And the media continues to be played like a fiddle by the devil down in Georgia:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) only announcement on Thursday was that he’s launched a website related to his possible presidential bid.
Gingrich did not announce that he intends to seek the Republican nomination in 2012, nor did he announce the formal formation of an exploratory committee to pursue the nomination.
“[W]e are today establishing a website NewtExplore2012.com,” Gingrich said. “We will look at this very seriously and we will very methodically lay out the framework of what we’ll do next.”
And what is featured on that website? This:
Palin and Gingrich and the rest of the GOP grifters aren’t very subtle, but who needs to be when these beltway clowns are your mark? A couple months of “exploring” a Presidential bid is probably enough to fund his lavish jet-setting lifestyle for a while. This really is lucrative stuff- spend a couple grand on a website, and let the press do the rest. And it is a renewable resource- he can “explore” a run every few years.
And why is Gingrich posing with Cindy McCain?
JCT
Hmmm, maybe some wife-swapping action to go along with Newt’s other cool hobbies like near-fatal hypocrisy and adultery?
Villago Delenda Est
Newt needs a new pair of shoes…time to fire up the “exploration” fundraising!
KG
Can anyone get in on this sweet exploratory committee action? Seriously, I got some bills to pay, can I form an exploratory committee to look into whether I should run for president, get a few million in the bank and then say, “oh, yeah, I’m not 35 yet so I can’t run anyway.”
Mike Kay (True Grit)
This is his last call at the bar.
he’s 68 years old this year, 69 next year, and 72 in 2015.
So this is his last grift.
Plus, he’s disgustingly fat, he’s bound to keel over any second.
Radon Chong
Just when I thought Cindy McCain could not seem more like an android, along comes Callista Gingrich, looking for all the world like she rolled off the same assembly line. She’s like the iPad 2 version of Cindy.
Zifnab
My God, he’s hit real pay dirt.
Nice work if you can get it.
Zifnab
@Radon Chong:
http://www.washingtonlife.com/directories/photos/watermark.php?path=issues/summer-2006//venetian_masters/images/venetian_masters17.jpg
I think this right here is the money shot.
Zifnab
@Radon Chong:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.washingtonlife.com/directories/photos/watermark.php%3Fpath%3Dissues/summer-2006//venetian_masters/images/venetian_masters17.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.washingtonlife.com/directories/photos/%3Fletter%3DC%26name%3DCallista-Gingrich&usg=__mP-MrUiSxoMuyq1Gx3XwKTchG0o=&h=270&w=364&sz=15&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=5rZ6IyovQkX1_M:&tbnh=134&tbnw=206&ei=-BBwTY7mBYO8lQeHvaVO&prev=/images%3Fq%3DCallista%2BGingrich%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D970%26bih%3D891%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=668&vpy=302&dur=974&hovh=193&hovw=261&tx=150&ty=91&oei=-BBwTY7mBYO8lQeHvaVO&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0
Let’s try that again.
Alex S.
This is funny. Every single one of his donors deserves to be mugged like this. Newt knows that once he declares his run, the money well will run dry. On the other hand, this is (probably) the last time he has to be considered somewhat seriously, at least within the think-tank/lobbying sphere. So it’s his last time to cash in.
Villago Delenda Est
@Zifnab:
The thing is, the fields of marks are so fertile. Allan Keyes has been running this scam for decades. and of course Mooselini’s got her own grifting operation in full swing.
You can indeed fool some of the people all of the time.
Villago Delenda Est
@Alex S.:
Once Newt declares he’s running, the reporting requirements change, and all the sudden, he can no longer fund hookers and blow out of his “exploratory” chest.
Which means that he’ll never actually declare. He’d be subject to accountability that he knows he can’t withstand.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Tweety is kicking Huckster in the nuts.
Elia
What in the world would we be donating to/for?
Redshirt
I can’t wait for the adults to return to Washington! I’ll pay for that!
Bex
I love the getacluemorans. Are we talking about the media or the people who would actually vote for Newt? Maybe there are one or two in that stock photo crowd, but I doubt it.
AliceBlue
God, Newt Gingrich. He was my Congressional “representative” in the 80’s and I can’t believe he’s still around. Besides being a cheater and a liar, he’s a chickenshit coward. The district I lived in was changing demographically (southside suburb of Atlanta), and the last time he ran for office there, he almost lost. After that, he promptly picked up and moved to another more Newt-friendly district.
kth
Just when I get my hopes up for an imminent “shit or get off the pot” moment for Palin, followed by instant and deserved obscurity, along comes Newt to remind me of how long it’s possible to play this game.
jl
Asking strangers to give you money for undefined purposes in situations with little accountability is a visionary strategy, and has been for untold thousands of years.
