Home > Jay Bookman > Archives > 2008 > December > 16 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USGingrich blows whistle on partisanship?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When the hyperpartisan Newt Gingrich says you’ve gone too far, you’ve really gone too far.
Gingrich has written a letter to the Republican National Committee condemning an RNC attack ad that tries to link Barack Obama to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Gingrich insists the ad be pulled.
“I was saddened to learn that at a time of national trial, when a president-elect is preparing to take office in the midst of the worst financial crisis in over 70 years, that the Republican National Committee is engaged in the sort of negative attack politics that the voters rejected in the 2006 and 2008 election cycles,” Gingrich writes.
Gingrich calls the ad a “destructive distraction,” advising that “in a time when America is facing real challenges, Republicans should be working to help the incoming president succeed in meeting them, regardless of his party.”
“This ad is a terrible signal to be sending about both the goals of the Republican Party in the midst of the nation’s troubled economic times and about whether we have actually learned anything from the defeats of 2006 and 2008,” the former speaker concludes. “The RNC should pull the ad down immediately.”
I’ve covered Gingrich long enough to know that he is not a statesman, although he does occasionally try to play one on TV. He can, however, be a very astute political analyst, particularly when his own interests are not directly involved. Unlike the tone-deaf RNC, he understands that a campaign-style attack ad, based on flimsy or no evidence, launched against a president-elect with a 76 percent approval rating at a time when the country badly wants and needs that president-elect to succeed … well, it’s political suicide.
Most likely, the attack ad represents an effort by RNC Chairman Mike Duncan to curry favor with the party’s base and thus win re-election to his post. And if by appealing to the base he happens to alienate everybody else in America, well, that’s well within the GOP tradition.
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Comments
By professional skeptic
December 16, 2008 6:00 PM | Link to this
Rethuglicons still spewing attack ads? Last I heard this election was over! Wouldn’t their funds be better allocated toward future elections?
By AJC/DNC Management
December 16, 2008 6:16 PM | Link to this
This is rather interesting-
The Washington Post reports that its poll finds 55% of Americans oppose the Detroit handout, while only 42% support it. Democrats have become the party of corporate welfare, with 52% supporting the bailout; majorities of Republicans (69%) and independents (57%) are opposed.-WallStreetJournal
Yeah, as long as they can blame it on Republicans.
Or Bushie.
By Taxpayer
December 16, 2008 6:23 PM | Link to this
Jay,
Here’s another perspective that fits well with what we know of Newt: This time, some influential members of the Republican party paid Newt to express himself. Last time, it was Fannie and Freddie…money is money after all and Newt does have his price.
By AJC/DNC Management
December 16, 2008 6:42 PM | Link to this
Oh, as for the column, what does that adulterer Gingrich know?
Hehehe, I get to play the moonbat for this blog.
Karma.
By @@
December 16, 2008 6:44 PM | Link to this
Alrighty jay, these are the type of ads that should be aired by 501s. No need for the RNC to dirty their hands, but the voting public has a right to know that a) Barack Obama’s judgment is flawed or b) he was either complicit in or turned a blind eye to Chicago’s “pay-to-play” politics.
About your previous column……The future of newspapers
Of your last six columns, four have referenced other news sources:
The New Yorker
Time
The Washington Post
The New York Times
Journalists swappin’ slobber.
Could that be your problem?
By getalife
December 16, 2008 6:52 PM | Link to this
I think Newter just wants Obama to be sworn in before he attacks like with President Clinton.
Then the Dems will join him in stabbing Obama in the back.
By Frederick Douglass
December 16, 2008 6:52 PM | Link to this
Good luck with de-linking Obama with everything negative that happens within the Democratic party for at least the next 15 years. However; it bodes well for the president elect that Jesse Jackson Sr. apparently isn’t fond of him, probably because Obama has rebuffed his overtures to abet Jackson in some shady endeavor. Gingrich isn’t fooling anyone either, that guy is up to no good,but he’s smart enough to recognize what caused the vicious A$$ whipping that his party endured last month. The only other good thing that could happen is for Blago to be recorded referring to Obama by the N-word.
