I hate to link to Halperin but this is sweet:
Gingrich to Republican Jewish Coalition crowd: “I will ask John Bolton to be the Secretary of State.”
I can’t top that, so I’ll shut up.
by DougJ| 102 Comments
This post is in: Green Balloons
I hate to link to Halperin but this is sweet:
Gingrich to Republican Jewish Coalition crowd: “I will ask John Bolton to be the Secretary of State.”
I can’t top that, so I’ll shut up.
Comments are closed.
beltane
Damn. I just clicked over here to post that. Also, look at Jennifer Rubin’s reaction: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/07/1043169/-Republican-Jewish-Coalition-%E2%99%A5s-Gingrich
DougJ
@beltane:
Why is moving the embassy to Jerusalem such winger bait?
beltane
@DougJ: Because it is symbolism designed to piss off the Mooslims and nothing says Smart Foreign Policy like sh*tting on a billion people for no particular purpose.
Dave
@DougJ: It’s the historical center of Israel, the birthplace of the House of David. So for the Israeli nationalists, it is the center of everything Jewish.
Suffern ACE
@DougJ: Because Jerusalem is not all Israel’s. It is very purposefully not the capital of Israel.
PeakVT
@DougJ: Because it would mean the US was ratifying the seizure of East Jerusalem (and by extension the rest of the West Bank). A unified biblical Israel would bring the Rapture one step closer.
Zifnab
@DougJ: Because JEEBUS! We must be closer to JEEBUS!
Special Patrol Group
@DougJ:
All secondary at best. It’s mostly because liberals oppose the move.
Per Cleek’s Observation:
Today’s conservatism is the opposite of what liberals want today, updated daily.
beltane
@PeakVT: And it just might.
Guster
I wonder if the Log Cabin Republicans and the Republican Jewish Coalition ever get together.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@PeakVT: Excepting that Newt no more believes in Teh Rapture than he does the Easter Bunny. Never attribute anything that man ever does to anything else that cannot first be attributed to unfiltered, undiluted, stonecold spite.
kindness
Well that works if Americans (Jewish Repubs too) want perpetual war with every Muslim nation on earth.
So Newt gets Pam Geller’s vote. Who else would this impress?
Yevgraf
In that event, I’ll start sending donations to Hezbollah with “bombs for anti-Israeli intifada” in the memo line.
Bulworth
I won’t rest until I know Newt’s choice for Secretary of War.
rumpole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBhlQgvHmQ0
In a (wing) nutshell.
Xenos
@Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn: Now that Newt is a Roman Catholic, he had better not believe in the rapture. He could get sent back to conversion catechism class for that!
beltane
Isn’t Newt supposed to be a Catholic these days? I could be mistaken but I believe he is going against the RC Church with his position on Jerusalem.
Roger Moore
@Dave:
Technically, Jerusalem was the seat of the House of David (i.e. where they built the Temple and royal palace) but not the birthplace. David was originally from Bethlehem, and Jerusalem was a city he captured from the Jebusites not long after recovering independence from the Philistines. That’s why there’s the story in Luke about Joseph and Mary having to travel to Bethlehem for a fictional census when Jesus was born; it provides an explanation for how a guy from Nazareth was really of the House of David and born in the same town where David was.
Yevgraf
@Bulworth:
Bolton is Newt’s choice for Secretary of War. Diplomacy is for pussies. What this country clearly needs is an asshole chickenhawk to yell at furriners.
I also want to point out that the main difference between warmonger John Bolton and peace activist Jane Fonda is that unlike Bolton, Jane actually went to Vietnam…
beltane
@Bulworth: I do not know his plans for the Ministry of War, but I’ve been told that Herman Cain is his choice to be Secretary of Love.
PeakVT
@Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn: I’m sure Gingrich doesn’t believe the Rapture is imminent, but that certainly wouldn’t stop him exploiting those who do, i.e. Christian Zionists (aka Talibangelicals).
