From visionary to nincompoop and object of mockery. How have the mighty fallen.

The trailer features Gingrich insisting, "There is no attack on American culture more destructive and more historically dishonest than the relentless effort to drive God out of America's public square."

A slight alteration of the above quote, and we discover the REAL truth that is spoken:

There is no attack on America, upon the American People, and upon the Constitution more destructive and more historically dishonest than the relentless effort of the Republican Extremist's relentless effort to drive a theocratically bastardized, xenophobically adulterated, politically fictionalized weaponization of God into America's public squares, America's places of employment, America's public schools, and America's homes.

Can we just declare total war on Noot and his fellow orc-dung now, and be done with it?

I am still shocked at how many people believe this culture war stuff even when you ask them for some specific ideas about what might happen. What is this gay agenda? Equality before the law. No one is going to make people watch gay porn or get married to someone of the same sex. Previous marriages will not be made null and void. All we are talking about is equality before the law - that is the gay agenda.
I asked people the same thing a couple of months ago about the election of Obama, what did they think was going to happen? White people would all lose their jobs? Once a year black people could go into any white home and take something of value? A cabinet post called Secretary of Keepin' It Funky?
Most people could not come up with a specific thing that having a black president would change but still had an uneasy feeling (maybe a race war would erupt?) One student did claim that Obama would start buying up weapons and ammo to send to the middle east so that terrorist could attack the US but this guy is so far off on the lunatic right that Sean Hannity would tell him to calm down and be reasonable.
Just remember, African Americans got the right to vote and the world did not end, women got the right to vote and the world did not end, interracial marriage was legalized and the world did not end. Extending rights to people has never caused the world to end, the country to fall apart, or a plague of locust.

"One has to wonder -- is this really all they've got?"
yep.

Gingrich/Palin 2012--my dream ticket to ensure Obama wins a 1984-size landslide reelection.

Be understanding! It is SO HARD to be a Christian in the US today!

(Google
Founding fathers were not Christians)

Steve:
this post just isn't right. If you're going to talk about Gingrich's 'glory days', you must include a link to John Mellencamp's song. Now it's like an itch that I can't quite scratch..

Yeah, glory days for Gingrich. Where he was dumping one spouse while fooling around on the side with the new one, all while loudly proclaiming 'family values' and deploring Bill Clinton's dalliances. Good times, good times.

Channeling Karl Rove, I say to Newt: "Yeah, you just TRY it! And I will MOCK you! I will MOCK you like you've never been MOCKED before!"

Of course, I won't be the only one...bring it ON, Newtie-boy!

this does REALLY seem odd....after all, looking over the election/proposition results, only gay-bashing still has any life left in it...the rest of the bible-thumping efforts are very tired indeed....if you really wanna rev up the true believers about impending obama fascism, wouldn't calling him a gun-stealer be a better way to go?

Gingrich reminds me of Larry Lefferts from The Age of Innocence. Whenever Mrs Lefferts suspected her husband was cheating, he would bray that much louder about public morality. I think the Third Mrs Gingrich ought to review that prenup, for I suspect the Fourth is bent over a credenza in an office park in northern Virginia somewhere.

Mellencamp's Glory Days? Don't you mean a little ditty by Bruce Springsteen?

How many times has Newt been divorced?

The Republican Party should change its emblem from an elephant to a dinosaur.

Isn't there some nice available Third World theocratic fascist nation to which we could export these idiots? Or maybe an isolated island where they could build their own creationist Jesusland? Just think, in one or two centuries, after the rest of us have moved on, anthropologists could do a flyover of the island in a helicopter, and take photos of the Newties throwing stones and sticks or cowering under foliage at the sight and sound of the magical flying bird. The photos will be published, and we'll wonder at this lost tribe of our fellow humans. Then we'll remember what they stood for, shake our heads in pity and disgust, and decide to leave them alone, untouched, for the good of the planet.

Dear Newt,

Don't go away mad, just go away.

