Gingrich is just silly.

There is just no charge partisan Republican hacks like Gingrich won't make, so long as it contributes to the negative noise around anything Democratic. Gingrich has always been a fraud; he's been running for years on the favorite alternative fuel of the GOP: snake oil.

By the John Edwards rule, he should have been forcibly retired from public life after he blew up his first marriage.

Newt Gingrich is at least a serious person driven by serious ideas.

A Seriously fucked up person certainly. A serious danger to America, probably.

Gingrich created K-Street by eliminating institutional technical expertise in Congress. I figure he did it with forethought.

The cool thing about the whole tire pressure issue is that it's an opportunity for Hans und Franz to get together with Arnold Schwarzenegger and put out an EPA sponsored public service announcement.

BTW, air is free in California if you get gas.

A serious danger to America, probably. --ckelly.

doubtful. too silly to be taken seriously anymore.

Some secret knowledge that Gingrich could very well not posess.

If you're not a complete asshole, the people in the service station will often turn on the air machine for you at no charge.

Did he really say this shit with conviction or is he just banking on the fact that the average Fox news viewer is a drooling moron who believes everything they see on that channel as the gospel truth?

The fact that these two turds sit there and lie through their teeth tells you everything you need to know about them and their crowd; win at all costs, doesn't matter how.

Strategic Defense Initiative, which never worked, cost $200 billion, and results in useless junk was single handedly made into a Georgia earmark by this shyster.

To fund 200 billion on junk is either stupidity or crass corruption. The stupidity applies mainly to Reagan, so maybe this fat slob is the corruption part.

HR wrote: "... is he just banking on the fact that the average Fox news viewer is a drooling moron who believes everything they see on that channel as the gospel truth?"

It's important to understand that Fox News does not merely passively depend on its viewers already being stupid. Fox News uses very sophisticated techniques, developed by the most highly paid brainwashing experts of Madison Avenue and elsewhere, to actively make its viewers stupid.

These techniques are not limited to the propaganda content of its broadcasts, i.e. to the intentionally inane comments such as those of Gingrich which attack the viewer's ability to reason through semantic means. They also include video production techniques that are scientifically designed to produce disorientation and destroy brain cells in anyone who watches Fox News.

Once the viewers have been made stupid -- stupider than they were to begin with -- it is that much easier for them to unquestioningly accept the lies that Fox News spoon-feeds to them.

*

...I've been told a number of times that, movement conservative though he may be, Newt Gingrich is at least a serious person driven by serious ideas.

Really? Even after his universally ridiculed Nine Acts of Real Change That Could Restore the GOP Brand?

As far as I am concerned, Gingrich's blaming the Great Society for Susan Smith's drowning of her children and his calling Democrats "the enemy of normal Americans" put him beyond redemption.

Newtie's a pluperfect jackass. But let him keep running his pie hole--I like it.

Kevin Drum :

but there's no way you can read this and tell me that you still think he's a serious person

For crying out loud, the man was attempting to make a joke and prefaced it with the comment that it was a "funny e-mail".

This type of taking a humorous aside and making it a reason for completely dismissing a person is done both on the left and the right. It has to stop if we are going to have civil discourse with humor allowed in this country.

I find your post on this absurd. (But don't worry, I won't dismiss you as a serious person for it.)

Well, he might be better than DeLay and Rove (YMMV of course), but there's no way you can read this and tell me that you still think he's a serious person. I really hope nobody ever tells me this again.

I think he's a very serious person for an out-of-touch DC elitist!

max
['He's probably much more experienced with ways to help save fuel when using your personal helicopter.']

The decline of the Republican Party can be traced to third-rate college professors from second-rate colleges (See, e.g., Dick Army, Phil Gramm).

I still say the hard-line conservatives are going to try to force Newt on McCain as his running mate. A lot of them still would like to see Gingrich in the White House, and they know there's no way in hell he's going to win another election. They figure the only way they're going to see President Newt is to put him on the McCain ticket, and then hope the old geezer dies in office.

