Limbaugh blames Newt Gingrich for screwing up the NY special election.
Limbaugh blames Newt Gingrich for screwing up the NY special election.
Yesterday, Bill Owens scored an historic victory by becoming the first Democrat in more than a century to win a congressional election in upstate New York’s 23rd district. Owens’ victory was a defeat for many prominent leaders of the conservative movement, particularly Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. In the lead-up to the election, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had engaged in a public brouhaha with Beck over his support for Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman’s candidacy. Gingrich complained that Beck, Limbaugh, and company were pursuing “a very destructive model for the Republican Party,” and those concerns appear to have been vindicated by the outcome of Tuesday’s election. Nevertheless, Limbaugh is blaming Gingrich for the conservative’s defeat:
Here is — these are my thoughts on New York-23. … We cannot forget how this whole thing happened in the first place. There was not a primary. The right message here would indict the way party bosses, Republican Party bosses and these big thinkers like Newt screwed the whole thing up from the get go.
Listen here:
The war between Newt and Rush extends back to earlier this year, when Limbaugh said Gingrich was tearing apart the conservative movement by trying to embrace “better policy ideas.” Gingrich had argued that the “era of Reagan is over,” and that Republicans needed more than simply being the “party of no.” Limbaugh is of course quite comfortable with the “party of no” status.
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Gingrich Strikes Back At Beck: His Agenda Is A ‘Very Destructive Model For The Republican Party’
Gingrich Strikes Back At Beck: His Agenda Is A ‘Very Destructive Model For The Republican Party’
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been taking fire from conservative activists and far-right Republican leaders for endorsing Dede Scozzafava, the moderate GOP candidate running in the special election in New York’s 23rd district. These “purists” — including Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Dick Armey, and Bill Kristol — are backing Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, revealing a wider rift within the conservative movement: the tea-party activist base versus “Big Tent” Republicans.
Gingrich explained his support for Scozzafava at a book signing event yesterday: “She is the nominee of the local party, my bias is to be for the nominee of the local party, and I don’t second guess the local party.” On his Fox News program yesterday, Glenn Beck attacked Gingrich. “I couldn’t disagree more with you on this one,” Beck said, arguing, “You vote with a person you agree with most…and it doesn’t matter what party they’re in.”
Last night on Fox News’ On the Record, host Greta Van Susteren asked Gingrich about the “heat” he’s been getting for endorsing Scozzafava, especially from Beck. Gingrich fired back, saying the right-wing support for Hoffman is based on “misinformation” and an abandonment of conservative values:
GINGRICH: I just find it fascinating that my many friends who claim to be against Washington having too much power, they claim to be in favor of the 10th Amendment giving states back their rights, they claim to favor local control and local authority, now they suddenly get local control and local authority in upstate New York, they don’t like the outcome. [...]
So I say to my many conservative friends who suddenly decided that whether they’re from Minnesota or Alaska or Texas, they know more than the upstate New York Republicans? I don’t think so. And I don’t think it’s a good precedent. [...]
And so this idea that we’re suddenly going to establish litmus tests, and all across the country, we’re going to purge the party of anybody who doesn’t agree with us 100 percent — that guarantees Obama’s reelection. That guarantees Pelosi is Speaker for life. I mean, I think that is a very destructive model for the Republican Party.
Watch it:
Conservative bloggers are now going after Gingrich for lashing out at his critics, with the Other McCain writing, “I was disgusted just now to see Newt Gingrich’s appearance on Greta Van Susteren’s Fox News show tonight.” “Newt Gingrich disappointed national conservatives again tonight,” Gateway Pundit added.
Gingrich Expresses Concern With Identifying Beck And Limbaugh As Leaders Of The GOP
Gingrich Expresses Concern With Identifying Beck And Limbaugh As Leaders Of The GOP
Last week, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) — the chairman of the House Republican Conference — defended the influence of right-wing talk shows over the Republican Party. Pence claimed that it’s “hogwash” to suggest that pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck “only speak for a small group of activists.” In a similar vein, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) defended the influence of Limbaugh, Beck, and other commentators because, she claimed, they represent a “critical mass.”