Perhaps this is another example of the "McCarthyite gene" as described here:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015861.php

I do think this is a pretty good explanation of the GOP SOP (standard operating procedure). Rather than deal with real issues, find topics on which to get people angry so that they will support you. So what if you don't have food to put on the table, "that guy on the teevee is right about X and I'll vote for him".

Too bad it is so successful.

Snarki wrote: "If you're going to talk about Gingrich's 'glory days', you must include a link to John Mellencamp's song."

Can't quite think of what song you mean ... Bruce Springsteen had a great song called "Glory Days".

In musical terms, Gingrich reminds me of a "tribute band".

You know, the sort of act where the lead singer and lead guitarist and most every other member of a once-famous band died from drug overdoses or whatever, and then the guy who was for a short time the third or fourth of several drummers to gig with them hires some bar-band musicians to play their hit tunes, and goes on the road under the name of the original band?

Why is Gingrich rehashing his Nineties "culture war" act?

Well, the thing is, there are actually a lot of good paying gigs for those "tribute bands", because there are people who will pay to see them.

Gingrich knows there is a paying audience for his shtick.

If you don't believe in evolution, how are you going to evolve?

America was founded on religious tolerance, look at Penn's Holy Experiment aka Philadelphia.

Newt = intolerance.

The only thing that makes sense is maybe we are heading back to the Middle Ages.

The rapture is coming. (so they say)

No disrespect intended, but what a fucking douche.

GINGRICH WANTS TO TURN BACK THE CLOCK.... Newt Gingrich no doubt remembers... He led a House GOP army, he became Speaker, ... convinced the political establishment that he was some kind of forward-thinking intellectual... Gingrich remains stuck in his foregone glory days... the former Speaker has hooked up with a far-right outfit ...peddling... Rediscovering God in America. The trailer features Gingrich insisting, "There is no attack on American culture more destructive and more historically dishonest than the relentless effort to drive God out of America's public square."

Everything I said about underestimating Newt before?

I withdraw it all.

He ISN'T turning back the clock. Newt is looking for Bible cred; the exact path to defeat followed by McCain. Newt is going to spend the next 4 years becoming someone completely different from the guy that pulled conservatives together under ECONOMIC plans in 1994. He's not turning back the clock. He's running under the 2008 religious right train wreck plan. He's updated himself at precisely the worst time. What a schmuck.

I'm a little disappointed. I figured Newt could pry the fingers away from the GOP. He isn't even interested in trying.

Don't write Newt of just yet. We need to revisit history for this one. Way before Newt's time.

The GOP has been acting more like a fascist government (Bush) than anything else. Sure the 'poor' victimized Republicans will not like it when they're compared to Hitler's party before WWII.

I"m not talking about REpublicans advocating the holocaust and such. I'm saying there are a lot of similarities between the two parties.

They both lost miserably, the country laughted at them, they retrenched even more into their ideology, they kept spreading vicious rumors, interfered with voting, etc... So far they are pretty much identical.

We know wha happened with Hitler's party, let's make sure we don't allow the GOP to pull the same crap.

It should be a given that Mr. Gingrich et alii would start to rebuild with a group of people who take it as a point of pride that they fervently believe fanciful (or at least extremely counterintuitive) things without any evidence whatsoever.

I'll be honest. I'd be happy to let God linger in the public square if he'd just leave his asshat friends like Gingrich and Barton at home.

What's surprising is not that Gingrich would associate with Barton, but that he would asociate with Borat. Did you see the look on nooter's face when Borat had the bag of shit from the bathroom. He looked like he was shitting himself in that movie. Borat got him good.

"So, Newt, how's the wife?"

Isn't there a commandment about that? Maybe that's why he needs so much to have religion in the public square - so that pigs like him will be constantly reminded to keep their eyes in their own head and their zippers closed.

Nothing new to contribute? You are ignorant, so check out Newt's website so you may be less so in the future. This will not hurt you and may in fact help you to become more informed.

http://www.americansolutions.com

Steven, where are the links on this site to a "Solutions lab" or "Solutions academy?"