Yevgraf
@Roger Moore:
Another lesson in why it is foolish to base contemporary foreign policy on supporting ancient myths.
Guster
On second though, I don’t really understand this. I mean, isn’t west Jerusalem indisputably Israel?
And isn’t that where the embassy would be? And isn’t that what Israel says is its capital? I mean, as long as it’s not a land-grab, shouldn’t you put an embassy in whatever city the other country says is its capital? Or is that not how it’s done?
Brachiator
@Bulworth:
Not too sure on this one, but Donald Trump is a natural for Secretary of Treasury.
wenchacha
Is Newt Opus Dei? I’m curious if he is mainstream Catholic, or some other variation of RC, usually more conservative than the Vatican.
beltane
@Yevgraf:
Maybe this is not true. For all we know, the Greek crisis could be solved if they just started sacrificing goats to Athena in front of the Acropolis.
trollhattan
I guess for double-WIN points, Herr Sekratari Bolton could lop off the top few stories of the UN Building and helicoptor (black, of course) them to Jerusalem to serve as the new capitol.
Of all the Bushies, Bolton remains the one I’d most like to smash in the puss with a cinderblock. Even more than Cheney. There’s just something about that guy….
Short Bus Bully
You know what this country really needs? A CRUSADE.
Gingrich and the wingers know this. Done and done.
Ohmyfuckinggod this is gonna be OSSUM.
/popcorn
Roger Moore
@beltane:
I think it’s Hermes, the God of merchants and bankers, they need to be trying to mollify. Or maybe they could try praying to Bernardine of Feltre, the patron saint of bankers.
Violet
I’ve been out of the country and only just got home. So Newt is now the front runner? How the hell did that happen?
Women hate Newt. How can he ever win the general election?
Svensker
@Guster:
Go read the summary at #8 again.
Amir Khalid
They must have been ROFL at the US State Department when they heard that.
Per TPM, the (non) reaction from Bolton:
Jenny
See, the Firebaggers and PUMAs are right. There no difference btwn Obama and Gingrich.
Gin & Tonic
@wenchacha: Newt is no more a genuine Catholic than I am a Cardinal.
jayjaybear
@wenchacha: I doubt that. Santorum, maybe, but I don’t think Newt has the kind of faith chops it takes to be Opus Dei. Those people aren’t just religious politicians mouthing words that will get the yokels to vote for them…they really do believe. What they believe is reactionary, recidivist, revanchist bullshit more egregious than the usual right-wing Christian reactionary, recidivist revanchist bullshit, but they do absolutely believe it.
eemom
omg, moving the embassy to Jerusalem is about as close as you could get to the literal act of touching a match to a gas tank. You might as well yell “Fuck the Palestinians” on the floor of the UN.
Jenny
@Guster:
Sure, they fit nicely in a phone booth.
Maude
OT Sandusky has been arrested on more charges.
Bolton used to chase women down hotel hallways. Will he chase them through the State Department?
jayjaybear
@trollhattan:
In my case, it’s the wholesale swipe of Kurt Vonnegut’s look. On a person of Bolton’s caliber, it’s just completely unearned.
trollhattan
@Violet:
He’s just so goshdurn full of them idears, all the time cipherin’ new idears on how to make the you ess even better, and idears on who Calista’s replacement otta be.
He’s a baffoon and has zero chance of not sinking his own leaky ship before the convention. Which leaves…?
Huntsmania!
Frankensteinbeck
@Violet:
He can’t. AH HA HA HA HA HA!
