# 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:** 781
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15601 "2014-07-08T23:35:58Z")
Uh huh. Then the worms eat into your brain. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15602 "2014-07-08T23:42:33Z")
I know I am on The thin ice, and before this thread is Up the Khyber and we have some Flaming and I have to run Like Hell and then it will be Absolute Curtains for my posting credibility, I will Stop, this Time. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15603 "2014-07-09T00:15:29Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Are there enough strip clubs in Cleveland for a Republican convention? It’s part of Kasich’s plan to bring jobs to Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15604 "2014-07-09T01:00:07Z")
> [@Precambrianmollusc](#): > > I know I am on The thin ice, and before this thread is Up the Khyber and we have some Flaming and I have to run Like Hell and then it will be Absolute Curtains for my posting credibility, I will Stop, this Time. :mad: I swear, one of these days… ---
**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:** [July 9, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15605 "2014-07-09T01:04:55Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > [Birth control = Stone Age.](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/05/gop-congressman-hobby-lobby-case-is-proof-liberals-want-stone-age-tribalism/) > > My mind is incapable of boggling anymore. We should just have our minds pre-boggled each day before reading the news. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15606 "2014-07-09T13:41:32Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > Awesome Republican idea of the day: [holding the 2016 convention in Cleveland.](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2014/07/08/gop-convention-2016-xxxx/12351701/) > > I’ve got to start planning my bar hopping junket for 2016, and figure out what conservative figures I want to bump into and drunkenly accost. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Are there enough strip clubs in Cleveland for a Republican convention? Never been to Cleveland but I have a friend who used to live there. Pretty sleazy town, from all I hear. Lots of gangbanging activity and shit. _The Drew Carey Show_ put too fine a gloss on it. ---
**Author:** ![Sinaptics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Sinaptics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaptics)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15607 "2014-07-09T15:36:42Z")
Can’t believe that nobody dropped this gem yet. I bring you Kentucky GOP State Sen. Brandon Smith (R-Hazard): > [@](#): > > “I won’t get into the debate about climate change,” Smith said. “But I’ll simply point out that I think in academia we all agree that the temperature on Mars is exactly as it is here. Nobody will dispute that. Yet there are no coal mines on Mars. There’s no factories on Mars that I’m aware of.” Dafuk? That’s some extraordinarily powerful stupid. [http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/08/kentucky-gop-lawmaker-defends-coal-we-all-agree-mars-is-the-same-temperature-as-earth/](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/08/kentucky-gop-lawmaker-defends-coal-we-all-agree-mars-is-the-same-temperature-as-earth/) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15608 "2014-07-09T15:40:22Z")
[Stupiderer and stupiderer:](http://www.salon.com/2014/07/09/a_party_that_wont_be_saved_gop_dead_enders_and_reform_conservatives_duke_it_out/) > [@](#): > > On the policy front, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee took the first step towards what could be yet another partial government shutdown. When the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled its new rule limiting the amount of carbon that can be emitted from existing coal-fired power plants, Republicans (and a few Democrats from coal country) vowed to oppose it. Rep. Mike Simpson said last month that they might attach a rider to a must-pass appropriations bill to prevent the rule from being implemented. > > And that’s exactly what they’ve done. The Appropriations Committee unveiled a bill yesterday that would prevent any money from being spent on developing or enforcing the EPA’s power plant rule. Senate Republicans are also spoiling for an appropriations fight, and Democrats are lining up behind the EPA and the president. > > Whether we actually arrive at the point of shutting down the government (funding runs out on September 30) depends largely on how far the Republicans would be willing to take this game of chicken. Shutdown politics tend not to favor the GOP and common sense would suggest that they won’t precipitate yet another government crisis a month before Election Day, but common sense is, we’ve learned, a poor predictor of Republican performance. Either way, after moving away from the crisis governance model that burned them so badly in 2013, the Republicans are sending the message that they’re still willing to disrupt the normal functions of government to achieve their policy goals. See [_It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism,_](http://www.amazon.com/Even-Worse-Than-Looks-Constitutional/dp/0465074731/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403989019&sr=1-1&keywords=it%27s+even+worse+than+it+looks) by think-tankers [Thomas E. Mann](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_E._Mann) and [Norman J. Ornstein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_J._Ornstein). Mann is with the nonpartisan [Brookings Institution](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookings_Institution), Ornstein is with the conservative [Heritage Foundation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_Foundation) – certainly neither has any LW or liberal bias – and both agree that stubborn ideological Pubs are almost entirely to blame for the present political gridlock in America, and for the debt-ceiling crisis and government shutdown in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15609 "2014-07-09T16:08:14Z")
