# 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:** 755
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15081 "2014-06-08T19:11:58Z")
Over at _Crooks and Liars,_ your one-stop shopping convenience for your liberal cootie needs, we are advised of Chris Wallace, who wants to be sure that as soon as we complete the formalities of finding Sgt. Bergdahl guilty of desertion, collaboration and treason, that he might be executed without further delay. > **[Chris Wallace: Should Death Penalty Be 'On The Table' For Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl?](https://crooksandliars.com/2014/06/chris-wallace-should-death-penalty-be)** > > Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday wondered if former prisoner of war Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl deserved to be executed for allegedly leaving his outpost in 2009. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15082 "2014-06-08T20:45:50Z")
Jesus, he’s far crazier than his dad. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15083 "2014-06-08T22:05:49Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Over at _Crooks and Liars,_ Chris Wallace, who wants to be sure that as soon as we complete the formalities of finding Sgt. Bergdahl guilty of desertion, collaboration and treason, that he might be executed without further delay. > > [Chris Wallace: Should Death Penalty Be 'On The Table' For Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl? | Crooks and Liars](http://crooksandliars.com/2014/06/chris-wallace-should-death-penalty-be) I’m not seeing that in the linked article. Here’s the exchange, was there more in a video or something I overlooked? > [@](#): > > “Desertion is a very serious offense,” [**Mukasey**] noted. “It carries a penalty – if it’s done in wartime – that includes possibly the death penalty. At the end of World War II, we executed a U.S. soldier, in January of 1945 for desertion. So, it’s a very serious offense.” > > “So, you believe the death penalty should at least be on the table for Bergdahl?” \*\*Wallace \*\*pressed. > > “No, I’m not saying the death penalty should be on the table for Bergdahl,” \*\*Mukasey \*\*replied. “That case at the end of World War II was virtually unique in modern times.” > > “What I’m saying is, that is some indication of the seriousness of which the military does view and should view desertion.” (emphasis added) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15084 "2014-06-08T23:17:44Z")
Oh, for Heaven’s sake! Mr. Wallace, like so many of his ilk, often prefers insinuation and suggestion to outright statement, preferring the shield of a thin veil of ambiguity. It is possible, I suppose, that he is simply indulging in an abstract intellectual exercise, pondering the legal consequences of a judgement he is in no position to make. It is also possible that if pressed, he will bat big brown innocent eyes and solemnly declare that he intended no speculation about guilt. He might even further insist that he harbors no such biases, is entirely open-minded, and had no intention of casting aspersions. I would be inclined to regard such protestations with derision and scorn. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15085 "2014-06-08T23:24:15Z")
Oh. So he’s _exactly_ like his dad. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15086 "2014-06-08T23:31:30Z")
He was a seminal influence. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15087 "2014-06-08T23:51:06Z")
If Wallace is using Eddie Slovak as his example he obviously approves of horrific mistiming, errors in military justice and other idiocy. Trying to tell Slovak’s story in a movie got Sinatra accused of being a Communist. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15088 "2014-06-09T01:05:09Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Many years ago, I read “Lake Wobegon Days.” The Catholic priest character gave the same anti-birth control sermon every year, titled, “If You Didn’t Want to Go to Duluth, Why Did You Get on the Bus?” That was the moment I recognized that these whackos aren’t pro-babies; they’re anti-sex. They’re the **Senior** Anti-Sex League. ---
**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:** [June 9, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15089 "2014-06-09T02:14:31Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > He was a seminal influence. /me shoots elucidator. "Had to be done!’ he muttered. ---
**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:** [June 9, 2014, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15090 "2014-06-09T08:58:43Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > He was a seminal influence. My office. NOW. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15091 "2014-06-09T15:51:27Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > /me shoots elucidator. "Had to be done!’ he muttered. “We, the members of the jury, find **Evil Captor** NOT GUILTY, and further, we award him 1 million dollars.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15092 "2014-06-09T16:17:28Z")
[George Will: Being a victim of sexual assault is a “coveted status that confers privileges.”](http://www.salon.com/2014/06/09/george_will_being_a_victim_of_sexual_assault_is_a_coveted_status_that_confers_privileges/) ---