Faux News
John Bolton for Secretary of State? Hmm. Pity Dr. Mengele isn’t available to be the Surgeon General. I’m sure Newt would nominate him if he could.
eemom
@trollhattan:
Backpfeifengesicht
Guster
Wikipedia says: The Jerusalem Law states that “Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel” and the city serves as the seat of the government, home to the President’s residence, government offices, supreme court, and parliament. United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 (20 Aug. 1980; 14–0, U.S. abstaining) declared the Jerusalem Law “null and void” and called on member states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from Jerusalem. The United Nations and all member nations refuse to accept the Jerusalem Law (see Kellerman 1993, p. 140) and maintain their embassies in other cities such as Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, and Herzliya (see the CIA Factbook and Map of Israel). The U.S. Congress subsequently adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which said that the U.S. embassy should be relocated to Jerusalem and that it should be recognized as the capital of Israel. However, the US Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel concluded that the provisions of the act “invade exclusive presidential authorities in the field of foreign affairs and are unconstitutional”. Since passage of the act, all Presidents serving in office have determined that moving forward with the relocation would be detrimental to U.S. national security concerns and opted to issue waivers suspending any action on this front. The Palestinian Authority sees East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. The city’s final status awaits future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority
Violet
@trollhattan:
It’ll be Romney before Huntsman. Romney’s got money and people in position in various states to do the ground work. Huntsman is like a saner Romney, which will never go down well in Republican Primary Voter Land.
Steve
@DougJ: Something not everybody knows is that we’ve had a law on the books for 15 years saying our embassy will be moved to Jerusalem. The only way around the law is if the President certifies that it can’t be done yet for national security reasons. Every President since then, Clinton, Bush, Obama, has dutifully certified every six months that the time has not arrived.
@Guster: We would be literally the only country with an embassy in Jerusalem. Imagine all the cocktail parties we would miss.
Villago Delenda Est
@Gin & Tonic:
Not even a Cardinal Puff? With a nym like that, you’d be a natural…
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@Maude: Screaming and throwing shoes, no less. IOW, Newt’s sorta guy.
trollhattan
@eemom:
There it is. Dankeschön!
jonas
Why stop the pandering with Bolton for State?
Rush Limbaugh for Chief of Staff
the corpse of Curtis Le May for Defense Secretary
Robert Bork for attorney general
Randal Terry for surgeon general
Etc., etc.
trollhattan
@Violet:
I’ve always figured Romney no matter what (allowing for Perry’s bucks to muscle in but wow, was that ever brief) but the Republican barrel scrapings, beginning with Cain, show how desperate they are for ABR and there’s still time for a Newt flameout and at least one more ABR. Huntsman’s the last man standing, since Paul keeps on his invisibility cloak and Santorum is too toxic even for them.
burnspbesq
@Maude:
Meanwhile, Fine is going to skate. The Onondaga County DA says (1) that while he finds Davis and Lang to be credible, the statute of limitations under New York law has expired, and (2) although Fine could be prosecuted under Federal law if the Tomaselli allegations were true, there is significant exculpatory evidence (apparently team travel records don’t show Tomaselli traveling with the team to Pittsburgh in 2002, as he alleged).
Ugh. Nobody, including me, is going to be happy about the way this has played out.
Delicious additional detail that I didn’t know before today, that isn’t legally relevant, but that adds to the odor around this whole situation: the chief of the Syracuse PD at the time Davis first came forward was a former Syracuse basketball player.
Yevgraf
@eemom:
Conservatives are just showing how much they love the troops by throwing them recklessly into soul-sucking, life-taking combat. Liberals hate the troops, and show it by being cautious about the escalation of force and by demonstrating reluctance at entering into conflict.
Raven
@jonas: And fruitcake Newt as the commander of a weapons platoon in the 506th PIR.
Geografist
I’m pretty sure that offering political appointments prior to an election is either illegal or a violation of some ethics reg somewhere…?
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@trollhattan: I honestly believe that Newt is the sort who *will* have multiple instances of what would be considered a flameout — by general election standards. But any such behavior that manifests itself between now and the end of the primaries will only serve to seal the deal with today’s conservative base, being as that ego and termperment of his, while grotesque to the larger citizenry, will be red meat to conservative voters.
What doomed Perry and Cain were “deer in the headlights” moments, and I don’t see that coming from Gingrich.
