# 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:** 872
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17421 "2014-10-15T18:14:04Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Ben Carson thinks “political correctness” could lead U.S. to collapse like Rome.](http://www.salon.com/2014/10/15/ben_carson_thinks_political_correctness_could_lead_u_s_to_collapse_like_rome/) I don’t even have an inkling of the leaps in logic one must make to reach that conclusion ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17422 "2014-10-15T18:28:28Z")
Doesn’t matter. The point is to sound educated and profound. Gingrich understood that too, which is why he was described as “a dumb man’s idea of what a smart man sounds like”. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17423 "2014-10-15T18:42:38Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I don’t even have an inkling of the leaps in logic one must make to reach that conclusion Especially considering that the Empire fell after it had chucked all that philosophical relativism and gone Christian. Everybody seems to forget that, for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17424 "2014-10-15T19:09:40Z")
Did the Empire ever have philosophical relativism? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17425 "2014-10-15T19:14:26Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Ben Carson thinks “political correctness” could lead U.S. to collapse like Rome.](http://www.salon.com/2014/10/15/ben_carson_thinks_political_correctness_could_lead_u_s_to_collapse_like_rome/) ““The reason that is very troubling to me,” Carson explains, “is that it’s the very same thing that happened to the Roman Empire. They were extremely powerful. There was no way anybody could overcome them. But these philosophers, with the long flowing white robes and the long white beards, they could wax eloquently on every subject, but nothing was right and nothing was wrong. They soon completely lost sight of who they were.”” Huh. I was under the impression that it was Athens that had all the philosophers. I thought Rome fell because of insane politicians and lead poisoning from the plumbing, which, given the conservative’s view of the EPA, are both more likely causes of a U.S. collapse. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17426 "2014-10-15T19:24:03Z")
Bill O’Reilly wants us to hire mercenary armies to fight wars for us, which is another thing that led to the fall of the Roman Empire. So far we’re batting 1.000: mercenaries, environmental poison, insane politicians and Christianity. Been nice knowin’ y’all. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17427 "2014-10-15T19:32:04Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Ben Carson thinks “political correctness” could lead U.S. to collapse like Rome.](http://www.salon.com/2014/10/15/ben_carson_thinks_political_correctness_could_lead_u_s_to_collapse_like_rome/) > > > [@](#): > > > > “But these philosophers, with the long flowing white robes and the long white beards, they could wax eloquently on every subject, but nothing was right and nothing was wrong. They soon completely lost sight of who they were.” What? I thought the problem with “political correctness” is supposed to be exactly the opposite, that it’s super-judgy about what’s right and what’s wrong. You know, the “correctness” bit. Not even Ben Carson seems to have a clue what Ben Carson’s talking about. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17428 "2014-10-15T19:39:53Z")
In this case, sure he does. “Political correctness” is a code term for liberalism, with all the scary change-y stuff that implies. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17429 "2014-10-15T21:33:04Z")
[Ted Nugent](http://www.politicususa.com/2014/10/14/nra-board-member-ted-nugent-calls-assassination-president-obama.html). Again. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17430 "2014-10-15T21:38:42Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Did the Empire ever have philosophical relativism? In a way. “The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful.” – Edward Gibbon ---
**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:** [October 15, 2014, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17431 "2014-10-15T21:50:41Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > [Ted Nugent](http://www.politicususa.com/2014/10/14/nra-board-member-ted-nugent-calls-assassination-president-obama.html). Again. [The Smith Act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Act) is still on the books. Why isn’t it being invoked? ---
**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:** [October 15, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17432 "2014-10-15T21:56:37Z")
"Dr. Keith Ablow, the resident psychiatrist at Fox News and a member of the network’s Medical A-Team, declared this week that President Barack Obama was allowing Ebola into the United States because his 'affiliations” and ‘affinities’ were more with Africa. On Tuesday’s edition of The John Gibson Show on Fox News radio, Ablow looked ‘deep inside the president’s psyche’ to determine that Obama did not want to seal the borders or build a wall because he sees Americans as a ‘scourge on the face of the Earth.’" - “His affinity, his affiliations are with them! Not us! That’s what people seem unwilling to accept. He’s their leader. We don’t have a president. We don’t have a president who has the American people as his primary interest, who believes the country has Manifest Destiny and has been a force for good.”