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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Let fury have the hour

Let fury have the hour

by DougJ|  January 26, 20125:43 pm| 113 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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I think Newt might have blown it by not going Howard Beale during the last debate. It’s possible that kind of thing wouldn’t have worked without the crazy audience response, anyway. But if you are wondering whether Gingrich will drown the stage with tears and cleave the general ear with horrid speech tonight, here’s a clue:

“There’s the Washington establishment sitting around in a frenzy, having coffee, lunch and cocktail hour talking about, ‘How do we stop Gingrich?’ ” he said, referring to a spate of prominent Republicans who painted him Thursday in as a philandering egomaniac comparable to Bill Clinton and not as close to Ronald Reagan as he would like to think.

[….]

“This is the desperate last stand of the old order throwing the kitchen sink, hoping something sticks because if only they can drown us in enough mud, raised with money from companies and people who foreclosed on Floridians,” Gingrich said as he pounded on the podium. “Let’s be really clear, you’re watching ads paid for with the money taken from the people of Florida by companies like Goldman Sachs, recycled back into ads to try to stop you from having a choice in this election.”

Should be entertaining!

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Reader Interactions

113Comments

  1. 1.

    smintheus

    January 26, 2012 at 5:45 pm

    Somebody needs to ask Newt whether he’s changed his mind about Citizens United.

  2. 2.

    Hunter Gathers

    January 26, 2012 at 5:47 pm

    Gnoot’s gonna have to eviscerate Romney tonight if he’s gonna have a chance. Should be entertaining. In a train wreck kind of way.

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 26, 2012 at 5:47 pm

    drink every time Gingrich says Swiss or Cayman, and set 911 on your speed dial, cause you’ll get alcohol poisoning

    I think he could still pull it off in FL. We’ll see.

  4. 4.

    The Moar You Know

    January 26, 2012 at 5:48 pm

    Newt needs to go full metal teatard on this debate. It’s CNN, they like the crowd rioting, so that should help Newt quite a bit, so long as he can keep his mouth shut about the moon bases.

  5. 5.

    BGinCHI

    January 26, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    the old order throwing the kitchen sink, hoping something sticks because if only they can drown us in enough mud

    Block that mixed metaphor!

  6. 6.

    lamh35

    January 26, 2012 at 5:53 pm

    No plans to watch this debate. Didn’t watch any of them actually, but I did follow them online. I’m tempted though this time to not even follow the debate online either.

    Anyway, OT but seems like a GOP mayor is contradicting Guv Brewer’s take on “battle at the tarmac” yesterday. According to this mayor, Obama was calm and cool during the whole thing.

    Mayor Seems To Contradict Gov. Brewer’s Story On Obama Run-In

    Obama didn’t exactly walk away from AZ Gov. Jan Brewer during their disagreement on an airport tarmac near Phoenix, said one of the only people to witness the exchange up close. The president simply began talking to the other two elected officials who were there to greet him.

  7. 7.

    General Stuck

    January 26, 2012 at 5:53 pm

    What we are seeing is the continuing crackup of the GOP, in the form we have known it. At least with the whackjobs that vote in GOP primaries, the more the rubber chicken circuit GOP elites pound Newt, the better he will do. And the outstanding irony of it all, is the fact that Gingrich has been a fixture of the rubber chicken gooper circuit himself, for as long as any of them.

  8. 8.

    Special Patrol Group

    January 26, 2012 at 5:54 pm

    No way, Newt knows not to peak too early. He’s looking to repeat what he did in SC, when Mittens had a convincingly comfortable lead heading into the debate before the voting.

    Look for Newt to pull a live bat out of his jacket, calmly bite its head off, then casually toss it at Mittens’ feet. Mittens will jump into Santorum’s arms shrieking and Newt will just chuckle, “What do you expect from a Taxachusetts faggot who who puts his money in Europe and wears funny undearwear, if you know what I mean. Welfare Queens!”

    Newt has Mittens right where he wants him.

  9. 9.

    Brian R.

    January 26, 2012 at 5:55 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    Newt needs to go full metal teatard on this debate. It’s CNN

    … so certainly the moderator will help him out by lamely asking a “typical mainstream media question” and then pissing himself in fear when Newt lashes back.

  10. 10.

    Tonal Crow

    January 26, 2012 at 5:57 pm

    Sweet! Don’t stop now, Newt! Are you going to let him get away with that, Mitt? What are you, a liberal? It’s not done till it’s done, Newt! Him ’em hard and see how they fall! This is the soul of America you’re talking about Mitt, put some grit in it! Or are you too refined for that? How you gonna beat Nobama like that? Not until the last dog dies!

  11. 11.

    Rick Massimo

    January 26, 2012 at 5:57 pm

    “… if only they can drown us in enough mud, raised with money from companies and people who foreclosed on Floridians,” Gingrich said as he pounded on the podium. “Let’s be really clear, you’re watching ads paid for with the money taken from the people of Florida by companies like Goldman Sachs, recycled back into ads to try to stop you from having a choice in this election.”

