Newt Gingrinch back at his wacky self

[yogib37 3]

Gingrich is a bomb-throwing, deranged demogogue

By DOUG THOMPSON

Newt Gingrich is back and as rabid as ever, lobbing verbal bombs at anyone who disagrees with his narrow, right-wing view of the world.

Appearing on Meet the Press Sunday, Gingrich was his usual bombastic self, offering doomsday scenarios, predicting "one or more" American cities would be destroyed by a nuclear bomb or biological attack by terrorists, comparing the Iraq conflict with the American civil war and claiming, in true war-mongering Republican fashion, that the only answer is victory in the Iraq war.

When moderator Tim Russert asked Gingrich how he would win the war in Iraq, he answered:

First of all, you, you would empower General Petraeus. You'd pass the supplemental immediately. You'd give him the money. Second, you would encourage the Iraqis to triple the size of their regular army. Third, you would, you would encourage the development of a, of a military tribunal system to lock people up the way Abraham Lincoln would've done it. Fourth, you would establish a nationwide ID card with biometrics so you can actually track everybody in the country. Fifth, you would make sure that the State Department actually staffed the embassy with people in favor of winning the war and you actually had your fully, fully equipped intelligence and economic development teams. Six, you would say to the Iranians, "If you don't cut off everything you're doing, we'll begin to bring enormous pressure to bear with you," if necessary, blockading the flow of gasoline into Iran, which has to import 40 percent of its gasoline because it only has one refinery in the entire country.

So I would take-I would lean forward and say to the world, "We are, by George, going to make sure that the allies of America and the forces of freedom win, and we are the most powerful nation in history, and we have more than enough assets to do this." And we ought to do what it takes to win, not tolerate legislating defeat.

In other words, let's be even more of an international bully than we are now, set up a KGB "your papers please" national ID system in Iraq that is no doubt a prelude to putting one into place in this country and institute the same military tribunal system that courts in this country have found un-Constitutional.

This is what the Bush administration calls "exporting Democracy." It also is a chilling look at the kind of totalitarian, personal-freedoms-be-damned government that Bush, Gingrich and the Republicans would like to see not only in Iraq but also here in America.

In the interest of full disclosure, I worked inside Republican politics on Capitol Hill from 1981-84, serving as press secretary to two GOP Congressman and chief of staff to a third. I also worked for Gingrich in 1992, raising money for GOPAC, his political action committee.

During that stint, I came to know Gingrich and saw first hand how he operated. Once I did I quit and walked away from politics for good and returned to journalism. His demagoguery, immorality and radical, dangerous ideas both disgusted and scared me. He was, and still is, a deranged, dangerous man.

When Republicans took over control of Congress in 1994 and elected Gingrich Speaker of the House I wrote that it would be must a matter of time before his hypocrisy and right-wing extremism brought him down. It didn't take long. After leading the GOP charge against Bill Clinton's infidelity, Gingrich resigned in disgrace when his own affair with a House staff member emerged and he got caught scamming funds from a book deal.

But Washington has a short memory and Gingrich is back, belligerent as ever and considered a prospect for the GOP Presidential nomination because the right-wingers need a conservative nutcase in their midst.

I hope he runs. It will be fun to take Newt Gingrich down one more time. Easy targets like him are a journalist's dream.

[almaty 19]

newt is a chopf##k and a dumb azz too boot..

[Portlander 0]

Newt's plan for success, translated"

First of all, you, you would empower General Petraeus. You'd pass the supplemental immediately. You'd give him the money.

In other words, the corruption that is going on is the path to success. The more money we give to Halliburton the greater out chances for success.

Second, you would encourage the Iraqis to triple the size of their regular army.

Yeah - you guys ought to, you know, get with the program so we don't have to give you all our money. Actually, so we don't have to give Halliburton all out money.

Third, you would, you would encourage the development of a, of a military tribunal system to lock people up the way Abraham Lincoln would've done it.

Put everyone in jail

Fourth, you would establish a nationwide ID card with biometrics so you can actually track everybody in the country.

