Gingrich gets nervous
By Steve Benen Tuesday May 06, 2008 7:30amFormer House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been surveying the political landscape, and he's not especially impressed with what he sees -- at least as far as the GOP's chances are concerned.
In an article posted on HumanEvents.com, the former House speaker and conservative icon said the Republican Party’s loss in a Saturday special election in Louisiana for a House seat the party had held since 1975 should be a “sharp wake up call for Republicans: Either Congressional Republicans are going to chart a bold course of real change or they are going to suffer decisive losses this November.”
In particular, Gingrich chastised an electoral strategy congressional Republicans are using to “nationalize” the election by tying local races to national figures.
“The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if Republicans try to run an anti-Obama, anti-Reverend Wright, or (if Senator Clinton wins), anti-Clinton campaign, they are simply going to fail,” Gingrich warned.
It's awkward to agree with ol' Newt, but I think he's right on this one. I also have a sinking suspicion that the GOP won't care, and will blow off his wise advice.
Good.
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What should C&L call concern trolling when the advice might actually be helpful?
Sorry but the Republicans are out of wake up calls. All empty! Too bad!
2006 should have been a wake-up call, but all they did was try to ramrod Bush's agenda. Barring outright theft by the GOP, 2008 should be a breeze for the Democrats.
Time for all Clinton supporters who are closet ___ists to step on over to the McCain camp now, the rest are welcome to come back to the Dem party
Gee, Newt. I wonder why you would be nervous? I'm sure it's not because the republicans have totally screwed things up. The worst deficeit in our nation's history, the shredding of our Constitution, horrible economy, failing infrustructure, a mismanaged war & illegal occupation, your neocon buds saber rattling for yet more wars couldn't be it, could it? And you can't just blame it on the evil liberals. Most intelligent folks are very angry. The only consolation for you is that we have weak-kneed Dems who have let your criminal pals get away with it all. Lucky for you that we continue to have no oversight by the spineless Dems. I can only hope that when the Dems take over in the fall, we will get people who actually believe in oversite. Well, I can dream, can't I???
The Republican Party does not have to worry. McCain will be elected--no matter what, people would rather vote Republican than black or female.* The "wakeup calls" have come and gone over the last eight years, and Bush is still President, Cheney walks free, vote fraud has gone unaddressed, the Supreme Court is packed, the Iraq war churns on, and now it's not a matter of whether the US should invade Iran but whether we can--and of course, this is the ultimate can-do nation.
Stockpile food and know your neighbors. Third time's the charm. Get ready for the Big Fist.
*and Rev Hagee wants McCain. There you have it.
Mentioning Gingrich around reich-wingers evokes the urge to grab a bottle of lube and box of tissue.
Sounds like we need another 'Contact On America'.
Well when the republicans that are now in congress fell in line behind bush and his outrageous actions what do you expect? If they had shown some gumption and resisted his call to vote against bills that would help this country in favor of bills to favor big business they deserve what they get.
How can a republican not go negative against a black guy or a Clinton? Its like offering Pills Limbaugh free narcotics or cheeseburgers.
Marge @ 9:
I think its just great that they stuck by their fearless leader. It just means there will be alot less of them in the next congress.
Just wait until Rupert gets nervous, then the GOP will have a really big problem. Rupert will not be on the losing side, he needs the patronige of the powerful, and will switch as soon as the numbers show the GOP is toast.
PS, the upside is that FOX will get a whole new line-up of talking heads.
Where has Gingrich been all this time, haven't heard from him in a while? By his wife sick bed still trying to get her to sign those divorce papers?
the munz @ 12:
Not until Barack's carcass is picked clean down to the bone first
the munz @ 13:
Faux will just become increasingly radical and fringe (it's that even possible).
WTF???
....or they are going to suffer decisive losses this November.”
It's like Repugs were really banking on Diebold, or something. WHY is it that they don't need no "stinking voters" anymore, huh. It HASN'T BEEN a Party of voters but a Party of Bush - and Cheney and what they say, nothing else matters, Cheney did say that Bush and he "were not not elected to serve the Republican Party" - and hell, he sure wasn't elected to serve the Dem Party so who the hell is he serving?
And the answer is: themselves of course.