**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:** [June 9, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15093 "2014-06-09T16:57:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [George Will: Being a victim of sexual assault is a “coveted status that confers privileges.”](http://www.salon.com/2014/06/09/george_will_being_a_victim_of_sexual_assault_is_a_coveted_status_that_confers_privileges/) More precisely, Will [wrote](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-college-become-the-victims-of-progressivism/2014/06/06/e90e73b4-eb50-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html) about the supposed phenomenon of “sexual assault” (sneer quotes in original). ---
**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:** [June 9, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15094 "2014-06-09T17:32:09Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [George Will: Being a victim of sexual assault is a “coveted status that confers privileges.”](http://www.salon.com/2014/06/09/george_will_being_a_victim_of_sexual_assault_is_a_coveted_status_that_confers_privileges/) This is stupid, not only from the viewpoint of someone with an objective viewpoint on the topic of sexual assault, but from the viewpoint of someone who has doubts about some of the assertions about campus sexual assault that have been put forth. For example, I’m very :dubious: about the notion that 20 percent of women on campus has been sexually assaulted. I doubt that they have all been victims of stranger rapists, or date rapists, or were raped. I suspect that the number gets so high when you conflate briefly having your breast or butt groped in a crowd with actual rape and both lumped in as “sexual assault.” To be clear, both rape and groping are wrong, there should be penalties for both, but they’re not even close to being the same in terms of violence and wrongness. But when you have retarded bobble-heads like George Will saying that “victimhood is a privilege people seek,” essentially taking victim-blaming to whole new heights of stupid, you tend not to want to raise any points about some of the assertions made about campus sexual assaults, however reasonable they might be, because you don’t really want to be lumped into the same category with a man as profoundly stupid and ignorant as George Will. So Will’s babbling has the effect of silencing reasonable debate on the topic by people he might agree with. He is actually playing into the hands of those who disagree with him. What an idiot! ---
**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:** [June 9, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15095 "2014-06-09T17:55:26Z")
How’s that outreach going? [Michigan GOP Members Make Fun of Women by Pretending to Read Fashion Magazines](http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/06/09/michigan-gop-members-make-fun-women-pretending-read-fashion-magazines/) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15096 "2014-06-09T18:01:31Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > This is stupid, not only from the viewpoint of someone with an objective viewpoint on the topic of sexual assault, but from the viewpoint of someone who has doubts about some of the assertions about campus sexual assault that have been put forth. It would be a long-overdue blessing if the WaPo and the Sunday morning talk shows put George Will out of our misery. If this particular column doesn’t qualify as having jumped the shark, then what the fuck does it take? > [@](#): > > For example, I’m very :dubious: about the notion that 20 percent of women on campus has been sexually assaulted. I doubt that they have all been victims of stranger rapists, or date rapists, or were raped. I suspect that the number gets so high when you conflate briefly having your breast or butt groped in a crowd with actual rape and both lumped in as “sexual assault.” > > To be clear, both rape and groping are wrong, there should be penalties for both, but they’re not even close to being the same in terms of violence and wrongness. True. But assuming we’re talking about gropings too specific to be accidental, are they not assaults? (Edited for clarity) And if they are, then why _shouldn’t_ they be grouped together with more violent sexual assaults under the heading of “sexual assaults”? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15097 "2014-06-09T18:08:54Z")
Without Will and McCain, who else would they have for always-available go-to grumps? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15098 "2014-06-09T21:27:52Z")
This one’s a keeper… [Florida Congressman: If Humans Cause Climate Change, Then ‘Why Did The Dinosaurs Go Extinct’?](http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/09/3446650/miller-florida-climate-denial/) He also accuses those who do feel humans have contributed to climate change as being “foolish.” ---
**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:** [June 9, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15099 "2014-06-09T21:59:03Z")
From the [“check your Twitter truncation”](http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/TheBattery/archives/2014/06/09/insta-classic-nikki-haleys-unfortunate-social-media-undershare) file: [QUOTE=Gov. Nikki Haley] South Carolina made history this year by passing education reform. We will no longer educate children… [/QUOTE] ---
**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:** [June 9, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15100 "2014-06-09T22:18:45Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > This one’s a keeper… > > [Florida Congressman: If Humans Cause Climate Change, Then ‘Why Did The Dinosaurs Go Extinct’?](http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/09/3446650/miller-florida-climate-denial/) > > He also accuses those who do feel humans have contributed to climate change as being “foolish.” I’m pretty sure the only way to respond to this is “If humans didn’t cause climate change, why did the Roman Empire fall ?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=754) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=756)