Track everyone, Big Brother style

Fifth, you would make sure that the State Department actually staffed the embassy with people in favor of winning the war

read: Yes men

and you actually had your fully, fully equipped intelligence and economic development teams.

See point number one about the more money going to Halliburton directly increasing our chances for success

Six, you would say to the Iranians, "If you don't cut off everything you're doing, we'll begin to bring enormous pressure to bear with you," if necessary, blockading the flow of gasoline into Iran, which has to import 40 percent of its gasoline because it only has one refinery in the entire country.

War for fun and profit....

[homesick_american 1]

newt is a chopf##k and a dumb azz too boot..

The scary thing is, Newt Gingrich is FAR from being a dumb azz. If his affliction was stupidity, I'd be much more forgiving of his behavior. He has a BA from Emory and a Ph.D. from Tulane, and was a history professor for 8 years. He's not an idiot; he's just cruel.

[almaty 19]

newt is a chopf##k and a dumb azz too boot..

The scary thing is, Newt Gingrich is FAR from being a dumb azz. If his affliction was stupidity, I'd be much more forgiving of his behavior. He has a BA from Emory and a Ph.D. from Tulane, and was a history professor for 8 years. He's not an idiot; he's just cruel.

okay, i agree a cruel chopf##k. i was hoping he was just stupid

[one...two...tree 2,762]

newt is a chopf##k and a dumb azz too boot..

The scary thing is, Newt Gingrich is FAR from being a dumb azz. If his affliction was stupidity, I'd be much more forgiving of his behavior. He has a BA from Emory and a Ph.D. from Tulane, and was a history professor for 8 years. He's not an idiot; he's just cruel.

Well said.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

newt is a chopf##k and a dumb azz too boot..

The scary thing is, Newt Gingrich is FAR from being a dumb azz. If his affliction was stupidity, I'd be much more forgiving of his behavior. He has a BA from Emory and a Ph.D. from Tulane, and was a history professor for 8 years. He's not an idiot; he's just cruel.

Agreed. You don't have to be stupid to support evil ideas.

Its often dismissive to call such people stupid - they generally aren't. In all honesty even GWB (who takes more than his fair share of those jibes) can't reasonably be described as stupid. He might be inarticulate and wholly inadequate to the task at which he is employed - but noone ever became a major world leader by being an idiot. Self serving & corrupt - for sure but working to a definite plan.

If anyone is stupid - its the people who vote for candidates like that.

[peejay 327]

While I find a lot of what is stated in the article objectionable...it is quite a stretch to make such absurd and slanderous statements as this:

It also is a chilling look at the kind of totalitarian, personal-freedoms-be-damned government that Bush, Gingrich and the Republicans would like to see not only in Iraq but also here in America.

There is a lot that I don't like about individual members of both the Democratic and Republican parties, but this is way the hell out of line.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I think Gingrinch was given the rope to hang himself. Those people usually are.

[Portlander 0]

newt is a chopf##k and a dumb azz too boot..

The scary thing is, Newt Gingrich is FAR from being a dumb azz. If his affliction was stupidity, I'd be much more forgiving of his behavior. He has a BA from Emory and a Ph.D. from Tulane, and was a history professor for 8 years. He's not an idiot; he's just cruel.

Agreed. You don't have to be stupid to support evil ideas.

Its often dismissive to call such people stupid - they generally aren't. In all honesty even GWB (who takes more than his fair share of those jibes) can't reasonably be described as stupid. He might be inarticulate and wholly inadequate to the task at which he is employed - but noone ever became a major world leader by being an idiot. Self serving & corrupt - for sure but working to a definite plan.

If anyone is stupid - its the people who vote for candidates like that.

Actually, Bush is self serving and corrupt, and wholly appropriate for the task on hand. He makes lots of grammatical mistakes, but his use of words is far more sophisticated than people give him credit for. He is able to use words to frame the debate in such a way that allows him to get away with robbing the country blind. They are carefully chosen to make him seem like a 'cowboy' instead of the ivy-league silver spoon spoiled brat that his is. This endears him to "his base" and pisses of the Northern elitists who would never vote for him anyway (or at least admit it) .... which further endears him to 'his base'. Very clever. Very well thought out in advance. Very well executed.