Repugs are hemorrhage voters and it is so odd that they simply don't seem to care about this. I mean, WTF. Why is it Repugs DON'T CARE that voters are packing up and leaving the party? Somehow like it's irrelevant these days, they don't need em (voters) because they got Diebold - but when conservative voters leaving the party in vast numbers is too obvious.
You know that when Tim Russert says, McCain is even with our beating Dems in the polls - that something fishing is going on. What is Russert going by???? What is left of Repugs polls verse growing Dems registration, because you know it doesn't add up. At first the Media try to say that people were registering as independents and were leaving both parties. BUT THAT IS NOT TRUE, the Dem Party is show a big burst in growing registration as we all have seen by these record breaking new voters turn outs for the Dem primary.
What are Repugs planning on? Overthrowing democracy. WHY is it they just don't care about their voters fleeing? They simply are not interested in voters anymore. HOW is that possible? This is why we need paper ballots in those e-voting machines and why we should be screaming for them.
Either Congressional Republicans are going to chart a bold course of real change or they are going to suffer decisive losses this November.”
Sorry Newt, your bold agenda has been charted and the majority has finally seen through its various Orwellian names. No matter what color lipstick you put on the GOP pig, It all means the same thing, hand the government teat to the top 1% and throw the 99% under the bus.
The problem with the Newts of the world is a complete lack of empathy for their fellow man. How else can someone one not repudiate a 1% success and 99% fail rate?
Oh don't worry about old Newt! He has no problem throwing his entire party "under the bus", if it makes him look like the forward looking intellectual. After spending a good portion of his time while he was Speaker of the House being divisive, truculent, and hyper-partisan he warns the Republican party that they can't win being divisive, truculent, and hyper-partisan. This bastard has the temerity to come out stumping in 2008 about the need for a "national dialog" on health care when he lead the fight in 1993 to shoot down any sort of health care reform and refused allow any sort of debate on the subject to come to the floor. Newt is a major league A-hole and political opportunists. C&L shouldn't even bother reporting anything this hack has to say.
“The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if Republicans try to run an anti-Obama, anti-Reverend Wright, or (if Senator Clinton wins), anti-Clinton campaign, they are simply going to fail,”
The GOP will fail in November for that and the fact that McSame is a hopelessly flawed candidate.
Newt's knowledge seems to not get through to McCain, who continues to walk in lock-step with the bush whitehouse. McCain has nothing to offer to change the damage already done to the Republican Party (which used to be my Party until the NeoCons and the religious whackos took over). That picture of george bush and John McCain embracing will be used ad nauseam over the next six months, even though many newspapers are touting bush as the "Worst President in U.S. History", even below President Buchanan.
Response to Mosiealong:
The media is going to keep the horse race going, making everyone think it's so close, because it gets them ratings dude. Whatever sells will decide.
Wise words from the guy who put the GOP in this position. Gingrich is one of the worst human beings on this planet and he can be proud of the legacy of deceit, corruption and voter manipulation he created. Good work.
I'm about to leave on a trip but I just had to add something I just heard on tv. Hillary loaned her campaign 6.4 million dollars last month. Time for her to face what she doesn't want to face.
As for Gingrich, I stopped caring what he says a long time ago.
I, for one, look forward to McCain's (Bob Dole-style) Pepsi commercial after he loses.
Regardless of what the Republicans do they will always have one high card in the hole. There are a lot of stupid people in this country who have a long record of voting for those who support their hatreds rather than their self-interests.
And they also have their wild-card -- Diebold.
Stupidity and dishonesty: the Republican party in a nutshell.
Lol at #25
This NYTimes article tell all the reasons why we DON'T need a McCain victory.
It's about right-wing Supreme Court Judges and changes to the Constitution planned by McCain and his bush-league cronies. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/opinion/07wed1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
As C. Mongomery Burns once said, "I was free to wallow in my own crappulance." I think the REpugs should pick up on this particular theme. They are blinded by their own arrogance. Mant of them jumped ship, because they know they are doomed.
This ugly, career hypocrite, serial womanizer is right this one time. There is no way Americans will reward the Republicans for their awful fucking behavior the last decade. McWar has no chance against Obama.
Shhhhh!!!!
Don't tell them! Let the Republicans bring out all the Bill Ayers, Rev Wright, Secret Mooozlim, Flag Pin crap in the sort of arrogant, George Felix "Macaca" Allen style campaign which will allow them to lose every possible seat.