Maude
@burnspbesq:
Shame about Fine, but they can’t risk losing in court.
I want to see what happens in PA with the hearing on Sandusky. See if he is out and about after that.
At least, he should be monitored.
danimal
Somebody pinch me. The GOP is really going to nominate this blowhard? Really? I never thought I would see the day when the Dems could claim 40-50 states in the electoral college, but I never dreamed the Republicans could be so criminally stupid.
Michael Bolton would be a better choice for Defense Secretary than John Bolton. At least he could put our enemies to sleep with some smooth jazz…
Go, Newt, Go. We are really scared of you. You threaten our liberal way of life. /smirk
Yevgraf
http://nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/gingrich-says-he-would-replace-assad-20111207
There ya go, Troops. There’s your Troop lovin’ conservative champion, looking after you.
He’s probably got some vouchers for some of that racist gasbag Maurice’s barbecue down Carolina way that he’s gonna give those beloved Troops that lose limbs and senses in his wars, all to replace that evil soc!alist VA healthcare….
Short Bus Bully
Sweet Jesus… Is it really going to Newt v. Obama?
Head.spinning.
Geografist
Yep, Newt just broke the law (again):
Whoever, being a candidate, directly or indirectly promises or
pledges the appointment, or the use of his influence or support for
the appointment of any person to any public or private position or
employment, for the purpose of procuring support in his candidacy
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one
year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined
under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
Brachiator
@Yevgraf:
Right, because Bush and Cheney managed things so well in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was toppled.
It just astounds me that anybody takes any of these GOP goofballs seriously. Newt promises a new war in the Middle East and his supporters just shrug it off. I’m just waiting for the moment in one of the upcoming GOP debates where Newt makes the claim that American Exceptionalism means that the US would be guaranteed a victory over Syria and Michelle Bachmann shouts “Amen, brother!”
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@Geografist: GOP Base: “Even awesomer!”
carpeduum
“Hi, Peter. What’s happening? We need to talk about your TPS reports.”
DougJ
@carpeduum:
Glad somebody got this reference.
grumpy realist
@Geografist: I think ol’ Newt could skate out of this because he’s not doing this to gather support; he’s just flapping his lips as usual. Mr. Bomb-thrower galore.
After all, it’s all fun and games until someone gets killed….
If Gingrich gets elected as POTUS, that’s it. I’m moving to the Outback.
Yevgraf
@Brachiator:
Yeah, but The Troops© wouldn’t have those PC restraints on them, so they could blow up shit and slaughter civilians by the thousands in order to achieve victory. So long as those Likudnik vampires can dance like the pigs they are in the streets of Tel Aviv and Haifa, rednecks from the South can indiscriminately machine gun brown children, and evangelicals in the USAF can indiscriminately fire off drones and bombs without worry as to consequences, all is good.
Bulworth
@DougJ: DougJ? Is that your real name?
Jesse Ewiak
The Republican Jewish Coalition? So, a bunch of Hasidic Jews and people who think Avigdor Lieberman should be PM in Israel?
Rihilism
@Guster:
Unpossible. With that much guilt and self-hatred in a single location, a singularity is formed and the universe is destroyed….
daveNYC
@eemom:
I’m pretty sure they’d stick that in the second paragraph of the speach.
Bunch of no-talent ass-clowns.
geg6
@beltane:
He’s one of those cafeteria Catholics, I guess. Kinda like his wife, Calista, who, despite being a “devout” Catholic who convinced Newt to convert, had no problem being his mistress and having wild salamander sex with him without the benefit of the “sacrament” of marriage.
geg6
@jayjaybear:
There have been whispers for years that Frothy Rick is Opus Dei.
AA+ Bonds
@DougJ:
Because it’s effectively a declaration of war against Arab Muslims.
