'The President is Beginning to be a Parody of Himself'

Beginning to be a parody? Newt Gingrich is being awfully kind.

Thanks to Matt Wolking for the clip.

Denial is a River That Runs Through the Gingrich Campaign: "Reports of My Campagn's Death Were Highly Exaggerated"

Newt hasn't quite reached an Obama-level state of delusion yet, but as you can see he's getting close.



Via Breitbart.

Glitter Guy Feels the Love From ABC News

Gee, I was thinking this creepy moonbat would be forced to spend a night in the clink and undergo a psychiatric evaluation, after ambushing Newt Gingrich and his wife Callista with a box full of glitter yesterday.

Silly me. I forgot Newt is a Republican. Well, a RINO at least. Close enough. That means he's fair game at book signings.

Just ask Karl Rove.

Remember kids, it's all fun and games unless you do it a Democrat.



Via Mediaite.

Cross-posted.

Newt Gingrich: Hard Worker - To a Fault

This might be one of the lamer excuses for marital infidelity I've ever heard.

Worked too hard? Gee, Callista must be looking forward to the (remote) possibility of Gingrich taking on a 24/7 job like President of the United States.

C'mon, Newt, just say it: You were horny, and she was there.

Period.

Now, stop stringing everybody along and cross your name off the list for 2012 already.



Via RealClearPolitics. Cross-posted.

Gingrich to Obama: Take Some Time Off and Go Walk in the Woods or Something

Just what a guy who's taken about a dozen vacations this year needs: More time off.

President Obama should take off most of the rest of the year to concentrate on the lessons of the 2010 election, former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Tuesday.

Gingrich urged the president to take some time away from Washington to reflect on how he might pivot in the next two years to work with the new Republican-controlled House.

"I think it’ll be really healthy for him if he could take off from Thanksgiving through most of December and really think," Gingrich told "The Brody File" on the Christian Broadcasting Network. "I mean walk on the beach or walk in the woods or whatever he likes doing but get away from the daily business and try to reflect on what happened."

Gingrich hearkened back to what President Reagan and President George W. Bush had done to escape Washington with some frequency during their time in office, and urged Obama to do the same. Each president had famously spent time on their respective ranches, clearing brush or riding horses.

Maybe Tony Rezko could help finance a ranch for Obama.

Oh, wait...

He Thinks Highly of Himself

I realize most politicians have an over-inflated view of themselves, but this is ridiculous. Not only that, the guy hasn't held office the past decade. If that's not enough, he has to know following the Dede Scozzafava disaster that his electoral possibilities are zero, doesn't he?

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday he considers himself among the top Republican prospects for the 2012 presidential election, adding that he believes there will be plenty of GOP options for voters to consider.

"I think I'm probably on a list of seven or eight possible candidates at this stage," Gingrich said. "We have a lot of people around the country who would like to have somebody who represents a commitment to replace the current failed programs and to develop a set of solutions that are practical and workable."

Gingrich listed several current and former goverors who he thinks might enter the race. They include former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. He said he will discuss his possible candidacy with his wife early next year before making a decision about whether to run.

Gingrich also suggested that governors Mitch Daniels from Indiana, Haley Barbour from Mississippi, Rick Perry from Texas and Bobby Jindal from Louisiana, as well as South Dakota Sen. John Thune could run.

Uh, Newt, you can also scratch Huckabee off that list.

Hot Air and Instapundit link. Thanks!

Memo to Newt: Don't Bother Running in 2012

It's three years from the 2012 election, but based on his recent activities it's safe to say the GOP base will not be lining up to support Newt Gingrich. Most recently his decision to support the disastrous candidacy of Dede Scozzafava in New York's 23rd district is a poke in the eye to the conservative grassroots.

Running around with the likes of the odious Al Sharpton doesn't help much either. Is he so naive to think ingratiating himself with such a loathsome radical like Sharpton will endear him to the left?

Get real, Newt. Go write some more books, do the lecture tour, make some money. But whatever you do, don't bother running in 2012. It's not going to happen.

'I Look Forward to Meeting You and Hearing More About Your Business'

Nothing like handing out an Entrepreneur of the Year Award to a strip club.

Oops. I like New Gingrich for the most part, but I have to say he looks really stupid here.

Newt Gingrich is no gentleman, said a Dallas topless club owner.

This came after the former Georgia Congressman took back an award he offered to a strip club last month.

"I thought it wasn't completely ridiculous that he might recognize my business," Dawn Rizos, owner of The Lodge, said Thursday night.

