# 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:** 691
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13801 "2014-03-28T20:01:38Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > There was the small matter of the 1860 Presidential election, too. > > Plus the general defeat of the pro-slavery philosophy that Douglas represented. :o I had forgotten Douglas ever ran for POTUS. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13802 "2014-03-28T20:11:55Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > It’s impossible to know Washington’s mind, but his use of euphemistic religious language in public statements may have just been a nod of inclusivity toward his non-religious compatriots. He was at least nominally a Christian, having served on the vestry of the Truro parish Anglican church in the 1760s and 1770s. Later in life, when he went to church with his wife, he never took communion, so his devoutness at that time is unclear. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13803 "2014-03-28T20:13:09Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > He married Douglas’ GF, but did he ever outfox Douglas in any other way? I recall the Lincoln-Douglas debates were part of a campaign for the U.S. Senate which Douglas **won** (that is, the Illinois legislature picked him). Besides the 1860 election, the fix was in - but the debates made Lincoln a national figure, and so may be counted as a long term win for him. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13804 "2014-03-28T20:14:54Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Not necessarily disagreeing with you or Michael Lind, but (a) debunking Christianity would make Lincoln no more of an atheist than it did for Jefferson and Paine. It would just make him a non-Christian. In “The Age of Reason” Paine specifically denies being an atheist, and gives his reason (the structure of the solar system) for believing in a creator. I’d suspect that today he’d feel different, but not back then. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13805 "2014-03-28T20:15:39Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > He married Douglas’ GF, but did he ever outfox Douglas in any other way? I recall the Lincoln-Douglas debates were part of a campaign for the U.S. Senate which Douglas **won** (that is, the Illinois legislature picked him). Before the famous debates, it was “Abraham Who?”. Douglas made him a prominment figure by engaging with him, and Lincoln burnished that by his credible showing. It is to Douglas’ credit that he did so engage, as he most likely would have won anyway, but in so doing he made an obscure local politician into a national figure. Lincoln was not so much anti-slavery as he was pro-Union. He believed, and I think correctly, that a divided America would fall under the sway of competing European powers, and would soon be nothing more than a loose conglomeration of mutually hostile states, each dominated by a different foreign power. He often said that if he could preserve the Union by abolishing slavery, he would do so, if he could preserve the Union by tolerating it, he would do so. In the cold light of _realpolitik_, he was right. But it also allowed others to see in him what they wanted to see, while Douglas was stuck with a divisive stance. Regrettably, the approval of abolitionists, however muted, was enough to convince the South that he _was_ an abolitionist, a view bolstered by his insistence on overarching Federal authority. And so it went… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13806 "2014-03-28T20:39:23Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Regrettably, the approval of abolitionists, however muted, was enough to convince the South that he _was_ an abolitionist, a view bolstered by his insistence on overarching Federal authority. > > And so it went… It was rather like the RWs calling Obama a Communist – and yes, I’m sure some of them **believe** it. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13807 "2014-03-31T13:19:49Z")
Meanwhile, back in the present, Sen. John Barasso of Wyoming, the #4 guy in the Senate GOP leadership, claimed that the published numbers of ACA enrollees were false, that Obama was “cooking the books.” On the basis of what evidence? What is “none,” Alex? This is a party that doesn’t hesitate to lie its fool head off. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13808 "2014-03-31T13:27:16Z")
And Chris Christie proves once again that all bullies are cowards: on his trip to Las Vegas to kiss billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s [del]ass[/del] ring, Christie said all the right things (from a conservative joined-at-the-hip-with-Israel perspective, that is) about Israel’s policies concerning the occupied territories. Only he referred to them in those words - as the ‘occupied territories.’ Apparently that’s a no-no in those circles, and Christie hadn’t gotten the memo. (Is ‘Judaea and Samaria’ still the Likudically correct formulation? I can’t keep up.) So when Adelson spoke power to truth, Christie, rather than showing what a tough, call-a-spade-a-spade sort of guy he is, [apologized to Adelson](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/bow-down-to-pharoah) for his faux pas. Kiss up, punch down. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13809 "2014-03-31T13:38:22Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > And Chris Christie proves once again that all bullies are cowards: on his trip to Las Vegas to kiss billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s [del]ass[/del] ring, Christie said all the right things (from a conservative joined-at-the-hip-with-Israel perspective, that is) about Israel’s policies concerning the occupied territories. > > Only he referred to them in those words - as the ‘occupied territories.’ Apparently that’s a no-no in those circles, and Christie hadn’t gotten the memo. (Is ‘Judaea and Samaria’ still the Likudically correct formulation? I can’t keep up.) > > So when Adelson spoke power to truth, Christie, rather than showing what a tough, call-a-spade-a-spade sort of guy he is, [apologized to Adelson](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/bow-down-to-pharoah) for his faux pas. > > Kiss up, punch down. From what I read the RW prefers the term “Disputed Territories” – but how can they be that, if neither Jordan nor Israel claims them?! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13810 "2014-03-31T13:42:43Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Lincoln was not so much anti-slavery as he was pro-Union. [snip] > > He often said that if he could preserve the Union by abolishing slavery, he would do so, if he could preserve the Union by tolerating it, he would do so. It’s important to keep this remark in its context. Lincoln was not willing to tolerate slavery _outside of the fifteen existing slave states_ in order to preserve the Union. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13811 "2014-03-31T13:45:10Z")