Gingrinch goes on an election night blitz punctuated with the following statement:
"Either Congressional Republicans are going to chart a bold course of real change or they are going to suffer decisive losses this November.”
Gee...what could be his motivation to select that exact phrase? Could it be that he has a new book floundering in sales gathering dust and cobwebs on bookstore shelves everywhere that just happens to be titled "REAL CHANGE", with a chapter on "CHARTING A BOLD COURSE"???
Newtie is just another bobblehead hawking his latest screed that is chock-full of overworked TQM buzzwords, but in the end is all hot air and no baloon to fill it.
His "Republican Revolution" is currently in its death throes. A stake has been driven through the heart, and not even the ghost of Ronald Reagan could save congressional republicans from their fate. It is of their own making, and to qoute a recent oft-used phrase, "Their Chickens Have Come Home To Roost."
So Newtie, when is Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran coming?
October?
"Wake up call?"
Go back to sleep Gingrich.
It's almost like Gingrich doesn't realize that he's a part of the problem, not a part of the solution.
The Republican party jumped the shark with Nixon. It just continued to get worse from there.
I have to doubt that gingrich truly cares about the fate of this country or his countrymen. anymore than he cared about his first wife's battle with cancer as he handed her their divorce papers. His IS the face of the modern Republican party : greed and power. So, his "wake up call" is only a signal to the PR firms and lobbyists to change lies and put a new face on the same story the GOP has been singing since McKinley. MeMeMeMeMe....and to hell with you.
We need to make it uncomfortable for people to be Republicans in this country. After all, they've been at war against everyone but the corps and big money cats for decades. Its time we fought back.
This just in:
"Old man yells at cloud"
The current crop of Republicans react to failure by re-doubling their faith to their crazy ideology - cut taxes, bomb Iran!!
Isaac @ 25:
Did you have to? I'm eating breakfast, please!
Wow! I didn't even know the Reverend Wright was running for office? Good thing Newt is still around to keep us informed. Guess that's what lizards are for (well, salamanders).
thanks a lot Newt for endorsing me on The View, that helped me in IN and NC. with Love, Bill & Hill Clinton.
It's kinda scary when the right wing has gotten so wacky that even ol' Newt is starting to feel sick.
Dr. Biitter Hussein (Mission Accomplished) Matt @ 16:
Above all else Rupert is about power and being able to exercise power (while making money). As a business plan being more radical does not work for Rupert.
Hum, the country is in the toilet, we are weathering a recession... which I am sure soon enough will turn into a depression, and endless war, healthcare nightmares, etc, etc, etc... All thanks to the GOP policies. And yet they see themselves as the victims, because they only care now that they are unelectable.
It is not sound advice, when thinks that the problem resides with their electoral strategy, and not with the end results of their policies.
That is what I find most telling, it seems that most politicians (Dem or GOP) seem themselves not as policy makers, but rather professional campaigners. Their success seems to be tied only wether or not they get elected, and remain in office, not on their policies.
Which is why Gingrich will genuinely ignore the catastrophic power tenure by the GOP, and concentrates on the electioneering only. He see himself as a campaigner, not as a public servant and thus GOP policies and their end result simply do not register on his radar.
Tekras @ 19:
Newtie has a very special talent for throwing those nearest and dearest to him under the bus.
ANy news about the race for NC governor? The local GOP chair insisted on wrapping the Democratic candidates in - Wait for it - Jeremiah Wright.
How did that go?
The Republicans will see the loss in Louisiana as a wake-up call and get busy rigging those voting machines all over the country. I can't imagine that any qualms about the illegality of doing so will make much difference. They've done it before, they'll just do it again....only more so.
Newt is reduced to concern trolling his own party.
Or leaving them on their deathbed...
Hey Newt, the die has already been cast.The repukelicans can't do one damn thing to stop the blood shed that your boys & girls on the right are going to encounter come November, so shut up you pompous ass,blow hard!
Who cares what this philandering, irrelevant, dilettante thinks? He made a mess of the '94 election victory because he didn't know how to lead and now talks about a need to train Republican legislators on how to manage a majority. He touts himself as a historian and intellectual, but seems to miss the point by focusing on the struggle of process as opposed to the struggle of people.
And to top it off, he goes by the name of NEWT. No shame and no sense of irony. Cart him off to the retirement home for old whores and politicians. He can room with Bill Clinton.
