Why Are Republicans So Stupid?

April 30, 2009 at 8:08 am | Posted in American politics | 11 Comments

Michelle Bachman is the latest.

Take a look at what she said on the House floor:

“We were led to believe that we would see great change, immediate change, and all we’re seeing is a prolonged effort, because just what happened in the 1930s with FDR.

“The more the government spent, the more the government regulated, the more the government put up tariff barriers — trade barriers — the more government intervened, the longer the recession occurred. And as a matter of fact, the recession that FDR had to deal with wasn’t as bad as the recession Coolidge had to deal with in the early ’20s. Yet, the prescription that Coolidge put on that, from history, is lower taxes, lower regulatory burden, and we saw the roaring ’20s where we saw markets and growth in the economy like we never seen before in the history of the country.

“FDR applied just the opposite formula — the Hoot-Smalley Act, which was a tremendous burden on tariff restrictions, and then, of course, trade barriers and the regulatory burden and tax barriers. That’s what we saw happen under FDR. That took a recession and blew it into a full-scale depression. The American people suffered for almost 10 years under that kind of thinking.”

Hoot-Smalley Act? Was there a Senator who’s last name was Hoot? Senator Hoot! That’s a real hoot!

Seriously, why are Republicans so stupid? Not only does she get the name wrong (it is Smoot-Hawley), but the Smoot Hawley Act was not passed under FDR, but rather under Hoover, signed by Hoover! That would be a Republican. So let’s really put her argument in with the right people:

“[Hoover] applied just the opposite formula — the [Smoot-Hawley Act], which was a tremendous burden on tariff restrictions, and then, of course, trade barriers and the regulatory burden and tax barriers. That’s what we saw happen under [Hoover]. That took a recession and blew it into a full-scale depression. The American people suffered for almost 10 years under that kind of thinking.”

When you put the right players in place, she actually makes sense! But she is so stupid and does not realize she makes the Democrats’ point that it was Republicans who fucked up. The Bachmans of the world are fighting against FDR today because they can’t fight against Obama. It no longer works to fight against Clinton. Carter is a has been, who has been beaten up enough. Johnson, for some odd reason they don’t pick on. JFK is golden territory, never attack him. Truman, well, they like his foreign policy, so they can’t attack him. That leaves FDR. It is really pathetic what the Republican party has come to. Though, from researching history, they’ve rarely had good moments.