Reflecting the emerging stranglehold over the Republican Party that Limbaugh and Beck now exert, the new cover of The Weekly Standard identifies Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin as the faces of the GOP (see image to the right). Yesterday morning on C-Span, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich expressed concern with the cover:
Well, I just think it’s interesting that two of the three people on the cover are talk radio hosts — Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. And they’re fine people, and they have big audiences, and that’s terrific. But you have a party that has Gov. Haley Barbour, it has Gov. Mitch Daniels, it has Gov. Tim Pawlenty. [...] You know, you can have a very, very intense movement of 20 percent. You can’t govern. To govern, you got to get 50 percent plus one after the recount.
Watch it:
Gingrich has been taking heat from right-wing activists for endorsing the Republican candidate in New York’s upcoming 23rd congressional district race. The right-wing base — i.e. tea party activists — are rallying behind Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, who has earned the endorsement of Sarah Palin, Dick Armey, and Michele Bachmann, among others.
Gingrich’s comments reflect an ongoing tension in the Republican Party between their tea party activist base and those who want to embrace more moderate candidates. After Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he didn’t want to belong to shrinking party full of “angry white guys,” Beck shot back that he’s “going to stick with the angry people…because they’re only angry about you.”
On PBS last Friday, conservative commentator David Brooks said “the Republican Party has a terrible problem of who its spokespeople are.” He expressed concern the influence of Beck and Limbaugh is “part of a larger problem” that the GOP has.
If some people in the Republican Party want to go around the country purging everyone they disagree with, they’re going to rapidly make this a minority party for a generation and they’re going to guarantee the re-election of President Obama and they’re going to guarantee Nancy Pelosi stays as Speaker for the rest of her life.Watch it:
Gingrich Calls On The Country To ‘Rise Up’ To ‘Repeal’ Health Care Reform If It Passes
Gingrich Calls On The Country To ‘Rise Up’ To ‘Repeal’ Health Care Reform If It Passes
Last night on Fox News, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich joined some of his colleagues on the fringe right and urged the GOP to make repealing health reform the “number one” campaign issue in 2010 and 2012:
GINGRICH: Let me make a straightforward promise. These bills can’t be implemented before 2013. If they pass a bill which is a disaster the number one campaign issue in 2010 and 2012 is going to be repeal the bill.
We repealed the catastrophic health legislation that was a disaster. We can repeal this monstrosity. If they’re determined to put something bad in the country, the country can rise up, defeat the people who do it and repeal it.
Watch it:
Gingrich is referring to the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988 which was repealed a year after it passed because it raised seniors’ Medicare premiums disproportionately to pay for benefit expansions.
But the former House Speaker may have a tough time getting the “repeal” theme on current reform measures to stick. A new ABC/Washington Post poll out today finds that 57 percent of Americans support reform proposals currently before Congress that would include a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurance to bring costs down — part of health care reform that Gingrich presumably feels would be a “disaster.” In fact, more Americans would rather have a bill with a public option that one “that is approved with support from Republicans in Congress.”
Gingrich has signed onto the right’s fringe movement, led by Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Tom Price (R-GA), and Joe Barton (R-TX), to repeal health care reform if it ultimately becomes law. “[A]fter we defund the left, we pass repealer bill after repealer bill after repealler bill,” Bachmann recently boasted.
Gingrich gripes that Obama doesn’t have an ambassador to Brazil yet (because he’s being blocked by DeMint).
Gingrich gripes that Obama doesn’t have an ambassador to Brazil yet (because he’s being blocked by DeMint).
Earlier this month, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) attempted to block government funding for Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) trip to Honduras as retribution for DeMint’s obstruction of two of Obama’s diplomatic nominations, including Thomas A. Shannon Jr., the nominee to be ambassador to Brazil. But DeMint’s hold is being criticized by a major Republican. At Harvard on Thursday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich decried the lack of an ambassador to Brazil:
“If you want to live in the most productive, creative, and prosperous nation in the world, what is it you have to do?” Gingrich asked. “The answer is to reform litigation, regulation, taxation, health, education, and infrastructure.”
