# 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:** 721
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14401 "2014-04-29T21:10:51Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Thanks _a lot_ for posting that link. Now Amazon thinks I’m interested in crap like that… > [and like this…](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DTFZ4BS/ref=s9_simh_gw_p201_d0_i4?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_r=19TA1CD6QTPRK03PYJ1J&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200422&pf_rd_i=507846) > > [and like this…](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J4MPIJS/ref=s9_simh_gw_p201_d0_i5?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_r=19TA1CD6QTPRK03PYJ1J&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200422&pf_rd_i=507846) > > [and this.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J7WWVAE/ref=s9_simh_gw_p201_d0_i6?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_r=19TA1CD6QTPRK03PYJ1J&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200422&pf_rd_i=507846) > > What must Jeff Bezos think of me? based on that second link, that you don’t know how to spell " 'MURICA" for one and that it is meant as an insult/mock of right wingers for another. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14402 "2014-04-30T00:42:07Z")
In a ruling by the Supreme Court today upholding a 2011 EPA rule that forces states to do something to mitigate pollution they create from coal processing plants getting into other states, Justice Sotomayor (among the majority) quoted the Bible, and Justice Scalia quoted … the Communist Manifesto. I kid you not. [Breathing will be easier thanks to today’s Supreme Court decision upholding EPA authority](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/29/1295585/-Breathing-will-be-easier-thanks-to-today-s-Supreme-Court-decision-upholding-EPA-authority) ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14403 "2014-04-30T00:55:28Z")
[Local GOP Party Chair Compares Obama To Zebra-Donkey Hybrid Who Is All ‘A\*\*’](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/winnebago-gop-obama-zebra-donkey) _The chairman of a local chapter of the Illinois Republican Party called President Barack Obama an "a_\*" and said if the media focused about the offspring of a zebra and a donkey there would be two “living creatures” getting plenty of attention that is partially white and partially black. The joke (sic), by Winnebago County Republican Central Committee (WCRCC) chairman Jim Thompson, came in a regular newsletter sent out to supporters. It came at the end of the newsletter.\* ---
**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:** [April 30, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14404 "2014-04-30T01:23:31Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > [Local GOP Party Chair Compares Obama To Zebra-Donkey Hybrid Who Is All ‘A\*\*’](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/winnebago-gop-obama-zebra-donkey) > > _The chairman of a local chapter of the Illinois Republican Party called President Barack Obama an "a_\*" and said if the media focused about the offspring of a zebra and a donkey there would be two “living creatures” getting plenty of attention that is partially white and partially black. > > The joke (sic), by Winnebago County Republican Central Committee (WCRCC) chairman Jim Thompson, came in a regular newsletter sent out to supporters. It came at the end of the newsletter.\* It’s like they _can’t help it_! They have to KNOW by now that, even if they disagree with the premise, this kind of thing doesn’t fly anymore, and yet they just can’t STOP. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14405 "2014-04-30T04:11:59Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > In a ruling by the Supreme Court today upholding a 2011 EPA rule that forces states to do something to mitigate pollution they create from coal processing plants getting into other states, Justice Sotomayor (among the majority) quoted the Bible, and Justice Scalia quoted … the Communist Manifesto. > > I kid you not. > > [Breathing will be easier thanks to today’s Supreme Court decision upholding EPA authority](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/29/1295585/-Breathing-will-be-easier-thanks-to-today-s-Supreme-Court-decision-upholding-EPA-authority) Great Debates thread [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=710089) ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14406 "2014-04-30T14:31:53Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > _The joke (sic),_ LOL ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14407 "2014-04-30T14:41:16Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > In a ruling by the Supreme Court today upholding a 2011 EPA rule that forces states to do something to mitigate pollution they create from coal processing plants getting into other states, Justice Sotomayor (among the majority) quoted the Bible, and Justice Scalia quoted … the Communist Manifesto. > > I kid you not. > > [Breathing will be easier thanks to today’s Supreme Court decision upholding EPA authority](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/29/1295585/-Breathing-will-be-easier-thanks-to-today-s-Supreme-Court-decision-upholding-EPA-authority) [Here’s](http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-1182_bqm1.pdf) the opinion. 58 pp. in pdf. On the third page of his dissent, Scalia does say “EPA’s utterly fanciful ‘from each according to his ability’ construction sacrifices democratically adopted text to bureaucratically favored policy.” Is that what the story refers to? ---
**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:** [April 30, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14408 "2014-04-30T14:50:28Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > It’s like they _can’t help it_! They have to KNOW by now that, even if they disagree with the premise, this kind of thing doesn’t fly anymore, and yet they just can’t STOP. I’m sure a large element of the Republican base still laps that stuff up. Some of them very MONEYED elements. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14409 "2014-04-30T15:08:58Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Here’s](http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-1182_bqm1.pdf) the opinion. 58 pp. in pdf. On the third page of his dissent, Scalia does say “EPA’s utterly fanciful ‘from each according to his ability’ construction sacrifices democratically adopted text to bureaucratically favored policy.” Is that what the story refers to? Yes, but Kos got it wrong on two counts: as [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_each_according_to_his_ability,_to_each_according_to_his_need) explains, the slogan “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need,” was originated by French socialist [Louis Blanc](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Blanc), not Marx. Marx later used and popularized it in [_Critique of the Gotha Program_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critique_of_the_Gotha_Program), not the _Communist Manifesto_. ---
**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:** [April 30, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14410 "2014-04-30T15:11:51Z")
I think **BG** ’s main point is that Scalia wasn’t quoting Marx anyway. He was merely ascribing a semi-Marxist view to the EPA. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14411 "2014-04-30T15:30:08Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I think **BG** ’s main point is that Scalia wasn’t quoting Marx anyway. He was merely ascribing a semi-Marxist view to the EPA. So it appears, but I didn’t read the whole dissent, there might be something else in there. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14412 "2014-04-30T15:30:52Z")
Right, just another childish tantrum from Scalia. That’s his legacy to the history of the Court. ---
**Author:** ![Oldeb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea666f/32.png) [@Oldeb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oldeb)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14413 "2014-04-30T15:48:48Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > So it appears, but I didn’t read the whole dissent, there might be something else in there. Good thing since a new version was posted this morning. The old one was taken down because it relies on a 2001 case as the basis for the dissent. [Only it gets the 2001 case completely wrong.](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/30/justice-antonin-scalia-makes-hugely-embarrassing-blunder-in-latest-anti-epa-dissent/) > [@](#): > > “It is a mind-blowing misstatement of a basic fact of the American Trucking Association ruling which Justice Scalia himself wrote. And it’s not just a stray passage — it’s the basis for an entire section of the dissent,” said Kendall. “It is very unusual for to see a passage that so clearly misstates the fundamental facts of a prior ruling, especially one written by the justice himself.” ---
**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:** [April 30, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14414 "2014-04-30T16:51:17Z")
I suspect that one of Justice Scalia’s law clerks is in serious hot water right about now. That is a shame because working for the US Sup Ct is a big deal generally reserved for the best and brightest of thee or four prestige law schools. Someone career has just taken a nose dive. If this was out of the Alabama Sup Ct I could understand it since the Chief Justice down there seem to hire exclusively from Liberty University law school. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14415 "2014-04-30T16:52:41Z")
Scalia is mailing it in harder than Joe Paterno did his last 10 years on the sidelines. Retire already. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14416 "2014-04-30T17:06:49Z")
> [@Spavined\_Gelding](#): > > I suspect that one of Justice Scalia’s law clerks is in serious hot water right about now. That is a shame because working for the US Sup Ct is a big deal generally reserved for the best and brightest of thee or four prestige law schools. Someone career has just taken a nose dive. I’ll admit that I don’t know quite what a law clerk does, but shouldn’t the lion’s share of the blame for this gaffe go to Scalia himself? ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14417 "2014-04-30T17:16:22Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’ll admit that I don’t know quite what a law clerk does, but shouldn’t the lion’s share of the blame for this gaffe go to Scalia himself? IMHO, yes. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14418 "2014-04-30T18:56:37Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > Scalia is mailing it in harder than Joe Paterno did his last 10 years on the sidelines. > > Retire already. He is 78 . . . but, Ginsburg is 81, should she retire too? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14419 "2014-04-30T19:44:05Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > He is 78 . . . but, Ginsburg is 81, should she retire too? Dunno, did she just make a closely reasoned legal argument based on a misremembering of her own ruling? It’s apparently not the years but the mileage. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14420 "2014-04-30T21:55:23Z")
In general I disapprove of, or at least am reluctant to revel in schadenfreude, if for no other reason that it’s really tempting fate, but this one is just delicious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=720) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=722)