By GodHatesTrash
December 16, 2008 7:10 PM | Link to this
Well, the GOP base are mostly folks that just don’t like the fact that 5 weeks from today, they are going to have a Negro president.
And the GOP lie and spin machine worked so well from 1972 until 2006 that they are very reluctant to give it up.
By Hillbilly Deluxe
December 16, 2008 7:11 PM | Link to this
I think the best thing to do on the Blago mess is to step back and take a breath. Let all the facts come out and punish the guilty.
By Taxpayer
December 16, 2008 7:13 PM | Link to this
I think the AJC would not come across to a few as being liberally biased if they could just find something positive to write about the Republican party. Jay, could you guys get to work on that and please be sure to include references because the last thing any of us readers would want is unsubstantiated rumors of Republicans doing good things. Now, how is that for job security. Good, huh?
By sunshine and thunder
December 16, 2008 7:14 PM | Link to this
JAY
You wrote:
I’ve covered Gingrich long enough to know that he is not a statesman, although he does occasionally try to play one on TV.
So how do you define “statesman”? Someone who agrees with you? Someone who can destroy the Constitution but give a rousing speech in doing so? How?
Newt Gingrich was the smartest politician of his age and sent all of you left nuts into a raging fit when he swept congress by promising what the Constitution already decreed.
By The Corporal
December 16, 2008 7:20 PM | Link to this
A Couple of Points
1) I agree, this add is inappropriate.
2) I also believe the U.S. Attorney was grandstanding, etc. If you must have a news conference, the complaint speaks for itself. You don’t have to also be the judge and jury by stating some of the things the U.S. Attorney did, like new low, etc.
3) That said, remember the U.S. Attorney in response to a question chose his words very carefully and said there is nothing in the COMPLAINT implicating Aytch (as opposed to nothing in the investigation**). There may be a lot we don’t know. Time will tell.
4) In addition, that arrest of the Governor should not have happened when it did. No need to drag a sitting Governor out of the executive mansion at 6:00am in the morning. Let the deal go through and indict him later.
Those wires should still be up and running! I smell a rat.
By DB, Gwinnettian
December 16, 2008 7:23 PM | Link to this
Jay, thanks for babysitting the short-bus crew in the previous thread. That was very entertaining!
Funny how none of them had an answer for the question I posed about the crappy performance by conservative rags; and even after you articulated my basic point in a much more eloquent manner and practically spoon-fed them… they still couldn’t answer it.
BTW, Newscorp? company that owns the RW’s precious WSJ? Stock’s worth less than half what it was a year ago. Guess it’s Rupert Murdoch’s “liberal bias!”
By Chad Harris
December 16, 2008 7:25 PM | Link to this
No moo Kennedy not now not ever. No Mo bailouts (money giveaways you’ll never see back again) for anyone.
Caroline Kennedy is the epitome of arrogant, elite, entitlement based on what her Daddy didn’t do but represented the potential for doing**
By RW-(the original)
December 16, 2008 7:37 PM | Link to this
Andy,
When the Washington Post reported that bailout poll in their “news”paper they put it on page 10 of section D.
By Chad Harris
December 16, 2008 7:39 PM | Link to this
I find myself inexplicably agreeing with the corporal more than I though I ever could.
It’s been a penchant of Pat Fitz to abuse a very specific rule in the Northern District of Illinois intentioned to get someone a fair trial if they are among the 6% who actually go to trial in a federal venue. Pat Fitz and his press conferences violate the rule and it’s well known that there are no consequences for him when he does it. This has nothing to do with whether Blago did something illegal and reprehensible. This has to do with having a fair system. The grandstanding by Pat Fitz with the “Lincoln rolling over in his grave” was a clear violation and Fitz knew it and knows no District Court judge or 7th Circuit Judge has the guts to dicipline him for violating that rule.
When the corporal said the complaint should speak for itself he’s 100% correct. That’s the way it should be done.
There’s a contrast between Pat Fitz’s work ethic and talent as a federal litigator and his childish over the top hyperbole in press conferences.
One could argue that the financier Bernie Madoff who has seemed to destroy the fortunes of not only the rich and famous, but the investments of organizations that help economically disadvantaged people is far more systemic and reprehensible than the alleged pay for play sales pitch Blago had going.