“Bureaucracies just don’t work,” he said. “When you build a bureaucracy, the bureaucracy ages, and the bureaucracy develops self-interest. We still don’t have an ambassador to Brazil, for example, eight months into the new administration.”
Gingrich should direct his ire at DeMint. The South Carolina senator has said that he “will not lift the hold on these nominations until the United States works out an arrangement with the Honduran government to recognize the outcome of the elections in Honduras and restores the U.S. foreign aid that has been cut by the Obama administration.”
Porn company names Gingrich ‘Family Values Porn Fan of the Year, 2009.’
Porn company names Gingrich ‘Family Values Porn Fan of the Year, 2009.’
Newt Gingrich’s corporate-friendly advocacy group American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF) has had a propensity for telling pornography companies that they have received an award and then subsequently retracting them. Recently, ASWF awarded The Lodge — a gentleman’s club in Dallas — with an Entrepreneur of the Year award but then rescinded that award. Also, Pink Visual — a porn DVD store in California — was informed by ASWF that it received the “tremendous honor” of being named a 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year. ASWF later claimed it “inadvertently” sent the letter to Pink Visual. Allison Vivas, the president of Pink Visual, turned the tables on Newt. She told Dave McKenna of the Washington City Paper that she created a fake award for Gingrich:
“I sat down with the executive team here and created a special honor to bestow upon Newt: ‘Family Values Porn Fan of the Year, 2009,’ Vivas responded via email. “We worked on the plaque design [image on the right], an event schedule, a notification to fax to his office – and of course, a letter we’ll send rescinding the offer after he receives it.”
(HT: Huffington Post)
Gingrich strips his Entrepreneur of the Year award from Dallas topless club.
Gingrich strips his Entrepreneur of the Year award from Dallas topless club.
Last month, Allison Vivas of Pink Visual — a porn DVD superstore headquartered in California — was tickled to find out that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s Business Defense and Advisory Council had chosen her for a 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year award. Embarrassed, Gingrich’s group eventually said that it had “inadvertently” sent the invitation to Pink Visual. Yesterday, the Dallas Morning News reported that The Lodge, “one of the best-known gentlemen’s clubs in Dallas,” also received an Entrepreneur award from Gingrich, only to have it taken away:
That all changed, however, when Gingrich realized that The Lodge was a topless bar, not some other business in Virginia. He rescinded [Lodge owner Dawn] Rizos’ invitation to a private dinner and returned the $5,000 donation she made to his group, American Solutions for Winning the Future.
“It was disappointing,” Rizos said. “We were looking forward to sharing our political views with Newt Gingrich.” … She said she didn’t figure Gingrich had the wrong company because her business has been honored many times and she thought “his intentions were honorable.”
An spokesperson for Gingrich’s group American Solutions for Winning the Future said that the notice Rizos received “was sent at the same time as the other mistake [to Pink Visual] for the same reason.” CNN adds, “It did not specify what that reason was.” (HT: Raw Story)
Gingrich mimics Cantor: Obama administration is ‘waging war against democracy.’
Gingrich mimics Cantor: Obama administration is ‘waging war against democracy.’
Last week, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) praised activists at the Value Voters Summit, telling them they were, “fighting on the fighting lines of what we know is a battle for our democracy.” “People are beginning to wake up and see a country they don’t really recognize,” said Cantor. Approached by ThinkProgress at a public forum yesterday on health care, Cantor refused to answer whether he still believed that President Obama or his policies were somehow a threat to American democracy:
Q: You told tea party activists that they are on the “fighting lines,” that was your quote, of defending our democracy. Do you really think Obama is a threat to our democracy?
CANTOR: What I do think is that we’ve had an unprecedented 8 months in Washington of continued increase in bailouts [...]
Q: So just to be clear, our democracy is completely secure under Obama?
CANTOR: I think we need to be very, very cognizant of the drift that we are seeing towards more government takeover [...]
Watch it:
While Cantor appears to be walking back from his previous comments, Newt Gingrich echoed Cantor yesterday at a neoconservative revival conference. Gingrich proclaimed that the Obama administration is “waging a war against democracy.”