In other words, can you reach any conclusion other than the one I have reached: Newt has contributed much more than you and all of your readers to addressing today's challenges.

Keep in mind that wingnuts like Newtie are essentially lazy. They only want quick little inflammatory bites that they hope will convince the zombies of their flock to shower them with money (again) and elect them to power (again), because that's all they care about.

Yes, this is all they've got, because that's all they've ever wanted. It doesn't even matter that the same tired old lines won't work anymore, they'll just keep repeating themselves because they are simply incapable of doing anything else.

Sad, isn't it?

It's too bad that Republicans are masters at deceit. I'm impressed how they water down the term 'fascist' to destroy how the term truly describes the christian right movement. Somehow I don't think that gays are taking over the radio waves and building national news empires around their agenda. I don't see them trying to hi-jack a political party to push their agenda down everyone's throats. Someone in the media needs to have a follow up question to Newt, asking him to define fascist.

Newt and the Republicans will forever long for the glory days when this kind of culture war bullshit passed as actual leadership to many Americans.

"In other words, can you reach any conclusion other than the one I have reached: Newt has contributed much more than you and all of your readers to addressing today's challenges."- easyliving1

"God drives the economy" and "the economy is prayer driven" therefore, we need to "return to live more God oriented as our Founding Fathers did instead of the current secularism.." is NOT A SOLUTION.

"Drill Here Drill Now" is NOT AN ENERGY SOLUTION.

If all Newts Hosted "solutions" are this lame, we "liberals" don't have to worry about the Gingrich rejuvenate the Republican party for a VERY LONG TIME.

Fear is the key
In the L.A. Times, Neal Gabler has an article that analyzes exactly what "conservative" Republicans have been doing, tracing their strategy back to Senator McCarthy, not to Senator Goldwater, who in 1964 lost in one of the biggest landslides in American electoral history and wrested the party from its Eastern establishment wing.
According to Gabler, the myth tells how Nixon co-opted conservatism, talking like a conservative while governing like a moderate, disenchanting true believers. Ronald Reagan, next, embraced it wholeheartedly, becoming the patron saint of conservatism and making it the dominant ideology in the country, even though he didn't practice it in terms of fiscal responsibility or size of government. George W. Bush picked up Reagan's fallen standard and "conservatized" government even more thoroughly than Reagan had, cheering conservatives until his presidency came crashing down around him. That's how Gabler believes the mythology tells it.
Gabler's thesis is that the real connection is from Sen. Joe McCarthy, to Nixon to Bush and possibly now to Sarah Palin. McCarthy attacked alleged communists and the Democrats whom he accused of shielding them, as well as the centrist American establishment, Eastern intellectuals and the power class, many of whom were Republicans, including moderate ones. McCarthyism became a means to play on the anxieties of Americans, convincing them of danger and conspiracy even when they didn't exist, which he used to build power and support. George H.W. Bush used it to get himself elected, terrifying voters with Willie Horton (and denigrating Dukakis as a commander-in-chief). His son used fear of 9/11 and convincing voters that John Kerry was a coward and a liar and would hand the nation over to terrorists, tried and true McCarthy tactics used very aggressively, and W. then used fear and stealth in pushing through totalitarian unconstitutional measures. The thread continued through McCain and then Palin, probably through Rove (who also coached W.), and I quote from Gabler, "That's why John McCain kept describing Barack Obama as some sort of alien and why Palin, taking a page right out of the McCarthy playbook, kept pushing Obama's relationship with onetime radical William Ayers."
What Gabler believes is that, because of this tradition, the Republican Party will continue to move rightward. Fear and blame; rabble-rousing; the Rush Limbaughs and Sean Hannitys and Bill O'Reillys; and now Palin. This is the direction the Party will take. Probably because it cannot be believed as the party of small government or fiscal responsibility or moral integrity; all credibility lost in the harsh reality of events; at least not until people forget and these actualities become memories and fade. It is a dangerous approach because it incites people to do violent things, especially as times become more stringent.
It is, I believe a shame, because some of the original precepts of fiscal responsibility and keeping government out of peoples' lives and moral integrity are well worth preserving. The Republican Party which stood for those princples was a Grand Old Party. But, I hate to say it, those are all too easily trumped by fear-mongering and, I might add, difficult to achieve. I would nominate the Republican Party today as the Party of Fear, as opposed to the Party of Solutions. And, if that's the direction it's going in, yes, it's a shame.
The consistent thing about guys like Jeb Bush, in line with the old Republican philosophy, is to be against something, not for it; to be in a position to scare people, not to advocate good positive things. Putting people and ideas down is the tack they have taken; witness McCain's whole campaign; witness Sarah's natural proclivities. So Jeb Bush starts off by surfacing and proposing that the Republicans start a "shadow government" to watch, and criticize, and follow what Obama's Administration does closely. What bothers me about this, deeply, I might add, is the fact that it is not being supportive in any way. No one is saying, if we want to survive, we have to work together, guys. No, the implication is that "they" (Democrats) are the enemy. And in this terrible time, when the country is literally falling apart, and everybody is unsettled, these isolated Republicans are settling in to be critical. As if they aren't losing their savings, too; as if they are exempt; as if, should the country really fail, they wouldn't be affected. Quite a blind spot. isn't it. They aren't even pretending to help, to support, to work with their counterparts to make things better for everybody, themselves included. How antedeluvian, how "old school", how traditional, how like McCarthy and all of the Republican demogogues, to stand back and continue criticizing the Democrats who are working very hard, very earnestly, to fix what went wrong with this country. So Jeb Bush is nothing more than another toxic Republican, joining in the long line of negative right-wing naysayers and destroyers, no better than Limbaugh and Hannity and O'Reilly. Pretty disgusting, I'd say. Stand on the sidelines and criticize while the Titanic goes down; criticize everything the crew and captain does. Disgusting, guys, absolutely disgusting.
For more, see: www.ocpatriot-runningcomments.blogspot.com.