    I’ll give Mitt Romney $5 if he tells Newt to take a bath and get a job.

  12. 12.

    Schlemizel

    January 26, 2012 at 5:58 pm

    You have to admire the way the slimy amphibian speaks directly to the lizard brain. I’m less confident that he can pull this off even with the money against him. He knows how to play the victim well and can really use that against them. It might work for him with the baggers.

    I;m still hoping he can’t win the nomination because of his lack of a running organization. But he sure can set fire to the rabble and it would be very dangerous for the party to think he will behave like a Democrat and swallow their abuse peacefully. He is more likely to chew it up & spit it back at them.

  13. 13.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 26, 2012 at 5:58 pm

    @lamh35: HEh, and that mayor’s a Republican. I’m sure there’s a back story there about funding or just that he finds her annoying

    @General Stuck: I saw a hsyterical clip on Tweety of Ann Coulter talking about how stupid it is for people to vote for Newt just ’cause he can say hateful things about Obama. Subtext: “People, you do this to make a buck and work out your own issues, not on the campaign trail!”

  14. 14.

    Jennifer

    January 26, 2012 at 5:59 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: $20 says he’s going to make an explicit accusation that hiding money in foreign countries to avoid paying taxes is unpatriotic, and that any man who cheated his country in that way should not be president.

  15. 15.

    smintheus

    January 26, 2012 at 6:00 pm

    This from the NY Times is interesting (via Greg Sargent):

    Mr. Romney is now fully participating in his campaign’s efforts to attack Mr. Gingrich’s morals and raise doubts about his emotional stability.

    Underlines an issue that I hope Obama’s campaign will drive home forcefully: Why should independent voters this fall take Romney seriously when his own party was so underwhelmed with him that for a long time in the primaries he ran neck-and-neck with a rival who was, as Romney acknowledges, both immoral and emotionally unstable?

  16. 16.

    lamh35

    January 26, 2012 at 6:00 pm

    hmm, so this is from 2004, but if this is the same bank Switzerland bank where Romney held his money should this be a big deal? I know it would be a big deal if a Dem had done business with this bank right?

    Fed imposes fine of $100M on Swiss bank

    The Federal Reserve Monday imposed a $100 million fine on UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, for allegedly transferring U.S. currency to Iran, Libya, Cuba and Yugoslavia, which are subject to U.S. economic sanctions, then covering up the actions…

  17. 17.

    kdaug

    January 26, 2012 at 6:04 pm

    Unleash. And spit while you do it.

  18. 18.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:06 pm

    It’s clear that every Republican who worked with Gingrich back in his Congressional days has it out for him, on a personal level

    My guess is either he

    1) slept with a Congressman’s wife and it got hushed up
    2) had a tryst with someone below the age of consent and it got hushed up

  19. 19.

    Hill Dweller

    January 26, 2012 at 6:06 pm

    @smintheus: Romney, while at scumbag lobbyist Ralph’s Reed grifting shindig, said Obama was engaged in a war on religion.

    I’m not sure Romney wants to go down the religion road.

  20. 20.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:07 pm

    It is pretty sad the Internet thinks “Gnoot” is clever because one of the best weapons against the guy is his own goddamned name, don’t switch it up, this is not Battlestar Galactica Bible Camp for Nerds

  21. 21.

    smintheus

    January 26, 2012 at 6:08 pm

    @lamh35: The IRS also later worked out an amnesty deal for tax cheats who secretly stashed money overseas in UBS and similar banks. Would be very interesting if Romney turns out to have taken advantage of such an amnesty.

  22. 22.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    If a guy with a slimy sheen across his translucent skin calls himself “Newt”,

    and he is your enemy,

    any more “cleverness” with spelling his name is too clever, by which I mean it makes you look dumb as shit

  23. 23.

    EconWatcher

    January 26, 2012 at 6:10 pm

    @smintheus:

    Interesting is not the word. He’d be done.

  24. 24.

    Benjamin Franklin

    January 26, 2012 at 6:11 pm

    @General Stuck:

    What we are seeing is the continuing crackup of the GOP, in the form we have known it. At least with the whackjobs that vote in GOP primaries, the more the rubber chicken circuit GOP elites pound Newt, the better he will do. And the outstanding irony of it all, is the fact that Gingrich has been a fixture of the rubber chicken gooper circuit himself, for as long as any of them

    Yet despite this crackup we are as nervous as virgins at a sacrifice. Why is that?

  25. 25.

    Nutella

    January 26, 2012 at 6:13 pm

    @Schlemizel:

    You have to admire the way the slimy amphibian speaks directly to the lizard brain.