Gingrich ‘Inadvertently’ Names Porn Company ‘Entrepreneur of The Year’ For Stimulating The Economy
Gingrich ‘Inadvertently’ Names Porn Company ‘Entrepreneur of The Year’ For Stimulating The Economy
This week, Allison Vivas of Pink Visual received a fax from Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF) group, informing her that she’s been chosen for a 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year award by his Business Defense and Advisory Council. From the letter obtained by ThinkProgress:
Newt would like to arrange a private dinner with you at the historic Capitol Hill Club on the evening of October 7, 2009 in Washington. You’ll dine privately with Newt at this exclusive venue and he’ll take the occasion to present you with your well deserved award and have your photo taken together.
This tremendous honor is a testament to your success in building your business and recognition of the risks you take to create jobs and stimulate the economy. As an award winner, you’ll be on the ground floor as Newt and his Council begin the work to turn this country around. … Newt is looking forward to hearing your ideas on getting the economy moving again and getting your feedback on his plans over dinner.
Pink Visual is a porn DVD superstore — not the type of company you’d expect Gingrich would want stimulating the economy. ThinkProgress contacted Gingrich aide Joe Gaylord, who sent the faxed letter to Vivas, but we didn’t receive a response. An ASWF representative reportedly called Pink Visual this morning saying it had “inadvertently” sent the fax to Vivas and was retracting the honor. Pink Visual’s marketing coordinator Q Boyer didn’t buy the excuse:
“Allison was disappointed to receive a call this morning from an ASWF representative stating that the fax had been sent to her ‘inadvertently,’” Boyer told AVN.com. “We’re not entirely clear on how one ‘inadvertently’ sends a fax to the right person at the correct fax number, so our sense is that this is damage control on the part of a group that is having second thoughts about either recognizing the excellent work of a porn company entrepreneur in light of their own conservative political and social orientation, or having second thoughts about their promotional methodology and communication protocols.”
Ironically, on May 17, 1995, Gingrich led a press conference on Capitol Hill announcing the Christian Coalition’s 10-point “Contract with the American Family,” a conservative legislative wish list. One of the items in the contract: restricting pornography. From Gingrich’s comments:
“We are committed to scheduling the hearings, to scheduling the mark-up and to scheduling the bills on the floor,” Gingrich said. “We’re committed to implementing the contract with the family.“
Gingrich’s Business Defense and Advisory Council appears to be an outreach to small businesses nationwide. We spoke with Larry Kudeviz, owner of Genesis Press in South Carolina and previous award-winner. Kudeviz said that when he attended the dinner with Gingrich recently, there were about 30 or 40 other entrepreneurs there. He, like Vivas, was surprised to get the award because he had never had any contact with the Speaker. Since the dinner, he has continued to receive e-mail updates from ASWF.
Jarvis Coffin, CEO and President of Burst Media, also received an invitation to attend the Oct. 7 dinner with Gingrich. In a post on the Huffington Post, he wondered how Gingrich’s group found his e-mail address and whether it was breaking FCC rules by sending unsolicited faxes. The outreach by ASWF left a “bad taste in my mouth,” wrote Coffin.
Listed on the agenda for the dinner is time for video testimonies. In the fax Gaylord sent to Vivas, this portion is circled with the note, “Please come prepared to share your thoughts on how we can help your business.” Vivas also received a fax showing a mock award and a replica of the “gavel that changed America” that she would be receiving:
Rejecting Conservative Hysteria, Gingrich And Alexander Say Obama’s Education Speech Is ‘Good’
Rejecting Conservative Hysteria, Gingrich And Alexander Say Obama’s Education Speech Is ‘Good’
Earlier this week, ThinkProgress noted how conservatives are freaking out over President Obama’s upcoming speech to America’s schoolchildren, in which he will explain to them the value of “persisting and succeeding in school.” Conservatives, such as Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), have been fearmongering over the speech, claiming that it is “school indoctrination.”