In other words, can you reach any conclusion other than the one I have reached: Newt has contributed much more than you and all of your readers to addressing today's challenges.

Since Newt has helped cause, or made worse, many of "today's challenges" and his "solutions" (hint: naming something "Solutions Lab" doesn't mean they are solutions) are without merit, depth or even a smidge of intellect — he's on the negative side of the ledger of addressing anything. We, unlike Newt, have NOT been the Speaker of the House and have no real individual power — but because, again unlike Newt, we haven't set out to ruin Presidents, establish ruinous foreign policies, rape the treasury and intellectually bankrupt an entire political system, we are waaaaaaaay ahead of him.

He is a blight. You are an idiot. Discuss.

kc: How many times has Newt been divorced?

same number as rush and rudy...

twice...

gop: remember...the 1st wife doesn't count

I grew up in east Tennessee, and it's very important to remember that many people in and around the south live in a parallel universe, where religion is the only solid thing, and that when times get tough, well, can't you see that it's the fault of the urbanites and the latter day soddamites?!?

Steve says:
"It is rather odd. In the midst of a global economic crisis, two wars, a climate crisis ... Newt Gingrich is wondering, "Hey, does anybody want to talk about religion in the public square and gay fascism?"

Unfortunately it's not odd at all.

When when things change too rapidly for the worse, people look for who they can blame. For rural folks they want to blame urban folks (AKA 'librals'). For religious folks, they want to blame secularists and gays. Life is changing too fast. Things they valued in their youth that were part of their community, are gone. What rural conservatives don't seem to recognize is that urban dwellers and liberals are losing their community touchstones just as quickly, but for the most part, aren't blaming them for it.

Newt goes to this trough because his people are waiting there for him.

Newt was complaining recently about the cost of American health care. Newt was one of the idiots that blocked progress back in the 1990s. What a Dick.

gop: remember...the 1st wife doesn't count

Neither does the second. Or, if you're on your fourth wife, the third.

That's the problem with conservatives - they confuse conserving what is worthwhile with conserving everything.
Not the same.