The … the _Heritage Foundation_ put something out that made sense? I … I … I have to sit. Can someone bring me a glass of water? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15610 "2014-07-09T16:36:37Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > The … the _Heritage Foundation_ put something out that made sense? I … I … > > I have to sit. > > Can someone bring me a glass of water? Here. Now, read the book! Libraries carry it and it’s well worth a read! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15611 "2014-07-09T16:59:22Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > The … the _Heritage Foundation_ put something out that made sense? Business conservatives (or what used to be known as “mainstream conservatives” before the conservative mainstream took a sharp turn to the right and started pouring off the crazy cliff) like the Heritage Foundation are generally **NOT** happy with the new conservative politics of extremism. What’s in their best interests is to have a reasonably functional federal government that they can persuade voters to hate and despise just enough to support their constant chipping away at regulation, social spending, and tax rates. When right-wing wackos start “limiting government” to the extent of actually shutting down its day-to-day operations, self-proclaimed “limited government” advocates like the Heritage Foundation get **VERY** nervous. Those types get oodles of money from government contracts and even more from crafting favorable government policies. Actually making government functionally ineffective would be disastrous for them. So yeah, expect to see more business-conservative sources repudiating Teavolutionary-type sabotage of government functions. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15612 "2014-07-09T17:34:42Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Business conservatives (or what used to be known as “mainstream conservatives” before the conservative mainstream took a sharp turn to the right and started pouring off the crazy cliff) like the Heritage Foundation are generally **NOT** happy with the new conservative politics of extremism. > > What’s in their best interests is to have a reasonably functional federal government that they can persuade voters to hate and despise just enough to support their constant chipping away at regulation, social spending, and tax rates. > > When right-wing wackos start “limiting government” to the extent of actually shutting down its day-to-day operations, self-proclaimed “limited government” advocates like the Heritage Foundation get **VERY** nervous. Those types get oodles of money from government contracts and even more from crafting favorable government policies. Actually making government functionally ineffective would be disastrous for them. > > So yeah, expect to see more business-conservative sources repudiating Teavolutionary-type sabotage of government functions. It’s the story of [Tea Party Tim](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/15/1006274/-Tea-Party-Tim-and-Plutocrat-Pete) and [Plutocrat Pete](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/16/1262446/-Tea-Party-Tim-and-Plutocrat-Pete#). ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15613 "2014-07-09T18:22:26Z")
> [@Sinaptics](#): > > Can’t believe that nobody dropped this gem yet… [ninja’d](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17518476&postcount=15542) ---
**Author:** ![Sinaptics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Sinaptics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaptics)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15614 "2014-07-09T19:02:05Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > [ninja’d](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17518476&postcount=15542) How in the hell did I miss this? I just started seeing it on my news feeds yesterday. My mind is still boggling over the idiocy of it. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15615 "2014-07-09T19:47:52Z")
It is a big thread. Stuff gets lost in it. Rather quickly, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15616 "2014-07-09T20:02:37Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > It is a big thread. Stuff gets lost in it. Rather quickly, apparently. There’s quite a lot of stupidity, unending. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15617 "2014-07-09T20:57:37Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > There’s quite a lot of stupidity, unending. One reason for that might be that [60% of statements made on Fox News are false or mostly false.](http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/article/2014/jul/01/introducing-scorecards-tv-networks/) (Granted, NBC and MSNBC don’t score much better – 46%. CNN scores surprisingly well at 18%.) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15618 "2014-07-10T00:03:55Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > One reason for that might be that [60% of statements made on Fox News are false or mostly false.](http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/article/2014/jul/01/introducing-scorecards-tv-networks/) (Granted, NBC and MSNBC don’t score much better – 46%. CNN scores surprisingly well at 18%.) So, instead, I get _all_ of my news from the internets. Because, obviously, that has a much higher accuracy rate than the goddamn _MSM_. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15619 "2014-07-10T15:42:01Z")
Todd Akin Takes Back Apology Over ‘Legitimate Rape’ Theory > **[Todd Akin Takes Back Apology Over 'Legitimate Rape' Theory](https://news.yahoo.com/todd-akin-takes-back-apology-over-legitimate-rape-135727731.html)** > > Todd Akin and the rest of America agree on one thing: his odds of beating Sen. Claire McCaskill in his 2012 Missouri Senate race would have been better if not for the whole "legitimate rape" incident. In his new book Firing Back: Taking on the... ---
**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:** [July 10, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/15620 "2014-07-10T15:48:49Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > One reason for that might be that [60% of statements made on Fox News are false or mostly false.](http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/article/2014/jul/01/introducing-scorecards-tv-networks/) (Granted, NBC and MSNBC don’t score much better – 46%. CNN scores surprisingly well at 18%.) Although it should be noted percentage is relative to the number of statements the evaluate, which is necessarily a selected set of potentially controversial statements. A better measure might be just the raw count of statements that come back as false. I still bet the Fox comes out on top. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=780) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=782)