\* “The Fox News doctor went on to speculate that Obama had only been elected because Americans were victims of Stockholm Syndrome, and decided to elect somebody ‘who has names very similar to two of our archenemies, Osama, well, Obama. And Hussein. And what it does is it removes the United States from its rightful place at the leading edge of a march for freedom in the world and encourages those who hate freedom like ISIL to go on their own march, which they have,’ Ablow asserted.” [http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/fox-pundits-ugly-racial-rant-blames-obamas-affiliation-with-africa-for-ebola-in-the-us/](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/fox-pundits-ugly-racial-rant-blames-obamas-affiliation-with-africa-for-ebola-in-the-us/) ---
**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:** [October 15, 2014, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17433 "2014-10-15T22:00:56Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > What? I thought the problem with “political correctness” is supposed to be exactly the opposite, that it’s super-judgy about what’s right and what’s wrong. You know, the “correctness” bit. > > Not even Ben Carson seems to have a clue what Ben Carson’s talking about. He’s confused on his Ancient sources anyway. The Sophists (y’know, the moral relativists who prided themselves on being able to argue anything and its opposite) were a Greek thing, not a Roman thing. And even in Greece they had their share of critics… on the grounds that they argued everything and its opposite and lacked direction/morals. Roman philosophers were a lot more categorical on the whole. You know, this is good, that is bad, don’t get fucked in the arse, fuck other guys in the arse instead because that is proper manly, that sort of thing. [QUOTE=silenus] Bill O’Reilly wants us to hire mercenary armies to fight wars for us, which is another thing that led to the fall of the Roman Empire. So far we’re batting 1.000: mercenaries, environmental poison, insane politicians and Christianity. Been nice knowin’ y’all. [/QUOTE] Shit, man, at least throw in midgets fighting bears and public orgies to make it worth my while ! ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17434 "2014-10-15T23:28:42Z")
Huckabee: > [@](#): > > But the biggest issue is the betrayal of our Constitution and the surrender to a small group of unelected black-robed jurists who can’t make law, nor enforce it. Carson: > [@](#): > > But these philosophers, with the long flowing white robes and the long white beards, they could wax eloquently on every subject, but nothing was right and nothing was wrong. Robes are bad, mmkay? ---
**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:** [October 15, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17435 "2014-10-15T23:37:07Z")
[Oh, those Roman stand-up philosophers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgoB2JMEowc)! ---
**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:** [October 15, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17436 "2014-10-15T23:43:07Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Shit, man, at least throw in midgets fighting bears and public orgies to make it worth my while ! Will WWF and Cinemax do? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17437 "2014-10-16T00:06:27Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > [Oh, those Roman stand-up philosophers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgoB2JMEowc)! Could be worse than philosophy. [Could be faith.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZegQYgygdw) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17438 "2014-10-16T00:15:57Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Shit, man, at least throw in midgets fighting bears and public orgies to make it worth my while ! Meh. Vanilla. I want midgets having public orgies **with** bears! ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17439 "2014-10-16T00:33:51Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Shit, man, at least throw in midgets fighting bears and public orgies to make it worth my while ! Does this mean little people fighting full sized bears or tiny bears in boxing gear? ---
**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:** [October 16, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/17440 "2014-10-16T01:18:48Z")
[Rick Scott gives the weirdest prima-donna performance since Bobby Fischer quit doing chess tournaments:](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-scott-crist-debate-gets-off-to-bizarre-start-20141015-post.html) > [@](#): > > The live televised debate between Florida Gov. Rick Scott and challenger Charlie Crist got off to one of the most bizarre starts in political history Wednesday night when Scott initially refused to take the stage because of a fan. > > Yes, a fan. > > The governor said Crist was in violation of debate rules prohibiting electronic devices by placing a small fan underneath his lecturn. Debate moderators initially said Scott had decided he would not appear in the debate at all because of the rules violation. > > Some in the crowd at Broward College hooted and booed at the announcement… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=871) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=873)