    Yeah, unfortunately he’s firing up the base by appealing to the bullying bigot fans. I was hoping that they’d be too depressed by their pathetic bunch of losers to come out and vote but if he keeps firing them up that might not pan out.

  26. 26.

    srv

    January 26, 2012 at 6:13 pm

    Here’s my stab at an Austrian Political Cycle Theory for the Republican Party:

    The theory views Republican political cycles as the inevitable consequence of excessive growth in craziness, exacerbated by inherently damaging and ineffective party policies, which cause rationality rates to remain too low for too long, resulting in excessive idea creation, speculative victimization bubbles and lowered public appeal.

    Edits welcomed.

  27. 27.

    Mike E

    January 26, 2012 at 6:13 pm

    The rampant concern-trollery is duly noted.
    Also, my dem Gov here in Cackalacky has read the writing on the wall and will not run for a 2nd term. I, for one, welcome the new Jim Crow era our GOP overlords. Too. Fuck.

  28. 28.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:13 pm

    @Benjamin Franklin:

    Liberals could probably stand to admit that Newt Gingrich is fucking frightening

    They tend to have absorbed that FDR line about fear itself and not really understood which interpretations it are useful and which constitute denial

  29. 29.

    Comrade Mary

    January 26, 2012 at 6:13 pm

    I’ll be neck deep in work and conference calls tonight and can’t catch the debate, but I’ll go out on a limb and predict that Newt says something that gets played to death on cable tomorrow — for free.

    But I could be wrong. After all, the future is unwritten.

  30. 30.

    SteveM

    January 26, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    Yeah, but he’s screwing up if he’s going to go all Occupy and mention Goldman Sachs. And since he can’t attack Barney Frank/ACORN for the housing collapse without invoking his own Freddie Mac affiliation, he should just stick to bashing journalists and black people.

  31. 31.

    Redshift

    January 26, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    @Benjamin Franklin:

    Yet despite this crackup we are as nervous as virgins at a sacrifice. Why is that?

    Because we’re not stupid. A train wreck may destroy the train, but it’s also incredibly dangerous to bystanders.

  32. 32.

    Linda Featheringill

    January 26, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    “Let’s be really clear, you’re watching ads paid for with the money taken from the people of Florida by companies like Goldman Sachs, recycled back into ads to try to stop you from having a choice in this election.”

    Ah, Newtie! Lovely illustration of Marx’s principal of alienation of the fruits of labor from the worker that produced them. Bravo!

    And he’s right, of course. The upper crust did steal money from the folks in Florida and are now using part of it to manipulate the behavior of the folks in Florida.

  33. 33.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    @srv:

    That sounds like the hand of a liberal slapping against his own back

  34. 34.

    Redshift

    January 26, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    @srv: Heh. I like it.

  35. 35.

    Mike E

    January 26, 2012 at 6:16 pm

    @AA+ Bonds: @AA+ Bonds: How ’bout Pig in a Blanket? That sobriquet seems more fair to me. Also.

    ETA I will be voting for that doughy pantload in my state’s primary, by any name he chooses.

  36. 36.

    EconWatcher

    January 26, 2012 at 6:16 pm

    @Benjamin Franklin:

    Because we’re still sitting on the edge of a cliff, economically speaking, and could be pushed over by events beyond our control. And if that happened, all bets would be off.

    I’m not saying necessarily that it would help get someone like Newt elected–maybe it would push people even harder towards Obama, as the steady hand in a storm. I’m saying we can’t know, and extreme chaos has been known to bring unsavory types to power.

  37. 37.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:16 pm

    If anyone wants to think seriously about the Republicans there’s always the inconvenient route of studying the history of the party instead of reading interviews with the authors of the books on Salon

    Or reading Republican writers, or reading their media, or any number of other things that make liberals feel antsy

  38. 38.

    wrb

    January 26, 2012 at 6:17 pm

    May the Newt’s dorsal creast be aflame and cloaca engorged tonight

  39. 39.

    General Stuck

    January 26, 2012 at 6:17 pm

    Newt receives endorsement from C Block.

    Not many of Newt Gingrich’s former House GOP colleagues support his presidential bid, but the Voice of San Diego found one who does: Former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), who is in prison for conspiracy and tax evasion.

    Cunningham sent a message to Gingrich: “Newt, a voice out of the past. Down but not out and still fighting. First I do not want anything from you but have been watching the debates. I have 80% of inmates that would vote for you. They might not be able to but their extended families will.”

    Well that pretty much seals the deal for a Gingrich win. Viva La Newt!

  40. 40.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:18 pm

    Basically what I am saying is give David Brock a call and ask if he will loan you a copy of his book and some of his pubes

  41. 41.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:19 pm

    @General Stuck:

    The Aryan Brothers are Ron Paul territory

  42. 42.

    pseudonymous in nc

    January 26, 2012 at 6:19 pm

    CNN is invested in keeping the race racy for another couple of months, so of course the moderators will allow Newt to have a hissy-fit at their expense as the audience to join in the fun.