Rizos' business dubs itself "the country's premier gentlemen's club," and she was tapped by Gingrich's think tank, American Solutions, as one of its 2009 Entrepreneurs of the Year representing Texas.

"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," the initial invitation, dated Sept. 2, said.

Rizos even made a $5,000 contribution to join Gingrich's Business Defense and Advisory Council after making arrangements to attend the Oct. 7 banquet at Washington, D.C.'s exclusive Capitol Hill Club.

"I look forward to meeting you and hearing more about your business," Gingrich said in a letter penned Sept. 16 to thank her for the donation.

But on Tuesday, someone from Gingrich's organization called her to rescind the invitation.

"My feelings are so hurt that people would be shocked that he would think about giving us an award," Rizos said.

Gingrich, who is currently working on a documentary about Pope John Paul II, could not be reached Thursday night for comment. Gingrich's spokesman, Rick Tyler, also couldn't be reached by phone Thursday night.

"I understand that he is a very conservative man, but I think our business is very conservatively run, too," Rizos said.

She pointed out her attempts to "make the business as positive as we can" by donating more than $160,000 to charities in the last few years, and offering college scholarships and money management seminars for its 150 employees and 517 contract dancers.

And the 25,000 square-foot building in northwestern Dallas has pumped more than $2 million into the city's and state's tax coffers this year, she said.

This isn't American Solution's first faux pas with the adult entertainment industry.

Just weeks ago, the organization reversed an invitation to the same banquet, then extended to a Van Nuys, Calif., adult film production and distribution company called Pink Visual.

Rizos said she couldn't imagine Gingrich making the same mistake twice ... especially since she has been a responsible corporate citizen since opening in Dallas in 1996.

"After that embarrassment with the woman with the pornography company, I thought for sure when we RSVP’d and made reservations they would Google my name or DCG, Inc.," she said.

A Web search links DCG Inc., the registered name for Rizos' business, to The Lodge. The home page of the company's Web site calls itself "the #1 Gentlemen's Club in America, featuring captivating entertainers, fine food and drink in an elegant, intimate setting you have to see to believe."

Rizos' company apparently was confused with a business of the same name in Virginia, The Lodge spokesman Michael Precker said, recalling the phone call from an awards ceremony owner.

Well, when you think about it, they are stimulating the economy, among other things.

Jon Voight Unloads on 'False Prophet Obama'

The good stuff begins after the 6:00 mark. More here.

Actor Jon Voight, who hosted the dinner, delivered a particularly harsh rebuke to Obama, saying he was "embarrassed" by the president and that Obama's leadership would cause the "downfall" of the country.

"We are becoming a weak nation," he said, calling Obama a "false prophet" and his administration the "Obama oppression."

Republican leaders who spoke afterward praised his comments. "You're great. Come back any time," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said. Gingrich called Voight's comments a rallying cry until the next elections in 2010.

HuffPost Now Doing PR for Club Gitmo Guests

The basic tone of this nonsense is Newt Gingrich is bad, the Chinese Uighurs are just poor misunderstood chaps who mysteriously wound up at Club Gitmo.

Here all this time I thought the inmates at Guantanamo Bay were subject to harsh treatment (every news story says so) and living under inhumane conditions? Apparently not. According to the Huffington Post these guys chat often with relatives in the United States and Europe.

You know, pretty soo I might start thinking the left's propaganada about what goes on down there has been, um, misleading.

Chinese Muslims known as Uighurs, detained for more than six years and counting at the American prison at Guantanamo Bay, are firing back at Newt Gingrich, who has accused them of terrorist ties and says that releasing them into the United States would endanger the country.

The seventeen Uighurs told their translator, Rushan Abbas, how they felt when they heard Gingrich's remarks. Abbas has been working with them in Guantanamo since 2002, initially contracted by the Department of Defense. The Uighurs' rejoinder to Gingrich is the first quasi-interview with detainees still imprisoned in Guantanamo.

The Bush administration has cleared the Uighurs for release; five have already been released to third countries. If returned to China, there is a high probability they'd be tortured. A vibrant Uighur community in Northern Virginia has offered to take them in, but Gingrich and others are objecting.

"Why is that our problem?" Gingrich wondered in a recent TV interview. "Why are we protecting these guys? Why does it become an American problem?"

Gingrich pushed further in an op-ed, claiming that '[b]y their own admission, Uighurs being held at Guantanamo Bay are members of or associated with the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an al Qaeda-affiliated group designated as a terrorist organization under U.S law."

