Newt Gingrich declines appearance at 9/11 protest over NYC mosque
A certain Republican mulling over a 2012 presidential run apparently isn’t willing to place all his chips on the debate over a Manhattan mosque.
Last week, Gingrich ratcheted the August discourse to the Hitler level:
“Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor.”
But then there’s the following from this morning’s The Hill, a D.C. newspaper and website:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) will not be addressing a protest of the proposed mosque in lower Manhattan on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
The organizers of the rally, Stop Islamization of America and Freedom Defense Initiative, announced Gingrich as one of the event’s confirmed speakers on the Web last weekend.
On Monday, Gingrich launched himself into the spotlight of the debate on national television with controversial comments that brought a slew of criticism from fellow Republicans.
But a spokesman for Gingrich, a possible 2012 presidential candidate, told The Hill that the former leader of the House had never confirmed his appearance. Instead, one of Gingrich’s staff had agreed to send a video message from him to be shown at the Sept. 11 rally.
That has since been canceled.
“The confusion is at least partially our fault,” said Joe DeSantis, a spokesman for Gingrich. “A staff member mistakenly promised a video message, though not an appearance. However, we are not sending a video. We informed them earlier this week.”
DeSantis did not comment on why Gingrich was no longer planning to send a video message to the rally, and attempts to contact the organizers of the rally were unsuccessful.
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92 comments Add your comment
MD
August 22nd, 2010
10:36 am
A new and better gov. is own the way.Good by liberal fools!
luangtom
August 22nd, 2010
10:56 am
Newt does sound a bit like Karen Handel in the primary. She chastised McBerry on the air, but would not appear with him on-stage in person to let him confront her allegations. Maybe Newt called Karen to see what to do. Who knows?
Actually, Newt has nothing to defend. All that he said was he knew Nazis should not put up anything next to Holocaust sites and that Muslims need not do it next to Ground-Zero. Period. What is the big furor over? Yes, legally they can build there. Morally, they should not. Period. Let’s address some real concerns people. Who cares about a NY site when the COUNTRY is in a shambles. Question Obummer on his policies and ask where the jobs are and where the oil in the Gulf so mysteriously disappeared to. He told us 80% has dissipated or been removed……
Rafe Hollister
August 22nd, 2010
11:10 am
Judy I would like to take you snipe hunting! Maybe there are some snipes in the “community center”. Judy, they wouldn’t even let you go swimming there and if your dress was above your ankle you would not be allowed to enter. You libs will believe anything. Be skeptical of everything, everyone, both sides are profitting from your ignorance.
Newt, should be confined to coming up with solutions for others to implement. He doesn’t do well when out in public that is for sure.
Cee-lo
August 22nd, 2010
12:11 pm
Yeah MD, let’s replace the liberals with the same ‘deficit hawks’ that put 2 wars, tax cuts, and a new healthcare plan on a credit card. STFU
Vernon B. Brand
August 22nd, 2010
12:26 pm
Aw, Newt. You got us all whipped up in a lather–what with talkin’ ’bout Nazis & the Holocaust & all–& now you can’t come? Man…?!?
Johnathan Winters used to do a bit as a fat army general who’d say,
“Men, I’d love to be with you at the front on the battle field today, but…you know, paperwork at Hqs…damn that paperwork!
Liberal/Conservative
August 22nd, 2010
1:07 pm
The discourse, if you can call it that, on this blog shows that Newt is smart about one thing: Raising this bogus mosque issue will inflame the insane rhetoric against the President, smear him in the process, and perhaps make Newt the Philanderer look good in the eyes of the easily deluded.
pete
August 22nd, 2010
1:18 pm
he might no be a muslim, but I am sure he is a fascist.
Liberal/Conservative
August 22nd, 2010
1:24 pm
Re: “Pete”
See my point?
