# The numbnut who had the freakout at the Arlen Specter townhall meeting **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 12, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206 "2009-08-12T19:14:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**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:** [August 13, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/161 "2009-08-13T16:42:06Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > OK RNATB, you found one Republican muppet. Congratulations. Doesn’t mean he’s the “face of the Republican party” or anything like that. No, and I didn’t say he was. However, Joe the Plumber clearly shows that the Republicans are perfectly happy to adopt a muppet if he’s getting face time, no matter how retarded. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/162 "2009-08-13T16:42:22Z")
So who IS the face of the Republican Party? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/163 "2009-08-13T16:45:54Z")
> [@Rand Rover](#): > > He may have "become so in the eyes of many,l but each of those many is using the same stupid analysis as is the OP (and the “many”) in this thread. A bunch of faulty thinking doesn’t add up to a clear and truthful conclusion. (shrug) I think most people can figure out how media attention may result in people who are not necessarily representative of a group to become _de facto_ faces of that group in the popular mind. Anyway, I’m pretty sure everyone gets your objection. If you want to keep banging on about it for another three or four pages, be my guest. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/164 "2009-08-13T16:49:49Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > So who IS the face of the Republican Party? IMO, the answer is “nobody” because it’s a meaningless concept. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/165 "2009-08-13T16:54:48Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > So who IS the face of the Republican Party? Ron Headrest? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/166 "2009-08-13T16:55:59Z")
Whoever the Limbaugh/Beck/Hannity Axis of Anal says it is. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/167 "2009-08-13T16:58:09Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > IMO, the answer is “nobody” because it’s a meaningless concept. They are Legion? ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/168 "2009-08-13T17:10:05Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > That’s funny, my dentist friend takes Medicare patients specifically because the supposed “red tape” of dealing with Medicare is far less than the flaming hoops all the different insurance companies force him to jump through to get reimbursed… That, and he’s more likely to make the life of a fellow human being better on an average day instead of spending all day making somebody’s already white teeth even whiter. That, and he gets paid the same for a cleaning, no matter how many teeth the patient has. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/169 "2009-08-13T17:14:26Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > IMO, the answer is “nobody” because it’s a meaningless concept. Why? Because Republicans are all so different? Look, I get there is diversity within any party, but to pretend that party leaders and spokespeople cannot be identified because you’re all individuals is a pretty fatuous position. Political parties are self-selecting consortia of like-minded individuals who make common cause to advance their mutual political objectives and, furthermore, do so by instituting a party hierarchy whose responsibility is to coordinate the activities of party members for maximal effect. Every party has a “face” _because parties form for that very reason_, to create a “nerve center” that will advance members’ political interests. To go further and call it a “meaningless concept” betrays a woeful ignorance of the political process. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/170 "2009-08-13T17:39:01Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > That, and he gets paid the same for a cleaning, no matter how many teeth the patient has. Equipping someone with a set of dentures so they can eat regular food and have a better chance of being gainfully employed is more personally fulfilling than spending the same amount of time [making some soccer mom’s teeth as white as fucking Chicklets.](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27994) Of course this bleeding heart actually uses his vacations to travel to Mexico and repair cleft palates and give children born with this condition the opportunity of a normal life. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/171 "2009-08-13T17:40:32Z")