[The Top 10 is back!](http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024757750)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13812 "2014-03-31T14:46:55Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > In “The Age of Reason” Paine specifically denies being an atheist, and gives his reason (the structure of the solar system) for believing in a creator. I’d suspect that today he’d feel different, but not back then. An important point, back in Paine’s day, the argument that is generally referred to as the [watchmaker analogy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmaker_analogy) … that the very complex structures observable in living organisms in the natural world could not have come about by accident … was a crusher to most thinking men. There was no theory of evolution around to offer a plausible alternative. Hence, most thinking men in the Western world who were not inclined to swallow the obvious bullshit that is easily observable in Christianity tended to be Deists, not atheist … men who believed in an unknowable God. Many of the Founding Fathers were Deists, a fact that is salt in the wounds of conservatives to this day … so rub it in! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13813 "2014-03-31T14:57:07Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [The Top 10 is back!](http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024757750)🙂 Joyjoyjoy! Next, can we prettyplease get Bob Boudelang, Angry American Patriot to return? With sugar on top? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13814 "2014-03-31T14:58:38Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > An important point, back in Paine’s day, the argument that is generally referred to as the [watchmaker analogy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmaker_analogy) … that the very complex structures observable in living organisms in the natural world could not have come about by accident … was a crusher to most thinking men. There was no theory of evolution around to offer a plausible alternative. Hence, most thinking men in the Western world who were not inclined to swallow the obvious bullshit that is easily observable in Christianity tended to be Deists, not atheist … men who believed in an unknowable God. Many of the Founding Fathers were Deists, a fact that is salt in the wounds of conservatives to this day … so rub it in! Deism: “Dey is a God, but He don’t do nuttin’.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13815 "2014-03-31T22:20:50Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > From what I read the RW prefers the term “Disputed Territories” – but how can they be that, if neither Jordan nor Israel claims them?! They’re disputed between Israel and the Palestinians, natch. “The Judea and Samaria Region” - usually abbreviated as “AYOSH” - is still the official Israeli government terminology. Technically speaking, it’s a description of the main geographic features of the region, the Samaria Mountains and the Judean Desert, although there is of course a political component to the name. Israelis generally just refer to them as “the Territories”. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13816 "2014-04-01T02:45:28Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Lincoln wasn’t born Lincoln, he _became_ Lincoln. The man who outfoxed Stephen Douglas was a shrewd politician and conniver. Had he known he would be staying up all night writing pardons so dull-witted farm boys wouldn’t be shot for falling asleep on guard duty, would he have done it? Probably not, but then he never would have become Lincoln. Over the last few years I’ve come to conclude Lincoln would be a Democrat if he were registering for a party today. (Perhaps Andy Jackson would be a Republican?) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13817 "2014-04-01T02:53:00Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > Over the last few years I’ve come to conclude Lincoln would be a Democrat if he were registering for a party today. (Perhaps Andy Jackson would be a Republican?) I once read [an alternate-history novel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Few_Remain) where Lincoln, after losing the Civil War, becomes a founding member of a new Socialist Party. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13818 "2014-04-01T04:40:28Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [The Top 10 is back!](http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024757750)🙂 Democratic Underground needs a copy editor. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13819 "2014-04-01T08:05:03Z")
Close enough for rock 'n roll has always been the standard over there. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/13820 "2014-04-01T09:42:45Z")
[8yo’s proposed fossil bill blocked by two SC state senators because it makes baby Jesus cry.](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/30/8-year-old-sc-girls-state-fossil-drive-derailed-by-creationists-who-want-credit-for-god/) > [@](#): > > An eight-year-old South Carolina girl’s drive to have the woolly mammoth designated at the state’s ‘official fossil’ has been thwarted by two state senators who want the bill to be amended to give credit to God for creating the earth and the mammoth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=690) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=692)