POLITICS - "Nutty's" Latest Misstep

"Former GOP lawmakers blast Newt Gingrich" by SEUNG MIN KIM, Politico 10/7/2010

Two former House Republicans who served with ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich scolded their old colleague Thursday for his comments that the Democrats are the “party of food stamps.”

“At some point, people will learn to stop taking Newt Gingrich seriously,” said former Rep. Mickey Edwards (R-Okla.) in POLITICO’s Arena. “Newt is utterly unconcerned with the welfare of the country ... he cares about (a) Newt and (b) power for Newt.”

Gingrich, who is widely considered to be eyeing a potential presidential bid for 2012, unveiled the “food stamps” strategy earlier this week in a memo. He urged Republican candidates nationwide to draw a sharp contrast “between the Democrat Party of food stamps and the Republican Party of paychecks.”

“This year, the House Republicans’ Pledge to America has set the stage for a powerful, symbolic closing argument for candidates seeking to unseat the left-wing, big-spending, job-killing Democrats: paychecks versus food stamps,” Gingrich wrote in the memo.

But Edwards, who served in the House from 1977 to 1993, warned Republicans that those who back Gingrich’s strategy will turn off independent voters and “intelligent conservatives.”

Former Rep. John Hostettler (R-Ind.) blasted Gingrich from the right. Hostettler pointed out in Arena that the 1994 Contract with America — the blueprint drafted by Republicans outlining legislative promises if they won the House — included a provision that transformed federal food stamp entitlements into a state block grant. Once Republicans held a House majority, they failed to make good on that promise despite then-freshman lawmaker Hostettler’s efforts to do so in committee.

“The GOP is the party of food stamps also. The former speaker’s recollection of history may be a bit foggy,” Hostettler said. “My recommendation is that the memo needs revising.”

POLITICS - GOP Blockheads

"Gingrich threatens extinct strategy: Shut down the government" by Robert Reich, Christian Science Monitor 9/17/2010

Newt Gingrich is saying if Republicans win back control of Congress and reach a budget impasse with the President, they should shut down the government again. GOP pollster Dick Morris is echoing those sentiments, as is Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R. Ga), and Alaska GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller.

I am continuously amazed at the GOP’s ability to snatch defeat out of the jaws of potential victory. It is the gift that keeps giving.

I was there November 14, 1995 when Newt Gingrich pulled the plug on the federal government the first time. It proved to be the stupidest political move in recent history. Not only did it help Bill Clinton win reelection but it was a boon to almost all other Democrats in 1996 (Gingrich’s photo was widely used in negative ads), and the move damaged Republicans for years.

Gingrich hurt his cause by complaining that Bill Clinton had put him in the back of Air Force One on a trip that occurred about the same time. Republican lore has it that it was this babyish behavior rather than the shutdown itself that caused the public to side with Clinton in the game of chicken Gingrich launched over the budget. Undoubtedly Gingrich’s whining didn’t help, but it was his cavalier attitude toward government itself that was the defining issue. Gingrich was the one who first bragged he’d shut down the government if Clinton didn’t agree to what the Republicans wanted.

Now, remarkably, Gingrich is back at it.

Dick Armey says it’s “premature” to talk about doing any such thing. What Armey means is if the public sees Republicans already plotting a shutdown, they’ll react even more angrily than they did fifteen years ago.

Americans may be cynical about government but we’re proud of our system of governance. And we don’t want it to be used as a political pawn in partisan power games. That’s what Republicans forget time and again. They dislike government so much they don’t see the difference between government as a bureaucracy and democratic governance as a cherished system.

The framers of the Constitution developed checks and balances to assure one branch didn’t accumulate too much power. But they never contemplated that one party could shut down the entire governmental system if it didn’t get what it wanted.

I'm NOT surprised, the GOP-Blockheads NEVER learn.

Picture Newt (the child) throwing a tantrum.

POLITICS - Gonzoland Sinking In the Waves of Deceit

"Conservatives Refuse To Appear On Fox News To Publicly Defend Gonzales" by Matt, Think Progress

On Fox News Sunday this morning, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) refused to defend Attorney General Alberto Gonzales against accusations that he may have perjured himself before Congress. “It’s very damaging…we badly need an attorney general who is above any question,” said Gingrich. He continued:

• Both the president and country are better served if the attorney general is a figure of competence. Sadly, the current attorney general is not seen as any of those things. I think it’s a liability for the president. More importantly, it’s a liability for the United States of America.

