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You are here: Home / Open Threads / I do this and you give me cash

I do this and you give me cash

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I loves me some Newt:

GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich defended his stance against certain child labor laws during a campaign stop in Iowa Thursday, saying that children born into poverty aren’t accustomed to working unless it involves crime.

“Really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works so they have no habit of showing up on Monday,” Gingrich claimed.

“They have no habit of staying all day, they have no habit of I do this and you give me cash unless it is illegal,” he added.

Reader Interactions

181Comments

  1. 1.

    MikeTheZ

    At what point will the media stand up and say “My God, this whole party has gone around the bend!”? What will it take?

  4. 4.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I figured he’d show his hateful, scummy self before too long, I just hoped it would be after he’d weakened Romney a bit more. Of course, this could help him more with the base than it will make the Joe Kleins of the world uncomfortable. not two weeks ago Klein was giggling about how much he enjoys Newt and his “ideas”

  5. 5.

    JPL

    You know who have strong work ethics, those raised by nannies who drive them to tennis lessons as soon as they are able.
    Now those are some strong work ethics.

  7. 7.

    Citizen Alan

    There is a part of me that almost appreciates the Republicans for finally being honest about themselves and their agenda. For literally as long as I’ve been alive, all I’ve ever heard from the GOP have been coded racist dog whistles about “young bucks buying T-Bone steaks with their food stamps” and “Welfare queens popping out babies in order to get enough benefits to drive a Cadillac.” So I am strangely pleased that they are finally coming right out and admitting the truth: that it doesn’t matter if you are black, white, Asian or Hispanic; as far as the GOP is concerned, if you make less than $250,000 a year, you’re just another dirty n****r.

  8. 8.

    Jager

    Apparently Newt did some big thinking about this, completely eliminating the need to actually research, talk to or at minimum read something about the people and families living those “really poor neighborhoods”. Asshole!

  9. 9.

    Jewish Steel

    This is exactly the music the base wants to hear. All killer, no filler.

    And none of that shit off the new album.

  10. 10.

    White Trash Liberal

    Hey poor children: fuck you! Get in Moloch’s belly!

    I would cash out my paycheck and meager savings for the opportunity to punch Newt in the throat.

  11. 11.

    Hunter Gathers

    What will it take?

    Gingrich could skull fuck a Hispanic child while Romney corn holes her brother on national TV and the reaction from the press would be ‘GOP rapes small children while Democrats rape the wallets of job creators – who are the real rapists? Experts disagree.’

  12. 12.

    serge

    Oh, Newt, we hardly knew ye (which was good). Now would you go away, please? And take Callista with you.

  14. 14.

    Citizen Alan

    @serge:

    Oh don’t pick on poor Callista, Silly woman probably thinks he actually loves her and doesn’t have some new whore on the side giving him blow jobs in the car after every speech.

  17. 17.

    JPL

    It was reported today that Romney made a decision to hold off on attack ads on Newt. Wise move.
    Newt can take care of that himself.

  18. 18.

    carpeduum

    Please let Newt win the primary. It would be such a beautiful gift to Dems.

    Will take Mittens as well, not quite as good but the smear videos are already made so less work and cost on the back end.

    No lose situation either way.

  19. 19.

    Cat Lady

    @Jewish Steel:

    The base is loving this – they’re anticipating him debating Obama, and articulating everything the base thinks about him. They really hope Newt will tell Obama that RealMercans(r) want his watermelon eating uppity nigra ass out of the White House, cuz it’s the “White” House, motherfucka. THey may get it, sadly.

  20. 20.

    The Moar You Know

    Oh good, he’s already stacking the cordwood for his funeral pyre.

    Newt is so considerate that way.

  21. 21.

    Brachiator

    “Really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works so they have no habit of showing up on Monday,” Gingrich claimed.
    __
    “They have no habit of staying all day, they have no habit of I do this and you give me cash unless it is illegal,” he added.

    Suggestion for a Thread title.

    When I read this, and when I heard a recent speech where Newt describes Obama as a “weird sozulust Europe loving aristocrat,” I thought of a variation of the Justin Timberlake song.

    Newt is Bringing Nasty Back.

    The slimeball sumb#tch

  23. 23.

    David Hunt

    So, how does the transformation from Lazy Shiftless Youths to Strapping Young Bucks occur? I’d think that being Lazy and Shiftless would cause you to be fat instead of Strapping.

    Of course that was a trick question. The Conservative ability to Double-Think overwhelms any mental dissonance.

  26. 26.

    slag

    This is going to sound horrible, but I’m loving me some Newt. When I tell low income kids that they’re being “tools of the man” as they’re fighting their education, they ask “Who’s the man?” That’s when I pull up Newt’s janitor quote right before their eyes. This one’s going in the bank. Because fuck him, that’s why.

  28. 28.