On Fox News Sunday this morning, host Chris Wallace asked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich about the controversy, noting that in 1991 Gingrich defended a similar speech by then-President George H.W. Bush by saying, “Why is it political for the president of the United States to discuss education?” Gingrich replied that if it’s “a totally positive speech” that parents can see “in advance” (which they can), then “it is good to have”:
GINGRICH: My daughter Jackie Cushman just wrote a column in which she said, “if the president gives a speech as a parent to students to encourage them to learn and stay in school, it is a great thing for him to do.” It was a good thing for Ronald Reagan to do. It was a good thing for George H. W. Bush to do. And I’ve been communicating with Arne Duncan and the team at the Department of Education. I believe this is going to be posted, people are going to be able to see it in advance, it’s going to be a totally positive speech, and if that’s what it is, then it is good to have the president of the United States say to young people across America: Stay in school, study and do your homework. It’s good for you and it’s good for America.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who was Secretary of Education under the first President Bush, also defended Obama’s speech, saying “of course the president of the United States should be able to address students and of course parents and teachers should decide in what context.” Watch it:
But when Wallace asked Gingrich if some of his “fellow conservatives” should “back off,” the former House Speaker dodged the question, claiming that “Sean Hannity, by the way, has publicly said this is a good thing.” In fact, on his show this week, Hannity said that he “would not normally have a problem [with] any president that wants to address schoolchildren, wants to encourage them to study hard, to develop — to learn, to have a great education” then added, “But when you read the specifics here…it seems very close to indoctrination, or at least has the potential.”
Gingrich And Boehner Argue Stimulus Is A ‘Failure’ That Hasn’t Created ‘A Single Job’
Gingrich And Boehner Argue Stimulus Is A ‘Failure’ That Hasn’t Created ‘A Single Job’
House Republican Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) has been one of the most vocal opponents of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. After rallying every single member of his caucus to vote against it earlier this year, Boehner has stubbornly refused to acknowledge the existence of the projects it has funded. In July, Boehner claimed there hadn’t been any stimulus related infrastructure contracts signed in all of Ohio. In reality, there had been 52 at the time of Boehner’s statement.
Last Friday, Boehner continued to press his case that the stimulus has been an utter failure. On Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, Boehner claimed the stimulus “didn’t create any jobs”:
BOEHNER: Well, I think it’s the American people who are winning this debate. They’ve looked up at this program, this giant government bureaucracy that the Democrats want to create in Washington, and said enough is enough. And while most of this is about health care, it’s really about a much bigger issue, and that is just the growth and size of government. You know, after the $1 trillion dollars stimulus bill that didn’t create any jobs, and the trillion dollars deficits for as far as the eye can see [...]
Listen here:
Echoing Boehner’s sentiment, Newt Gingrich blasted out a fundraising appeal for the right-wing group Citizens for the Republic today, attacking the stimulus as a “failure” that “hasn’t created a single job.” View it below:
Revisiting infrastructure, Boehner’s preferred type of stimulus spending, there have been 1,138 Ohio highway construction jobs in July alone fueled by the Recovery Act. And if Boehner continues to ignore Ohio officials on jobs figures, he could simply ask his own press secretary. In a little-noticed statement, Boehner’s press office praised the Obama administration for going forward with using stimulus dollars to fund “shovel-ready projects that will create much-needed jobs.”
The Council of Economic Advisers, in a report released earlier this month, called the Recovery Act the “boldest countercyclical fiscal stimulus in American history” and concluded that the stimulus added nearly 500,000 jobs to the economy in the second quarter of 2009 that would not have been there without it. Unfortunately, people like Boehner and Gingrich are more interested in stoking opposition to Obama rather than grounding their arguments in the truth.
Huckabee to ‘keynote’ Electromagnetic Pulse conference.
Huckabee to ‘keynote’ Electromagnetic Pulse conference.
In May, the Wonk Room’s Matt Duss noted that, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich — citing a fictional novel — told the 2009 American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference that the threat of an Electromagnetic Pulse attack against the United States was why he was in “favor” of “taking out Iranian and North Korean missiles on their sites.” The next month, the New Republic’s Michael Crowley reported that the “scientifically valid,” but “not strategically realistic” scenario was being used by “a cadre of conservative hawks” to argue for “familiar hobbyhorses” like missile defense and preemptive military strikes. Now, Dave Weigel reports that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is set to headline an upcoming conference on the threat of an Electromagnetic Pulse attack against the United States, titled “EMPACT America”:
The conference will also be addressed by such right-wing luminaries as Gingrich, former GOP Rep. Curt Weldon, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), and Frank Gaffney.