It is a bit curious that Fitz chose to put himself in the position of making an arrest on a complaint when it is hard to see who was paying to play to be Senator from Illinois. It’s far from clear that Jackson Jr. was actually guilty of anything at this stage of the game. I understand his name evokes anger for some people, but I don’t expect him to ultimately be in trouble.
Fitz has about 12-13 days to hold a probable cause hearing or get an indictment of Blago.
By It's Just Business
December 16, 2008 7:48 PM | Link to this
Well, personally, I don’t think any of this would have happened if insert conspiracy theory here. You know what I mean.
By AJC/DNC Management
December 16, 2008 7:54 PM | Link to this
By DB, Gwinnettian December 16, 2008 7:23 PM BTW, Newscorp? company that owns the RW’s precious WSJ? Stock’s worth less than half what it was a year ago.
Yeah, almost exactly like the stock market as a whole has done in one year, go figure.
Look at the circulation numbers, bozo.
It’s like all you need to know.
By CommunistAJC
December 16, 2008 8:09 PM | Link to this
PULLED.
Commie, you can accept your banning on an informal basis until Friday, or force me to go through the formal steps of doing so, which would make it permanent.
Your choice.
By the gingrich that stole xmas
December 16, 2008 8:14 PM | Link to this
maybe the ging could serve as a role model for lunacy left here in bookman land?
nah…that would eliminate the chance to throw some shoes at the bush administration.
By AmVet
December 16, 2008 8:17 PM | Link to this
These are strange days indeed — most peculiar, mama.
Gingrich and Barr talking as though they are rational, reasonable men???
Who woulda EVER thunk it?
Both now know this hijacked, imploding GOP is almost assuredly going to be, for the most part, irrelevant going forward. For a very long time.
No they won’t lose every seat in every election, but as a political and societal force in this country they are practically extinct.
And hysterically they have nary a clue why (or at least the guts to address it), how to fix the nightmare they’ve created for the republic and more so for themselves, how to invent a time machine so they can go back to the 1950s or how to do a Lazarus on Ronald Reagan.
The good news is that outside of the Moron Belt, almost no one cares what happens to these untrustworthy screw ups.
01-20-09 The End of an Error
By Midori
December 16, 2008 8:27 PM | Link to this
01-20-09 The End of an Error
AmVET,
I like that.
Mind if I steal it? :)
By AmVet
December 16, 2008 8:39 PM | Link to this
Be my guest, Midori!
35 days left before Bush goes back to that chicken village and pretends to be something else he’s not — a rancher.
If our War President and Dickhead Cheney don’t start WW III before then, I plan on one helluva “end of an error” party on January 20th…
By 092001
December 16, 2008 8:44 PM | Link to this
or should it be 90210?
either way…camelot!
By david wayne osedach, san diego/ U.S.A.
December 16, 2008 8:44 PM | Link to this
A comment on the future of newspapers. Think internet, and devices like Amazon’s Kindle. Hard copy will be obsolete. Get your news on your cell phone.
By Midori
December 16, 2008 8:44 PM | Link to this
that’s just the problem AmVET — He’s not going back to his fake ranch.
He has bought a house in Dallas — a house in a neighborhood that until recently banned minorities
seems par for the course, doesn’t it?
and thanks :)
By hollywood xtra
December 16, 2008 8:49 PM | Link to this
what kind of dog will the obamas get?
purse pooch?
what kind did they have before moving into the white house?
By AJC/DNC Management
December 16, 2008 8:52 PM | Link to this
Hey, maybe the RNC is on to something-
Sneed hears rumbles President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is reportedly on 21 different taped conversations by the feds — dealing with his boss’ vacant Senate seat! -Chicago Sun Times.
What does that cheater Newt know?
By The Corporal
December 16, 2008 8:54 PM | Link to this
To Chad
1) That’s because although I am a hardcore conservative I pride myself on being fair and calling it like it is. An attribute I see totaling lacking in the AJC and most of my liberal friends.
If you had been on these blogs earlier you would know that I nailed Bush/Rumsfield many times when I felt they were wrong (Iraq tactics, immigration, etc.).
