What I found most disturbing in the debates last night, and there was much to be disturbed about, was the Gingrich promise to purge the nation's judicial system based on a conservative standard. Just when you think these guys could not get any more scary they surprise me. http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/11/newt-gingrichs-judicial-philosophy
People in the US will know a braggart and a blowhard when they see one. His ideas are Radical, stupid and unworkable. He may be saying the same as many Republicans do when they have had a drink or two, but surely they have the sense not to vote in some fool who would actually try to carry them out. The American right will flirt with him for a while, and then go with the safer candidate. I hope.
The far right won't care. He is telling them what they want to hear. While they may not like him well enough at the moment, if the psycho woman Bachmann does not do well, he could very well pick up her supporters. She also agreed that the courts should be reigned in and power taken away from them. But this is what is scary: Gingrich's idea to ignore some Supreme Court decisions, to eliminate some federal courts, and to bring some federal judges in front of Congress if their decisions were unsatisfactory to the other branches also got a full airing, as well as fulsome criticism from several of the other candidates. Emphasis mine.. Make Federal judges front Congress if their decision is not popular with other branches of Government.. ermm what? Is he serious? Despite his authoritarian claim that he is free to simply ignore court decisions he disagrees with if elected president, Gingrich’s speech also implicitly recognizes that it is helpful to have your values legitimated by a judicial decision. Unfortunately, however, Gingrich also sees nothing wrong with obtaining the illusion of legitimacy by simply intimidating judges into doing whatever you want them to do: [T]he Jeffersonians eliminated 18 out of 35 federal judges — didn’t impeach them, just abolished their offices — told them to go home. Now, I’m not — let me be clear — I am not as bold as Jefferson. I think the judge in San Antonio would be an important initial signal, and I think the 9th Circuit Court should be served notice that it runs the risk of ceasing to exist. [...] [T]here are other steps you could take that — that are far short of wiping out half the judges. One, you can hold hearings. I — I think for the Congress to bring in Judge Biery from San Antonio and say to him, explain to us your rationale…[if judges] knew that when they were radically wrong they’d be hauled in front of Congress would immediately have a sobering effect about how much power they have. The “judge in San Antonio” Gingrich refers to is Judge Fred Biery, a federal district judge who ordered a public high school not to include invocations of prayer in its graduation ceremony before he was reversed on appeal. Biery is a reoccurring villain in Gingrich’s narrative, and Gingrich has a simple remedy for judges like Biery who depart from the far right’s preferred outcomes — scare them into submission through congressional hearings backed by the threat of removal. And if the judge refuses to be cowed, kick them out of office. The mind boggles..
That is madness. He will not be elected. Americans will not give up the curbs on power that ensure their freedom. I am fully confident. And crossing my fingers too. So it can't happen. Internet discussions like this help to inform people. Every crazy thing he comes out with. Bring it here. Is he fond of alcohol? Just wondering.
You are either drunk, or know nothing what has been happening in American politics in the last decade. It is basicly giving up freedoms one after the other, in a long line of restrictions....
No, I am not greatly familiar with American internal policy. But if America wants to lose control over the actions of the Presidency completely, then Gingrich is yer man. UK internal policy has become more restrictive, certainly, with anti-terrorism as the excuse for many restrictions. Pound per Pound, for the size of our nation, I would bet that our communication monitoring service is as big as any that exists.
One could hope. But I have learned not to put anything past the American right wing. They have fat campaign coffers sweetened by the billionaires that fund their election campaigns. And Republicans have a full time media that saturates the nation's airwaves on a daily basis filling the heads of Americans everywhere with misinformation and outright lies. I would have said George Junior would have never won and technically he didn't. But he became the POTUS. Internet discussions are nothing compared to the email chains, Fox News, and Clear Channel Communications that saturate the nations TV and radio airwaves with this kind of bunk. This morning the media seems to be giving Republicans the pass on this very scary threat to the nation's democracy and judicial system. Last night, most of the Republican candidates, including Gingrich, were advocating war - invading Iran. It's not like we haven't been down that road before and don't have other more important troubles.
War in Iran. Iraq was easy. Let's call this one $6 Billion down the pan. Ah, what the hell. It's only money. Amended later: Correction. I somehow still think a Billion is a lot of money. Stupid. Stupid. I meant 6 Trillion. Twice the cost of Iraq.
And remember these are the guys who don't want to raise taxes to pay for any of their adventures. So where is the trillion dollars going to come from? They don't want to answer that question. It will come out of Medicare, Social Security and programs for the poor and our schools.