    RedKitten

    Oh my lord….seriously? So does he think that the grown adults who are working their asses off at min wage jobs are living in the RICH neighbourhoods?

  29. 29.

    Cris (without an H)

    But to take the “unless it is illegal” part seriously for a second: know why people do illegal things for cash? Because those things are lucrative. Why should I bust my hump cleaning out grease pits for $7.25 an hour, five days a week, while saying “yes sir” to my supervisor, when there’s an eager market right outside my door for controlled substances and stolen merchandise? That’s a professional ethic — maximizing return on your time, investment, and risk — that isn’t really that different from what the vaunted 1% hold.

  31. 31.

    Comrade Dread

    “Really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works so they have no habit of showing up on Monday,” Gingrich claimed. They have no habit of staying all day, they have no habit of I do this and you give me cash unless it is illegal,” he added.

    He went on to say:

    “We should also probably put them on farms away from the cities. Large communal farms, where they can be taught honest, hard work by people who oversee their activities and plan their days, meals, and living spaces out for them so they have structure. Maybe get them all matching metal bracelets to let them know they’re all playing for the same team. And teach them to sing good southern tunes while they work instead of this “hip” “hop” stuff.”

  34. 34.

    Redshift

    GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich defended his stance against certain child labor laws during a campaign stop in Iowa Thursday, saying that children born into poverty aren’t accustomed to working unless it involves crime.

    Why, Newt! You shouldn’t say stuff like that about the hardscrabble people of Appalachia and all those other places where most welfare money goes! Unless, of course, you meant to be out-and-out racist and use “poverty” as a code word for “black.” Which is it?

  35. 35.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @David Hunt:

    So, how does the transformation from Lazy Shiftless Youths to Strapping Young Bucks occur? I’d think that being Lazy and Shiftless would cause you to be fat instead of Strapping.

    Stealing TV’s from REAL Americans(as in White, male, Republicans) burns a lot of calories. If you weren’t a dirty hippie who hates America you would already know this.

    So Newt is going to solve the illegal farm workers by re-enslaving blacks? The man does stand for truly traditional values.

  37. 37.

    Hungry Joe

    It’s fascinating — Gingrich isn’t stupid (which isn’t, of course, to say he’s really smart); surely he knows that if keeps from imploding even further, he’s got a legitimate shot — something of a longshot, but still — at being President of the United States. But he simply must spew bile. He can’t help himself. He can’t stop.

  38. 38.

    Raven

    We’ve been watching lots of Dickens and saw Oliver Twist by Polanski last night. This motherfucker is just like the pigs stuffing themselves and freaking out because Oliver asked for another bowl of gruel.

  40. 40.

    Redshift

    “They have no habit of staying all day, they have no habit of I do this and you give me cash unless it is illegal,” he added.

    I’m particularly loving the juxtaposition of this with the previous post:

    Newt Gingrich said on Wednesday night that his advocacy with state and federal legislators for policies that would help his paying clients was in keeping with his role as a citizen, and was not evidence that he ever acted as a lobbyist.

    I do this and you give me cash, eh?

  41. 41.

    JGabriel

    “… they have no habit of I do this and you give me cash …” [Gingrich] added.

    Sounds like a habit Gingrich knows all about.

    .

  46. 46.

    The Moar You Know

    So, how does the transformation from Lazy Shiftless Youths to Strapping Young Bucks occur? I’d think that being Lazy and Shiftless would cause you to be fat instead of Strapping.

    @David Hunt: No doublethink involved. It’s straight-up Conservative Mythology 101: After your first stint in a “cushy country club” prison, where you get three squares a day, cable TV all the time, and a daily exercise yard where you get pumped up and ready to kill Whitey much more efficiently.

    At last count, about 47% of the United States population believes this, by the way.

  47. 47.

    Raven

    This fat motherfucker had the balls to tout his granddaughter for buying an iPad by saving HER money!

  49. 49.

    Menzies

    @Jenny:

    Hey, I’m 50+ pounds overweight and I castigate children on their work ethics five days a week. But I’m not the same as Newt, because I get paid for doing that on behalf of someone else . . . oh, cowballs, I’m kind of digging my own grave here, aren’t I?

  50. 50.

    Death Panel Truck

    Keep talking, Newt. Don’t ever stop saying stupid and crazy things. The base may like you, but the country at large despises you. Keep on talking, buddy. Where can I donate to your campaign?

  51. 51.

    Keith

    IMHO this is the start of a whispering campaign that Obama sold drugs as a youth. Trust me on this.

  53. 53.

    Warren Terra

    It is perhaps worth pointing out that Newt has apparently never worked a 9-5 job.
    Also, it may be worth noting that by his own testimony he has taken money from companies seeking influence in Congress and done nothing for them in return, thereby showing a truly appalling work ethic. I mean, unless he’s lying about that.