No, they have never admitted that, says Abbas, adding that the Uighurs call the claim "baseless, factless slander against them." Abbas returned from Guantanamo Monday. She now works with the Uighurs' defense attorneys, but said that her comments to the Huffington Post were not intended as advocacy on their behalf.

The Uighurs call relatives in the United States and Europe often, she says, so stay up on the news. They were surprised to hear the accusation from the former Speaker of the House.

I guess Gingrich isn't entitled to his opinion.

Meanwhile, it's apparently escaped noticed of the esteemed journalists at the HuffPost that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also doesn't want these people on our soil.

QUESTION: If the United States -- if the United States thinks that these people should be held, why shouldn’t they be held in the United States? Why shouldn’t the U.S. take those risks, the attendant risk of holding them, since it’s the one that says they should be held?

REID: I think there’s a general feeling, as I’ve already said, that the American people, and certainly the Senate, overwhelmingly doesn’t want terrorists to be released in the United States. And I think we’re going to stick with that.

QUESTION: What about in imprisoned in the United States?

REID: If you’re...

(CROSSTALK)

REID: If people are -- if terrorists are released in the United States, part of what we don’t want is them be put in prisons in the United States. We don’t want them around the United States.

Of course trusting Dingy Harry isn't always wise, and in fact he's probably just reading his latest poll numbers, which, to put it kindly, are abysmal.

'I Think This is the Most Despicable, Dishonest and Vicious Political Effort I've Seen in My Lifetime'

Tell us how you really feel, Newt.

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich today offered a blistering critique of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s handling of oversight on harsh interrogation tactics, in a major escalation of partisan attacks being aimed at Pelosi.

In an interview with ABC News Radio’s Marcus Wilson, Gingrich, R-Ga., said Pelosi, D-Calif., “has lied to the House” in claiming that she was never briefed by the CIA about the Bush administration’s use of waterboarding and other harsh tactics.

"I think she has lied to the House, and I think that the House has an absolute obligation to open an inquiry, and I hope there will be a resolution to investigate her. And I think this is a big deal. I don't think the Speaker of the House can lie to the country on national security matters,” Gingrich said.

He continued: "I think this is the most despicable, dishonest and vicious political effort I've seen in my lifetime."

"She is a trivial politician, viciously using partisanship for the narrowist of purposes, and she dishonors the Congress by her behavior."

"Speaker Pelosi's the big loser, because she either comes across as incompetent, or dishonest. Those are the only two defenses,” Gingrich said. “The fact is she either didn't do her job, or she did do her job and she's now afraid to tell the truth.”

Frankly, while I agree wholeheartedly with Gingrich, he might want to just step back and let Pelosi continue to self-immolate.

Newt For RNC Chairman?

If the GOP is going to find itself out in the wilderness, they'll certainly need someone with fresh ideas and a proven track record at the top of the party and is there anyone out there in recent memory with a better record than Newt Gingrich?

BRACED for setbacks in next Tuesday's election, Republicans are already searching for a new leader to restore the party to the philosophical principles of its 1994 Revolution.

In fact, some are turning to the very architect of that revolt, and are pressing behind the scenes for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to take the helm of the Republican National Committee from which to once again plot a storming of the gates.

"Newt is a man of ideas and he is a force of nature," said one GOP official who leans in favor of making Gingrich RNC boss.

"He'll be the first to tell you that some of his ideas can be crazy, but at least they're ideas, and often, they're brilliant."

Supporters say Gingrich, a professor from Georgia who battled his way to the top of the party, has the unique combination of outside-the-box visionary thinking and obsessive, tireless energy to carry out the work that lies ahead for the party.

"This battle is going to be huge," said another Gingrich supporter. "It's going to be really hard work."

There are obvious drawbacks, one being Gingrich is a favorite punching bag of the media elites, who unleashed a relentless slash and burn campaign against him after he became House Speaker back in 1994. By the time the 1998 midterm elections had rolled around he stepped down as speaker to be replaced (albeit temporarily) by Bob Livingston, who lasted all of five minutes once Larry Flynt unleashed to dogs of war on him. Livingston was supplanted by Dennis Hastert, who was never one to rally the troops or even come up with some bold, fresh ideas.

Once he left elected office though, Gingrich has remained in the public sphere, became a best-selling author and most recently has led the Drill Here, Drill Now campaign that reinvigorated the public's desire to tap our own resources rather than being held captive by foreign oil suppliers.

