# 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:** 654
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13061 "2014-02-24T18:20:39Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > “providing water service that artificially fluoridate their community drinking water must notify the consumers of that treated water, that the latest science confirms that ingested fluoride lowers the I.Q. in children.” > > Whoever wrote that had a low IQ. True, but that doesn’t adequately describe the sequence of events. Guy gets an IQ test, finds out he’s not up to snuff in the brain department, and then, it all clicks. Low IQ. Poor reasoning skills. Occasionally imbibes water. Water made him dumb! It all makes sense. Well, it does to him, because he’s dumb. And the perfect circle of stupidity is complete. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13062 "2014-02-24T18:26:03Z")
> [@Askthepizzaguy](#): > > True, but that doesn’t adequately describe the sequence of events. > > Guy gets an IQ test, finds out he’s not up to snuff in the brain department, and then, it all clicks. > > Low IQ. Poor reasoning skills. Occasionally imbibes water. > > Water made him dumb! > > It all makes sense. Well, it does to him, because he’s dumb. And the perfect circle of stupidity is complete. Shades of the [Dunning-Kruger Effect.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect) ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13063 "2014-02-24T18:32:35Z")
This just in: Breathing large quantities of a nitrogen-oxygen mixture has a mortality rate of 100%! EVERYONE STOP BREATHING RIGHT NOW! YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13064 "2014-02-24T18:35:08Z")
> [@Askthepizzaguy](#): > > This just in: Breathing large quantities of a nitrogen-oxygen mixture has a mortality rate of 100%! > > EVERYONE STOP BREATHING RIGHT NOW! YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT! Also: Saliva causes stomach cancer! But, only when swallowed in small amounts over a long period of time. – George Carlin ---
**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:** [February 24, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13065 "2014-02-24T18:40:55Z")
The Internet, that marvelous invention that lets people who once embarrassed themselves in front of a dozen people move on to embarrassing themselves in front of a million people: > [@](#): > > [Senate candidate under fire for posting grisly images to Facebook](http://news.yahoo.com/milton-wolf-x-ray-images-facebook-obama-205752344.html) > > Dr. Milton Wolf, a U.S. Republican Senate candidate from Kansas, is under fire for posting to his Facebook page a collection of grisly “X-ray images of gunshot fatalities and medical injuries” he acquired as a radiologist and making “macabre jokes” about them online, the Topeka Capital Journal reports. ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13066 "2014-02-24T18:56:31Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Also: Saliva causes stomach cancer! But, only when swallowed in small amounts over a long period of time. > > – George Carlin I was about to top it all off with a “and guess what else? \*sunlight \*causes cancer!” joke, but it uh, does. So I’m going to continue to stay inside and slather sunscreen all over myself just in case the roof caves in, narrowly missing my nude sunscreen-slathered body but exposing me to horrible, horrible, cancer-causing natural light. I’m so white that I went past it into off-white again. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13067 "2014-02-24T19:12:35Z")
Best disconnect the light bulb in the fridge. My ginger son, the Err Apparent, bulb-burned himself quite badly searching for a soda. ---
**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:** [February 24, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13068 "2014-02-24T19:39:50Z")
Just how much fluoride are they using in Kansas? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13069 "2014-02-24T19:43:43Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Just how much fluoride are they using in Kansas? I sometimes suspect there must be something in the water, but it’s probably not the fluoride. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13070 "2014-02-24T19:45:19Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Just how much fluoride are they using in Kansas? It’s more accurate to say their fluoride has water added to it. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13071 "2014-02-24T19:45:40Z")
I have one takeaway from this thread: Tooth decay apparently makes you SMRT. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13072 "2014-02-24T19:49:19Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > They seem to be picking up the slack – the headline of this one pretty much says it all: > > [Arizona Lawmaker Thinks the Anti-Gay Bill He Voted For Is Making the State Look Bad](http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/02/arizona-lawmaker-thinks-anti-gay-bill-he-voted-making-state-look-bad/358436/) Seems vaguely unfair for us to criticize Republicans for doing something stupid and then ALSO criticize them for saying they have changed their mind. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13073 "2014-02-24T19:53:39Z")
Toto, I don’t think we’re in the 21st century any more. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13074 "2014-02-24T19:56:22Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Seems vaguely unfair for us to criticize Republicans for doing something stupid and then ALSO criticize them for saying they have changed their mind. Nah, the reasoning lends itself to mocking - “Hey! This is a great idea! We ain’t gonna make anyone serve them gays!” “Oh, wait, we might lose the Super Bowl? Oh, golly, I don’t know what I was thinking. What a terrible idea.” ---
**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:** [February 24, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13075 "2014-02-24T20:05:28Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Seems vaguely unfair for us to criticize Republicans for doing something stupid and then ALSO criticize them for saying they have changed their mind. FLIP-FLOPPERS!!! But in all seriousness, I think you have a point. Credit where credit is due, at least they changed their minds to the sane point of view. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13076 "2014-02-24T20:33:00Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > But in all seriousness, I think you have a point. Credit where credit is due, at least they changed their minds to the sane point of view. Better to say that the balance of unscrupulous self-interest shifted, and pandering to the bigoted voters had to give way to pandering to money. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13077 "2014-02-24T20:40:32Z")
[What the Hell, Arizona?](http://wonkette.com/542547/arizona-state-senator-will-protect-children-from-freaky-weird-math-that-includes-letters) ---
**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:** [February 24, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13078 "2014-02-24T20:49:01Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > “providing water service that artificially fluoridate their community drinking water must notify the consumers of that treated water, that the latest science confirms that ingested fluoride lowers the I.Q. in children.” > > Whoever wrote that had a low IQ. That’s almost Palin-level grammar manglage. I hurt myself just trying to parse it. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13079 "2014-02-24T20:52:50Z")
These politicians who want to label fluoridated water, do they also want to label GMO food? ---
**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:** [February 24, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13080 "2014-02-24T20:53:21Z")
To quote one of the comments on the story, “But it’s a _dry_ stupidity.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=653) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=655)