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By Nick Summers
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Be careful what you put on the Internet, Republicans. The Internet just might use it.
Yesterday, the GOP unveiled America Speaking Out, a Web site that promises to "change the way Congress works by proposing ideas for a new policy agenda." Visitors, presumably of the Republican persuasion, are invited to make their own suggestions in four broad categories: American prosperity, fiscal accountability, American values, and national security. The idea is that citizens can speak up on these topics, vote up or down on each others' proposals, and the best thoughts will bubble to the top—maybe even becoming part of the Republican platform come November.
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Visitors haven't exactly been playing by the rules.
As Dana Milbank writes in today's Washington Post: "House Republicans, meet the World Wide Web." Though the architects of America Speaking Out, including Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R.-Calif.) and Rep. Peter Roskam (R.-Ill.), are touting its technical sophistication, by midafternoon Wednesday the site had been overrun by prankish submissions. The few high-minded ideas about the federal budget and terrorism have been drowned out by submissions that are inane, racist, absurd, physically impossible, and other qualities that aren't what the GOP hoped to hear.
While many are obviously jokes, some walk a hard-to-detect line between satire and slightly unhinged. The site is almost too bogged down to load currently ("A very high volume of Americans are speaking out right now," an error message reads), but if you can click through, here are 10 of the silliest submissions hijacking the service:
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- "We need to train an army of Ninja Cats. Cats are natural born hunters and predators, and it is known that they indeed have 9 lives, many more than the typical human life (being one). They are also excellent at hiding themselves and would be ideal for sneaking into countries and assassinating communist leaders to lessen the ever growing threat of communism, finding key terrorist leaders and shattering the global terrorist network. In fact they could be potentially useful in the current Korean crisis. Loyal to their trainers, the cats could rain destruction and fear throughout the world, and if ever captured would never tell who they are serving. Finally, after they have solved the worlds problems, they could serve as border patrol and show unflinching resolve at keeping illegals where they belong, anywhere but here."
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