2) I would also be interested in your opinion as why this case was broght to a head when it was ?
By RW-(the original)
December 16, 2008 9:20 PM | Link to this
Then again Newt may be on to something.
Florida Democrats have some embarrassing questions to answer after the Palm Beach Post published the voice mails left by a state legislator linking committee assignments to fundraising. It’s the third pay-for-play scandal for Democrats in a week, after the Blagojevich arrest and the grand jury proceedings in New Mexico
Let’s them do their scheming and save the ads for October 2010.
By sunshine and thunder
December 16, 2008 9:48 PM | Link to this
JAY
How come we get a gazillion headlines about the auto execs flying to Washington in their jets but NOTHING AT ALL about THIS?
By LD
December 16, 2008 10:31 PM | Link to this
The President-elect, who runs in the same Chicago political circles as Gov. Blago, has NO connection and NO interest to who it is will fill his soon to be vacant senate seat, no way no how, whatsoever, how dare anyone question him, so sayeth Jay “I’m totally fair to everyone…no really!” Bookman
Sounds totally plausible. Although I do have to wonder Jay if somewhere deep down you secretly were wishing this governor had been Republican. Your writing tends to be more interesting when you spare no sense of outrage when the scandal is on that side of the fence. Lord knows you completely incapable of calling out dems even when they’re in the wrong, which is a lot more often than you’re comfortable with I’m sure.
By Algonquin J. Calhoun
December 16, 2008 11:27 PM | Link to this
I think the AJC would not come across to a few as being liberally biased if they could just find something positive to write about the Republican party.
Well, they were soundly defeated in the election and they will no longer be able to start bogus wars and drain our economy of what little money remains. They won’t be able to continue to violate the Constitution by illegally spying upon Americans in America. The coming depression belongs to them tough, /We must give credit where it is due! They won’t be able to have male prostitutes, masquerading as journalists, hanging around and sleeping at the White House. They won’t be able to take money from Abramoff and pose for pictures with him. They won’t be able to oversee torture of detainees. That’s about all I can think of as being positive. It’s good to know good people are taking over and slime balls are out. The Republinazi party has left a legacy of huge debt, war that didn’t need to happen, Hundreds of thousands of wounded and murdered people. That’s the proud legacy of George W. Hitler and the rest of the Reich. Now, the defeated criminals want to point sanctimonious fingers of blame at those who have not taken over the offices so blighted for so long. Scum is not easily removed but removed it shall be!
By Chad Harris
December 16, 2008 11:32 PM | Link to this
Yo @LD—earth to LD—let’s get you semi-conscious.
Jay doesn’t have to wish that Blago were Repubican. There have been more than 3 Marta trains full of Republicans federally incarcerated since this administration took office. There are still many shoes to drop (no pun intended—I realized shoes dropping are a sensitive subject these days the way Bush was welcomed as a liberator as people took to the steets to burn his image again). There are several Republicans who were Congressional aides waiting to be sentenced in federal court.
Yeah Jefferson from LA is probably going down unless there is a plausible explanation for nearly $90 grand in his freezer and the other cumulative evidence but the # of Dems going to prison in the last few years, particularly in DC in a ratio to Right Wingers is awfully small.
And Siegelman appears to have an excellent chance at having a retrial ordered by the Eleventh Circuit considering their interest and comments on the juror emails and alleged miscondcut of Alice Martin.
The President Elect has profound interest in who his replacement is. He wants the brightest person who will support what he wants to get done and Emanuel communicated at least 21 times (by rumor leaked from Fitz). However….. and here’s where you need to stay awake for 30 second—that’s normal, legal, and happens every time a governor makes an appointment and more communication happens when there is a governor in the same party as the President—think Obama Salazar Colorado’s governor’s next Senate appointment or Obama and Paterson although you won’t hear Obama mention that last one in public.
But communicating their butts off and this circle BS (remember the moron Palin who talked about palling around in circles of terrrrrrissssssts) is hopeful guilt by association smearint. It’s going to get you and your party nowhere as usual.
So let’s see if we made it clear:
Expressing a preference if you’re President Elect is normal and legal.
Participating in pay to play is not normal and legal.
Obama and Emanuel expressed preferences.