Later in the show, host Chris Wallace revealed that no conservative would willingly defend Gonzales on Fox. “By the way, we invited White House officials and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to defend Attorney General Gonzales,” said Wallace. “We had no takers.”

The efforts of right-wingers to distance themselves from Gonzales have reached a fever pitch in the wake of his disastrous Senate testimony last week.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), appearing on ABC’s This Week, said “of course” Gonzales has a credibility problem. On MSNBC’s Hardball on Friday, Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT), the ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, squirmed when asked by host Chris Matthews if he thought Gonzales “is a good attorney general?” Cannon refused to answer the question, offering instead, “He’s a good guy.”

National Review Online’s Jonah Goldberg, a reliable partisan defender of the Bush administration, admitted on Thursday that the evidence against Gonzales is compelling. “I think Gonzales has long, long, long outserved whatever usefulness he might once have had,” wrote Goldberg. “And — hey — maybe he actually did perjure himself.”

If Solicitor General Paul Clement fails to appoint a special counsel to look into Gonzales’ “words and deeds,” the New York Times writes today, “Congress should impeach Mr. Gonzales.”

The full article contains a video of the Gingrich interview.

POLITICS - Das Fuhrer's (aka Bush) Right-Hand Man

"Gingrich raises alarm at event honoring those who stand up for freedom of speech" by RILEY YATES, Union Leader

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich yesterday said the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism.

Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a "different set of rules" may be needed to reduce terrorists' ability to use the Internet and free speech to recruit and get out their message.

Gingrich spoke to about 400 state and local power brokers last night at the annual Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment award dinner, which fêtes people and organizations that stand up for freedom of speech.

I had to look up "fêtes" to make sure the meaning, as I read it, in the context of the last paragraph above was correct.

French, from feste, n.:
- to honor (a person) or commemorate (an event) with a fête (feted) : ENTERTAIN when the circus came to town ... he would welcome the train in the railway yards, fête the performers

One has to wonder how this organization reacted to Gingrich's comments. He is defiantly not standing up for freedom of speech.

Gingrich is also affirming just how dumb the GOP is when it comes to understanding the Internet. They do not understand that any law or restriction under American law can apply only within the USA and not to the Internet as a whole. The Internet is global and not in the control of any one state.

Gingrich and the GOP also miss on another account......

I have always been among those who believed that the greatest freedom of speech was the greatest safety, because if a man is a fool, the best thing to do is to encourage him to advertise the fact by speaking. It cannot be so easily discovered if you allow him to remain silent and look wise, but if you let him speak, the secret is out and the world knows that he is a fool. So it is by the exposure of folly that it is defeated; not by the seclusion of folly, and in this free air of free speech men get into that sort of communication with one another which constitutes the basis of all common achievement.

WOODROW WILSON, “That Quick Comradeship of Letters,” address at the Institute of France, Paris, May 10, 1919

Freedom of speech provides the greatest protection against all evils, INTERNAL and external. If they are really concerned about terrorists' ability to use the Internet to "recruit and get out their message" they need to look in the mirror and ask why they cannot use the Internet to get out their message and counteract terrorists. I've got a oft used phrase that applies, "Dumb & Dumber."

POLITICS - "GOP Trump Card" A Horror Story, Coming to Your Neighborhood

Staring: Newt Gingrich, Condoleezza Rice, and Donny Rumsfeld
Directed by G.W. Bush

"World War III: The GOP's Ultimate Trump Card?" by Randolph T. Holhut, OpEd News

We know that the Republican Party, the party of incompetence and corruption, is in big trouble heading into November's congressional elections.

We also know that fear is the only card the GOP has left to play.

That's why it makes perfect sense for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other right-wing luminaries to be saying right now that the United States is currently engaged in World War III.

It's not just hot air, though. They are floating a trial balloon for something that should send a chill down everyone's spine - transforming the current so-called war on terror from a limited war into a total reorientation of our society, economy and politics toward a total, all-out global war.

Gingrich recently told The Seattle Times that he wants President Bush to recognize that this nation is in a new world war and to say so.

Public opinion, Gingrich said, will change "the minute you use the language of World War III." He said the message then becomes, "OK, if we're in the third world war, which side do you think should win?"

Pre-show tickets now on sale at your local GOP offices. Price, your vote for GOP candidates next election.