  54. 54.

    RalfW

    Best nugget from today’s delicious Frank Luntz speech:

    7. The three most important words you can say to an Occupier: ‘I get it.’

    “First off, here are three words for you all: ‘I get it.’ … ‘I get that you’re angry. I get that you’ve seen inequality. I get that you want to fix the system.”

    Then, he instructed, offer Republican solutions to the problem. kick them and say “Now I get to have this sidewalk back, dirty hippie.”

  55. 55.

    Social outcast

    What about the poor kids who are part of the drug trade? They’re out in the streets in all kinds of weather working to make sure users get their product. They seem to work a lot harder than I did as a kid.

  56. 56.

    Ken

    @Hungry Joe: That’s why I’m leaning toward the theory that Newt’s trying to torpedo himself. All he ever wanted was a book tour, and now there’s a chance he might be President. What a nightmare.

  58. 58.

    Raven

    He also said food stamps are now cash, a credit card that people can by anything they want with. This fits perfectly with the white victim bullshit that is reinforced when these goobers see people swipe their card.

  60. 60.

    r€nato

    Newt is a walking, talking example of somebody who is simultaneously very intelligent and very ignorant.

  64. 64.

    Mino

    God, FSM, whoever, please keep him in the running.

    Except, it really shames me that so many of our fellow Americans think this way. What has happened to us?

  65. 65.

    Dave

    I am sure the people who live in Appalachia and the remote parts of the West will appreciate this Newt theory. Or is it just assumed right from the start he’s talking about black people?

  66. 66.

    smintheus

    @NickM:

    Coming from Newt, whose idea of hard work is polishing off a 32 oz steak at the Palm.

    …AFTER shopping all day at Tiffany’s. With all that dazzle you’d need a lot of nourishment.

  67. 67.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I knew it was too good to last.

    The NotRomney poltergeist always gets right to work destroying the host.

    I expected Newt to last until the middle of the month, at least, but he’s jumping in with both feet ahead of schedule.

    Oh, sure, the vile shit that is the GOP base LOVES this stuff. The problem is appealing to anyone outside of the cretinous 27%.

  69. 69.

    RedKitten

    @JPL: Aw, thanks, JPL! Yeah, he’s already noticing the decorations. We were at Home Depot and he saw all the display trees lit up and just about lost his shit: “Wowwwwww!!! Mama! Mama! Boo! Puh-pole! ‘Reen! Lellow!”

    I know some people really do experience the terrible two’s, but for us, it’s been awesome. He’s so much fun, and just so ridiculously sweet.

  70. 70.

    JCT

    Between this and “poor kids should clean toliets in their schools” to learn the “work ethics” that Newt conveniently never learned — I am honestly speechless.

    And alternately nauseated by @Citizen Alan: ‘s comment.

    This Newt Ascendancy is surreal.

  74. 74.

    ChrisNYC

    Being poor, especially a poor kid, so so easy. That’s why Newt took the hard grifter road. It’s a question of character.

  76. 76.

    Comrade Dread

    Instead of child labor, I think I could help more drug dealers than Newt simply by pointing to him and saying, “See, kids, you can sell people toxic shit and make some decent money, but eventually, you’ll either end up shot or hypocritical fat ****s like this who used drugs are going to throw you in jail for 2 or 3 decades, whereas, if you work hard, study, stay in school, and become an investment banker, you can sell toxic shit for trillions of dollars, rip people off to your heart’s content, destroy the global economy and fat f***s like this will kiss your ass and do everything in their power to not only keep you from jail, but give you trillions of dollars to keep you in business.”

  77. 77.

    daveNYC

    Damn. I thought he’d avoid sticking his foot in his mouh for at least a week. Oops. The least he could have done was spin it as being part of a mentoring program or some crap.

  79. 79.

    Sloegin

    So nice of Newt to offer up child labor as a solution to our labor shortage problem.

    For his next trick, Newt will offer solutions to global cooling and cheap energy.

  80. 80.

    cthulhu

    I don’t where these a-holes get the impression that being poor in the this country is so cush. Living on welfare is often a job in itself, and in many cases, whatever support you do get is not enough. Of course, the way benefits are worked out leaves a big “donut hole” between surviving on assistance vs. having a good enough job(s) to survive without it. Add to this to the fact the a greater percentage of poor persons suffer from untreated mental illness, something that often doesn’t qualify as a disability but still very much is when it comes to getting work, it is not surprising there is un- and underemployment.

    I strongly suspect that, taking all this into account, the there isn’t much difference in work ethic across classes. There is a huge difference, however, in work satisfaction. I’m sure Newt, etc. couldn’t give a sh*t about that either.

  81. 81.

