Tag Archives: Newt Gingrich

Desperately Seeking Attention

24 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by in Newt Gingrich, Politics

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Not that there was ever anything admirable about Newt Gingrich, but this desperate attempt at remaining relevant is just despicable and pathetic:

“Why does the president behave the way that people would think that [he’s Muslim]?” Gingrich said. “You have to ask, why would they believe that? It’s not cause they’re stupid. It’s because they watch the kind of things I just described to you.”

[…]

“I have said publicly several times that I believe Obama is a Christian,” Gingrich told reporters. “He went to a Christian Church for over 20 years. He was listening to the sermons. The fact is I take him at his word but I think it is very bizarre that he is desperately concerned to apologize to Muslim religious fanatics while they are killing young Americans while at the same time going to war against the Catholic church and against every right to live Protestant organization in the country. I just think it’s a very strange value system.”

As is this:

“While campaigning ahead of Saturday’s primary in Louisiana, Gingrich spoke with the American Family Association’s Sandy Rios about the recent Washington Post story on Rick Santorum’s association with Opus Dei, a devout Catholic group. Rios, who disapproved of the Post’s story, asked Gingrich if he thought the media would similarly “hold their powder” on Mitt Romney for his Mormonism.

Gingrich said the media, which he believes is “in the tank for Obama,” will “do anything that helps re-elect” the president.

“It is just astonishing to me how pro-Obama they are,” Gingrich told Rios. “Do you think you are going to see two pages on Obama’s Muslim friends? Or two pages on the degree to which Obama is consistently apologizing to Islam while attacking the Catholic church?”

Go away, Newt. Your time is up, just go away.

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Obama Has Been Consistent on Social Security—He Wants to Cut It

08 Friday Jul 2011

Posted by in Deficit, Obama, Politics, Social Security

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After the news broke yesterday about President Obama putting Social Security cuts on the table in the debt ceiling talks, the White House immediately went into CYA mode:

“White House spokesman Jay Carney commented on the reports concerning Social Security cuts Thursday morning.

“There is no news here,” Carney said. “The President has always said that while social security is not a major driver of the deficit, we do need to strengthen the program and the President said in the State of the Union Address that he wanted to work with both parties to do so in a balanced way that preserves the promise of the program and doesn’t slash benefits.”

Carney is right about one thing, there is no news here. The president has been consistent in his plans to “strengthen” and “preserve” Social Security. Like appointing Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles co-chairs of the so-called Debt Commission, which turned much of its focus to cutting strengthening Social Security by raising the retirement age (a benefit cut) and re-figuring the COLA (another cut). Never mind that SS has nothing to do with either the debt or the deficit. Simpson has made no secret of his contempt for Social Security and its recipients:

“I’ve made some plenty smart cracks about people on Social Security who milk it to the last degree. You know ’em too…We’ve reached a point now where it’s like a milk cow with 310 million tits!”

And it was Erskine Bowles who, while serving as Bill Clinton’s Chief of Staff in 1997, was in the process of negotiating a deal with then-Speaker Newt Gingrich which included the partial privatization of Social Security before the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke and blew (so to speak) that out of the water.

Nothing new to see here. Move along.

Who’s In Control of the Senate?

20 Wednesday May 2009

Posted by in Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

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It’s beginning to look more and more like there was an even swap in the United States Senate, the Democrats got Arlen Specter and the Republicans got Harry Reid. No check that, after seeing Jim Webb on This Week this past Sunday saying there’s no need for a Truth Commission or an investigation into the activities of the Bush administration because “it’s not that big a deal” maybe the trade was 2 for 1.

In a press conference following the vote in the Senate not to fund the closing of Guantanamo, Harry Reid sounded more like an Abbot and Costello routine than a United States Senator.

REID: I’m saying that the United States Senate, Democrats and Republicans, do not want terrorists to be released in the United States. That’s very clear.

QUESTION: No one’s talking about releasing them. We’re talking about putting them in prison somewhere in the United States.

REID: Can’t put them in prison unless you release them.

QUESTION: Sir, are you going to clarify that a little bit? …

REID: I can’t make it any more clear than the statement I have given to you. We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States.

QUESTION: But Senator, Senator, it’s not that you’re not being clear when you say you don’t want them released. But could you say — would you be all right with them being transferred to an American prison?

REID: Not in the United States.

Senator Reid’s words were a reiteration of what his fellow Republican, James Inhofe, said earlier this month:

“There are 245 hard-core terrorists that would be turned loose in the United States…You turn these people loose and they become magnets for terrorism all over the country.”

Senator Reid drew praise from Republican Leader Mitch McConnell for his efforts, which should tell Reid something.

“McConnell said Americans “ought to be pleased that our friends on the other side of the aisle are showing some flexibility on this issue and heading in our direction.”

Same old, same old from our politicians. Talk a good game about what a national disgrace Guantanamo is and then do nothing when it comes time to take action on closing it. The search is on for Senator Reid’s spine.

Then there was Senator Webb, who along with his asinine “no big deal” remark, glossed over torture by calling it “inappropriate behavior.” No Senator, the word is illegal.

