S. legal system, and mandates that all state judges must follow federal law when a conflict arises between federal law and either the state constitution or state law of any state. Doesn’t this _intend_ a conflict? Would the SCOTUS swat this down quickly? And if so, would it have done anything except waste time and cost money? Another question, if you don’t mind. Again, putting aside any personal feelings on Obamacare. Let’s say a Republican is elected President and the Republicans get a majority both House and Senate and they repeal the law rendering all this big waste. Anyone have any idea of what the cost will have been? (passage, courtroom fights, implementation costs, senate hearings, etc? ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12399 "2014-01-16T22:45:52Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Doesn’t this _intend_ a conflict? Would the SCOTUS swat this down quickly? Since they wrongly injected themselves in Florida’s voting in the 2000 Presidential election, I have NO faith in the “Conservative” majority. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/12400 "2014-01-16T22:48:07Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Here’s my favorite quote from that story: > Quote: > State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, R-Lancaster, said the measure, Senate Bill 1680, would form “a firewall” around Tennessee, keeping out the Affordable Care Act. Similar legislation is under consideration in South Carolina and Georgia, Beavers said. > > “It’s quite evident the federal government is wanting a monopoly on insurance coverage in this country,” the Mt. Juliet Republican said. > It is? :dubious: Toss Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama into this mix, and we will finally eradicate poverty in this country. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=619) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=621)