    ChrisNYC

    I want to see him destroyed. I want to see him run and have that be the thing everyone remembers — he won the nom, ran a reprehensible incompetent campaign, was exposed as a blowhard grifter, had a couple of petulant tantrums and lost in a landslide. I want him to have to leave the country out of embarrassment and plummeting book sales.

  85. 85.

    Redshift

    @Ken: I can see that for most of the other fake candidates, but Newt has always believed he deserves to be president. Yeah, he thought his chances were poor enough when he started that he was just running to renew his grifter cred, but now he thinks he can win! So I don’t see this as deliberately torpedoing his campaign, but rather as the same thing that got him a reputation as an “ideas man,” — spouting off about whatever “idea” comes into his head, no matter how nonsensical or racist it would obviously be if he gave it a moment’s thought.

  88. 88.

    Emma

    @Cat Lady: The base thinks Newt is so much more brilliant than affirmative-action-Obama that he will wipe the floor with the President. Yeah. Right.

    However, an idea does occur to me. Do we know for sure that Newt isn’t an Obama plant? Because, honestly…. he’s doing a brilliant job of getting everyone but the mouth-breathers to give Obama the benefit of the doubt.

  89. 89.

    Larv

    @Redshift:

    Unless, of course, you meant to be out-and-out racist and use “poverty” as a code word for “black.” Which is it?

    I thought he made that clear with the line about “really poor neighborhoods”, which is pretty obviously code for “the ghetto”. This is more of the same “welfare queen” bullshit the right has been pushing since forever, where the urban poor are all indolent, lazy criminals who just don’t want to work. Newt’s just following in the footsteps of Ronaldus Magnus. Fuck ’em both.

  90. 90.

    Mudge

    Republicans love to hate. Since the rise of the teatards hatred has been less couched. Newt is the best hater in the field. He has far more experience. He knows the base will take him seriously, and he’ll wink for the banksters.

  92. 92.

    The Bearded Blogger

    So…

    “really poor neighborhoods”
    +
    “habit”
    +
    “I do this, you give me cash”
    +
    “illegal”

    If that combination of words doesn’t conjure the image of a crack whore, I don’t know what does.

    GOD I hope Newt is the nominee…

  93. 93.

    Cat Lady

    @Emma:

    The White House is preparing for an inevitable Romney nomination, but Huntsman is doing their wetwork in New Hampshire, and Newt is kneecapping Mitt by being an obnoxious mean loudmouth lying fucktard everywhere else. It’s hard to argue against Huntsman and Gingrich being part of an Obama psy-ops. 11 dimensional chess, or just lucky?

  96. 96.

    The Populist

    @MikeTheZ: Really Newtie?

    So explain to me why many in the “hood” have 2 or maybe 3 crappy paying jobs to make ends meet. POVERTY you fucking son of a bitch, is the reason for the very thing you stereotype. Ever wonder why nobody is around to “teach” the youth in the “hood” Muppet man? IT’S BECAUSE OF YOUR GOD DAMNED POLICIES THAT REFUSE TO EDUCATE THESE KIDS. The parents work many jobs IF there are two parents in the house at all. Meanwhile, the kids have no adults around, because the parents WORK ALL THE TIME FOR SHIT WAGES, they hang with the troubled elements in any poor neighborhood.

    Hey Newtie, my wife works with at risk kids. Maybe instead of assuming their parents are lazy fucking bums, let’s invest in places they can GO to learn hard work like a youth center that has ROP or job training as part of it’s agenda. Oh yes, we can’t do THAT because some “job creator” will have to pay more in taxes to educate the “lazies” in our society.

    See, I grew up watching my mom scrimp and pay the bills without a father around. I hung with other kids, while my mom worked two jobs, who might have gotten me into big trouble if the thought of being put in jail hadn’t scared me straight.

    For God sakes, kill me now. PLEASE.

  97. 97.

    pragmatism

    the only good thing to me about newtmentum is that it reminds me of the snl skits where farley would play newt.

  98. 98.

    JPL

    @The Populist: I’m foggy but I seem to remember during the Clinton years he pushed for more money for longer community center hours. Newt was house leader at the time.
    Clinton’s mistake was not pushing for mops for poor kids.

  99. 99.

    ChrisNYC

    Newt can finally do something for the country by giving everyone the same someone to despise. Like Palin. Same deal. That was a good thing — that everyone got together to dislike her. One America! We need Tina Fey to start fattening up to play him on SNL.

  100. 100.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @The Populist:

    What you just said. He really is the most insufferable prick. I hope his latest mistress gets pissed off with him and bites his fucking dick off. Better yet I hope he loses all his money in a massive investment scam (a la Madoff) and ends up destitute and on the street.

  101. 101.

    The Populist

    @Mudge: Maybe we should ask stereotypical questions about poor white trash trailer parks in the south? See, I bet we can easily infer many negative things about them as well.