BTW, air is free in California if you get gas.

Ah ha! So it is a scheme to make Big Oil richer!

No matter how smart you are, shilling for Republicans forces you to say and do stupid things. And eventually, this forces you to become stupid.

Much as it would normally pain me to agree with Mr. Hansen, after re-reading this I have to agree that Gingrich was probably, in this case, making a joke.

This doesn't obviate other criticisms made of Gingrich here and in other threads, but at least credit him with the ability to make a joke.

thersites, I do believe he was trying to be Dennis Miller like, leaning heavily on uncomfortable laughter arising from obscure references and complicated but faulty logic. However, this stuff doesn't really qualify as humor. I think they call it "truth-telling" over at Fox News and I'm not sure how to classify it myself. It's simply some sort of closed room circle jerk which results in laughter and feelings of superiority.

Well, he might be better than DeLay and Rove...

That may have set a new low for faint praise.

-Z

That is the most retarded thing I have heard a politician say since - "I know how hard it is to put food on your family".

Newt is a guy who knows one trick. Because it worked one time --- admittedly, big --- people sometimes mistake him for smart. But he's not. Christ, he's even been up on the Hill recently advocating among the House Republicans for another government shutdown over energy policy. Because the first government shutdown one worked so freaking well for him and the GOP.

I've been out of the country for too long. Is it true that compressed air is now sold? Or is it just hot compressed air.

err, Kevin. It was a joke. All the smiling and laughing should have provided you with a little clue.

Of course, Kevin already knew that. It's just more partisan lying fakery.

Wasn't Newt supposed to have gone Green?

I've been told a number of times that, movement conservative though he may be, Newt Gingrich is at least a serious person driven by serious ideas.

It's a dirty lie, don't you believe it.

Hello. I am assuming that you are an idiot.

Gingrich, with his intellectual prowess--especially compared to Bush-- hypocritically went after the Big Dawg and Lewinsky in the 90's-- while having his own marital dismissiveness toward his own wife...It is actually sad for him that the lesser Bush had the presidency.

Bush, who once ridiculously said, "We had a good cabinet meeting, talked about a lot of issues. Secretary of State and Defense brought us up to date about our desires to spread freedom and peace around the world." (8/1/03)
Or this gem: "This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating." (4/23/02)
Or, "The truth of the matter is, if you listen carefully, Saddam would still be in power if he were president of the United States, and we'd be better off." (Bush at 2nd presidential debate, St. Louis, 10/8/04.)
Or the ridiculous "There's only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids upon the death of their loved one. Others hug but having commited the troops, I've got an additional responsiblity to hug, and that's me and I know what it's like." (12/13/02)

Just a few of the stupid utterances of the shrub.

Yeah, Gingrich has to have been mortified by this president. That would be a lot to live down. No wonder he feels he should emerge.

Jesus H. Christ, Gingrich is wont to praise the dynamism and creativity of the likes of Michael Milken and Jeffrey Skilling, but he thinks some poor immigrant storekeeper making 50 cents from his little coin-op air compressor is some kind of scam? What a miserable little creature; how aptly named Newt is.

IMO Republican stupidity, is a developed thing. They have studied all of the error prone thinking habits. Things like cognitive biases, and logical fallacies, with the goal of exploiting them to the max for political gain. The problem, is they become habitual, and ones ability to clearly reason is soon lost. But, this has been a very successful strategy for winning power. The problem is it is a disastrous way to actually govern.

The Democrats OTOH, have the opposite problem. They try to use good thinking/reasoning paradigms. The problem comes during campaign time, when the general lack of appreciation for good problem solving, puts them at a huge disadvantage. So the Democrats have learned good problem solving skills, but won't get to use them, because they try to use them for campaigning as well.

Hey, libs, don't ever lose that sense of humor.