I'll never underestimate the republicans again after bush, despite being unpopular, was able to beat john kerry.
It's going to be dejavu all over again. All the stars are pointing towards the dems, but those liberal primary voters have screwed themselves yet again. Unbelievable.
The person who put the Constitution into the paper shredder to make his gang of corrupt, greedy, immoral, GOP criminals in charge of the nation. Now we have a broken FEMA, a broken Treasury, a broken Military, a broken Medical System, a broken Highway System, a broken Educational System, a broken Veterans Administration and on, and on, and on!
Meanwhile the greedy have padded their bank accounts with the national wealth. The blue collar worker has lost their jobs, their homes, their sanity and their health!
PEACE by Popular Demand!
The writing's been on the wall for a long time now. Gingrich knows it and so does the GOP House leadership.
The only questions left will be who gets the blame and how will they clean up the mess of their party.
if the republican party is so unpopular, why isn't obama ahead of mccain in the national polls?
OK, I have to pop my head up for the bi-annual Newt Slam:
Shut up Newt.
You pompous, narcissistic, opportunistic psuedo-intellectual media whore consumed by credulous delusions of grandeur; whose flatulent ego is propped up by legions of pale sycophants who are similarly inept and delusional. You are but a sub-par scab on the face of humanity. Crawl back into your hole and count your ill gotten gains. Write another lousy book, perhaps this time with Woodward, which after the initial flush of sales to your inbred Marietta disciples will end up on the clearance table for $2.00 - until they are eventually used to stoke the incinerator.
Just Shut Up.
"chart a bold course of real change" ???
So Newt, it's ok that the slimy, corrupt, and totally criminal reslugs have bent the entire country over for their own benefit for the last 8 years, so long as they pretend to reign in the corruption in the last six weeks prior to the election their idiot constituents should forget the rest long enough to turn around and vote them in again.
Now granted, he's talking about conservotards so I understand why he thinks this will work. But has he looked at the primary numbers at all?
So long as diebold and paid off corporate butt-buddy judges don't steal the election, reslugs are going to get their collective asses handed to them.
And wouldn't it be nice to see a repeat of what happened to the conservotards in Canada some years ago? After the general election they had a sum total of TWO elected members. Two. That was their entire party strength in the house. Two. It was a thing of beauty let me tell you. Backlash can be a very powerful thing.
I left the following comment for Dear Newt:
Poor Newt - you've made your bed and now you have to lie in it. From your hypocritical pursuit of Bill Clinton to your cynical Bush-enabling, you are a disgrace. You and your bloodthirsty party made it possible for a stupid dry-drunk to occupy the White House for eight years. Any sentient being familiar with his biography could have predicted this disaster, but you and your party blithely ignored the danger.
Because of you we are in an endless war with a fourth-rate military power that never attacked us and presented no danger. Sure, Saddam killed people, but not nearly as many and Bush and Cheney. Thousands of soldiers dead, hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis dead, millions of refugees, trillions of dollars wasted. The country is broke, the military is stretched and exhausted, and our civil liberties are disappearing. The federal bench has been filled with subpar, racist judges who will finish dismantling those parts of the republic that Bush and Cheney didn't get to.
Proud of yourself? Your "brand" should be dead given your track record. Republicanism and "Conservatism" will deservedly end up on the ash heap of history. And no, that blood on your hands won't wash off.
And if it's one thing ole Newt knows about its failure
4 failed marriages
1 failed "contract with America"
1 failed coup
StirFry @ 10:
Ha! Best thing I've read all day!
Hey Newt! Your Party's just reaping what you sowed, dude. Don't try to distance yourself from it now. Step up and behold the fruits of your "Republican Revolution".
I suppose it's dawning on old Newt that when a political party sends thousands of young Americans to their death for the enrichment of their buddies and supporters, that party tends to fall out of favor with the public. Whoda Thunkit?
"the former House speaker, conservative icon and serial adulterer"
I fixed their typo to begin with.
It is simple the Republicans offer nothing new in a change election... McCain is not change.... and given that they continue to fully support the Iraq war/occupation means that they are so far out of touch with the people of this country...
Democrats will crush the Republicans in November if they forget about all the noise and just focus on only two issues: the Iraq war/occupation and the economy.... After 8 years in power the Republicans, including John McCain, have severely screwed up both...