Gingrich is more articulate in an intellectual sense, but Bush has FAR more impact with the words he chooses...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

newt is a chopf##k and a dumb azz too boot..

The scary thing is, Newt Gingrich is FAR from being a dumb azz. If his affliction was stupidity, I'd be much more forgiving of his behavior. He has a BA from Emory and a Ph.D. from Tulane, and was a history professor for 8 years. He's not an idiot; he's just cruel.

Agreed. You don't have to be stupid to support evil ideas.

Its often dismissive to call such people stupid - they generally aren't. In all honesty even GWB (who takes more than his fair share of those jibes) can't reasonably be described as stupid. He might be inarticulate and wholly inadequate to the task at which he is employed - but noone ever became a major world leader by being an idiot. Self serving & corrupt - for sure but working to a definite plan.

If anyone is stupid - its the people who vote for candidates like that.

Actually, Bush is self serving and corrupt, and wholly appropriate for the task on hand. He makes lots of grammatical mistakes, but his use of words is far more sophisticated than people give him credit for. He is able to use words to frame the debate in such a way that allows him to get away with robbing the country blind. They are carefully chosen to make him seem like a 'cowboy' instead of the ivy-league silver spoon spoiled brat that his is. This endears him to "his base" and pisses of the Northern elitists who would never vote for him anyway (or at least admit it) .... which further endears him to 'his base'. Very clever. Very well thought out in advance. Very well executed.

Gingrich is more articulate in an intellectual sense, but Bush has FAR more impact with the words he chooses...

He's definitely acting to a plan - but I don't think he can be credited with any sophisticated use of language. That stuff isn't his own - he has teams of advisers to coach him on stuff like that. Heard him stumble over the issues enough times in enough debates and press conferences to wonder whether he really does have a handle on some of the issues of the day. I don't think its good for (anyones) image to appear inarticulate and apparently unknowledgable about national issues.

That said enough people seem to clap and applaud bald rhetoric - though to be honest I think its their intelligence that is in question, as opposed to GWBs.

Edited May 22, 2007 by erekose

[Portlander 0]

He stumbles over the issues partly because he doesn't have an honest thing to say, full stop. Its not easy to coherently lie 24/7...

[Portlander 0]

While I find a lot of what is stated in the article objectionable...it is quite a stretch to make such absurd and slanderous statements as this:

It also is a chilling look at the kind of totalitarian, personal-freedoms-be-damned government that Bush, Gingrich and the Republicans would like to see not only in Iraq but also here in America.

There is a lot that I don't like about individual members of both the Democratic and Republican parties, but this is way the hell out of line.

BushCo have declared Executive Powers to do the following: (justified under anti-terrorist legislation, but really stated stretching back before 9-11)

* warrantless wiretapping (it was already possible to get a warrant 3 days after the fact under FISA!)

* suspend the right to due process and a prompt and public trial (actually getting used)

* cancel protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

* opening email and snail mail without oversight

* declare martial law consolidating all control in the hands of the President during an emergency

* if the Justive Dept simply writes a letter, they get the right to extensively monitor and search any business organization.

* etc etc. I have to go to bed sometime!

All of this is while gutting accountability.

Bush has done more to consolidate control into the Executive at the expense of Congress and the Judiciary, and more to consolidate power in the Federal at the expense of the States than any oresident in the history of the US. Can you imagine the bruhahaha if Clinton had suggested taking educational standards away from not just the States, but from local school districts?

Schwartzeneggar is Governor of CA because the Grey Davis got impeached. What did he do? He locked California into 10 years of high energy bills. Bush locked the US permanantly into full retail price for prescription drugs ... so that we could now save a bundle of taxpayer money by simply shopping at Walgreens! Impeached like Grey Davis? Hardly...

Bush is getting away with all of this. Certainly there are a lot of bad Dems, and a lot of good Rs, but the fact of the matter is the Ds are at least the token resistance here, and the Rs jump whenever Bush says "Jump". They rubberstamped many these policies (several Bush simply used executive signing statements to unilaterally declare)