Texas to revise history textbooks: liberals out, Limbaugh and Gingrich in.
Texas to revise history textbooks: liberals out, Limbaugh and Gingrich in.
The Texas State Board of Education review committee is preparing to vote on a draft of proposed standards for history textbooks. Noting that the draft has “nothing about liberals,” the Houston Chronicle reported:
The first draft for proposed standards in United States History Studies Since Reconstruction says students should be expected “to identify significant conservative advocacy organizations and individuals, such as Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly and the Moral Majority.” [...] Others have proposed adding talk show host Rush Limbaugh and the National Rifle Association.
The 15-member committee, stacked with 10 Republicans, is expected to vote along party lines. Earlier this year, a panel of right-wing “experts” produced a report urging the committee to remove biographies of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen F. Austin, and César Chávez, and instead add history about the “motivational role the Bible and the Christian faith played in the settling of the original colonies.”
Gov. Dean Debunks Gingrich’s Health Care Falsehoods: ‘Nobody Is Forcing You In To The Public Option’
Gov. Dean Debunks Gingrich’s Health Care Falsehoods: ‘Nobody Is Forcing You In To The Public Option’
On ABC’s This Week today, former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich claimed that most government-run health systems are disasters. He said that the Veterans Health Administration is “the one system that actually works reasonably well,” and dismissed Medicare as “basically a private system with a government funding.”
Gingrich also claimed that Americans really won’t have any “choice.” “One estimate by Lewin Associates [sic] is 131 million Americans will lose their private insurance and be pushed into a government plan,” he claimed.
DEAN: Look, let’s be fair. Lewin Associates is owned by a health insurance company. So let’s — let’s — let’s — the CBO, which I think is a more reasonable organization, says 5 million or 10 million people are going to end up there. [...]
Second of all, what the speaker didn’t tell you is, let’s just suppose you get forced out of your employer-based system, which I think is unlikely, but let’s suppose that you do. You’ve got a choice. The government will pay your subsidy to either go into — based on your income, either to go into the public option or a private option. Nobody is forcing you in to the public option.
Watch it:
Medicare is a government-run program. But conservatives have been dancing around that point because they know that the public is incredibly happy with it. A 2009 study by the Commonwealth Fund found that Medicare recipients reported greater satisfaction with their plans than those in employer-sponsored coverage by wide margins.
Later in the segment, host George Stephanopoulos had to personally call Gingrich out on one of his falsehoods. Last week, Sarah Palin said that the Obama administration was advocating “death panels” that would determine whether a person was “worthy of health care.” Gingrich tried to lend that myth credence by bringing up the writings of “Dr. Zeke Emanuel, who’s the chief adviser to the president and brother of the chief of staff.”
First, as Stephanopoulos pointed out, Emanuel is “not the chief health care adviser.” Second, Emanuel’s comments on end-of-life issues were part of “academic discussions of theoretical constructs” — not expressions of his personal beliefs on the current health care debate. Stephanopoulos noted that Emanuel had “written three articles between 1996 and 2008 that include some of those phrases.” “Those phrases appear nowhere in the bill,” he added.
Transcript: More »
Gingrich positions Palin as a conservative leader on energy issues.
Gingrich positions Palin as a conservative leader on energy issues.
At a National Press Club event on Wednesday, a questioner asked Newt Gingrich — head of a corporate-funded group American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF) — whether or not he would consider “running with” Sarah Palin in 2012. Gingrich demurred on 2012, but the former House Speaker went on to praise the soon-to-be-former Governor of Alaska as a future conservative leader on energy issues:
GINGRICH: Her knowledge of the energy issue is very real. And if you do start to see energy prices go back up I think there will be a pretty big interest in what she has to say about how we can use American energy — keep the money here in America and the fact that bowing to a Saudi king is not a substitute for energy policy.
