# 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:** 979
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19562 "2015-02-27T03:59:48Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Probably no one knows why Schweich took his own life. However, a member of the _Post-Dispatch_ editorial board writes about his friendship with Schweich, saying that Schweich had recently confided in him that Missouri Republican Party leaders were engaged in a whisper campaign designed to discredit Schweich with donors by convincing them that Schweich was Jewish. And, this is a political career-killer among Missouri Republicans? In this day and age? Seriously? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19563 "2015-02-27T04:19:52Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > You can’t run as a Republican in [Laurens County, SC](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/sc-county-gop-if-you-ve-had-pre-marital-sex-you-can-t-be-a-republican) if you have had premarital sex, or if you look at porn, or if you support gay marriage OR gay civil unions. And a bunch of other stuff. I don’t call it sex. I call it hiking the Appalachian Trail. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19564 "2015-02-27T04:21:23Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I don’t call it sex. I call it hiking the Appalachian Trail. “I know I wasn’t the first to hike that trail, but I still enjoyed it.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19565 "2015-02-27T04:38:16Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I don’t call it sex. I call it hiking the Appalachian Trail. Is that what the kids are calling it now? ---
**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:** [February 27, 2015, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19566 "2015-02-27T04:42:28Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Kansas state Senator wants to throw teachers in jail for using the “wrong” books.](http://aattp.org/a-kansas-gop-senator-wants-to-throw-teachers-in-jail-for-using-harmful-books/) Why stop there? Why not throw teachers in jail for using books at all! Everyone knows books are the tools that pointy-headed intellectual traitors use to brainwash innocent children into believing stuff! In fact, why teach children to read? It only corrupts them! ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19567 "2015-02-27T04:46:02Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I don’t call it sex. I call it hiking the Appalachian Trail. I heard a fairly rude joke about that once. It wasn’t really Sanford’s fault, you know. He had a lousy cell phone connection when his staff called to find out where he was. They thought he said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. What he actually said was that he was having some Argentinian tail.:eek: ---
**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:** [February 27, 2015, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19568 "2015-02-27T05:22:42Z")
And my native Georgians will NOT be left out in rush to see what state is sponsoring the stupidest Republican legislators! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, the new head of the House’s Science and Technology subcommittee and disease-spreading lunkheaded ignoramus, [who proudly announced that he did not vaccinate his kids](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/barry-loudermilk-didnt-immunize-kids) according to an article in Mother Jones. Jeebus, it’s gonna be a long two years! ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19569 "2015-02-27T07:24:50Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > A twofer: > > [Mentally challenged](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/26/jim-inhofe-climate-snow_n_6763868.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592)Senator Jim Inhofe brings snowball to Congressional floor to prove climate change is a hoax. As much as I would like to be mad, I can’t, because you don’t hold the mentally challenged to the same standards as normal people. So, logically, if someone were to point at snowfall and say snow means cold, and therefore more snow means it’s colder, that person would be considered mentally feeble? Hypothetically speaking. Obviously I’m not talking about our resident science denier, who has special effects indeed. ---
**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:** [February 27, 2015, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19570 "2015-02-27T07:30:14Z")
It was 70 degrees today in Sacramento. Tell me there is no climate change. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19571 "2015-02-27T07:33:28Z")
> [@Askthepizzaguy](#): > > So, logically, if someone were to point at snowfall and say snow means cold, and therefore more snow means it’s colder, that person would be considered mentally feeble? Well, if he tries to claim his one snowball is evidence against a higher overall global average temperature, then, kinda, yeah. Hey, it rained here the other day; I guess the drought is over… If all he was talking about was right there where he was standing, that’s not feeble, merely banal. > [@](#): > > Hypothetically speaking. Obviously I’m not talking about our resident science denier, who has special effects indeed. Pretty much the same thing. Oh, it’s cold in a few places in the northern hemisphere in winter; this must mean that temperatures in Australia, or Argentina, or southern Africa are also colder than usual. Except they aren’t. The word “global” keeps escaping them. ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19572 "2015-02-27T07:48:36Z")
I say the average temperature inside the snowball disproves global warming. See, the inside of that snowball is way colder than average. Then, I put the snowball in my freezer. Ipso facto, there is no global warming because it is cold inside my snowball in my freezer. ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19573 "2015-02-27T07:53:08Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > It was 70 degrees today in Sacramento. Tell me there is no climate change. It was 90 degrees in Sacramento six months ago. Obviously the Earth is getting colder. Checkmate, global warming alarmists! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19574 "2015-02-27T07:58:25Z")
