Gingrich looks in mirror, cries ‘EXTREMIST!’
According to someone who should know, Newt Gingrich is actually an environmental extremist. Furthermore, Gingrich believes that “to protect clean air and water, biodiversity, and the future of the earth, we have to buy into their catastrophic scenarios and sign onto their command-and-control, anti-energy, big-bureaucracy agenda, including dramatic increases in government power and draconian policies that will devastate our economy.”
Who says so? As Media Matters points out, Newt Gingrich himself says so.
In 2007, in an interview on PBS, Gingrich endorsed addressing climate change by capping the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by industry and then allowing those industries to buy and sell emission permits. According to Gingrich:
“The caps, with a trading system, on sulfur has worked brilliantly because it has brought free-market attitudes, entrepreneurship and technology and made it very profitable to have less sulfur. So people said, ‘Wow, it’s worth my time and effort.’ Americans get incentives. Americans like winning. … What we ought to be doing is inventing a whole series of breakthrough mechanisms that create incentives for people to have a better environmental outcome in an economically positive way, to accelerate the transition to better and cleaner technologies.”
Last week, in an appearance before a House subcommittee, Gingrich blasted those fools who dare to propose a cap-and-trade approach to addressing climate change:
“These extremists would have you believe that to protect clean air and water, biodiversity, and the future of the earth, we have to buy into their catastrophic scenarios and sign onto their command-and-control, anti-energy, big-bureaucracy agenda, including dramatic increases in government power and draconian policies that will devastate our economy. But this is just extremism.”
Citing that widely contradictory position, and a similar turnabout on torture, Steve Benen at Washington Monthly describes Gingrich as “a pseudo-intellectual con man.” That’s the most telling description I’ve seen. He is attracted to ideas like a crow is attracted to shiny objects, but he has no intellectual discipline or honesty.
NOTE: Because I cited Media Matters, someone in the comments below will inevitably type the words “George Soros,” complaining that Soros funds the group. It’s downright Pavlovian — the stimulus will inevitably evoke the response.
My response in turn borrows from that leading figure of the anti-American right, Dick Cheney:
“So?”
Why does that matter? Even if Soros does contribute to Media Matters — the group says he does not — did the “evil Soros” force Gingrich to say one thing two years ago, then turn around and basically condemn his 2007 self as an America-hating environmental extremist? What does Soros have to do with the issue at hand?
Evoking the name of Soros is a tactic designed to avoid the subject. It is believed to be a magical, debate-ending utterance by those who use it, like “ACORN.” They do not understand that to those outside the cult, it has no impact whatsoever.
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68 comments Add your comment
Copyleft
April 28th, 2009
10:27 am
I’ll never understand why the media keeps reporting on what Newt says and does, as if he mattered. He doesn’t. He’s a relic of the failed and discredited 90s Republican Lunatic Brigade.
Susan Myers
April 28th, 2009
10:28 am
What is Newt’s favorite musical? I would guess the Music Man. “We got trouble, we got trouble right here in River City.” He is a con man and nothing more, he has a platoon of ex-wives who were sold a bill of goods and dropped like hot rocks when they either got sick or just old. The man is really a useless con but he has one heck of a great booking agent.
Pokey
April 28th, 2009
10:30 am
Jay Bookman looks in the mirror and cries “pseudo-intellectual con man”!
booger
April 28th, 2009
10:50 am
Jay,
So you have put forth an opinion, simulated a comeback to that opinion and then defended you opinion against your own simulation.
You need to take a vacation son.
ty webb
April 28th, 2009
10:51 am
Jay,
what one side calls contradictory, the other side calls “nuanced”.
Reebok
April 28th, 2009
10:52 am
it’s a sign of how bankrupt the GOP is for ideas when their standard-bearers are has-beens like gingrich and never-weres like jindahl & palin.
Wes
April 28th, 2009
10:57 am
Jay,
Out of curiosity where do you stand on environmental issues? Do you have a preference for coal which produces CO2, nuclear which has waste which might be marginally containable, solar and wind which have remarkably low efficiency as well as frequent transmission breaks, or just reverting to the stone age which would limit our environmental impact but would probably lower the average life expectancy to the twenties? Please feel free to suggest other ideas.
The fact that Gingrich isn’t intellectually honest doesn’t really matter as much as finding a solution that we all can live with.