Again, and as corporal said (having watched federal trials closely I suspect during his Secret Service career and knowing that early on in any investigation there is substantial info that isn’t out or discovered) we have Blago calling Obama a mofo on the transcript and saying explicitly that Obama and his team wouldn’t give them diddly squat. Go back and read the complaint if you need to.
It’s fun to watch all the pre-orgasmic huffin’ and puffin’ that Republicans want to engage in over the off chance that Obama or Emanuel or anyone in Obama’s team will be implicated in criminal violations but this is one more pony that ain’t coming to you for Christmas, Easter, or the Fourth of July.
I’d like to congratulate Cheney for admitting that as a cowardly 5 time draft deferment vet he lied about the reasons for going to Iraq.
By Chad Harris
December 17, 2008 1:25 AM | Link to this
This says it all. From today’s NYT:
Mrs. Clinton, as a former first lady, was well-known to New Yorkers. Ms. Kennedy is a paradox: a universally recognized person who remains largely unknown by the public, and has no obvious appetite for the glad-handing of the campaign trail. And since telling Mr. Paterson on Monday she wanted the seat, she has declined all requests for interviews.
I think Clinton is a loser for SOS, but at least however egregiously a liar Clinton was in the primaries and racist insighting, at least she has the sharp elbows of a long campaign.
You cannot hope to realistically be handed the job of Senator from New York and decline every single newspaper interview after declaring all of a sudden you’re in the hunt and you want to bypass all real hoops.
Kennedy reminds me of Palin; not her intellect. Those are worlds apart. Kennedy is a lawyer who has written decent books that Palin couldn’t begin to write or understand.
However, Kennedy is dodging interviews in the esact same way Palin has.
By AJC/DNC Management
December 17, 2008 5:57 AM | Link to this
The Urinal biased?
NATION IN BRIEF: Impeachment inquiry launched-Urinal/DNC
Uh, “impeachment inquiry” for what?
One tiny, ittle bitty paragraph nestled safely among the usual lies within the pages of thee Urinal, nothing to look at here, move along.
ew
By AJC/DNC Management
December 17, 2008 6:04 AM | Link to this
5 days after the story was first cited on one of their blogs-
Feds reportedly probing donor to Richardson-Urinal/DNC
“reportedly?”
By AJC/DNC Management
December 17, 2008 6:22 AM | Link to this
“He has got a broken arm and ribs, and cuts to his eye and arm,” he said. “He is being held by forces under the command of Muwafaq al-Rubaie [Iraq’s national security adviser].” Television pictures from the press conference show Mr al-Zaidi being carried away by prime ministerial guards but no sign of excess violence.-TimesOnLine
Oh, the poor wittle hero is getting pummeled, that’s too bad.
Like they always say, violence begets violence.
By Mike
December 17, 2008 6:51 AM | Link to this
Bookman calling someone a hyper-partisan?
I am amazed on a daily basis by both the depth and breadth of Bookman’s hypocrisy. This guy lacks any sense of self-awareness whatsoever.
By spankmonkey
December 17, 2008 7:37 AM | Link to this
Well, I went and read about the UAW’s golf course. I’ll throw this out there: That’s an investment for the union, it would appear as if it’s a money losing proposition, so yes the UAW should either liquidate it, or put it under new management and get it in the black. A corporate jet compares to this investment vehicle how exactly?
I said before that if we bail out the Big 3 in detroit, it should include some way to remove the UAW from the equation. I see the need for unions, and I’ve seen both good and bad come from them, but it’s time for the unions to join the 2000’s and leave the 1950’s behind.
I spent the 90’s working for company that designed and installed high end espresso bars (like starbucks) and our client’s main market was NYC. My first trip up to NYC was right at the tail end of Guliani’s clean-up. Time Square was trashy, but changing. Within 2 years of my first trip there were no more peep shows and strip clubs (save one that’s still there).
This trip was to install an espresso bar in the mall underground between the twin towers. In all we have about 6 projects that got buried there. I had to undergo security clearance to get a badge, and we were given a personal tour of the crater created by the idiots who tried to bring them down the first time.