The Republican establishment is ganging up on the Newt. http://www.salon.com/2011/12/12/the_first_gop_establishment_war_on_newt/
Red Foxed Red Foxed Perhaps they see the writing on the wall. To the other, it's apparently about time for Speaker Stay-Puft to flatulate to flaccidity. Rachel Maddow, in her latest amusing theory about Republican presidential politics, suggests a trend among the GOP's ABM frontrunners: There are certain things in our great wonderful world that last precisely seven weeks. There are certain things that go for seven weeks and then they come to an end. One of those things is the gestation period of the cutest little cuddly most adorable little creature on the whole entire planet. That would be a baby red fox. Red foxes are amazing. Do you know their hearing is so good they can locate a mouse squeaking in the grass from an entire football field away? Yes. From red fox mating to baby red fox being born, that's about seven weeks. Something else that exists for about seven weeks, your average worker bee. They're the ones that make the honey and generally do the stinging. But it's a quick, super-productive life for these guys. Seven weeks, and then sayonara. One other thing that lasts about seven weeks in our world, which has nothing at all to do with the animal kingdom, one other thing that lasts seven weeks is the bubble candidacy of the Republican presidential frontrunner who is not named Mitt Romney. That candidacy lives on our green earth for seven weeks, and then it dies. Okay, so it's not much of a theory; Herman Cain and Rick Perry make for the obvious examples: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Seven weeks of feeling guilty: Primary preseason bubbles of Herman Cain (top) and Rick Perry (bottom). And with a setup like that, what could possibly come next? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Seven weeks of staying up all night: Will Newt defy the trend? Thus, perhaps it seems obvious, even extraneous, to explain: The Newt Gingrich bubble began around October 27th. From that point on, Mr. Gingrich's polling numbers just took off. Seven weeks from October 27th would be today -- which means that Newt Gingrich would appear to have fully gestated, and right on cue, the polls are beginning to reflect that. Nate Silver at "The New York Times" reporting tonight, quote, "The polling data I've seen over the last two or three days suggests that Newt Gingrich's momentum has stopped and has probably reversed itself." Continuing her theory, Maddow naturally wonders what is next; after all, there is not enough time for a new seven-week cycle before the Iowa contest opens the regular season. It would not be surprising, then, if this becomes Mitt Romney's hour. "Presumably that is as much a problem for the Republican base right now as it has ever been," Maddow notes. "They do not appear to be falling more in love with Mitt Romney, they are just running out of people to try who are not him." To the other, it is still possible that a new front-runner could emerge. Maddow suggests this would diminish the Iowa and New Hampshire contests ("... we could just decide that [they] really don't matter all that much anymore"). Still, though, with conventional wisdom so rattled and airborne that this kind of amusing quasi-prognostication is remotely valid a consideration, it is possible that the ABM-go-round will continue: In the "National Review's" scathing right-wing editorial against Newt Gingrich last night, they told conservative voters not to vote for Mr. Gingrich but to consider only Mitt Romney and two other candidates. The other two, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum. I mean, Rick Santorum, sure. But what about Jon Huntsman? New polling out of New Hampshire showing that Jon Huntsman is now starting his own teeny tiny little mini-surge. So maybe that's possible. Or how about a new entrant in the race altogether? Is it too late for that? Technically it is too late for that. But how else do you explain this going on in New Hampshire right now? Dave Weigel at Slate.com reporting today that New Hampshire residents are starting to receive phone calls asking them the following questions. Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of Mitt Romney? Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of Newt Gingrich? Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of Jeb Bush? Jeb Bush? Somebody is paying for those calls to go out right now in New Hampshire. What's that all about? Right. Mitt Romney is so unappealing that someone is research polling for Jeb Bush? But this is about Newt Gingrich, who might well break the seven-week theory, especially with a major donation reportedly coming from Sheldon Adelson; initial reports suggested the casino boss might be preparing to hand over twenty million dollars to a Gingrich super-PAC. The top end number is in dispute, but it still seems that Adelson will be lining Gingrich political coffers in days to come. Perhaps, then, the great lesson of Maddow's Red Fox Frontrunner Theory of 2011 is that conventional wisdom hung itself at some point in the recent past, nobody noticed, and you should all go about enjoying your holidays without fretting over what is going on in the fabled faeryland of Rightwingia. Oh, and if you bet on holiday contests, stick to college football and eggnog slams. No, really, that's about it. To the other, yes, it is remarkable that any time wisdom involves using a whole lot of words to admit we have no idea what's actually going on, it should be this fun. ____________________ Notes: Maddow, Rachel. The Rachel Maddow Show. MSNBC, New York. December 15, 2011. Television. MSNBC.com. December 16, 2011. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ Transcript. December 16, 2011. MSNBC.MSN.com December 16, 2011. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45697730/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/
Ha ha, what a sucker. He should just pile that $20 million on his lawn and set it on fire - at least he'd get some warmth and light out of the deal. But, what I wouldn't give to be in a position to sell air-time to advertizers in various primary states... oh, the easy riches!
Heh HehPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Well put. He's definitely the least worst, by a mile.
He gets worse... After a week of talking about abolishing courts and "eliminating" what he deemed "activists judges", you would think he would lay low. But no. He went further. With just weeks to go before the Iowa Caucus, Newt Gingrich has turned his presidential campaign into a veritable megaphone warning about the dangers and elitism of America's judicial system. The former House Speaker held a half-hour phone call on Saturday during which he pledged to abolish courts and eliminated activist judges he believed were either outside the mainstream or infringing too deeply on the commander in chief's authority. On Sunday, he followed that up by saying he would be willing to arrest a judge who he thought was out of line. "If you had to," he said on CBS's "Face the Nation" when asked if he would send a Capitol Hill police officer to round up a judge, "or you would instruct the Justice Department to send the U.S. Marshal." His preference, he added, would be to impeach the judge in question. Burn that Constitution. Burn it good!
And these people claim to be strict constructionalists. This stuff sounds more and like fascism to me.
Standard Conservative Fare Standard Conservative Fare Why do you think the GOP is so big on its moral issues? They are attacking in others what they fear of themselves. That's why they cry about big government, for instance. Like Newt—he took an oath to the Constitution, and wants to do it again. He also wants the executive authority to ignore that Constitution. Absolute power is big government. So instead conservatives cry about the evil liberals and their authoritarian regime that won't allow the virtuous rich people their God-given right to starve children, leave the sick to suffer, and exploit the poor to the last iota of sweat, blood, and breath. Because, you know, money is the most important thing to them, and notions like justice, general welfare, and our posterity are just trifling annoyances that ought to be abolished. Well, okay. Perhaps I go too far. Trifling annoyances that ought to be abolished if conservatives cannot exploit them to the concepts' antitheses.
CCpt K: #102 . . . . "People in the US will know a braggart and a blowhard when they see one. His ideas are Radical, stupid and unworkable. . . . " Off Topic?? . . . . Didn't know that statements applicable to our current POTUS were germaine to the Ginrich thread!