    For the record, I am of Scotch-Norwegian descent. Yes, as lily white as they come. I have seen poor. I know what it’s like to be poor and deal with the taunts of rich kids. I lived in an area many consider to be below the poverty line before I found success in my life.

    It’s so easy to tarnish and broad brush kids from poor neighborhoods. Too bad…wish a guy who thinks so highly of himself, the way Newtie does, could think and be open to the reasons poverty exists and why kids get into gangs or trouble. Poverty makes people do things they know they shouldn’t do. It makes them pretty frustrated and fed up to a point where they will do what they need to survive.

    Some work hard and move up in the world. Many work hard and never get anywhere. A few are lazy and will take whatever they feel is owed to them.

    Stereotypes are easy to do. It takes a real thinker to figure out how to address and fix a problem.

  102. 102.

    Redshift

    @Emma:

    The base thinks Newt is so much more brilliant than affirmative-action-Obama that he will wipe the floor with the President. Yeah. Right.

    Not just the base. Remember when congressional Republicans accepted Obama’s offer to come and discuss policy with their caucus, because they believed their own propaganda that he was an affirmative-action baby who was just good at reading a teleprompter, and he took them apart rhetorically?

  103. 103.

    The Populist

    @JPL: You are correct. Him and Jack Kemp were the ones on the right who acted as if they cared about fixing poverty.

    Jack Kemp, for all his negatives, did seem to care about poor people and their living conditions. Why is it Newtie can’t go back to his “history” books and look up some of Kemp’s initiatives that at least TRIED to help those communities. Funny, Kemp got the poverty because he played with many African Americans and formerly poor whites in the NFL.

  107. 107.

    The Bearded Blogger

    @Jewish Steel: More than that, I think he wonderfully helps along in this process of showing the GOPs true colors that has been going on for a while…

  108. 108.

    Jager

    @Jenny:

    I’m one of them, but is there anything worse than pictures of old, white people?

    And this, Callista got her start giving Newt blow jobs in his car, I wonder if her arm got tired holding that huge, damn belly of his back so she didn’t suffocate.

  111. 111.

    kay

    It’s going to be hard for poor children, listening to this repulsive pig trash them and their parents, but they’ll just have to take one for Team Gingrich.

    When this crook is shooting his mouth off, does he ever consider that the people he’s savaging can hear him?

    Wolf Blitzer thinks this is smart. He thinks this is how smart people talk.

    There should be a crawl of the media personality endorsements under all Gingrich statements from here on out.

  114. 114.

    Citizen Alan

    @Hungry Joe:

    Truthfully, I don’t think for one second that Newt wants to be President of the United States. He’s a grifter, just like Herman Cain. Bachmann thinks she can be President because she’s insane. Perry’s run has been sort of a “well, hell, why not me?” thing. Only Mitt is genuinely invested in the idea of becoming President, and like Shrub before him, it’s more because of his Oedipal issues than any actual vision for the country. I half suspected that when nothing else could make him lose the frontrunner spot, Cain actually called his long-time mistress and told her to rat him out, and I am not completely surprised to see that Newt is saying increasingly ludicrous things the higher he gets in the polls. If he’s still climbing in a week, expect an adultery scandal. Whatever it takes to avoid the poisoned chalice of getting the GOP nomination in the middle of a Depression.

  119. 119.

    catclub

    @Redshift: And yet, even after that evisceration, they still think that. It did not sink in, or has been deeply repressed. But the bosses know not to invite him again if the cameras are on.

    Funny that.
    They were the ones who insisted on the cameras the first time. No one will survive too long if they believe their own propaganda.

  120. 120.

    quannlace

    I would cash out my paycheck and meager savings for the opportunity to punch Newt in the throat.

    I’m envisioning a great new App!

  121. 121.

    kay

    Romney has a really disciplined and professional campaign. They’re not the problem. Mitt Romney is the problem.

    So, I’m torn.

    I’d like to watch Romney’s ruthless worker-bots crush this gargoyle, which I think they can do, but I also want the gargoyle to be the face of the GOP, and their nominee.

    Oh, well. Can’t have both!

  122. 122.

    Darkrose

    “Yeah, you know those poor kids have no fucking work ethic. Like what’s-his-name, you know, the mother is that crazy chick who got knocked up and claimed it was God? Yeah, him. I mean, Joe pretended like it was his, and what did he get? Damn kid’s 33 and all he does is hang around with his gang of losers, whores and tax collectors, gabbing and drinking and occupying the Temple…Joe needs to kick him out until he gets a fucking job.”

  123. 123.

    feebog

    As loathsome as those remarks are, you can bet the 27% are lapping it up. We keep forgetting that 27% of the people in this country are batshit/racist/ignorant morons. They do not think like us. They think like Newt, or at least what Newt is espousing. And guess what, many of them vote. In primaries.

    Bottom line; while remarks like this may freak out over half the country the 27% are already aboard the crazy train and tooting the whistle.