Senator Webb also agreed with Newt Gingrich on the subject of the Chinese Uighurs, Gingrich saying they’re “not our problem” and Webb saying he doesn’t want them in Virginia. I guess we could always send them back to China where they would be subjected to torture, excuse me “inappropriate behavior” since that’s not a “big deal” any more.

Webb then complete his backflip on closing Gitmo, reversing an earlier statement he made by saying it should be done “at the right time.” I suppose the right time would be when those mean, old Republicans won’t say nasty things about you. Do you know when that will be, Senator? NEVER.

Gingrich: Guilty Until Proven Innocent

11 Monday May 2009

Posted by in Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

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Newt Gingrich was in fine form on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace yesterday. He took a page from the Sarah Palin playbook, accusing the Obama administration of “pallin’ around with terrorists,” and actually had the audacity to point the finger at someone else for a “bitter partisan attack.”

About the attorneys who are defending alleged terrorists, Newt. I believe the key word here is “alleged.” I know you and former VP Cheney don’t agree with it, but some of us still have this outdated notion that in the United States people are innocent until proven guilty, and that the accused is entitled to legal counsel.

On the claim that the Democratic Congress hasn’t passed a law making waterboardimg illegal, that would be what we call redundant, Newtie. We have already prosecuted people who waterboarded as war criminals, another legal term known as “precedent” with which the former Speaker is apparently unfamiliar.

And on the “bitter partisan attack,” I guess Mr. Gingrich forgot about that whole impeachment thing back in 1998. Just slipped his mind, I’m sure.

But Newt wasn’t finished yet. Knowing that “welfare” is a familiar buzzword to his Republican base, Gingrich managed to slip that in, too.

One more thing, on the subject of the Chinese Uighurs. Why is that our problem? Probably because Bush and Cheney made it our problem by holding them in Gitmo without charges for 7 years, even after a judge ruled that the Bush administration had no legal right to do so.

It’s called actions have consequences, Mr. Gingrich.

Remember This Number Republicans: 21

28 Tuesday Apr 2009

Posted by in Politics

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Here’s a number for the Republican Party to remember for future reference, 21. Twenty-one, that’s the percentage of Americans who identify themselves as Republicans according to the latest Washington Post poll, the lowest that figure has been in 26 years.

Remember that number at the next meeting of the RNC, when you propose another stupid resolution like the one to brand the opposition as Socialists instead of Democrats.

Remember that number before you send Newt Gingrich out to say that President Obama is bowing to pressure from the “anti-American left” in considering allowing prosecution of former Bush administration officials.

Remember that when Sen. Judd Gregg says this regarding the use of the budget reconciliation process :

“I can understand shaking Hugo Chavez’s hand, but I can’t understand embracing his politics.”

Remember that number when former Senator and present radio blowhard Fred Thompson says something like this:

“And then after promising that there would be no prosecutions, [Obama] acquiesced and now opened the door for that. So I think it’s a case of naivete, ineptitude and unbelievable arrogance and lack of experience.”

Remember that number when Sen. McCain and Sen. Bond say that President Obama is turning the United States into a “banana republic.”

Remember that number the next time Congressman Eric Cantor confronts President Obama about spending cuts, then when asked by the president for a list of areas where Cantor himself would cut, responds:

“You can expect us to have something very soon.”

Ah yes, the old “we’ll get back to you” policy.

Twenty-one Republicans, great number if you’re at the blackjack tables in Las Vegas, not so good if you ever hope win another national election.

GOP: Stop This Insanity Before It’s Too Late

18 Saturday Apr 2009

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Somebody in the Republican Party please put an end to this insanity before it’s too late. Let’s look at what has happened since January 20th:

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann from Minnesota has said she wants the people of her state to be “armed and dangerous.”

Former Senator Rick Santorum wrote in an opinion piece in the Philadelphia Enquirer that President Obama “has a deep-seated antipathy toward American values and traditions.”

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said President Obama is waging a “war against churches” and that “there’s a clear desire to replace the church with a bureaucracy, and to replace people’s right to worship together with a government-dominated system.”

Congressman Spencer Bachus from Alabama said that 17 members of the House of Representatives are “socialists.”

Rick Perry, the governor of the second largest state in the nation, is talking about the possibility of secession.

The Georgia Senate passed a resolution calling for the nullification of the Constitution and disbanding of the United States.

Congressman Mark Kirk from Illinois has suggested that the people of that state “shoot anyone” who proposes to raise their taxes.

Congressman Michael McCaul from Texas is making speeches about tyranny and oppression, citing Thomas Jefferson’s quote that “the tree of liberty will be fed with the blood of tyrants and patriots.”

Add to these the constant drumbeat from talk radio hosts about re-education camps, fascism, totalitarianism, and this administration taking away Constitutional rights.

Granted, probably 99.9% of the people who hear or read these things know it is just blowhard politicians trying to gain votes by appealing to their Republican base.

But what about the other 0.1%? What do they do? Do they get an assault rifle and kill police officers because they think their rights are being taken away? Do they fill a truck with explosives and park it in front of a federal building?

Keep this t-shirt in mind Republicans, before you quote Jefferson:

mcveigh-t-shirt

Anybody know what this is? It’s the shirt that Timothy McVeigh was wearing when he was arrested.