Jim
August 22nd, 2010
1:25 pm
On June 8th, 1967 the Israelis attacked an unarmed Intelligence U.S. ship in International waters, the USS Liberty. Even as Americans were waving the flag the Israelis kept attacking for 45 minutes, and even tried to gun down survivors in life rafts. In the end, the Israelis killed 34 American sailors and injured another 176 but the U.S. has tried to keep it a secret for more than 40 years. There was no question that the Israelis knew it was an American ship. The intent was to make the attack appear as if the Egyptians did the attack in order to get the U.S. to enter the Arab Israeli war.
I once asked Newt Gingrich what his thoughts were on this attack since he supposedly was a war historian. He told me that it was a matter of mistaken identity, and left it at that even though each and every survivor of the ship stated that Israel intentionally attacked the ship, and even the Commander of the Sixth Fleet at the time of the attack, Admiral Thomas Moorer, testified that Israel attacked intenionally.
At the time when I asked Newt Gingrich for his opinion, his wife at the time had just been appointed as Israel’s tourism representative. In addition, Newt Gingrich has a history of receiving campaign funds from Israel’s main lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Newt Gingrich has been one of Israel’s staunch supporters ever since, just like most of the other paid and bribed politicians on the hill. Is it any wonder why Israel gets more than $5.6 billion a year in foreign aid from the U.S. even while this country goes broke? I spent more than 28 years in the U.S. Army including tours in and around the Middle East. There will never be peace in this world as long as Israel is able to do whatever it pleases while at the same time rewarded with more military
weapons by its big daddy, the USA. The Muslims would’ve never attacked us on September 11th if the U.S. wouldn’t have been supporting Israel with its killing and slaughter of Muslim men, women, and especially children and the stealing of Palestinian land for over 4 decades. Osama bin Ladin himself was the first to say so, immediately after the attack.
If you want to read more about the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty please go to:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/ussliberty.html?q=ussliberty.html
The USS Liberty Cover-Up
… “one of the classic all-American cover-ups,” said retired Admiral Thomas Moorer, …
M
August 22nd, 2010
2:59 pm
I thoroughly enjoy the people accusing Islam of being intolerant towards other religions and in the same breath saying that only Christians worship the “one true God.”
Also, some of you need to read books. Many other religions worship(ped) a risen savior/messiah figure. It’s pretty common, actually.
Billy Joe Poteet
August 22nd, 2010
4:22 pm
@Jim
August 22nd, 2010
1:25 pm
Selective memories are great, aren’t they? Israel hasn’t been “stealing of Palestinian land for over 4 decades”. In the first place, Palestinians refused any agreement on land or territory in the 1948 accords that created Israel. In 1967, Israel preempted an attack planned against theml in the Seven Day War. It can be strongly argued that the lands gained by Israel as a result of that war are rightfully theirs as the spoils of war.
The wonderful peace-loving muslims will only be happy if they can slaughter en masse the entire population of Israel. When they finish with Israel, they can move on to the “infidels” in the remainder of the world.
To hell with the muslims . . . and all their sympathizers
Billy Joe Poteet
August 22nd, 2010
4:43 pm
@M
August 22nd, 2010
2:59 pm
And I suggest you do some reading, also. With Islam, you get a bargain: you get, not only a religion, but a system of law. Liberals in this country should love the sharia system of law. It is male dominated, calls for the subjugation of women (even to the point of mutilating their genitalia so that they will never experience any pleasure in sex) and the putting to death of homosexuals.
Which part of the sharia law do you like the best?
Tee
August 22nd, 2010
5:02 pm
Billy Joe Poteet
Either the freedom to worship in this country is for everyone or that freedom applies to no one. Yes, let’s talk about selective memories. What native people lived in this country we know as the USA, long before the white european arrived with a gun in one hand and a bible in the other claiming they discovered it….:) What christian people spread sickness and death to most every ethnic group it encountered ? What wonderful peace loving christians ran the slave trade and refused to give a people their civil rights until the 60’s……….? There are many religions worshiped in this country whose hands are covered in blood……Are you hands clean ?
Jim
August 22nd, 2010
5:10 pm
It’s obvious that you’re not a student of Middle East affairs. The Israelis have been confiscating Palestinian land for the last 43 years building illegal Jewish settlements which causes most of the tension we see today. This has been one of the main issues preventing the two sides from having direct peace negotiations. You need to get a better education on the Israeli-Palestinian issues.