  124. 124.

    Chandler W.

    At the beginning of the 2000 campaign, I bought a plastic George Bush toy for my dog.

    I so totally enjoyed watching him rip it apart.

    Time for a Newt toy?

  126. 126.

    Ed Drone

    @Comrade Dread:

    “We should also probably put them on farms away from the cities. Large communal farms,

    Jesus Christ! He’s the American Pol Pot!

    Someone needs to put this in an unending YouTube loop ASAP. It also sounds like fodder for a song, in the “Hattie Carroll” mode.

    Ed

  127. 127.

    maya

    This is all part of the marketing plan for his upcoming book tour; The Gingrich who Stole Christmas.

  128. 128.

    kay

    Feebog absolutely agree.

    27% and three or four pundits.

    Someone is submitting an editorial right now calling this ‘brave’.

    By next week we’ll be debating child labor, because it’s fresh and exciting.

    At least one person who calls themself a liberal will whine that we should at least be able to “discuss” this without “demonizing”.

  129. 129.

    JCT

    @Raven: Oh whoa, brutal.

    Every time I see a picture of Calllista I literally *wince* — good lord woman, you did that to yourself to keep NEWT? Ahhhhhhh.

    Have you ever seen her “before Newt” pics? A completely normal looking young woman, some “power” that asshole has.

    Gotta love the visuals, the Obamas vs the Gingriches .

  132. 132.

    Elie

    @David Hunt:

    LOL — its quantum reality — they are strapping bucks AND lazy shiftless — both — at the same time! (and lets not forget gay, soshulist, mooslim… also.)

  133. 133.

    Catsy

    @kay: And yet if the gargoyle becomes the nominee, you get to watch Obama’s disciplined, professional and ruthless worker-bots crush him. Win-win!

  134. 134.

    DougJ

    @Jenny:

    I hates me some Bono, though, even if he is saving the world. He’s either the Liam Neeson of music or the Lenny Kravitz of Ireland, I haven’t decided which yet.

  135. 135.

    Cacti

    That’s why Newton will never be POTUS.

    At heart, he’s a nasty little toad. The more attention he gets, the sooner it comes out because he just can’t help himself.

  136. 136.

    kay

    Raven: I was in a trailer today that was so cold I went out and sat in the sun to write up my notes.

    It was colder in there than it was outside. Two of the four people who live there have jobs.

  138. 138.

    Jay C

    @Warren Terra:

    Also, it may be worth noting that by his own testimony he has taken money from companies seeking influence in Congress and done nothing for them in return…

    See? He took their money – and did nothing!! So Newt is right: NO LOBBYING!

    Seriously, who wants the over/under on some “pundit” making this very argument – in print?

  139. 139.

    Jay C

    BTW, can we please add “I do this and and you give me cash” to the BJ rotating-tags? Too good to pass up…

  142. 142.

    Benjamin Franklin

    “There can be little doubt anymore that Jennbot X-Thousand is really Blackwaterdog.”

    Am I naive, much? She seems harmless. What’s the hub-bub?

  143. 143.

    Southern Beale

    “Really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods ….”

    In other words: BLACKETY BLACK BLACK BLACK.

    Really, that’s what he’s saying. That’s how I take it.

    What an ass.

  145. 145.

    DanielX

    @MikeTheZ:
    That would be about the 12th of Never. This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.

    But seriously, folks…Next’s gift, if I may call it that, is he knows precisely the buttons to push right down in the id of wingnuttery, without actually saying the words that polite Republicans don’t use for public consumption when referring to race, among other things. All this child labor law horseshit is red meat, except that he might really believe it – hard to tell with Newt.

    Now when it comes to Newt’s descriptions of his political opponents, well…”cheat, liberal, coercion, sick, traitors”, and so forth and so on.

    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4443.htm

    The truly frightening thing about Newt is that he regards himself as what Germans would call a “world-historical” figure, and that therefore the rules that apply to others do not apply to him. Kind of scary, if you recall the last well-known “world-historical” figure the Germans came up with, who didn’t think the rules applied to him either. (I know, Godwin’s Law in operation.) However…

    Newt has demonstrated, time and time again, that he doesn’t believe that the rules apply to him. If he truly believes that he can 1) get the nomination and 2) win, there is literally nothing he will not do to achieve that end, and he will believe it’s all to the good because he and no one else knows what’s best for the country. Think Karl Rove on meth and steroids, with a side helping of major league hubris.

    If he is actually elected President, and it’s not impossible, things will get very ugly in a hurry. To cap the whole thing off, he probably wouldn’t even be all that competent. From what I’ve been able to tell, Newt has the attention span of an Irish Setter when it comes to anything besides screwing the opposition. Nonetheless, child labor would be among the least of the issues. Start thinking labor camps.