Anyway, I got introduced to the union way of doing things real fast. First off, non union shops DON’t work in the historical buildings like Empire state (it’s a much better situation now, in 1995 that’s how it was) there were ways for us to get our stuff in and installed. What we had to do the first trip was hire a union carpenter for each of us, save one supervisor, and pay them a crazy rate like 85.00/hr to do the work while we each directed our personal carpenter. also we weren’t allowed to bring any extension cords into the WTC. The staff electricians (union) were to make cords for us. Now this is probably one of the crazier things, but when our trucks showed up, and we went to unload, we had all the trades standing out there, electricians were to unload ANYTHING electrical, plumbers unloaded ANYTHING having to do with plumbing, etc… That was a FUBAR operation because instead of simply unloading and staging, we had to sort through the contents of the truck and hand the right pieces to the right tradesman.
Over time this situation got better. We were covered if we just called the local hall, made a donation, and hired “two guys” for a couple days, paid up front, and they may or may not show up. But that was the system. As well, at any time a union carpenter/electricion/plumber/laborer could simply walk by, see there was work going on, walk in ask for union cards, and if he wasn’t happy with the results, the guys in suits and trenchcoats would show up to “talk” to us about the situation. (never was there any violence or did I feel threatened) If we didn’t pay up to thier shakedown, there would be a picket the next day. We always complied.
Needless to say all of these requirements made a 200,000 job in Atlanta become a 400,000 in NYC.
There’s the bad.
Now the good. And this will be short. They are well trained, they all seem to do good work, they don’t question they do what is asked of them, they are punctual (in at 8:30 out at 3:00p) and for the most part simply awesome craftsmen. You just simply won’t find all that in Joe the Plumber…
Anyway, like someone said here not too long ago: “Employees didn’t create unions, employers did”
So rail against unions all you want, they have, and have had thier uses over the years, but the cush deals of lifetime employment and a fat retirement simply from being a member are gone. All of that is like Social Security, and the WALL STREET trader guy who ran the big ponzi scheme, sooner or later these things will collapse under thier own wieght.
It’s hilarious to see you all denigrating the unions as the ONLY reason the big three are in trouble.
But, getting back to the point… That golf course is a revenue generating investment, a corporate jet is not. Even if the golf course is losing money the facilities are appreciating, thus making money. If the UAW can’t make it turn a profit, then they should liquidate.
By Mason
December 17, 2008 8:31 AM | Link to this
Hey wing nut… I think you have it wrong. Mr. Gingrich is a sharp and extremely intelligent man. His statemenship is just above your head.
By Mason
December 17, 2008 8:33 AM | Link to this
Hey wing nut… I think you have it wrong. Mr. Gingrich is a sharp and extremely intelligent man. His statemenship is just above your head.
By StumpMonkey
December 17, 2008 8:51 AM | Link to this
BREAKING NEWS : Dick Cheney admits to approving torture and is sentence to death by shoe flogging. Also GOP announces Joe the Plumber apponted to run RNC and Sarah Palin is found wandering the streets of D.C.
By hhhhmmmm
December 17, 2008 10:16 AM | Link to this
Jay, I agree that the ad described, which I haven’t see, is wrong and Newt is right to oppose it. But you’re using this article to sell more than your outrage for this ad and certainly aren’t trying to give Newt any props. Your digs about Newt and the “GOP tradition” don’t really further the discussion. They just seem to make you feel good. It gets old.
I’d like to read an article that gives me more than party talking points. Be a liberal, that’s fine. But can’t you stop constantly trying to sell the democratic party? They’ve got lots of money and can do that themselves.
Newspapers aren’t supposed to be in the business of party alignment, which may be one reason newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur. You’re helping that happen everytime you pull out your Democratic membership card and prop it next to your computer.
I’m one of those independent voters who likes to hear both sides and would enjoy opinion writers who can see past political party alignments and don’t take cheap shots just to make their morning coffee more enjoyable. Just a thought.
By SaveOurRepublic
December 17, 2008 10:59 AM | Link to this
Unfortunately, corruption in politics is par for the course. I wasn’t surprised about Blago, and I’m sure some of “Bacrock Obuma’s” team had (some level of involvement)…probably Zionist, Marxist Emanuel.