Watch it:
Following Palin’s July 3rd resignation announcement, Bill Kristol speculated that she was resigning because she had “probably accomplished most of what she was going to get done as governor,” which begs the question: what does Palin seek to accomplish in her post-gubernatorial career? Between Gingrich’s recent hints, the six mentions of energy in her resignation announcement, and her recent hackneyed op-ed on cap-and-trade in the Washington Post, Republicans may be moving to position Palin as their new leading voice on energy.
Gingrich agrees with Kristol: ‘Yeah,’ Republicans should ‘go for the kill’ on health reform.
Gingrich agrees with Kristol: ‘Yeah,’ Republicans should ‘go for the kill’ on health reform.
Earlier this week, the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol urged conservative activists and Republicans to “resist the temptation” to work with Democrats in crafting health reform and instead “go for the kill.” Kristol famously wrote a memo before the Clinton health care debate similarly urging Republicans, and then Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA), “to defeat any Democratic health reform bill” as a political strategy to “send them to voters empty-handed.” At a press conference this morning, ThinkProgress asked Gingrich if he agrees with the “go for the kill” strategy Kristol is advocating:
Q: Bill Kristol said that conservatives should ‘move for the kill’ on what is being proposed in the House and the Senate. How do you feel about that?
GINGRICH: Well I’m not quite sure what he means by that. I mean, If you’re asking me if it would be a good idea to beat a bill that I think will ration care, increase government control over your life, strengthen the power of politicians, run up the deficit, raise taxes and kill jobs, yeah I think we ought to stop that proposal.
Watch it:
On Monday, Gingrich also accepted Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) view that blocking health care reform “could be” Obama’s “Waterloo.”
Gingrich agrees with DeMint: Health care ‘could be’ Obama’s ‘Waterloo.’
Gingrich agrees with DeMint: Health care ‘could be’ Obama’s ‘Waterloo.’
During a call with right-wing activists on Friday, Sen. Jim DeMint claimed that if Republicans “able to stop” President Obama’s push for health care reform “it will be his Waterloo.” “It will break him,” declared DeMint. At the National Press Club today, RNC Chairman Michael Steele agreed with DeMint, saying, “I think that’s a good way to put it.” On Laura Ingraham’s radio show today, former House speaker Newt Gingrich agreed that it “could be” as well:
GINGRICH: If I were the Obama people, I’d be a little worried. This morning’s Washington Post reported that on health care he’s dropped below 50 percent approval. So, it may be that the more he talks, the more people pay attention, the weaker this bill is going to get. And then he has a profound problem for the rest of his presidency. This could be the bill that drags his whole presidency down and they look back on it and suddenly the whole thing is unraveled.
ARROYO: Yeah, the Waterloo as some in Congress are calling it now.
GINGRICH: Could be.
Listen here:
According to OpenSecrets, DeMint has received $2,917,870 from the health care industry since 2004. During his 2004 re-election campaign, DeMint was the second highest recipient of money from health professionals, trailing only Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC).
Gingrich Still Clinging To Fiction Novels As The Basis For His Foreign Policy Ideas
Gingrich Still Clinging To Fiction Novels As The Basis For His Foreign Policy Ideas
For the past few months, Newt Gingrich has been trying to sound the alarm that the United States is on the cusp of a monumental security threat far greater than the dangers posed by Germany and Japan in the 1930s and 40s — an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. Gripped by this fear, Gingrich once argued that the U.S. should take out North Korean missiles, while on their launch pads, with lasers because he believes the reclusive communist state has the ability to carry out such an attack on the U.S.
This morning, during a speech at the Heritage Foundation, Gingrich was at it again. He lamented how the world’s democracies “hid from reality” in the 1920s and 30s and failed to confront the emerging threat in Europe and East Asia. Citing what he had read in “novels,” he then linked that to his perceived EMP threat and deplored the “failure to translate the ability of the imagination into public policy.” “We are living at the edge of a catastrophe,” he said:
GINGRICH: [W]hat we are faced with is not simply a problem, it is potentially catastrophic. … [The] electro-magnetic pulse, from my co-author and good friend Bill Forstchen, has written a remarkable novel called One Second After, in which he takes a town in North Carolina and shows you what would happen with a successful electro-magnetic pulse attack. Electro-magnetic pulse is essentially a peculiarly-sized nuclear device that becomes a giant lightning strike. [...]