  146. 146.

    kay

    Raven, it’s cars in rural areas. The interest/ weekly payments/penalties on buy here pay here is eating them alive, but they need the car to get to work.

    Being poor is expensive.

  147. 147.

    priscianusjr

    @MikeTheZ:

    At what point will the media stand up and say “My God, this whole party has gone around the bend!”? What will it take?

    Well Newt’s not the best example, he’s always been like that.

  148. 148.

    Quarks

    @feebog: :: nods :: My mother is one of those 27%, and convinced that the problem with inner city school kids is that their parents are never at home and/or always on drugs, and will be delighted to hear Newt “speaking bravely about this. It’s about time someone does.”

    This isn’t new. The surprise is more that it’s coming from probably the last person in the U.S. with any right to lecture anyone else about work ethics. Even Sarah Palin works harder at the jogging and the grifting.

    (Mind you, my mother also thinks that we just absolutely have to cut all of the spending in this country, while simultaneously upset that it’s taking so long for local roads and federal highways to be repaired, which right there explains the problem with the 27%’s thinking.)

  151. 151.

    Hungry Joe

    @Citizen Alan: Everything you say makes sense … but I still can’t imagine that Newt Gingrich doesn’t want to be President of the United States.

  154. 154.

    DougJ

    @eemom:

    Because his music sucks. And he cashes in on that “I’m from the tradition of Van Morrison and the Pogues and Yeats” to hide his INXS-style mediocrity.

  155. 155.

    LGRooney

    @Citizen Alan: Exactly what I was thinking. He is actively playing the grift and has no interest in actually being president. He’s purposely marginalizing himself. He’s no genius but neither is he a complete moron and he knows exactly what this will do to him. The sad part is that this will illuminate the way for the racist base and may kill the GOP’s chances because that base now won’t accept anything less than blatant hate and the few sane republicans left will sit it out. I say the sad part because I was truly hoping a good presidential race might allow the public to be enlightened to what the GOP really is and might push Obama to the left and away from the neo-libs of the Clinton WH.

  157. 157.

    Benjamin Franklin

    @DougJ:

    Jeez. Do we have to cannibalize one another like the Villagers. Taste is not an absolute. Let’s harmonize like cats. Hokay?

  159. 159.

    feebog

    @ Quarks:

    And I am sure your mom is otherwise a very nice person. I know a guy who is a webmaster, grew up in a well-to-do family, in a good neighborhood (mine). Know his mom as well. They are both community minded, caring people. But their political views are absolutely in line with the 27%. Part of this is the fact that they live in a bubble. these people are hard working, own a good sized business, but are absolutely convinced that their world view is spot on. And don’t try to confuse them with facts, they just walk away.

  160. 160.

    Cacti

    @Southern Beale:

    Really, that’s what he’s saying. That’s how I take it.

    Of course.

    When a winger says “really poor children” they’re not talking about the rural whites of Appalachia.

  162. 162.

    Jebediah

    @ChrisNYC:

    I want to see him destroyed.

    Yes! He has it coming, but I also long for his utter and utterly embarrassing defeat as a much-needed comeuppance to all the morons who keep touting him as “Mr. Idea Man.” I want just one or two Village gasbags to have to admit, publicly, that having lots of ideas means fuck-all if every idea is moronic. Maybe there would be a domino effect and Brooks, Friedman, et al would be recognized more widely as dolts.

  163. 163.

    DanielX

    @Citizen Alan: I gotta disagree…if Newt really thinks he can get the nomination, he’ll go for it. Last time around the wingnut/tea partiers were sorta weary after 8 years of W, plus they couldn’t get excited about McCain (who could?). This time around they’re driving the nomination process, and the more outrageous Newt sounds the better they like it. Newt could tell them that his hobby was microwaving live puppies and they would take that as an indication that he would have a robust foreign policy. He could end up getting the nomination and still rake in the swag; it’s not like the Republican base gives a fiddler’s fuck about political corruption (unless it’s Democratic corruption).

    On the other hand, this pattern does seem to prevail:

    1. R candidate gains in polls
    2. R candidate draws media attention as “front runner”
    3. R candidate fucks up royally
    4. R candidate falls in polls
    5. Next R candidate gains in polls
    6. Lather, rinse, repeat…

    Who knows, Newt could get caught (as we say here in the great Hoosier state) with a live boy or dead woman, which would probably knock him out. Serial adultery certainly won’t do it.

  164. 164.

    ET

    Suburban kids have “no habits of working” either. Sure they have parents who work, but many also have parents who give them every damn thing they want and stroke/pet their egos to such an extent that when they get older they have a completely unrealistic view of “work”.

  165. 165.

    Scott P.

    It’s Christmas season, right?

    You’re a mean one, Newt Gingrich,
    You really are a heel,
    You’re as cuddly as a cactus,
    You’re as charming as an eel, Newt Gingrich,
    You’re a bad banana with a greasy black peel!