It has been visionary ever since there has been money, I would bet.
Some just do it better than others.
Newt is a true visionary, just like he says.
J. A. Baker
Oh, look! Newtie got caught astroturfing! How typically Republican!
Egypt Steve
I assume their first thought was “Explore Newt,” but had second thoughts of some sort …
David Koch
I just tried to donate one of my maids, but the website only takes money.
jl
@J. A. Baker: They probably should have taken a second to hit the horizontal flip button, and maybe a minute or two to recolor some of the clothing.
Warren Terra
Meh. I’m pretty sure there are limits on how the Exploratory Committee can spend the money. Sure, it can subsidize his lifestyle (travel, meals, entertainment, and the like), but I suspect Gingrich both isn’t hurting for cash and isn’t lacking for indulgent sugar daddies to pick up the tab when he eats out. Also, the money that flows in in small-dollar internet-enabled donations won’t be much, especially before things really get underway (and by 2007 standards we’re already slow gathering momentum here) – but they’re useful for keeping score, and they’re a better reflection of grassroots enthusiasm than are name-recognition polls or talk show appearances.
I’m happy to beat up on Newt, and I think he’s a national embarrassment as a so-called public intellectual (didja know he carries a flash card in his pocket saying “2+2=4”?), but this is perfectly normal, reasonably unobjectionable behavior.
ETA Now, if you do want to mock the website’s front page, isn’t is special that they managed to center the photo on what was probably the only Black guy in a Republican-friendly crowd? And with an Asian gentleman in the shot, too!
asiangrrlMN
@Egypt Steve: EW! Brain bleach, please.
Villago Delenda Est
@David Koch:
The one that put the iPod in the laundry, I’d guess?
Alex S.
@Villago Delenda Est:
Yes, as far as I know, his fundraising dwarfs everyone else’s, and it has done so for years. I can’t imagine that one would find a lot of small donor contributions. He must be getting all his money from tobacco companies and the military-industrial complex. The transparency requirements would reveal that.
piratedan
welcome to the Christine O’Donnell school of job employment!
1) hire a website guru for 150.00 to create a page
2) set up paypal donation account
3) troll for public office prospects
4) grift
dmsilev
You know, I don’t see a down side to this. I’d rather that GOP donor dollars go to fund the Newt Gingrich Private Jet Foundation and the Sarah Palin Neiman Marcus Fund then go towards sleazy attack ads in Ohio.
dms
4tehlulz
He mixed serif and sans serif fonts on his Web site. Obviously this shows he is unqualified to be president.
Cat Lady
Please please please let him run. He may have to, since no one else has stepped up yet. If he and Mitt go mano a mano, it’ll be an epic passive aggressive war of insinuations and back stabbing goober baiting like the world has never seen. Mitt the upstanding magic underwear wearing flip flopping Mormon against the reprobate but redeemed thrice married newly minted orthodox Catholic. What’s a Palin lovin’ god botherer to do?
Matt
Nah, Newt’s not running for President. He’s hoping to get picked for Dictator-for-Life after the evangelical Christianists that have spent the last three+ decades worming their way into the armed forces take over:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/gingrich_to_rumsfeld_plant_army_spies_throughout_government.php?ref=fpi
kindness
OK, so is the blonde bimbo his wife, his mistress or his next ex-wife?
Them’s some REAL republican values.
ppcli
@KG:
I think you’re on to something. I personally don’t think I’d be able to verify that I was born in Canada for less than $20 million. Exploration, here I come!
Mike Kay (True Grit)
Yes,yes, yes.
She’s his current wife, who started out as his mistress when he was married to his 2nd wife, and eventually, she’ll be his future ex wife.
Caz
How evil! Asking for donations for a run at president. How dare he! It’s almost as bad as my trolling on this site. I feel like one of those wildebeasts that jump into the river filled with crocs thinking I’ll make it to the other side unscathed. Maybe Newt will pick me as his running mate, that would rock – I could probably get enough donations to buy a new car and pay my college loans off.