Re: Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich, candidate for governor, kills self, possibly because he thought (possibly correctly) that State Republican Party engaged in whisper campaign to the effect that he is :eek: Jewish: > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And, this is a political career-killer among Missouri Republicans? > > In this day and age? > > Seriously? Yes, suicide is still a political career-killer in places like Missouri, among other Red states. Note, for example, the post by **Rick Kitchen** , a few posts up, that you can’t run as a Republican in Laurens County, SC if you have had premarital sex, or if you look at porn, or if you support gay marriage OR gay civil unions, or if you have committed suicide. And a bunch of other stuff. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19575 "2015-02-27T08:20:09Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, the new head of the House’s Science and Technology subcommittee and disease-spreading lunkheaded ignoramus, [who proudly announced that he did not vaccinate his kids](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/barry-loudermilk-didnt-immunize-kids) :smack: Twenty years ago I made the major life decision to move to Thailand. Corruption and stupidity are rampant in the national politics here; one of my concerns was that that would be a source of anger and regret for me. (“Why did I leave a country with intelligent leaders to come to this dysfunctional backwater?”) _ **I needn’t have worried about that.** _ :eek: These days, it often seems that the U.S.A. has chosen Thailand to be a role model for its political developments! (In fact the political details might make me think the two countries are following the same astrological trends or such – Thaksin’s first election as P.M. coincided exactly with GWB’s 2000 election, etc.) Recent trends should be a concern for Americans. Thailand, especially since the recent coup, is becoming more rational and less corrupt. OTOH, U.S. heads in the wrong direction. ---
**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:** [February 27, 2015, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19576 "2015-02-27T09:00:56Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Yes, suicide is still a political career-killer in places like Missouri, among other Red states. Bravo, good sir or madam. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19577 "2015-02-27T09:20:04Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > :smack: > > Twenty years ago I made the major life decision to move to Thailand. Corruption and stupidity are rampant in the national politics here; one of my concerns was that that would be a source of anger and regret for me. (“Why did I leave a country with intelligent leaders to come to this dysfunctional backwater?”) > > _ **I needn’t have worried about that.** _ :eek: These days, it often seems that the U.S.A. has chosen Thailand to be a role model for its political developments! (In fact the political details might make me think the two countries are following the same astrological trends or such – Thaksin’s first election as P.M. coincided exactly with GWB’s 2000 election, etc.) > > Recent trends should be a concern for Americans. Thailand, especially since the recent coup, is becoming more rational and less corrupt. OTOH, U.S. heads in the wrong direction. I don’t think we’re becoming more corrupt, I think we continue to get better in that way. I think the propensity to say dumb things is actually a sign of less corruption. We’re electing more real people rather than empty suits who just do the bidding of special interests. And real people believe some really strange things and actually say them out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19578 "2015-02-27T09:42:43Z")
I am not so optimistic. We are becoming more corrupt, it’s just easier for nakedly corrupt people to keep their jobs in Washington, because we’re losing the rigged game to the monied interests. If all you have to vote for is millionaire who will break every promise they made A, and millionaire who will promise things that will never happen in a million years B, and both A and B will vote whichever way tickles the fancy of his or her corporate donors, then it really doesn’t matter if the person in office is a master of mental manipulation or a mouth-breather with no understanding of how to hide his poor ethical standards. The end result is still a corrupt, bought and paid for, career politician. And the electorate is simply to depressed and defeated by the class war to care. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19579 "2015-02-27T09:48:02Z")
Yeah, but the fact that the mouthbreathers are getting past the screening process demonstrates that we’re getting less corrupt. The monied interests don’t like exposure, and dumb politicians who don’t lie too well expose them. there’s a reason the big money would rather have a guy like Jeb Bush in office than a Ben Carson or even a Ted Cruz. Bush will do busienss the way they like. Clinton will too. But a Carson or Cruz are unpredictable and even if you can talk them into doing things that are corrupt, they won’t be able to keep it a secret. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19580 "2015-02-27T10:05:49Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Yeah, but the fact that the mouthbreathers are getting past the screening process demonstrates that we’re getting less corrupt. The monied interests don’t like exposure, and dumb politicians who don’t lie too well expose them. there’s a reason the big money would rather have a guy like Jeb Bush in office than a Ben Carson or even a Ted Cruz. Bush will do busienss the way they like. Clinton will too. But a Carson or Cruz are unpredictable and even if you can talk them into doing things that are corrupt, they won’t be able to keep it a secret. :dubious: It almost sounds like you’re advocating the election of stupid people to high office! George Walker Bush was literally elected partly on the basis that he was stupid! (Many Americans liked his homey style compared with the erudite Gore.) How did that stupidity work out for you? ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/19581 "2015-02-27T10:17:56Z")
Republican control of both houses and a centrist President, while convincing enough of the masses that the centrist is a far-left liberal and all that different from his predecessor on basically any major issue. I’d say it’s worked out great for Republicans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=978) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=980)