For those who are turned off by Gingrich, they have to admit he's an intellectual who's forward thinking and can help the party regain a foothold in the battle of ideas. He won't be one of these timorous moderates looking to polish a public image while being subservient to the Democrat steamroller.

The GOP will need a strong force to battle the Democrats with and Gingrich certainly has the chops and name recognition. Speaking of which, can you even name the current chairman?

That alone should tell you leadership is sorely lacking.

BTW, his name is Mike Duncan. Good luck even picking him out of a lineup.

This isn't an endorsement of Gingrich, but I'd be curious to know some other names folks out there might be considering.

Stop With the Good News Already!

"What's good news for America is bad news for Democrats" has never been more relevant than with the recent news of things going much better in Iraq. Since the Democrats have invested so heavily in our defeat, they face a major credibility problem when we win, so they are pulling out all stops to help ensure our defeat.

Wes Pruden rips them apart in the Washington Times today. Some parts hilarious, some infuriating, but a good read nonetheless.

When Good News is Awful News

It's not easy to pimp surrender, but some of our congressional and media worthies are giving it their best shot.

It won't be easy. Nobody but the loons think quitters, fakers, surrender monkeys and pessimists of various stripes are good custodians of the national interests, and the men and women who read the newspapers and magazines and watch the television newscasts are smarter than the men and women who write and preen for them. Americans are fed up with the Iraq war not because they think resisting jihad is wrong, but because they think the leaders at the top may not necessarily be serious about winning without apology. Anthony McAuliffe, who answered the German demand for surrender at Bastogne with "nuts" (if not something a little saltier), is the kind of general Americans admire most.

The risks for Democratic doom-criers are becoming evident. The accumulating evidence of progress, little by little, is changing public opinion. Media opinion will follow, slowly as always, and the sluggard notabilities of press and screen will be tugged -- "kicking and screaming," as the liberals once said of conservatives -- into reality. The Democrats in Congress, like the embittered losers on the left, will be left behind on the other side of the famous bridge to the 21st century.

Still, no amount of evidence will change their minds, so expect in the next month for our enemies both domestic and abroad to step up their efforts. Otherwise, we'll be seeing fear and loathing from the likes of Nancy Boyda and Jim Clyburn.

Nevertheless and grudging or not, things are reported to be better than they used to be, and seem to be getting a little better every day. It's enough to make a partisan Democrat weep. Some are. Nancy Boyda of Kansas, a freshman in the House, was so unnerved by good news from the front that she stalked out of a committee hearing when a retired general described developments in Iraq as encouraging. ood news like that, she said, only "further divides the country."G Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the Democratic majority House whip, was even more revealing: If things improve in Iraq, that would be "a real problem for us."

Read the whole thing.

Meanwhile, speaking of doom and gloom, I've always been a great admirer of New Gingrich, but lately he's been getting on my nerves. Maybe he understands he has no chance at ever being President (for reasons that should be obvious to most) and is just lashing out in frustration. But for the longest time he's rubbed me the wrong way by fawning over Mrs. Bill Clinton, and this goes back a decade.

Now, 15 months from the 2008 election, he's telling us to get used to the idea that this abomination is going to be President, and we should just get used to it.

Way to rally the troops, Newt. Nothing like sending the message of defeat and helping depress turnout. Someone as astute a political observer such as yourself should realize 15 months can be a lifetime in politics, so how about helping the cause by pointing out her many deficiencies and helping out the team by throwing your support behind the GOP candidates who have a shot? Is that too much to ask for?

Says Newt: "Odds are significant" the Democrats win the White House

If you're a betting man, you have to like Democrats' chances of taking over the White House next year, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said early this morning.

"The odds are fairly significant that that the left will win next year. My personal bet is that it'll be a Clinton-Obama ticket. I think they have a very high likelihood of winning," Gingrich told business leaders at a gathering of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce.

Great, a ready-made commercial for the Democrats.

This from a fellow who, just three months ago, was fending off scores of when-will-you-announce questions about his own presidential aspirations. Gingrich didn't address the question directly on Monday.

But politicians chomping at the bit to run have three things in common: A slimmed-down figure, a tan suitable for TV cameras, and well-coiffed hair. Maybe not John Edwards-style hair, but well-barbered nonetheless.

Perhaps it was the 7 a.m. hour, but Gingrich had none of these. He was, however, very sober when it came to the GOP dilemma

Read the rest. He does quantify things by appropriately noting the gap between now and November 2008, but please, let's be a little more positive.