Israel has used a complex legal and bureaucratic mechanism to take control of more than fifty percent of the land in the West Bank. This land has been used mainly to establish settlements and create reserves of land for the future expansion of the settlements.
Israel uses the seized lands to benefit the settlements, while prohibiting the Palestinian public from using them in any way.
My recommendation to you, Billy Joe, is to get a better understanding of what’s going on there and if all you do is watch FOX News, then you will never change your attitude. Believe it or not, one of the best sources that I would recommend is with an Israeli newspaper and their web site on Haaretz. They discuss it much more than what the controlled media here in the U.S. will ever discuss it.
Billy Joe Poteet
August 22nd, 2010
5:13 pm
@Tee
August 22nd, 2010
5:02 pm
Yes, my hands are clean, and you weren’t here when this country was founded and you also were not a slave. Before you start with your ancestors, I’ll tell you that none of my family ever owned slaves or (as far as I can determine) seized land owned by Indians.
The point that I’m trying to make here, Ted, is that freedom of religion is one thing: the attempted imposition of a system of laws to govern all people is quite another. Think it won’t happen here? Muslims are already attempting the imposition of sharia law in both England and France, as well as other countrues.
Maybe you like the part about polygamy? After all, the more the merrier, right?
I think we’ve already been down that road with Mormons, haven’t we?
Billy Joe Poteet
August 22nd, 2010
5:49 pm
@Jim
August 22nd, 2010
5:10 pm
I’m happy that something is “obvious” to you. Maybe you can make something obvious to me? I’m looking at a current map of the middle east and I can only assume that it is a flawed copy. Could you kindly tell me exactly where Palestine is located? I just want to see the clearly defined lines of the Palistinian homeland! Thanks in afvance!
News Update
August 22nd, 2010
7:03 pm
[...] Newt Gingrich declines an appearance at a 9/11 protest rally over the Manhattan Mosque. [...]
B J Potato
August 22nd, 2010
7:07 pm
Newt Gingrich might have understood his folly in comparing the planned mosque to “Nazis” erecting a sign next to the Washington Holocaust museum.
The analogy would have worked if it was Al-Qaeda who had planned to erect a sign next to Ground Zero. But it is not. Al Qaeda is not even a elected body by Muslims in any country and do not have approval of big majority of Muslims in any country as against the Nazis of Germany who were elected by then Christians of Germany and had the approval of the majority there for their actions. So even if he had said “Christians don’t have the right to build a church next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington” to compare it with attempt by Muslims to build a mosque, it would still not work.
66% of Americans need to learn how to think rationally before opposing the mosque.
Billy Joe Poteet
August 22nd, 2010
7:27 pm
@B J Potato
August 22nd, 2010
7:07 pm
Yeah. For days, weeks and months after 9/11, we were inundated by muslims condemning the terrorist attack. Why, you couldn’t pick up a newspaper, turn on a radio or watch TV without reading, hearing or seeing throngs of mislims screaming condemnations of the attack. You can also say the same for all the other attacks against us and other countrues which have occured in other nations. Muslims, being the peace-loving people that they are, are quick to react when these incidents occur, aren’t they?
Peace-loving muslims . . . yeah . . . right.
Using your figure, 66% of Americans DO get it. They understand muslims all too well.
Newt is a crooked Politician by trade
August 22nd, 2010
7:31 pm
@ Billy Joe Poteet Don’t start with the old and over worked talk radio point of no Palestine on the map. There was no Israel on the map until the Western world carved it back out and handed it back to the Jews.
The League of Nations Mandate
After World War I, the League of Nations formally assigned the Palestine mandate to the United Kingdom; endorsing the terms of the Balfour Declaration and additionally requiring the creation of an independent Jewish Agency that would administer Jewish affairs in Palestine.