    @AA+ Bonds:

    3) All of the above. I can well imagine Gingich ordering Congressional interns off a menu like takeout.

  43. 43.

    jl

    January 26, 2012 at 6:19 pm

    But will Newt, like a naked new-born babe, stride the blast, or like heaven’s cherubim, horsed upon the sightless couriers of the air, blow horrid deeds in every eye, that tears shall drown the wind?

    Enquiring minds want to know.

    My two cents, he’s eaten the insane root, so WTF not? It might work.

  44. 44.

    JPL

    January 26, 2012 at 6:19 pm

    OT..President Obama will be on ABC News tonight. It’s aired in Atlanta at 7 but earlier in other locations.

  45. 45.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:20 pm

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    Yeah probably everyone’s got a story, that’s why I have to chuckle at Democrats who still think that Lewinsky was a one-off, powerful perverts don’t work like that

  46. 46.

    Benjamin Franklin

    January 26, 2012 at 6:21 pm

    @EconWatcher:

    I’m saying we can’t know, and extreme chaos has been known to bring unsavory types to power.

    Thanks. I was hoping someone would say that besides myself.

    I think the football game has to be played with maximum effort and intensity until the final quarter ends, despite what the scoreboard says.

    And you are right; we don’t know what surprises (October) are waiting in the Wings.

  47. 47.

    General Stuck

    January 26, 2012 at 6:21 pm

    @Benjamin Franklin:

    Yet despite this crackup we are as nervous as virgins at a sacrifice. Why is that?

    When liberals starwatch, all they see is the dark side of the Moon. Always been that way. Always will be

  48. 48.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 26, 2012 at 6:22 pm

    @Brian R.:

    This. Who is going to “moderate” this thing? Slimy little toad King, or slimy little toad Leslie?

  49. 49.

    pragmatism

    January 26, 2012 at 6:23 pm

    if depression is rage turned inward, what in the hell is all of this voter and candidate rage-a-thon? they can’t punch a hippie hard enough to deal with all of this anger.

  50. 50.

    Violet

    January 26, 2012 at 6:23 pm

    @AA+ Bonds:

    It’s clear that every Republican who worked with Gingrich back in his Congressional days has it out for him, on a personal level
    __
    My guess is either he
    __
    1) slept with a Congressman’s wife and it got hushed up
    2) had a tryst with someone below the age of consent and it got hushed up

    Nah, they hate him because they know he’ll throw anyone under the bus to save himself and he probably threw many of them or their friends under the bus when he was in Congress. They’ve seen it up close and personal and they saw what his shenanigans did to the GOP. They know he’s a loose cannon and that he’ll decimate the down ticket races. In short, he’s a sociopath out only for himself and they hate and fear him in any position of power.

  51. 51.

    smintheus

    January 26, 2012 at 6:23 pm

    This is fun. Romney has his own money in a Dublin-registered firm called Barracuda Investments.

    Also, per the LA Times article, Romney has been caught out in substantial non-disclosure:

    A review by the Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau found that at least 23 funds and partnerships listed in the couple’s 2010 tax returns did not show up or were not listed in the same fashion on Romney’s most recent financial disclosure, including 11 based in low-tax foreign countries such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg.

    That should provide ammo to Newt. Romney thinks he can dismiss this as a slip up. But if he can’t even accurately list all the companies he’s invested in, either he’s incompetent or he’s hiding something or he’s got so much money he can’t keep track of it. Good qualifications for the presidency.

  52. 52.

    Brachiator

    January 26, 2012 at 6:23 pm

    @smintheus:

    Somebody needs to ask Newt whether he’s changed his mind about Citizens United.

    So let me see if I’ve got this straight. Newt is standing on a stack of Sheldon Adelson’s money, complaining about somebody else stading on a stack of Goldman Sachs money?

    And we’re supposed to take this seriously?

  53. 53.

    John O

    January 26, 2012 at 6:23 pm

    Agree with most, Newt is going to be lobbing grenades like a WWI infantry man tonight. Polls show his momentum slowing, audience participation, and his own inability to control himself all point towards the perfect storm of windbaggedness.

  54. 54.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:25 pm

    The American Right is fucking scary, they will fuck this country over, they will blow it up and burn it down because they sincerely believe that out of the ashes will rise an early 1960s TV sitcom

    It’s the root of a lot of weird and contradictory things like the kind-of-sort-of support for Herman Cain among the Tea Party: he fulfilled a lot of their fantasies about the sort of metamorphosis that they believe blacks should undergo

  55. 55.

    merrinc

    January 26, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    @Mike E:

    Also, my dem Gov here in Cackalacky has read the writing on the wall and will not run for a 2nd term.

    Yes, that is indeed depressing. She’s done her best holding back the forces of evil unleashed on us in 2010. That backstabbing prick Thom Tillis is my representative and I’ve had to restrain myself from going to community events where he’ll be present because I think I would probably have a very ugly public meltdown.

