Posts Tagged ‘Newt Gingrich’

This is a commentary by George Will. He discusses how things like Huckabee’s verbal garbage are a bad thing for the GOP. It seems like it should be obvious, but it has come to George Will have to remind people that acting like a crazy person is bad.

If pessimism is not creeping on little cat’s feet into Republicans’ thinking about their 2012 presidential prospects, that is another reason for pessimism. This is because it indicates they do not understand that sensible Americans, who pay scant attention to presidential politics at this point in the electoral cycle, must nevertheless be detecting vibrations of weirdness emanating from people associated with the party.

Will then discusses Huckabee and Gingrich still talking about Kenya for some reason.

To the notion that Obama has a “Kenyan, anti-colonial” worldview, the sensible response is: If only. Obama’s natural habitat is as American as the nearest faculty club; he is a distillation of America’s academic mentality; he is as American as the other professor-president, Woodrow Wilson. A question for former history professor Gingrich: Why implicate Kenya?

And I really liked the close:

So the Republican winnowing process is far advanced. But the nominee may emerge much diminished by involvement in a process cluttered with careless, delusional, egomaniacal, spotlight-chasing candidates to whom the sensible American majority would never entrust a lemonade stand, much less nuclear weapons.

Enjoy the insanity.

Adam Feser

Updates I and II below and poll added

This has been going on for awhile and doesn’t seem to be going away. A plan to build a community center and mosque a few blocks (600 ft.) from Ground Zero has been dubbed the Ground Zero Mosque. It has, as you can imagine, sparked a ton of controversy. The mosque recently was approved by NYC’s Landmark Preservation Commission.

Of course this isn’t the end of it. President Obama recently discussed the issue, asserting his commitment to religious freedom, which is no small feat considering 70% of Americans oppose it. (Obama did clarify that he believes it is their constitutional right, but that doesn’t mean he supports their decision.)  Mayor Bloomberg supported their right to build the mosque with a stirring speech. One of the stronger parts:

The attack was an act of war, and our first responders defended not only our city, but our country and our Constitution. We do not honor their lives by denying the very constitutional rights they died protecting. We honor their lives by defending those rights and the freedoms that the terrorists attacked … Political controversies come and go, but our values and our traditions endure, and there is no neighborhood in this city that is off-limits to God’s love and mercy.

He received a lot of praise and hate for his speech. In my opinion, he nailed it. We can’t call ourselves “The Land of the Free” if we stop a completely legitimate group from practicing their religion based on where it stands.

People like Newt Gingrich have been throwing (more…)

Norman Ornstein had a solid article in the Washington Post yesterday. In it, he peruses the various claims that Obama is a radical socialist.

GOP politicians and the conservative media have attacked him consistently, often making outrageous claims. Gingrich called Obama “the most radical president in American history.” We’ve all heard cries of socialism. But under any scrutiny, these claims don’t add up.

There is no public option in the health care plan. The mandate is a Republican idea. As Ornstein puts it:

It would be fair to describe the new act as Romneycare crossed with the managed-competition bill proposed in 1994 by Republican Sens. John Chafee, David Durenberger, Charles Grassley and Bob Dole — in other words, as a moderate Republican plan. Among its supporters is Durenberger, no one’s idea of a radical socialist.

On domestic policy:

What about Obama’s other domestic initiatives? The stimulus was anything but radical — indeed, many mainstream observers, me included, thought it was too timid in size and scope given the enormity of the problems. The plan could have been more focused on swift and directed stimulus. It included such diversions as a fix for the alternative minimum tax — at the insistence of Grassley. And it excluded some “shovel-ready” ideas such as school construction — at the insistence of Republican Sen. Susan Collins. It did not include the kind of public works jobs program employed by Franklin Roosevelt. Nonetheless, it has been widely credited with ameliorating the worst effects of the downturn and helping to move us back toward economic growth. The widely criticized Troubled Assets Relief Program — initiated by Obama’s predecessor — is now returning to the Treasury most of the taxpayer money laid out to keep us from depression and deflation.

On foreign policy and claims of secularism:

The nuclear treaty with Russia excoriated by Palin, Savage and others was endorsed by Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, the GOP’s resident foreign policy expert, and it was crafted under Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who was first appointed to that post by George W. Bush. Obama’s approach to terrorism has been similar to Bush’s, while more aggressively targeting leaders of terrorist groups; his larger foreign policy has received the seal of approval from James Baker, former chief of staff to Ronald Reagan and secretary of state to George H.W. Bush. Obama’s energy policies include more nuclear power and more offshore drilling. Obama’s education policies have received wide acclaim across the political spectrum. The “secular” president has shored up and supported federal faith-based initiatives, to the dismay of many in his base.

The conclusion:

This president is a mainstream, pragmatic moderate, operating in the center of American politics

Why does everyone just believe what these people are saying? There is obviously rage over how horrible this leftist is, though the evidence says otherwise. It’s frustrating.

Enjoy rising above the sensationalist rhetoric.

Adam Feser

This is one of the more telling things about Palin and Gingrich. They know what the bill states. They know it isn’t forced euthanasia. Palin supported end of life counseling and Gingrich supported end of life counseling. So what possible reason can they have for spreading lies that they know are lies? The only possible reason is that they want to scare the hell out of people. Now we’re seeing scared, confused people going to town halls and calling Obama a Nazi because they have no idea what’s going on.

How can you possibly support Palin when she claims something she supported could kill her child? Man, she’s doing much more helping Alaskans by fear mongering on facebook than someone could ever do as governor, right?

And I wish Gingrich would get more heat for this. Spreading lies that the government wants to kill you when you supported the same thing should be enough to bar him from a position of authority, but anymore it’s more of a requirement.

They are scaring people into a frenzy, and it could get ugly. One of protesters at a town hall had a gun. He also claimed the blood of tyrants is necessary for the tree of liberty or some crap. There have been instances of violence. It’s horrible to think that Palin and Gingrich and several other political leaders know they are lying, see what’s happening, but do nothing to stop it. It’s absolutely shameful, but I have no doubt they are not ashamed.

Enjoy the Little League World Series.

Adam Feser

I apologize for my lack of activity recently. I was in Phoenix watching baseball and picked up bronchitis. It’s been a struggle, but I’m on the mend. I figured what better way to get back into the swing of things than to show a little hypocrisy? Twice-divorced, pro-death penalty Newt Gingrich doesn’t think Obama has the Catholic values to speak at Notre Dame. I understand that divorce is a personal matter, but he opened himself up to this. It’s quite similar to how he wanted to bring up the Lewinsky thing every chance he got as Speaker of the House roughly when he had an affair of his own. Here’s the link:
Gingrich on Obama’s Notre Dame invite

Another thought on the subject: Is anyone else creeped out by how quickly the old politicians got into Twitter? I’m still not sure what it is but you have wrinkly old codgers of every affiliation typing away during the State of the Union?! What on earth is going on here? I’ve had enough. I preferred it when they thought the internet was a series of tubes invented by Al Gore. I don’t turn down many people who ask to be my facebook friend, but Gingrich has no shot.

Enjoy your good health whilst I pine for mine.

Adam Feser

Republicans have been attacking Obama over Blagojevich. Some other Republicans are realizing this is a bad idea. The connection they share is that they are from the same state. Trying to make Obama look bad with false or misleading accusations and insinuations when he is incredibly popular is a bad idea and will likely backfire. More to come.

Enjoy the Celtics’ phenomenal run.

Adam Feser