Know your history before you regurgitate talk radio hearsay. It’s all a bunch of semantics when you enter points about borders in parts of the world that were thriving thousands of years ago. Not a lot of map makers in the year 1200 BC.
Billy Joe Poteet
August 22nd, 2010
7:32 pm
@Jim
August 22nd, 2010
5:10 pm
I don’t guess you’re going to help me locate Palestine. I just can’t locate it on a map and am hard put to figure out what part of Palestine that Israel is encroaching upon. How do you seize land from a country that doesn’t exist?
I guess I’m just not quite the student of the middle east as you are. Maybe someday you will condescend to enighten me.
Billy Joe Poteet
August 22nd, 2010
7:39 pm
@Newt is a crooked Politician by trade
August 22nd, 2010
7:31 pm
Just a hint: we’re not yalking 1200 BC here: we talking the here and now. I still want to know where Palestine is located?
Your answer does not suffice. Is Palestine the ONLY country in the world today that cannot be located geographically on a map?
Additionally, don’t ascribe my actions to “Don’t start with the old and over worked talk radio point of no Palestine on the map”. Apparently you are the one listening to some talk radio on the subject, not me.
Tee
August 22nd, 2010
7:39 pm
Billy Joe
You’ve been asked to get a better understanding of the history of this country, and the world, educate yourself before you continue to discuss subjects you have no clue about…FOX news is not a source for anything but a self serving view that you and others follow. Today you benefit from everything your ancestors stole, and killed for. There isn’t one piece of land that didn’t belong to the indian, so bubba, you benefit everyday. You don’t have to be a slave to know, slavery happened. Your failed attempt to say all muslims are responsible for 9/11, is just stupid. Every religion has extremist factions that say there are killing, robbing, and stealing in the name of their GOD….Take off the blinders, change the channel, read a book, don’t let Fox News tell you what you should believe. Whatever your faith, I’ll pray you don’t pass your revisionist ideas of history, and faith on to your children
khc
August 22nd, 2010
8:19 pm
poteet, you are losing arguments again….don’t you get tired of taking a verbal beating you take to the blog? i’m starting to feel sorry for you
Judy
August 22nd, 2010
8:42 pm
Dear Rafe,
Is your idea of ‘Snipes’, chefs with potato peelers. I understand there is to be a culinary school at the Islamic community centre. Get real – don’t let your imagination run away on you!!!
Jayne M. Barker
August 22nd, 2010
8:51 pm
Someone said it better thaan I: “Only thing in the middle of the road
is a white line, road kill and a corrupt politician trying to get
elected.”…
“Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”…
“Beware the wolves, in sheeps’ clothing”…
Jayne M. Barker
August 22nd, 2010
8:52 pm
P.S. “Some of us are not slow learner, just fast forgetters”…
Jenny Lee
August 22nd, 2010
9:04 pm
Newt likes little girls and gives alcohol to minors. He did that to me in the 80s.
Common Sense
August 22nd, 2010
9:17 pm
Which Muslim faith did Timothy McVeigh belong to? Maybe we need to stop letting white people rent ryder trucks.
Trickle down economics work
August 22nd, 2010
9:22 pm
We need Newt. And Zell. And like thinkers.
They will create jobs so people can pay their taxes so Government can rest the money printing presses.
PLEASE VOTE REPUBLICAN IN NOVEMBER. They are not perfect but they can fix this mess a lot sooner than the other guys.
Bubba
August 22nd, 2010
9:45 pm
They may have a constitutional right to build it, but that doesn’t make it right for them to chooose to build it in that location.
don
August 22nd, 2010
9:47 pm
Trickle down, They made this mess!
rooster
August 22nd, 2010
9:48 pm
I don’t mind a thoughtful conservative. Sometimes I think I may be one. I have sometimes thought Gingrich was one. But he shifts too readily from policy wonk in odd-numbered years to demagogue in even-numbered (election) years. I think there is good cause for a robust conservative opposition at the national level. I just don’t think the quality of most opposition rhetoric is what it needs to be. There are too many digressions into hot-button social issues, and not enough serious discussion of the proper size and scope of government. The problem with Newt is that he’s capable of serious discussion but won’t keep at it.