  56. 56.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 26, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    @Brachiator:

    WE are not supposed to take it seriously.

    The teatards, OTOH, are supposed to eat this up.

  57. 57.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:27 pm

    @Violet:

    That wouldn’t do it, by itself – he had to have stepped over the line in a very specific way, in a way that guarantees his critics will not be burning bridges no matter how far he gets

    The Village tore into Newt and so: the cocktail circuit knows something we don’t

  58. 58.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:28 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Goldman Sachs = bad Jews, the sort who like mosques in NYC

    Adelson = good Jew, the sort who funded an anti-Muslim hate video used for police training in NYC

    . . . It’s really that simple, and I’m not kidding. Jews are virtuous in terms of how much they openly smear Muslims in the racist worldview of America’s fascists (i.e., Republicans)

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 26, 2012 at 6:28 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    Block that mixed metaphor!

    Heh. Many years ago, a boss of mine uttered the following sentence: “The stars coalesce, the next hot button will be pushed, and you will have missed the train.”

    Seriously, you couldn’t do it better if you owned McMegan’s Thermomix.

  60. 60.

    jl

    January 26, 2012 at 6:29 pm

    Commenter in previous thread says Newt proposes eventual statehood for the Moon, after colony established.

    https://balloon-juice.com/2012/01/26/romney-releases-tax-information-does-better-with-florida-gop-voters/#comment-3008959

    Looks like Newt has made his choice, insane in the brane all the way.

    Edit: might be a wedge issue. Since God created the Moon out of green cheese, pundits will wonder how Newt’s brave stand will play in the dairy states.

  61. 61.

    smintheus

    January 26, 2012 at 6:29 pm

    @Brachiator: No, we’re supposed to use it to discredit Citizens United among Republican rank and file.

  62. 62.

    Jennifer

    January 26, 2012 at 6:30 pm

    I’m loving Romney’s Swiss bank account mess. Again, watch for Gingrich to say something along the lines of “a guy who doesn’t even believe in America enough to keep his money here has no business being president.”

  63. 63.

    Benjamin Franklin

    January 26, 2012 at 6:30 pm

    @General Stuck:

    Yet, compared to the current batch of Republicans, Dems, are

    übertrieben optimistisch

  64. 64.

    Violet

    January 26, 2012 at 6:30 pm

    @AA+ Bonds:
    But sleeping with someone’s wife wouldn’t do it. Live boy or dead girl or nothing. Oooh! Does he have an undisclosed mental illness, like schizophrenia, for which he takes meds? That might do it.

  65. 65.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    Liberals who bash on manned space exploration should be sent to pick grapes in the Valley

  66. 66.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:33 pm

    @Violet:

    You might very well have put your finger on it, although given the large contingent of therapists who attend to the Hill it would have to either be something very rare among politicians (paranoid schizophrenia might do it, yes) or something where his symptoms caused him to act out in a specific way (a manic episode where he physically attacked a Senator at a party or something)

  67. 67.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 26, 2012 at 6:37 pm

    @Jennifer: I’m kinda bewildered that the issue hasn’t caused more blowback. I’m also curious to know how much money he’s actually making/saving with these shelters.

    Good Lord, Reverend Al has Bill “White male votes count more” Schneider on his show. I haven’t seen that genial hump in years.

  68. 68.

    Brachiator

    January 26, 2012 at 6:37 pm

    @AA+ Bonds:

    . . . It’s really that simple, and I’m not kidding. Jews are virtuous in terms of how much they openly smear Muslims in the racist worldview of America’s fascists (i.e., Republicans)

    Lot of Jewish retirees in Florida. Neither they nor a lot of people elsewhere buy into any notion of virtuous Jew vs another kind of Jew.

    And yeah, I can see that a lot of crazy 27 percenters believe weird stuff, but they apparently don’t realize how their nonsense is looked at outside of their little dens of hate.

  69. 69.

    General Stuck

    January 26, 2012 at 6:37 pm

    @Benjamin Franklin:

    I think the football game has to be played with maximum effort and intensity until the final quarter ends, despite what the scoreboard says.

    And you are right; we don’t know what surprises (October) are waiting in the Wings

    while this is obviously true. It is also true that too much gloom and expected doom, can cause worst fears to come true. Fact based enthusiasm of conditions ripe for your side, can create a vibe of momentum and inevitability that can be the coin of the realm in political campaigns. It’s a balance of yin and yang, that must be kept in balance, or you end up a Hillary Clinton or Mitt Romney. I have supreme confidence in our cool cat president and his advisors, that that balance will be kept. So I won’t worry much, and if the worst happens, then that is what the people wanted all along. It is near impossible, imo, for even the dimmest bulb voter, to not know what that choice is, at least with the current polarized to the max state of affairs.