The beginning of the end of the GOP can be traced directly to the day Newty was chosen Speaker by the loyal soldiers of the GOP.
The slow-motion train wreck that describes the current Repug Party is a thing of beauty. I'm actually taping it so I can watch it again in even SLOWER motion just to see the details clearer.
electoral strategy congressional Republicans are using to “nationalize” the election by tying local races to national figures.
You think those Congressional republicans would figure out that when they do that they just highlight that their candidate is in the same useless America hurting party as bush. Glad they're way to stupid to see the obvious. But those damn dems better do something finally with the super majority they're about to get.
"Conservative icon"?
The very fact that this bloated, corrupt, conniving, disgraced, moralizing, hypocritical, family-values serial adulterer is considered an "icon" of conservatism is all that needs be said about the current state of the Republican Party and American conservatism.
"Gingrich gets nervous"
Someone stole Christmas back?
67 Annoyed Canuck
New American Conservatives
Cons who don't serve.
Newt. The guy is a turd...
"A bold course of real change?"
What change would that be, Newt? They got nothing, hence the grasping at straws as a foundation of the national republican platform. They will continue to try to run against Rev. Wright rather than Obama or Clinton. It's all they can do.
Gingrich is right about one thing: if the GOP tries to run on stuff like Wright, they will get destroyed in November. With serious issues like the economy, Iraq, gas prices and whatnot on everyone's minds, petty stuff like "look what this nasty black preacher" said really doesn't register with most people. Then again, what else can they do? Smear attacks are all they have left. It's not like they can run on their record of accomplishment.
And furthermore, who's the idiot who thought what the GOP needs is a pep talk with Bush where the whole GOP caucus can stand and show their solidarity with him? You think that's going to help them, being tied even more with him? I think I can hear Chris Van Hollen and crew over at the DCCC shouting hosannahs.
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 21:
That's a little much. Buchanan allowed my ancestors to secede, laying the ground work for battles like Sharpsburg and Gettysburg. Buchanan is worse. Bush is only a little better, though.
General_Rennenkampf @ 73:
Whoops. That's better.
The complete irony to his comments are that this was, and to a lesser degree - still is... his old strategy!!!! . Wasn't it Newt who invented the downgrading of the opposition with his little lynch-pin words and tactics??... How can anyone take this knucklehead seriously? I guess now he's saying that someone better come up with ideas? - not just ad-hominym attacks on character and distorted "facts" ? My God ... the RetardedPelicans (Republicans) ought to where a big "H" on their t-shirts when this clown is around. I think only one "promise " was delivered with that silly contract with America. The bastards' shameless.
nm @ 55:
I'd check that if I were you... but since you're a little confused, let me explain it... IT"S BECAUSE MCCAIN HAS YET TO BE OPPOSED... BY ANYONE ON THE DEMOCRATIC SIDE -THEY'RE BUSY TRYING TO GET THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION.... ALWAYS WILLING TO HELP A MIS-GUIDED RIGHTY
Gingrich could care less about "the future of the Republican Party"....he's nothing but a self righteous pseudo intellectual gasbag who can't get over his delusion that he's the long lost savior of the reich wing, wandering the wilderness until he gets his call to renewed glory.
Newt, your fifteen minutes were up 10 years ago....now please go back to that state college in Georgia that hired you as a "professor" and be glad you managed to stay out of prison.
I think they've drunk their own Kool-Aid, and believe they are now, and will always be, a "permanent Republican majority". That's what happens when you lose sight of reality. They suffer delusions of grandeur.
(I sometimes suffer DOG, but I admit it, and deal with it accordingly. Big difference!!!)
Tekras @ 19:
I wish I had said that... Perfect.
Interesting that Republican has-beens continue to mouth off about what's best for the party...and by infererence, the country. And they continue to get a big audience. Why?
Gingrich...DeLay...Rove...Kristol...Coulter...Fleischer...Matalin. Thanks to their advice and leadership, the Republican party has reached its lowest nadir since the New Deal era. And still they write books, bloviate on TV, and get paid big bucks to speak at think tanks and college campuses. Their message is flawed; if it weren't, Bush wouldn't have a 71% disapproval rating. Now McCain is kowtowing to the orthodox Republican right, as if to assume it will somehow ascend before November. Unbelievable.
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