Susan Myers
April 28th, 2009
11:02 am
Speaking of Palin…
Two words that should never be used in the same sentence – ethics and Palin.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gCtWK2H4DB8_dsDrOrfpgC_9RrRwD97R7AJ01
demwit
April 28th, 2009
11:09 am
Media Matters!?? Talk about exsqemists….
Taxpayer
April 28th, 2009
11:13 am
Anything for a buck, Newt. He’s the perfect co-operative leader for the GOP. He and Cheney and Limbaugh and Boehner and Bachmann, etc. They should get together and do a time-share plan.
demwit
April 28th, 2009
11:14 am
What do progressive journalists have in common with artificial intelligence? They both think on a third grade level..
Joey
April 28th, 2009
11:15 am
Jay; It appears that you have concluded that Newt is someone who is extra special to most or all Conservatives. That could be correct, but not as a future political candidate.
Most of us wrote Newt off as an electable politician several years ago, long before he hitched his wagon to the Man-Made Global Warming crowd. He is intelligent, he has some good ideas, but he is short on the commitment and the follow through. As evidenced by his Global Warming Phase and the recent return to the reality of the Global Warming Hoax. Jay, you might add his lack of commitment to a spouse as even further evidence.
He is searching for a way to persuade Republicans and Conservatives to choose him as their Presidential Candidate. And he wants to make a lot of money along the way. I have no doubt that Newt will announce for President in late 2010. And even though it might excite you if Newt were the Republican Nominee, he has no chance.
Sorry Jay. But please continue to cast Newt out as chum for your readers. In his mind there is no such thing as bad publicity.
Taxpayer
April 28th, 2009
11:15 am
A solution that we can live with — from the GOP! Oh! That’s to die for! hehehehe
Bosch
April 28th, 2009
11:19 am
I’m with Copyleft on this one – why do people even care what this washed up neo-con nut job has to say?
Oh, that reminds me – I miss “Right Wing Nutjob in Full Glory.”
TnGelding
April 28th, 2009
11:23 am
Newt is just positioning himself as the alternative to Obama with the tea-bagging crowd. But I never liked how he introduced and encouraged the use of key words and phrases to dishonestly alter debate. He didn’t have the skills or personality necessary to serve as speaker and should never have sought or taken the position. And apparently he lacked the courage to challenge Bush in 2004, but is now ready to save the nation.
ByteMe
April 28th, 2009
11:24 am
Joey: you’re close. Newt will dance around the subject of running for President in 2010 just as he’s about to release another book — while the breathless media reports his every utterance for days on end and that he has a new book coming out! — and then decide that he’s better off not running, but it pushes his book higher on the Amazon bestseller lists. Same old, same old.
Stan
April 28th, 2009
11:28 am
ByteMe:
yup you nailed that one.
Dusty
April 28th, 2009
11:37 am
OOh la la,
Jay Bookman at his finest, twisting and turning and delivering the lib litany.
We know Bookman does not like Gingrich. It does not matter what Gingrich says. Bookman knows that it is ALL WRONG.
I, too, would love green and gorgeous, land as lovely aa velvet and air as sweet as spring in the morning. But, as Gingrich suggested, I do not wish some “world agency” telling us how to run OUR business while China and India puff our contaminants every minute of the day and night.
Gingrich suggests a consolidated form of new technologies and supportive measures to improve our environment. We do not need to break our manufacturers and producers in one immediate vast moneylosing scheme led by “world scientists” and pseudo scientists such as Gore. There needs to be a better plan not run by heretics.
Bookman is not a scientist but he is a Democrat who never veers from the “party line”. We know what that is: The icebergs are melting and GOP wants to kill polar bears.
I guess we will hear next that swine flu is caused by contaminated air. Today, it is Gingrich’s extremism. Uh huh. Sure! What’s for tomorrow? Bush did it?
You know. I think just maybe…..Bookman is an EXTREMIST!
RW-(the original)
April 28th, 2009
11:39 am
That italicized note is hilarious, but now we know why Jay B has been writing about paranoia for the last few weeks. Projection.
Jay B, I second the poster that said you may need a vacation if you feel the need to build and destroy your own little straw men at the end of your story and before you open the comments.