  70. 70.

    Tonal Crow

    January 26, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    @AA+ Bonds:

    Liberals who bash on manned space exploration should be sent to pick grapes in the Valley

    Manned space exploration is a huge waste of effort and money that should go toward preserving the habitability of earth. Not to oversnark, but ever heard of anthropogenic climate change? You know we’re almost certainly committed to >= 2 degrees, right? Any idea what 3 degrees or more will be like? Why not find out?

    ETA: liberals who aren’t in 5-alarm mode about climate change haven’t understood the consequences, of which having no grapes to pick is but a faint symbol.

  71. 71.

    Jennifer

    January 26, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    @Violet: Naw. It’s more personal than that. People usually make some allowances for those they know have mental issues. They don’t hate them like they obviously hate Newt.

    Besides, Newt’s mental illness is on full display for all to see. He’s a sociopath.

  72. 72.

    Linda Featheringill

    January 26, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    It looks like we will be blessed with Wolf Blitzer tonight.

  73. 73.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Lot of Jewish retirees in Florida. Neither they nor a lot of people elsewhere buy into any notion of virtuous Jew vs another kind of Jew.

    Are you fucking kidding me with this

  74. 74.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:41 pm

    @Tonal Crow:

    A lot of things can fuck up Earth that aren’t humans brother Crow and I for one would like to start doing a little risk management

  75. 75.

    Jennifer

    January 26, 2012 at 6:42 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The issue hasn’t been out there long enough to really sink in – what, just 3 or 4 days so far? Then today comes the news that Romney “forgot” to report money he had stashed overseas…it will take a bit more fleshing out, but I’ve no doubt both Gingrich and Obama will have people sorting out the specifics on it in short order.

  76. 76.

    lamh35

    January 26, 2012 at 6:44 pm

    @Linda Featheringill: so will Blitzer ask Romney about “forgetting” to disclose his swiss bank account funds???

  77. 77.

    scav

    January 26, 2012 at 6:44 pm

    @jl: Or will Newt, like a naked new-born babe, let fly a nether-blast, which like a heaving cherrybomb, unleashed upon the countless couriers of the airwaves, blow up torrid misdeeds in every mind’s eye, that jeers shall resound in the audience? Then again, he could just stomp, wave his rattle alarmingly and pout until he gets his front seat in all lifé’s venues.

  78. 78.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:46 pm

    @Jennifer:

    People usually make some allowances for those they know have mental issues. They don’t hate them like they obviously hate Newt.

    When it comes to the wealthy and powerful, they make those allowances until they can find an excuse not to – realize that these people are very insecure and are always testing their friends and family to find where potential liabilities might be hiding

    But yeah on the whole I think you are right: I think Pelosi knows something, and whispers about whatever-it-was are why he got slapped down on the $300,000 corruption charges, and why the Republicans and the cocktail set are working overtime to hate him

  79. 79.

    danimal

    January 26, 2012 at 6:47 pm

    @jl: DC statehood is beyond the pale, but get 13K on the moon and they’re in? Wow.

  80. 80.

    Tonal Crow

    January 26, 2012 at 6:48 pm

    @AA+ Bonds:

    @Tonal Crow: A lot of things can fuck up Earth that aren’t humans brother Crow and I for one would like to start doing a little risk management.

    That would require learning about the risks first. Going full-bore on colonizing space because you fear K-T-style asteroids is silly if it means (and it almost certainly would mean) doing nothing about the large-scale disruptions upcoming from ACC.

  81. 81.

    Violet

    January 26, 2012 at 6:49 pm

    @Jennifer:
    But if Newt only did something to one Congressman, like slept with his wife, then it would make sense for that particular Congressman to hate Newt, but the rest of them would most likely just give it a pass under “boys will be boys” or some such. It has to be something either completely unforgivable (see: dead girl, live boy) or something that affects a lot more of them than just one. Something that affects their very jobs or livelihood or something.

  82. 82.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:49 pm

    @Tonal Crow:

    it means (and it almost certainly would mean)

    Oh I see, you’re just incapable of reasoning. Just goes to my point I suppose, thanks

    Also you’re short on knowledge if K-T repeats are all you’re worrying about; the risks on those are decently calculated and rather low

  83. 83.

    Benjamin Franklin

    January 26, 2012 at 6:50 pm

    @General Stuck:

    Hence my refrain to ‘wildly optimistic’

    I agree that enthusiasm braced with concrete reality is the best state of mind.

    But, it is a yin-yang balance hard to achieve.

  84. 84.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 26, 2012 at 6:51 pm

    @Jennifer: there was a rumor floating around a couple of weeks ago that it was Newt who started the whisper campaign about Bill Paxon and Sandy Hume. Newt’s a pig, to be sure, but if this is the case, why don’t those people look in the mirror at those who help perpetuate a world where a gay man was driven to suicide by the threat of outing.

