Stupid People Saying Stupid Things

This is the Tumblr blog for the podcast, Poli-Sci-Fi Radio (live, Sundays from 4-6 pm Eastern). Every day we will post a quote from our weekly feature: "Stupid People, Saying Stupid Things." SPSST is a roundup of the blisteringly stupid things that come out of the mouths of conservatives in the media and in politics.

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

“There’s no way any of us can excuse what the president did yesterday. When you have the world watching … a week, two weeks of anticipation of what the United States is gonna do. For him to walk out – I’m not trying to be trivial here – in a light suit, light tan suit, saying that first he wants to talk about what most Americans care about the revision of second quarter numbers on the economy. This is a week after Jim Foley was beheaded and he’s trying to act like real Americans care about the economy, not about ISIS and not about terrorism. And then he goes on to say he has no strategy.”

Rep. Peter King http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/rep-peter-king-obamas-new-fashion-critic

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

Why can't they [women who have sex] take responsibility for their own life? [His guest asked, "But why should we pay for a man's Viagra?"] [Hannity replied] Because that actually is a medical problem versus a choice to have sex.

Fox News' Sean Hannity this week did a segment on covering contraception without a copay as preventive health care. Told that that "unintended pregnancies in America cost us up to $11 billion a year," and that this modest step in support of women's health will make a big difference, Hannity replied, "It is not about women's health, it is about birth control." Later in the segment, the host stressed the notion that if people want to use birth control, it shouldn't be covered as part of preventive services provided for free.

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

I think a lot of this stuff is being done intentionally. What was it that Mrs. Obama said before the campaign? Because it's strange how so much of this seems to all be happening. [Beck then played an audio file of Michelle Obama saying "we're gonna have to change our traditions."]

Glenn Beck, complaining that Miles Morales, who is biracial, will take the mantle of Spider-Man.

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

I think the biggest thing holding back economic growth now is the concern that next week you wake up and the EPA or some other department of government has decided not just what kind of light bulbs you have, but how big your car can be.

Grover Norquist, describing what he sees as the biggest thing holding back our economy in an interview with ABC. Seriously. The biggest thing.

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

We have people that are single, we have people that are past reproductive age, we have priests that are celibate. All of them, paying insurance premiums that cover contraceptives so that somebody else doesn't have to pay the full fare of that? And they've called it 'preventative medicine.' Well if you applied that preventative medicine universally what you end up with is you've prevented a generation. Preventing babies from being born is not medicine. That's not constructive to our culture and our civilization. If we let our birth rate get down below replacement rate we're a dying civilization.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), in a House floor speech, reflecting on the Obama administration's decision to require new health insurance plans to cover birth control with no co-pays.

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

I would welcome a downgrade. I really would. I think it would be the pain from which we have a gain.

Fox News' Neil Cavuto, expressing his thoughts about default, in the lead-up to the debt ceiling deal.

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

I have a theory about global warming and why people think it's real. Go back 30, 40 years when there was much less air conditioning in the country. When you didn't have air conditioning and you left the house, it may in fact have gotten a little cooler out there, because sometimes houses become hot boxes. Especially if you're on the second or third floor of a house in the summer time and all you've got is open windows and maybe a window fan. Or you have some servant standing there fanning you with a piece of paper. When you walked outside, no big deal, it's still hot as hell. Now, 30, 40 years later, all this air conditioning, and it's a huge difference when you go outside. When you go outside now, 'My golly, is it hot. Oh, global warming.' It's all about the baseline you're using for comparison.

Rush Limbaugh, sharing his scientifically tested insights on climate change.

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

I want the mainstream media -- and I've said this for a couple years now -- I want to help them. I have a journalism degree. That is what I studied. I understand that this cornerstone of our democracy is a free press, is sound journalism. I want to help them build back their reputation.

Former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, explaining her desire to assist the mainstream media.

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

Yes, they have the right to do that. That's not discriminating based upon religion, against that particular religion.