The body of your story reminds of something I read the other day that I believe was in WaPo that described a debate on anthropogenic global warming between Al Gore and Newt as one between political giants and polar opposites. Since one believes man is single handedly destroying the planet and the other believes man is just mostly destroying the planet it’s kind of hard to see their point.
Off to London, later y’all!
RetLTC
April 28th, 2009
11:41 am
Bobby Jindal had it right when he basically stated that Dick Cheney needs to STFU. The same applies to Newt and all the other same old likely suspects, i.e. Rush, Hannity, et al, that constantly remind the American public exactly why it is we’re in the mess we’re in today, and why the Republican party is for all intents and purposes DOA. Yes, the 25 percenters on the right that still hang on to the laughable notion that they are the voice of the party and can somehow rise back to power doing the same dumb stuff with the same parade of faces. A case can be made that Newt Gingrich laid the foundation for the destruction of the Republican party as far back as 1994. Until the Republican party gets some new ideas, and God knows some new faces and mouthpieces, along with greater inclusiveness, they are no longer relevant. When the party gets what Jindal gets they can began a comeback. Will they? That’s doubtful because that would involve as Jindal did in Cheney’s case, telling the right wing to STFU and get with the program.
RW-(the original)
April 28th, 2009
11:43 am
Oh geez, does Obozo spend a little too much time contemplating his own navel? He just congratulated the FBI on their first 100 DAYS.
Bye!
booger
April 28th, 2009
11:47 am
You could have saved a lot of effort and just stated:
Newt…conservative….BAAAAAAAAD!
Soros..Liberal………GOOOOOOOOD!
You’d pretty much get the same responses.
Dave R
April 28th, 2009
11:49 am
Susan, Susan, Susan.
You might wish to google a bit more, and find some of the vaunted “links” you like to demand from others regarding Palin.
She is being dogged by a couple of local nut-cases who file frivolous ethics charges at the drop of a hat just to keep her occupied and keep their names in the news. We in the elected official realm have that happen regularly.
Wake up and smell the coffee. Or get off your drugs.
Two words that should never be used in the same sentence regarding Susan Myers – intelligence and honesty.
I Report/ You Whine
April 28th, 2009
11:50 am
Soros!
Happy now?
HB
April 28th, 2009
11:54 am
Dusty and RW(Original) always seem to appear at the same time. Could they be one and the same?
Paul
April 28th, 2009
11:54 am
This topic is proof positive that Liberals believe in God and pray.
Newt Gingrich: the Democrats’ answer to prayers that they’ll win the next election.
Hey Bosch, t-shirt time!
Susan Myers
April 28th, 2009
11:57 am
Ah Dave R, you again. I thought you were squashed long ago. You who never gives links to your nonsense. Why? Because you invent it all.
Wyld Byll Hyltnyr
April 28th, 2009
12:00 pm
Newt should not be taken seriously as a Presidential contender, but may play an important policy role, formal or otherwise, in the Republican reconstruction administration that will be charged with cleaning up the Ob-amateur mess after the 2012 election.
I, for one, have reached the conclusion that I would support Laura Bush were she to run for President.
AmVet
April 28th, 2009
12:00 pm
Our very own, beloved Cobb Country fraud is a third of the GOP’s unholy trinity – Ronnie/Newt/Georgie.
The trio that sent the GOP augering in. (Which I augured back in the 80’s!)
No wonder these clowns keep getting their teeth kicked in every other November,
Get used to it toothless shuckers and grinners.
61 – 4.
And likely to get even worse for the Party of No…
Wyld Byll Hyltnyr
April 28th, 2009
12:02 pm
On another front, “in-the-know” sources have told me that the Obamas have repainted rooms in the White House residence purple, gold, and other ethnic colours while adding tiger and other fur accents.
Swami Dave
April 28th, 2009
12:10 pm
Let’s see…..
During the campaign, there was going to be a 5 waiting period between the time legislation is published until it receives a vote. That requirement goes by the wayside once the candidate became the winner.
During the campaign, there was going to be no lobbyists nominated to positions. That requirement goes by the wayside to the extent that the only way to identify “non-lobbyists” is look for the tax cheats like the one running the Treasury Department.
So yeah, we should set high standards for “consistency” and refusal to allow individuals to change their mind on issues from 2 years or more, but ignore and overlook it from someone who can’t follow him own statements and plans voiced less than 6 months ago.