Now I'm not saying we should be blindly optimistic and set ourselves up for defeat, but when I look at the Democrat candidates, there really is nobody there who so greatly inspires the masses. I understand that 99% of the media is carrying water for them and for that reason alon the GOP faces an uphill battle.

But if you want to be helpful to the party, Newt, why don't you come out and scrutinize them more than you do the GOP?

Gingrich: Detroit a Disaster

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich spoke some harsh truth about Detroit, and boy, does the truth ever hurt.

Gingrich calls Detroit a disaster, draws ire

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich drew strong criticism from Detroit city leaders and school officials Monday after calling the city a "disaster" in a national network TV interview on Sunday.

Gingrich blasted the city of Detroit, Detroit Public Schools, the United Auto Workers and Michigan's unemployment rate during an interview on Fox News Sunday in which he talked about how he would transform Washington.

A spokesman for Gingrich, an undeclared Republican presidential candidate who has been ramping up his public appearances, singled out Detroit and its schools because they're the "best worst-case example" of bureaucracy and "a union structure that doesn't work."

"We should basically, fundamentally replace the Detroit school system with a series of experiments to see if they'll work," Gingrich said in the interview.

So rather than admitting their city is a disaster, and honestly, there's no denying it is, what do officials in Detroit do?

Well, they're not exactly rushing to defend their hellhole.

A UAW spokesman would not comment, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm's office did not immediately return calls. Detroit Federation of Teachers President Virginia Cantrell said Gingrich should focus on his own city and state and "leave Detroit alone."

Gingrich: FedEx the Illegals

Newt Gingrich thinking outside the box, as always. No doubt some won't get the joke.

Gingrich railed against the senators who gave renewed life to the floundering measure Thursday, and told a questioner he had no idea why President Bush was encouraging the issue.

“They had every opportunity to let this die. It’s clear a huge majority of the country doesn’t like it,” he said. “Why it’s come back, I have no concept.”

Gingrich otherwise avoided mentioning the Bush administration, even though he has described it in recent interviews as dysfunctional and said the president has driven the party into collapse.

Gingrich also joked that national couriers can send and track thousands of moving packages simultaneously, while the government can’t find millions of illegal immigrants who are sitting still.

“We should spend a couple hundred million dollars to send a package to every illegal immigrant,” he said to laughter. “FedEx and UPS will find them and we’ll have them right there on the computer screen. Done.”

Why Is Jim McDermott Still in Congress?

Another legal ruling against Baghdad Jim McDermott, House Democrat and good friend of the late Saddam Hussein (via Volokh Conspiracy).

Rep. Jim McDermott had no right to disclose the contents of an illegally taped telephone call involving House Republican leaders a decade ago, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

In a 5-4 opinion, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that McDermott, a Washington Democrat, should not have given reporters access to the taped telephone call.

McDermott's offense was especially egregious since he was a senior member of the House ethics committee, the court said.

When he became a member of the ethics panel, McDermott "voluntarily accepted a duty of confidentiality that covered his receipt and handling of the ... illegal recording. He therefore had no First Amendment right to disclose the tape to the media," Judge A. Raymond Randolph wrote on behalf of the court. Four judges agreed with him.

The ruling upholds a previous decision ordering McDermott to pay House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, more than $700,000 for leaking the taped conversation. The figure includes $60,000 in damages and more than $600,000 in legal costs.

Boehner was among several GOP leaders heard on the December 1996 call, which involved ethics allegations against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. Gingrich, who was heard on the call telling Boehner and others how to react to allegations, was later fined $300,000 and reprimanded by the House.

McDermott leaked the tape to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The New York Times, which published stories on the case in January 1997.

So 10 years have lapsed and this lowlife is still guilty.

So why do Democrats allow this convicted criminal to stay in their party?

Boehner called the court's ruling encouraging, and noted that the court agreed with a bipartisan report of the House ethics committee in December.

"As I've said many times: when you break the law in pursuit of a political opponent, you've gone too far," Boehner said in a statement. "Members of Congress have a responsibility not only to obey the laws of our country and the rules of our institution, but also to defend the integrity of those laws and rules when they are violated."

McDermott, who has 90 days to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, called the decision "important and unfortunate" and said it was likely to have a chilling effect on political speech.

Eavesdropping, taping phone calls, and leaking them to the media is not free speech, nitwit.

Also at Wizbang!, Michelle Malkin, Right Voices.