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain responding to a  Fox News question about whether a local community has the right to simply ban mosques.

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

In the American system, if you read the Constitution correctly ... if you read the Federalist Papers correctly, the fact is the Congress can pass a law and can limit the Court's jurisdiction. It's written directly in the Constitution. The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton promises, I think it's Number 78, that the judiciary branch is the weakest of the three branches. There is no Supreme Court in the American Constitution.

Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich speaking in Iowa about Congress simply forbidding the Supreme Court from considering cases lawmakers don't want the high court to hear.

Protip: Article III of the Constitution begins, "The judicial power of the United States ... shall be vested in one Supreme Court."

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

Come on, Mr. President. You can, by yourself, cut spending, agree to cap the spending and put in place a balanced budget amendment.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney calling on President Obama to end the debt-ceiling crisis on his own. Wait...what are these checks and balances that you speak of?

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

I have an independent judgment. It comes from a long experience of dealing politically, and in business, and raising a family, and being an American citizen. [Asked about independent analyses, King concluded] I don't trust the words of any source.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) was pressed by MSNBC's Chris Matthews on how he arrived at his pro-default position.

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

Whether they did or didn't [engage in fear-mongering], America was certainly safe between 2000 and 2008. I don't remember any terrorist attacks on American soil during that period of time.

Fox News' Eric Bolling, echoing Dana Perino, agreeing that it's wrong to bring up Bush's bogus claims about weapons of mass destruction and mushroom clouds when talking about White House fear-mongering.

Hmmm....something happened in 2001....something.....I can't quite remember what it was....Something in September, maybe?

Nope, can't remember. Guess it was nothing.

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

We're standing on the precipice, staring down in the deep chasm of socialism and total government control.... Father, there are many who want to destroy us from outside this nation. Folks like al Qaeda and the radical Islamists. But there are folks that want to destroy us from inside, the progressives and the socialists, who want to make this nation a nation that's no longer under you, under God, but a nation that's ruled by man.

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) delivering an invocation at a 4th of July event in his Georgia district.

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

The statistics that no one seems to care about, and we say it over and over again, that this president has increased the debt more in his two and a half years than all presidents throughout the history of America, from George Washington to George W. Bush.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), reading from a prepared text on the Senate floor.

(Obama inherited a $10.6 trillion debt in 2009, along with two wars and the worst economy since the Great Depression. Since then, the debt rose by $3.4 trillion. Even assuming Inhofe did not mean the debt from all presidents combined, he's still wrong -- Bush added nearly $5 trillion.)

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

Well if you look at one of our Founding Fathers, John Quincy Adams, that's absolutely true. He was a very young boy when he was with his father serving essentially as his father's secretary. He tirelessly worked throughout his life to make sure that we did in fact one day eradicate slavery. [Stephanopoulos pressed further: "He wasn't one of the Founding Fathers - he was a president, he was a Secretary of State, he was a member of Congress, you're right he did work to end slavery decades later. But so you are standing by this comment that the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to end slavery?"] [Bachmann concluded] "Well, John Quincy Adams most certainly was a part of the Revolutionary War era. He was a young boy but he was actively involved.

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann talked to George Stephanopoulos, who brought up her record of "making false statements," and wanted to give a her a chance to "clear up" some of the misstatements. He mentioned, for example, the right-wing lawmaker's claim that the Founding Fathers "worked tirelessly to end slavery." Stephanopoulos explained, "That's just not true." Bachmann then doubled-down on her statement.

Link

[stupidpeoplesayingstupidthings]

It's curious that only in Washington can you spend $2 billion and claim that you're saving money. The idea or notion that spending money in Washington somehow is saving money really flies past most of the taxpayers.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) attended a Senate subcommittee hearing on funding the existing Older Americans Act, including a $2 billion investment to prevent senior hunger. Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), explored how the government can actually save money through these investments. (By spending money to prevent hunger and malnutrition among the elderly, Americans can save on health care and nursing home costs.) Paul was flabbergasted.

Link