….and so long as Media Matters and Soros are as blatantly partisan as those whom they claim to be “monitoring”, rational & knowledgeable people recognize that their claims to being “watchdogs” is laughable.
Defenders of a failed political theology like collectivism that is based entirely on revisionism and lies can rarely be trusted for any honesty when commenting about their opponents or trying to artifically prop up their own preconcieved notions and biases.
-Swami Dave
getalife
April 28th, 2009
12:10 pm
Specter leaves the dark side to give the dems a filibuster proof majority.
I Report/ You Whine
April 28th, 2009
12:19 pm
Looks like We The People agree with good Newt-
The House may not vote on a climate change bill this year, according to a high-ranking Democratic leader. Republicans have already invested significantly in attacking Democrats on cap-and-trade, referring to the bill as “cap and tax” and hoping to drive a wedge between Democratic leaders and their most politically vulnerable members.-The Hill
Even with the Rinos it has no chance.
Stick it up your butt, al-Gore.
Daedalus
April 28th, 2009
12:21 pm
Specter to switch parties to become a Democrat:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/specter-will-run-as-a-democrat-in-2010/
getalife
April 28th, 2009
12:22 pm
Newt is another hypocrite that flipped on torture.
He will not win for office and should go away.
Let the gop politicians argue.
I Report/ You Whine
April 28th, 2009
12:25 pm
Looks like We The People agree with the 2002 members of the House Intelligence Committee-
Poll: 62% Of Public Does Not Want Torture Probe-See BS
bwa
Corporal Punishment
April 28th, 2009
12:27 pm
Newt who?
The guy with the big head who did the Contract on America? Whatever happened to him?
getalife
April 28th, 2009
12:27 pm
Yeah Andy,
We have too many good little germans that do not want accountability for government.
They will give the dems a free pass to break the law too.
DB, Gwinnettian
April 28th, 2009
12:28 pm
Here’s a link to Specter’s announcement.
And Franken makes 60, barring the SCOTUS’ intervention.
BDAtlanta
April 28th, 2009
12:28 pm
Breaking News 12:04 PM ET:
Senator Arlen Specter to Change Party Affiliation to Democrat
DB, Gwinnettian
April 28th, 2009
12:29 pm
So Jay, why bother with the Media Matters caveat? Those who complain about such things can’t be reasoned with anyway.
DB, Gwinnettian
April 28th, 2009
12:30 pm
….and so long as Media Matters and Soros are as blatantly partisan as those whom they claim to be “monitoring”
See what I mean?
I Report/ You Whine
April 28th, 2009
12:31 pm
Spectre is throwing a hissy fit in hopes of making Toomey go away.
All liberal democrats are diaper wearing toddlers, he’d fit in perfect with y’all.
Want McCain too?
DB, Gwinnettian
April 28th, 2009
12:33 pm
…62% Of Public…
Per usual, IR/YW gives no linkee.
I gots a poll linkee for you. But you’re not gonna like it.
getalife
April 28th, 2009
12:33 pm
McLoser is all yours Andy.
Hillbilly Deluxe
April 28th, 2009
12:33 pm
Personally I’m opposed to cap and trade. We should have whatever emission standards we are going to have and make everyone abide by them. To me, cap and trade is a way to let some buy their way out of abiding by the regulations.
As for energy, I don’t believe we should put all our eggs in one basket. Wind and solar will work in some areas and not in others. Wave power could work some places. So tailor the solutions to what works best for a region.
In the early days people in some parts of the country built houses of wood, on the Plains they built sod houses, in the Southwest they built adobe houses, etc. They were finding the best solution with the resources they had. That’s what we should do with power generation.
Dave R
April 28th, 2009
12:34 pm
Sorry, Susan, but intelligence and logic can’t be squashed – unless you join the Democrat party.
Now, go do your research on your links. That is, if you want the truth.
Wes
April 28th, 2009
12:37 pm
SO what does everyone think of Specter changing parties?
Mrs. Godzilla
April 28th, 2009
12:37 pm
Arlen Spector #59….Cool!
I suppose this will slow Norm Coleman down even further!
maxwell
April 28th, 2009
12:38 pm
Whiner, And here I thought it was David Vitter (pervert-La) who wore the diapers! Silly me……….