I wonder how the democrats ever win an election since they never ask for donations as blatantly as Newt. I know they usually hide the “donate” link deep inside their websites, which themselves are never advertised. And I’ve heard they hold dinners once in a while to gather campaign funds, but so far as I can tell, that’s just an unsubstantiated rumor at this point.
dmsilev
Mocking Newt aside, it’s amazing how slowly the GOP field is taking shape. Sure, there are any number of people hinting at their desire to run against Obama, but turn the way-back machine to March of 2007, and you’ll find that just about all of the major candidates for both parties had formally announced their campaigns by now (going past the ‘exploratory committee’ stage that Newt has just barely reached).
dms
steve
His wife is his next ex-wife, kindness.
JCT
@Mike Kay (True Grit): Crap, you beat me to it — but I think they all look the same, much like Limbaugh’s parade of mannequins.
Superluminar
@Caz
No, he’s actually pretty good at fleecing morans, whereas your trolling really does suck.
geg6
If anyone is interested, Tweety is absolutely going apeshit on Gingrich, along with all his guests. Fucking hilarious. And calling Sarah Palin Charlie Sheen. I’m dying here.
Ash Can
@dmsilev: Agree totally. There are far worse things Gingrich’s rubes could be tossing their loose change at. Let the press soft-peddle it, I don’t care. It won’t prevent the fools from being parted from their money.
jl
“Tweety is … calling Sarah Palin Charlie Sheen. I’m dying here.”
Not sure what that means. I guess I will have to watch for the internet clips.
He’s calling her ‘Charlene Sheen’?
Mike Kay (True Grit)
@geg6: He’d make a great press secretary.
Warren Terra
Wow, there’s a banner ad up top for Buddy Roemer For President 2012. I’m a political junkie, but the name rang only the faintest of bells; I had to look him up. Turns out he was governor of Louisiana twenty years ago. This could be the next Mike Gravel, folks.
Chyron HR
@Caz:
We stand corrected.
maya
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
He and Limbaugh have a bet.
General Stuck
Gingrich will be the Humpty Dumpty candidate, Sarah will paint a bullseye on him, and Politico and the rest of the village jesters will knock each other in the head scrambling to pick up the pieces.
There was no republican mandate from 2010, there was smelling salts and an oxygen tent, and maybe a Priest/
Cat Lady
@geg6:
You know, I’ve had a revelation about Tweety. As fucked up as he can be about obsequiousness to authority, women’s issues and his self-absorption that blinds him to his obtuseness, I think his Catholic education has really been the foundation of his life and he highly values it. I think these grifting no brain Republicans have forced him into taking their proud ignorance personally, and this is what you get. Go get ’em Tweety.
Fuck U6: A More Accurate Measure of the Total Amount of Duck-Fuckery in the Economy
Superluminar: Outstanding! Where may I donate to your exploratory fund?
El Cid
Newt Gingrich is a serious voice on a variety of issues because he helped write the Contract with America and helped organize the 1994 GOP Congressional takeover, and then almost helped out lead the Clinton impeachment but had to quit as Speaker & rep when his own affairs were made public.
Richard Fox
The photo of the crowd in the Gingrich website is a stock photo from Getty Images. I saw that bit of info posted on Daily Kos, and checked out the Getty site, and it is indeed a Royalty Free image. No question.
As a photo editor I amused as hell. As a citizen I want to shout “Fake! Fake! Fake!” But then I’d be indulging in oxymorons..
General Stuck
Republicans can’t govern, but they do know how to break things.
Mike in NC
Gingrich is the Charlie Sheen of American politics: just when you thought he couldn’t be more of a self-parody of a narcissistic jerk, he manages to sink even lower. Run, Newtie, run!
Cat Lady
@Mike in NC:
I would say that Charlie Sheen is the Newt Gingrich of Hollywood, but that’s not fair to Charlie Sheen really. He’s not trying to make us all live with hookers and blow. Some would say, sadly.
Warren Terra
@Richard Fox:
I was wondering about this when I saw that they were looking off in an odd direction and not holding any cause-specific signs. The fact that there were several identifiable minorities in the crowd, and a large number under fifty, made their being at a Newt rally unlikely.
Did the Getty site say where the photo was in fact taken?
jl
@Cat Lady:
I think Charlie Sheen is a little more democratic, or meritocratic in certain boorish sense, in his ideas about distribution of hookers and blow than Gingrich.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Warren Terra:
Given Newt’s track record with giving out small business awards, I’d say there is at least a fair chance that the photo was taken at a human sexuality class lecture at Northwestern University.
Superluminar
@Fuck U6: A More Accurate Measure of the Total Amount of Duck-Fuckery in the Economy
Dude, can I just say you use the most awesome ‘nyms on the interwebs.