  85. 85.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    January 26, 2012 at 6:51 pm

    Let fury have the hour

    okay, but what will the clampdown be?

  86. 86.

    WereBear

    January 26, 2012 at 6:53 pm

    @Violet: It has to be something either completely unforgivable (see: dead girl, live boy) or something that affects a lot more of them than just one. Something that affects their very jobs or livelihood or something.

    I think it’s simple. It’s Newt.

    He destroys himself, over and over. Because restraint is a foreign concept to him. He puts on golf shoes and steps on his own dick because the suspense of waiting for him to do that to himself is too great.

    Those who have worked with him up close, watched him long enough; it’s been proven over and over. Nancy Pelosi is certain he will screw it up himself; that’s what she meant.

    It’s what he’s always done.

  87. 87.

    Chris

    January 26, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    @Schlemizel:

    You have to admire the way the slimy amphibian speaks directly to the lizard brain.

    I truly do.

    I’m really fascinated by the way he’s tapping into not just the racism and nationalism inherent in said brain, but also the latent populism of the kind that powered W. J. Bryan and Huey Long’s campaign – you know, the anticapitalist type. That paragraph about companies drowning people in the mud wouldn’t be out of place in any leftist’s mouth – and if it had come from Obama, or anyone on his side of the aisle, it would’ve been soshulism, unamericanism and general eebilness. But coming from a guy who looks and sounds like them, and who also hates all the right people, turns out a ton of people love it.

    (Not that Newt will ever follow up on the populism when elected to office, of course).

  88. 88.

    Tonal Crow

    January 26, 2012 at 6:55 pm

    @AA+ Bonds:

    Oh I see, you’re just incapable of reasoning. Just goes to my point I suppose, thanks

    So you think, in these deficit-ridden times, we have the resources — and the will — to build space colonies and properly address ACC? Given the progress so far on the latter, I can only point and laugh.

    Also you’re short on knowledge if K-T repeats are all you’re worrying about; the risks on those are decently calculated and rather low

    I am not worried a whit about K-T repeats. I’m worried about what’s right before us.

  89. 89.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:55 pm

    @Violet:

    But if Newt only did something to one Congressman, like slept with his wife, then it would make sense for that particular Congressman to hate Newt, but the rest of them would most likely just give it a pass

    See, I don’t think so – in Republican Land this would be screwing over a fellow Republican man through theft of his possessions

  90. 90.

    Jennifer

    January 26, 2012 at 6:56 pm

    @Violet: He’s fucked over pretty much everyone who’s ever crossed his path, and you can be sure he was as dismissive as humanly possible while doing the fucking over. I don’t have any special insider knowledge on Newt himself, but I don’t need it – any guy who would dump a wife who’s supported him (literally) for 18 years while she’s sick in the hospital because she’s not “young enough or pretty enough to be the president’s wife,” and who dumped the woman with whom he was cheating on that first wife after she was diagnosed with MS, while at the same time pressuring her to give her blessing to him continuing to fuck a woman he’d already been fucking for the past 6 years…any guy who would do that has screwed every person who ever crossed his path. He truly is the scorpion in the scorpion and the frog story – it’s what he is, it’s what he does.

  91. 91.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 6:56 pm

    @Tonal Crow:

    This is the worst troll you have ever done, Kennedy at least said it was between space and starving children

  92. 92.

    Benjamin Franklin

    January 26, 2012 at 6:57 pm

    @Chris:

    I’m really fascinated by the way he’s tapping into not just the racism and nationalism inherent in said brain,

    i heard Jeb Bush make the best comment I’ve heard from their side in a while.

    “If we’re going to be the majority, we can no longer be the Party of the Old White Guy”

  93. 93.

    Mike E

    January 26, 2012 at 6:58 pm

    @merrinc: Go to Tillis’ events, bring loads of friends! I’m gonna work a phone bank against fracking/air toxin rollback legislation this pre-Spring. Hit ’em any way you can.

  94. 94.

    AA+ Bonds

    January 26, 2012 at 7:00 pm

    @WereBear:

    Nancy Pelosi is certain he will screw it up himself; that’s what she meant.

    I really doubt it was that vague

  95. 95.

    Tonal Crow

    January 26, 2012 at 7:00 pm

    @AA+ Bonds:

    This is the worst troll you have ever done, Kennedy at least said it was between space and starving children

    Alright, let’s unwind this a bit. What are you worried about that manned space exploration (and apparently the establishment of space colonies) is such a priority for you?

  96. 96.

    Chris

    January 26, 2012 at 7:06 pm

    @Benjamin Franklin:

    Good word, Jeb.

    Someone better tell Newt that, though. Him, and the entire Tea Party Movement that’s taken over the party.

  97. 97.

    Brachiator

    January 26, 2012 at 7:07 pm

    @AA+ Bonds: RE: Lot of Jewish retirees in Florida. Neither they nor a lot of people elsewhere buy into any notion of virtuous Jew vs another kind of Jew.