[E]xperts in nuclear weaponry, and they came back and said unanimously, “This is a catastrophic threat waiting to happen and North Korea, China and Russia all understand it and are all working on it.” Which is why I adopted the position towards North Korea that I would literally not allow them to fire any intercontinental range missile that we had not inspected. I would just take it out on the site.
And the reason is simple; one weapon of this kind that went off over Omaha would eliminate most of the electrical production in the United States. And we are not today hardened against this. It is an enormous catastrophic threat.
Watch it:
The Wonk Room’s Matt Duss observed of Gingrich’s “suspense thriller-based” foreign policy:
It’s worth noting as well that the argumentum ad Chamberlinum that Gingrich predictably deploys throughout the speech always involves a sin of omission: Free nations failed to act in the face of a rising threat, resulting in disastrous consequences. I would suggest that, in the wake of the Iraq war, there now exists an effective counter to this heavily overworked rhetorical device. Rather than failing to act, the Bush administration acted — unwisely and incompetently, in response to a largely imaginary threat — resulting in disastrous consequences. Call it argumentum ad neoconservatum.
“As the conservative movement continues to melt down,” Duss adds, “conservatives will return to same issue that conservatives have exploited since before fire: Abject fear of our barbaric, unreasoning enemies, and the imputation of faithlessness on the part of those who don’t perceive the threat in the same way.”
Transcript: More »
Gingrich Announces Iran Policy: Topple The Government By Provoking A Gas Crisis Through Covert ‘Sabotage’
Gingrich Announces Iran Policy: Topple The Government By Provoking A Gas Crisis Through Covert ‘Sabotage’
In an interview with Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines program, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich outlined his U.S. policy towards Iran. Gingrich said the U.S. should “sabotage” Iran’s oil and gas infrastructure as part of an effort to topple the Iranian government.
Al Jazeera’s Avi Lewis told Gingrich, “In the past, you’ve called for the bombing of Iran’s oil refineries.” Gingrich clarified, “I called for sabotage, not bombing. … Fundamental difference.” Gingrich explained that the U.S. should use “covert operations” against Iran’s refineries because they “have only one refinery that produces gasoline in the entire country.” (According to the Energy Information Administration, Iran has nine refineries operated by the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company.)
When Lewis pressed Gingrich on the likely disastrous consequences of “sabotaging” Iran’s oil refineries, the former Speaker responded by claiming his plan was highly “strategic”:
GINGRICH: The only purpose of sabotaging them would be to create a gasoline-led crisis to try to replace the regime. I’m against using tactics that don’t have any strategic meaning.
I think we have a vested interest – the world has a vested interest – in a responsible Iranian government. […]
LEWIS: Which you can precipitate by provoking a gas crisis with black-ops sabotage? [Laughs] That’s the scenario you have suggested here.
GINGRICH: Look, I think that’s one piece out of many.
Watch it (at minute 8:35):
Previously, Gingrich has said, “I favor taking out Iranian and North Korean missiles on their sites.”
Gingrich Begins A Twitter Feed In Spanish, ‘The Language Of Living In A Ghetto’
Gingrich Begins A Twitter Feed In Spanish, ‘The Language Of Living In A Ghetto’
Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich is notorious for his active — and sometimes controversial — musings on Twitter. But not only does he have a Twitter feed in English, but he has also started one in Spanish.
He posted his first tweet in Spanish at 1:08 pm on July 9, noting that he would be on Neil Cavuto’s Fox show at 4:05 to discuss Pelosi’s $16 million “mouse” project. He also asked his readers what he should say about the subject. While some of his tweets on the Spanish-language feed are the same as on the English version, others are original content.
More importantly, why would Gingrich even want a Spanish-language Twitter feed? He has fiercely opposed bilingual education, even going so as far to call Spanish “the language of living in a ghetto“:
The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. … We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.
More recently, Gingrich has gone after Latina Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor as a “Latina women racist.”
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