That being said, Newt Gingrich is a very intelligent man with much political savvy. He is (however) a Globalist shill as indicated by his CFR membership & support for the fraud of “free trade” (NAFTA, etc.). NAFTA has devastated the U.S. manufacturing base & cost millions of American jobs. Just have a look at today’s announcements of Cooper Tire closing it’s GA plant & Rubbermaid cutting 1000 jobs. NAFTA is the key leveraging point for the forthcoming North American Union & (in-progress) NAFTA/NASCO Superhighway.
By cubalibre
December 17, 2008 11:36 AM | Link to this
This ad is but a precourser of what I and several others in these blogs have predicted in the interim since Blago’s arrest: that the GOP’s attack dogs are going to be out for Obama from Day 1. They’re not going to listen to Gingrich, because they figure his relevancy on the national stage is diminished from what it once was. The only good thing about their bedevilment of Obama is that maybe, after enough people have become fed up with a constant force-feeding of their smear tactics, they’ll finally rant themselves into the obscurity they deserve.
By sunshine and thunder
December 17, 2008 11:46 AM | Link to this
SPANK MONKEY
You say that corporate jets are not revenue generating. Maybe, maybe not. But they can and do save valuable time and resources.
My pont is that the jets made headlines and the golf course didn’t.
And no one is saying that unions are the only reason for the downfall of American business. Actually there are four main reasons:
Taxes.
Over regulation.
Threat of litigation.
Union wages and benefits.
In a nutshell, the four items cited above cause companies to leave these shores each and every day.
By formersds
December 17, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this
Yo - Jay - just a point of fact. Obama’s approval rating, according to today’s Rasmussen daily tracking is 42%. NOT the 76% approval rating you claim.
By There's Still Hope
December 17, 2008 1:31 PM | Link to this
I can’t recall any time in the past when there was a PRESIDENTIAL SCANDAL before the inauguration even took place! Change, indeed! If Obama is found ineligible to take office because of this SCANDAL, the man with the second greatest number of votes for president takes office - John McCain. But - how many of you know who his vice-president would be? It would be the person with the second greatest number of votes for vice-president - Joe Biden! A strange little quirk of our electoral system!
By There's Still Hope
December 17, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this
Sorry - correction - I meant to say: the person with the greatest number of votes for vice-president - Joe Biden! In my excitement over this SCANDAL I got a little careless with my typing!
By sweetwater
December 17, 2008 4:22 PM | Link to this
I think the Right’s negative reaction to Newt’s and McCain’s call for unity just about sums up why the Republican party base is going down in flames. Too many in that base cling to, even relish, gutter tactics and division.
Since so many good Republicans are getting on the unity bandwagon to help fix the economy and the rest of the country’s current troubles, it seems the party’s little band of diehard rabble rousers and racists will ultimately be isolated, their members exposed for who they are, and held in utter distain by the rest of the country.
Maybe we can ship them all off to China, or Siberia.
By sweetwater
December 17, 2008 4:26 PM | Link to this
I think the Right’s negative reaction to Newt’s and McCain’s call for unity just about sums up why the Republican party base is going down in flames. Too many in that base cling to, even relish, gutter tactics and division.
Since so many good Republicans are getting on the unity bandwagon to help fix the economy and the rest of the country’s current troubles, it seems the party’s diehard rabble rousers and racists will ultimately be isolated, their members exposed for who they are, and held in utter distain by the rest of the country.
Maybe we can ship them all off to China, or Siberia.
By Elrey Jones
December 17, 2008 10:47 PM | Link to this
Mr. Obama has enough problems with the scrutiny he is under as a result of his racist ties to hate and black supremacy that is spewed out of the mouths of Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan who Mr. Knows and is friends. Let’s hope the Chicaago third world politics doesn’t also enter into t he White House. If so, I’m afraid Mr. Obama will be impeached during this Presidency or their will be mass uprisings over a corrupt Democratic Congress protecting a corrupt White House.
By Linda
December 18, 2008 10:48 AM | Link to this
It appears we can always count on Newt to do a “McCain” empression when he feels it would be advantageous for him. And this is why he’ll never be a serious candidate for anything ever again.