    Are you fucking kidding me with this

    No. People keep focusing on how Newt is playing to Christianist rubes, as though nobody else is in Florida. Or in America.

    That dog won’t hunt.

  98. 98.

    Herbal Infusion Bagger

    January 26, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    Liberals who bash on manned space exploration should be sent to pick grapes in the Valley

    Yet one of Gingrich’s first actions when he became Speaker was to shut down the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. No geek he.

  99. 99.

    Tonal Crow

    January 26, 2012 at 7:18 pm

    @Herbal Infusion Bagger:

    Yet one of Gingrich’s first actions when he became Speaker was to shut down the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. No geek he.

    Newt is a pure bullshitter: he says whatever he needs to accomplish his goal, irrespective of whether it’s true or false, whether it conflicts with something he said in the previous sentence, or whether it’s crazier than a belfry-full of dingbats.

  100. 100.

    Herbal Infusion Bagger

    January 26, 2012 at 7:18 pm

    My guess is either he

    1) slept with a Congressman’s wife and it got hushed up
    2) had a tryst with someone below the age of consent and it got hushed up

    Or he’s just a general douchebag. He marched them up to the top of the hill of impeachment, and it cost them dearly in the 1998 midterm.

    (Mind you, the impeachment did make Gore distance himself from Clinton in 2000, wheras without the impeachment debacle Gore would have won with a Scalia-proof margin).

  101. 101.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    January 26, 2012 at 7:24 pm

    @Jennifer: Maybe he can talk about how it’s like cheating on your wife, and say it without irony.

  102. 102.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    January 26, 2012 at 7:29 pm

    @Tonal Crow:
    Actually, in these deficit-ridden times, a large project like space exploration, refocusing the country on science, and spending money to put people to work. I also think that the technologies born from it would help, considering that it gets hard to burn fossil fuels out of the atmosphere.

  103. 103.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    January 26, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    Much as I hate the damn play, we need moar Hamlet quotes here re Newt. The first one that comes to mind, albeit certainly not the most apropos:

    “O that this too too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.”

  104. 104.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 26, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    @AA+ Bonds: WTF is your deal lately? You’ve gone all aggro all the time.

  105. 105.

    Jennifer

    January 26, 2012 at 7:38 pm

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent): Heh.

    Newt: “I may have cheated on my wives, but HE cheated on AMERICA!”

  106. 106.

    Benjamin Franklin

    January 26, 2012 at 7:40 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Yeah, I noticed that. Cock-puppet?

  107. 107.

    scav

    January 26, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    @The Fat Kate Middleton: “Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!” pulled a bit out of context, but strangely apposite in that in comes from one of the ranty bits.

  108. 108.

    Chuck Butcher

    January 26, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    @AA+ Bonds:
    Manned space exploration is hugely expensive primarily thanks to the “manned” part of it. You’ve got to support humans and avoid getting them killed – expensive stuff. In regard to the “exploration” part of it, it is rather difficult to make the case that part can’t be done as well robotically. Colonization doesn’t seem to qualify as that if it is robots.

    Maybe we need to wind down some war stuff and get our income/spending into some sort of order before we worry a lot about shooting people around space when robots will do. I do find it really sad the the government and NASA managed to screw around about the shuttle and leave us with no launch vehicle.

    To advance my non-Luddite creds, my Dad was Chief Engineer for the company that designed and built the Saturn V crawler transporter.

  109. 109.

    handy

    January 26, 2012 at 7:45 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Lately?

  110. 110.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 26, 2012 at 7:48 pm

    @handy: More so lately. AA+ Bonds went through a “we’re all in it together; let’s defeat the GOP” phase a while back. It seems to have ended.

  111. 111.

    Hungry Joe

    January 26, 2012 at 8:00 pm

    Newt’s strength is that he actually believes what he says — or at least, he believes it at the moment he’s saying it. While every word that comes out of Mitt’s mouth sounds fake, including “and” and “the” (apologies to Mary McCarthy), Newt’s gaseous twaddle comes across as sincere (to some people, anyway) because it is sincere.

  112. 112.

    Tonal Crow

    January 26, 2012 at 8:14 pm

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent): I’m at least as Keynesian as the next liberal, but I prefer verifiable returns on my stimulus dollars beyond the multiplier effect. ACC is already here (Russia 2010 and Texas today anyone?) and will get much worse without a WWII-magnitude decarbonization effort begun yesterday. Manned space exploration is a nice-to-have that might spawn some useful offshoots. By my lights, there’s no comparison in the relative priorities.

  113. 113.

    Tonal Crow

    January 26, 2012 at 8:16 pm

    @Chuck Butcher: Yah. We need some serious climate satellites. Better measurement of earth’s radiation budget would be very helpful right about now. No, CERES ain’t good enough.

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