MR. TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS I do plan on voting Republican for the U.S. Senate and House, but I also plan to vote for Barnes for Governor. They will both be votes against single-party control of the executive and legislative branches.
Small Gov't My A##
August 23rd, 2010
8:03 am
Newt Grinch is only interesting when he is not in or running for office. As soon as he is running (or holding) office, he is just another partisan hack who spends all his time trying to out-do anyone and everyone with extremist rhetoric. This adulterer is a one-dimensional embarrassment who risks getting struck by lightening every time he opens his mouth to bloviate about “family values”.
Though I must admit, I’d love to see him crush Sarah Palin in a republican primary debate. Maybe then the right wing sycophants will see HER for what she really is (um… not smart), as pointed out by one of their own (since they will never listen to anyone else).
lmno
August 23rd, 2010
9:02 am
The Government has no role to play in this debate. Sure, express your opinion if you wish, but the government has no right to do anything to stop the mosque.
I thought you people wanted limited government?
Paddy O
August 23rd, 2010
10:06 am
Mr. Bill – you are pandering to the muslims. Osama Bin Laden is the hitler of islam – how much work have other muslims done to see this coward brought to justice? Thankfully, Bin Laden thus far has not wreaked the havoc of hitler. The other sad part is, when the Soviets were in Afghanistan (like us now), we provided assistance to Bin Laden as he fought our then enemy. It does seem we have convicted all muslims of the cowardly attack – not only on the WTC that destroyed it, but the 93 bombing, the shoe bomber, the underware bomber and the idiot muslim psychiatrist in Texas – do you also remember munich? the 1967 war? Thus far, it does not look like Allah thinks very much of his followers. But sneak attacks and other cowardly acts does not do any honor whatsoever to Allah.
Paddy O
August 23rd, 2010
10:06 am
unless, of course, allah is actually satan.
Paddy O
August 23rd, 2010
10:07 am
imno – it seems the city of NY has given permission – however, a whole lot of NY citizens – who still remember and suffer from the WTC attacks – don’t want it at the proposed site.
Paddy O
August 23rd, 2010
10:09 am
Common Sense – did McVeigh say he was acting on the will of Allah? Or Christ? stop the fuzzy distraction.
deegee
August 23rd, 2010
2:17 pm
The 9/11 bombers were influenced by bin Laden who was pissed off with the Saudi Arabian kings because they allowed American forces into Saudi territory during the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990. Bin Laden tried to convince the Saudi kings to let him defend Saudi Arabia against Saddam Hussein in the event that the Saudi oil fields may become jeopardized. He was rejected and that pissed him off.
I don’t believe that even the most extremist muslims like Al Qaeda want to force Sharia law upon the West. They might want to force it upon the Muslim societies, but they aren’t interested in making New York into a Sharia state. Al Qaeda want the Americans out of Saudi Arabia, and they want the Jews out of Palestine.
Certainly the moderate Muslims don’t want to turn New York into a Sharia state. They have been coexisting peacefully with New Yorkers of every race and religion for decades. They didn’t bomb the World Trade Center. They may not even be politically inclined. The attack of 9/11 was more politically motivated than religiously motivated.
If there is one thing that binds muslims together it would be the rejection of Israel as a state. Does anyone see a resolution to that problem anytime soon? It has been going on since 1948 and yet there have been mosques in every corner of the US.
Common Sense
August 23rd, 2010
9:00 pm
Paddy O are you not smart enough to recognize sarcasm? The point is, he was a terrorist that bombed a building but was not a muslim, and there was no rush to stop people from renting trucks, just as there should be no rush to stop people from building Islamic community centers. If you would read, instead of comparing making incorrect comparisons and watching FAUX News all day, you would recognize it. By the way, are you out protesting against militias? They bomb and kill.
Mark
August 25th, 2010
12:27 am
We were told in church on Sunday that Newt Gingrich, a recent convert to Catholicism, canceled his involvement in the 9/11 protest because of a call from the Archbishop of New York.