Hah! Stupid democrats using their old tire pumps and free compressed air to make more money for Exxon. Little do they know that Exxon is using their huge capital reserves to monopolize the latte and used Volvo markets. Pretty soon even they pot they smoke, the composter they put their arugula stems in, and the communist manifesto they read themselves to sleep with are going to be sold to them by Exxon.

It's obvious -- tire pressure is an element of Obama's energy platform because he is in the pocket of OOPS -- the Organization of Oxygen Producers.

Not only is Obama heavily invested in Big Oxygen but several key staffers were once lobbyists for OOPS.

Gingrich, on the other hand, is a tool of the Organization of Air Wave Executives (OAWE). Big AWE, as they are called, trades not on air but on gaseousness. Their intellectual flatulence wafts over whole cities numbing the feeble-minded, like talk show host Sean Hannity.

It was clear Newt wasn't serious about policy when he distributed to Republicans in Congress the list of words to use when describing Democrats and their policies.

Hey controlls if this what you think is funny I've got news for you.Not. Threre's an old saying in the entertainment business that applies perfectly to this kind of inane bullshit. Hey Newt don't quit your day job.

B, you're in fine comic fettle.

1. Gingrich introduced the thesis as something he received in an e-mail. Therefore he distanced himself--slightly--from it.
2. But by tossing it out, he encourages his own cadre of dittoheads to pass it along with a nod of assent.
3. There's no reason to think that Gingrich is not serious--but keep in mind that he's a serious prankster who likes to provoke reactions. Deadpan him and you won't enable him.
4. Air is indeed free but the delivery of it isn't. Machines at most gasaterias here (in central Arkansas) cost either 25 or 50 cents and may or may not run long enough to top up all four tires and the spare. Why these standalone air machines? Because most c-store operations don't have room or staff time to keep a traditional air compressor-and-hose setup running. Why not? Because they make their profits less off of gas than from the groceries, smokes, beer and sundries they sell.
5. OTOH, a free air hose isn't all that hard to find. And a good-enough tire gauge costs a buck. And a set of valve stem covers and a valve wrench (to tighten the valve cores, which loosen and let air out) won't set you back much more. so, go make the local auto part store a little richer, pay attention to those tires and leave Little Newt and his teapot tempests in your rear-view mirror.

1. Gingrich introduced the thesis as something he received in an e-mail. Therefore he distanced himself--slightly--from it.
2. But by tossing it out, he encourages his own cadre of dittoheads to pass it along with a nod of assent.
3. There's no reason to think that Gingrich is not serious--but keep in mind that he's a serious prankster who likes to provoke reactions. Deadpan him and you won't enable him.
4. Air is indeed free but the delivery of it isn't. Machines at most gasaterias here (in central Arkansas) cost either 25 or 50 cents and may or may not run long enough to top up all four tires and the spare. Why these standalone air machines? Because most c-store operations don't have room or staff time to keep a traditional air compressor-and-hose setup running. Why not? Because they make their profits less off of gas than from the groceries, smokes, beer and sundries they sell.
5. OTOH, a free air hose isn't all that hard to find. And a good-enough tire gauge costs a buck. And a set of valve stem covers and a valve wrench (to tighten the valve cores, which loosen and let air out) won't set you back much more. so, go make the local auto part store a little richer, pay attention to those tires and leave Little Newt and his teapot tempests in your rear-view mirror.

I understand Newt likes dinosaurs. I first read this when my son was about 5, and he and I were both very into dinosaurs. So I found that aspect of Newt charming.

Other than that, he's a first class idiot.

Serious by Republican standards. "More serious than W or Rove or Stevens or...." Please use the appropriate grading curve.

I've also read that Sean Hannity is actually a nice guy off the air. I wonder if that is also graded on a curve, i.e., "nicer than Bill O'Reilly"

So, Newt, how's the wife??

I despise Gingrich's politics as much as the next guy, but this seemed to be presented pretty much as a joke. Don't run with this one to make Kevin's point, anybody.

If Newt wants to tell jokes, he should talk more about John McCain's qualifications for the Presidency.