Also, “contributing to my exploratory fund” is totally going to become the new euphamism for a Republican sex scandal (like “hiking the appalachian trail”).
Fuck U6: A More Accurate Measure of the Total Amount of Duck-Fuckery in the Economy
Superluminer: Well thankee much. I owe it all to my
TigerDuck blood.Richard Fox
Warren Terra–
This is a royalty free shot, it is probably set up, not a photo of a real event / location as such. The Getty site describes it as ” Large Crowd of People Holding Stars and Stripes Flags”.
So my hunch is it is fake, rather like the man whose site it appears on.
Just Some Fuckhead
John, isn’t it time you explore nothing in an effort to lay down the framework for something by placing a large DONATE button on the front page?
Just Some Fuckhead
@Cat Lady:
He actually called himself a liberal yesterday, out loud and on the air. Of course, these days that isn’t a high bar to clear when you can be called a socialist for doing Republican things.
JPL
Newt drools about being married to someone like Cindy McCain. Money does talk.
Gin & Tonic
And the parodies have begun.
http://newtinfrontofstockphotos.tumblr.com/
It’s amusing how these guys just don’t have a fucking clue about today’s Internet.
trollhattan
@Egypt Steve:
Yeah, the only Newt Explore, or Exploration of Teh Newt, or…should be performed by a licensed proctologist. Actually, it would take an entire team, rigged with spelunking gear.
Warren Terra
@Just Some Fuckhead:
You do know that, if you’re so inclined, there is a Paypal button in the left sidebar?
@Gin & Tonic:
Genius.
feebog
The faces in the crowd (4 black, 3 asian, 0 hispanic mixed with the anglos) are all turned up as if the Goodyear blimp had just shat a load of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.
Veritas78
Any chance he can explore some cancerous polyps in his rectum? America will supply the legal pad.
Just Some Fuckhead
@jl:
Or at least altered the flags a little bit.
jl
@feebog:
“The faces in the crowd … are all turned up as if the Goodyear blimp had just shat a load of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.”
Huh, so that is how they get those stock photos. Thanks for the tip. I will keep an eye out.
something fabulous
@Warren Terra: I do love the one of the lovely couple in front of… a newt.
gbear
Unfortunately, all the people with REAL money are giving it to Carl Rove’s Dirty Politics(R).
Gingrich is taking in enough to live high, but it’s probably from small gullible doners.
maus
@Mike Kay (True Grit):
Who can we pay to kick Tweety in the nuts?
Cat Lady
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Well, good for him then. I’m sure he’s had his knuckles rapped for lying many times, and I think he’s chosen sides. I hope he’s the first of many media people to do so. It’s about fucking time.
quaint irene
For real. Any one with two brain cells to rub together knows that if the Newt actually mounts a real campaign, he’d be lucky to last till April ’12.
quaint irene
Well, heck. Who wouldn’t? How many houses does she own?
sukabi
And why is Gingrich posing with Cindy McCain?
that’s a trick question… there are only a couple of models of GOP stepford wives, and Newt & McCain happen to like the same model…
Ash Can
In all fairness to Newt (yes, I really did say that), the Getty image, while mildly silly, really is a non-issue. According to the ThinkProgress link furnished by J. A. Baker, this image appeared on Ted Kennedy’s web site too. It’s just an advertising gimmick, a piece of clip art used to spiff up a pitch. There are plenty of reasons to point and laugh at the Newtster, but this is awfully far down on the list.
Villago Delenda Est
@sukabi:
Look, if there are limited models, why didn’t he go with the Tricia Helfer or the Lucy Lawless model?
DardenScott
I find Chris Matthews oft annoying, but he’s chatting about Newt with Kweisi Mfume and Josh Marshall on Hardball, and he’s freakin’ hilarious. Even Mfume and Marshall can’t hold back their laughter. Particularly the Newtism about Obama’s “Kenyan anti-colonial behavior” and how he “played a con” to become President. All this from “Mr. Con” himself. I think that between the self-mutilation of the GOP in Wisconsin and deadweights like Newt and Palin weighing down the party, Obama may just surf into 2012 without a wrinkle.
Speaking of which, anyone see the Enquirer headline about how Trump is polling within three points of Obama?
jze
Where is the birth certificate?
Xenocrates
Anyone have change for a button? /s/ C.M. Burns
Ash Can
@jze:
Next time Huckabee goes for a colonoscopy he should ask the doc to keep an eye out for it.