    You’re a monster, Newt Gingrich,
    Your heart’s an empty hole,
    Your brain is full of spiders,
    You have garlic in your soul, Newt Gingrich,
    I wouldn’t touch you with a thirty-nine & a half foot pole!

  166. 166.

    eyelessgame

    I need you all to do something before you salivate over a Gingrich nomination.

    Listen to the first fifteen seconds of this.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rSNQlsR5Pc

    Specifically, the laughter of the audience at the idea that Ronald Reagan could actually be a politician.

    I lived through 1980. There is no such thing as a Republican too extreme to be elected. This country elected Nixon. Twice. Then it elected Reagan. Twice. Then it elected Dubya. Twice. Do not underestimate the stupidity of the electorate.

    We very much need not to take this for granted. Gingrich will be a serious opponent because he will have all of the Citizens United cash running guns for him. It’s not just an outside chance at being president – I am seriously worried about him.

  167. 167.

    Jebediah

    @eyelessgame:

    It’s not just an outside chance at being president – I am seriously worried about him.

    I lived through that Reagan shit too – it’s where I began my long, long streak of bad political predictions. His “trees cause 70% of pollution” line sealed it for me – way too dumb to ever get elected, and now he’s fucking Saint Ronaldus.

    But I think there is a big and important difference – Reagan didn’t already have a government shutdown under his belt and more importantly, Reagan was affable and “handsome.” Newt is abrasive and unlikeable and not much of a looker. A lot of Americans are pretty shallow – a tubby belly is a negative, as is having a face like, well, like Newt’s. The base may be all tard-hard for him, but I think he will turn off other voters in a way that Reagan, unfortunately, didn’t.

    ETA: Ignore the part about bad political predictions cuz this time I’m right, dadgummit!

  169. 169.

    mclaren

    “They have no habit of staying all day, they have no habit of I do this and you give me cash unless it is illegal,” he added.

    I think Gingrich is talking about members of congress, actually.

  171. 171.

    PhoenixRising

    @The Populist: He sounds like Sam the Eagle after an enema, but the point stands: Muppets stand for all that is good and pure and righteous. Take it back.

  172. 172.

    eyelessgame

    @Jebediah: I very much hope you’re right. I just want everyone to be clear there is a big enemy lined up against us. They got Republicans to mock a war hero in 2004. We need to bring our A game regardless of who’s nominated.

  173. 173.

    Jebediah

    @eyelessgame:

    We need to bring our A game regardless of who’s nominated.

    Absolutely. With the GOP as crazy as they are, no good to take chances or take anything for granted. Stakes way too high, they are.

  174. 174.

    dww44

    @Cat Lady: They won’t get it if a majority of voters realizes that electing any Republican is a foolish and downright dangerous choice. That the President we now have is so far above what’s on offer from the right that it should be a no-brainer of a choice.

    I don’t get this perceived weakness of President Obama. I’ve about decided it’s the conservative owned media that’s pushing that meme. And all this unending focus by cable and internet pundits on the process of choosing a Republican candidate? I don’t remember there being this unremitting focus 3 years ago. Even my mostly doesn’t care, but very cynical, spouse is sick of it all.

    We all need to get a life sometimes. Put things back into some perspective like the wonderful gem of a dog story yesterday that Tim offered up did for me.

  175. 175.

    dww44

    @eyelessgame: This. A Whole bunch of us need to bring our A game, cause honestly the media is not on our side at all. Everywhere I turn, news outlets are going “balanced”. Even the venerably liberal AJC put Cynthia Tucker out to pasture and now its newly minted editor is doing ads on the TV about the wonderful new paper, now balanced, with a whole group of new columnists. At least Jay Bookman still has a job.

    Then there is public TV and radio, running so scared that they’ve removed all semblance of any sort of progressive programs. This state’s public TV is running high school football games every Friday night. There is no real news programming to be found anywhere. They are petrified that their sources of funding will totally disappear and they run pledge drives at least once a month. It’s all very alarming, truthfully.

  176. 176.

    Cacti

    @Jebediah:

    But I think there is a big and important difference – Reagan didn’t already have a government shutdown under his belt and more importantly, Reagan was affable and “handsome.” Newt is abrasive and unlikeable and not much of a looker. A lot of Americans are pretty shallow – a tubby belly is a negative, as is having a face like, well, like Newt’s. The base may be all tard-hard for him, but I think he will turn off other voters in a way that Reagan, unfortunately, didn’t.

    Reagan also had an electorate that was 88 percent white, something that will never happen again.

  177. 177.

    Brutusettu

    Well Newt, at least for just a small percentage of the people you’re referring to as a whole, if you want to make their activities illegal, then yes, they’re used to doing illegal activities. Amazing.

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