Chill, guy. It was a joke. That’s awfully nice of you re the cleft palate thing, though. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/172 "2009-08-13T17:42:57Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > OMG how can people have money for food if the government doesn’t give it to them OMG Rand Rover means that no one should be able to retire unless they’re independently wealthy. He wants to restore the world to the place in time when laborers slaved away in quiet misery until they died at work. Either that, or he doesn’t realize that Social Security is a retirement program. Say, RR, you know you can move _right now_ to a country where the government provides nothing for poor people, and laborers can never retire with government assistance, don’t you? You know your vision of a beautiful fantasy world where you get to keep all your capital can be realized _right now_ by moving to one of those libertarian paradises, such as Haiti? Or, would the Congo suit you better? God knows that those wonderful countries–which don’t have the awful socialist nightmare of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security that we face in the U.S.–must be far nicer places to live, right? I mean, where would _you_ rather live, a place where government spending on disadvantaged people is virtually nil, such as Myanmar or East Timor, or a socialist hellhole such as Sweden? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/173 "2009-08-13T17:55:24Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Say, RR, you know you can move _right now_ to a country where the government provides nothing for poor people, and laborers can never retire with government assistance, don’t you? You know your vision of a beautiful fantasy world where you get to keep all your capital can be realized _right now_ by moving to one of those libertarian paradises, such as Haiti? Or, would the Congo suit you better? God knows that those wonderful countries–which don’t have the awful socialist nightmare of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security that we face in the U.S.–must be far nicer places to live, right? The problem is that none of those places would allow him to pursue his vocation- that of helping the rich avoid paying taxes. And if he had to take a lesser job, he wouldn’t be of as much “value” to society. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/174 "2009-08-13T18:10:01Z")
I was listening to the radio this morning and heard a talk show host bemoaning Woodstock, the dirty hippies, and the downfall of American civilization that Woodstock caused. Friends, Starving Artist is Laura Ingraham. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/175 "2009-08-13T18:46:13Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > IMO, the answer is “nobody” because it’s a meaningless concept. Then why didn’t you argue that starting on page 1 instead of the line of nonsense you’ve been on about for 3 pages now? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/176 "2009-08-13T18:50:35Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I was listening to the radio this morning and heard a talk show host bemoaning Woodstock, the dirty hippies, and the downfall of American civilization that Woodstock caused. > > Friends, Starving Artist is Laura Ingraham. That would explain a lot. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/177 "2009-08-13T18:57:36Z")
Some interesting reading for those who insist that the Town Hall protesters are all Republican wingnuts. > [@](#): > > Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter is feeling the heat of the health care debate. He now trails Republican Pat Toomey by double digits in an early look at the potential 2010 race. Two months ago, Specter led by double digits. Most Pennsylvania voters oppose the Congressional health care reform effort. Also, Specter’s lead is shrinking in his Democratic Primary match-up with Congressman Joe Sestak. [Rasmussen](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll) Lot of wingnuts in Pennsylvania it would seem. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/178 "2009-08-13T19:01:59Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Thick as a brick, are you? Didn’t get the point? I was being facetious, dumbass. I knew I should have inserted a smilie so dolts like you would be sure to understand that, but my sense of esthetics was offended at the thought of two smilies in a two-line post. So here: :D:cool: > [@elucidator](#): > > While I don’t doubt that your encyclopedic grasp is much admired by literally several Dopers, not all of us share that view. With all due awe, a statement like “SS is not popular” requires a bit more than your bland assertion. That’s funny. I recall no such objection when **Yookeroo** blandly asserted that it _was_ popular. Why did you not suggest he post cites to back that up? Hmmm? Could it be because you seek to obfuscate the issue? Or could it be that you just unthinkingly accept that whatever leftie viewpoint exists should automatically be considered the correct one and is contestable only by cite? > [@jsgoddess](#): > > I was listening to the radio this morning and heard a talk show host bemoaning Woodstock, the dirty hippies, and the downfall of American civilization that Woodstock caused. > > Friends, Starving Artist is Laura Ingraham. [No, actually he’s Ayn Rand.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VzdkXm5Ies&feature=related) (0:35) 😃 (The comment the audience member made that triggered her comment can be found at the end of the preceeding clip or reiterated by Ayn herself at approx. 3:25. Imagine my glee to find that no less a light than Ayn Rand agrees with my observations, obvious as they may be.) ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/179 "2009-08-13T19:02:12Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Barack HUSSEIN Obama Why do you keep doing that? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206/180 "2009-08-13T19:04:45Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Why do you keep doing that? Bait. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-numbnut-who-had-the-freakout-at-the-arlen-specter-townhall-meeting/506206.md?page=10)