It falls under the policies that speak most to part of the Republican base, policies I think are best characterized as “pro-Armageddon”. It throws our hat in for a gigantic climactic showdown that will kill millions of people and, here’s the heretical part, summon Jesus to Earth to punish all non-Christians.
It goes without saying that Gingrich’s Church has been a top advocate for the Palestinians, their right of return, and their right to representation in Jerusalem. There are very few positions Gingrich endorses that the Catholic Church doesn’t actively oppose.
jayjaybear
@geg6: I can definitely see it. The thing with OD is that you really can’t go and pretend to be one. That group is paranoid, clannish and really, really authoritarian…it’s like a cult. They take it seriously, and a pretender would likely be cast out quickly.
Warren Terra
They found enough Republican Jews to constitute a crowd?
In any case, Republicans don’t really suck up to Jews. They give the appearance of sucking up to the most extreme religious and nationalist Jews as a way to appeal to the worst impulses of the Christian Millenialists (who naturally believe those to be their best impulses). The Christian Millenialists, like the Lukidniks they back, disgust and terrify all thinking American Jews – who, according to polls and contra the old Adlai Stevenson gag, are in fact a strong majority of American Jews.
AA+ Bonds
Hmmm which party is a friend of the Jews? Perhaps . . . the Jews can tell us! Let’s take a peek at those voting numbers . . . . well well, it seems like the Republicans should’ve stuck with Pat Buchanan! A har har har!
burnspbesq
@danimal:
Are you kidding? Forcing people to listen to Michael Bolton is causus belli, no doubt about it.
AA+ Bonds
Like people have said above, this is for the weird-ass let’s-die-together right-wing Protestants. There is no fuckin way Jews will vote in large numbers for a party that requires its candidates to stand up and say this is a Christian nation. Even the phrase “Judeo-Christian” couldn’t peel off any support, and that’s pretty much all they got right there.
Blacks know, Jews know, and even 50% of American Catholics know: the Republicans want to cleanse America of non-WASPs and FAST.
Calouste
@grumpy realist:
It got him a big round of applause. So while he might not have done it to gather support from Bolton, he did do it to gather support.
Rihilism
@geg6: Somebody should pants him and check for cilices. Any volunteers?…
burnspbesq
BTW, Blago got 14 years.
Yevgraf
@Warren Terra:
Hard to imagine that American Jews are more interested in keeping America safe for Jews than they are in immigrating to a cornered place that is increasingly looking like it working to be a deservedly bombed out, radioactive wasteland.
AA+ Bonds
Look, Gingrich is like a lot of Republicans: they figure that if the Jews have a Greater Israel, we can finally ship them over there and give the KKK some sorely needed Lebensraum.
They’re “pro-Israel” like Eichmann was in the early years: Israel for the Jews, America for the “Americans”. That’s how they see things.
danimal
@burnspbesq: You’re probably right. To many, Michael Bolton is the audio equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction.
I’m just upset that @DougJ: acknowledged carpedipshit even though I clearly made the connection first.
ohsuzanna
Well, that was just one dog whistle Newtie has in his arsenal, I’m sure.
Chuck Butcher
I suppose a statement like this puts the kibosh to an idea of electing these idjits to teach Americans the lesson of what they actually are…
Which doesn’t mean I think a good sized chunk will get the idea any other way…
SRW1
I bet tomorrow Newt will announce Donald Rumsfeld as his choice for secretary of defense.
burnspbesq
Shocking news from Switzerland: Manchester United is out of the Champions League.
Light the bat-signal. We need a Randinho post to discuss this and other crazy results.
Tom Hilton
Allahpundit was actually a little snarky about this: “…how much redder could this red meat be? The answer is none. None more red.”
And, y’know, I kind of have to agree.
Chris
@Warren Terra:
This.
Jews continue to vote Democrat by overwhelming majorities despite all the jumping up and down by Republican candidates, and Republicans know it: and even if every last American Jew voted Republican, that would still only be a couple percentage points. They’re not talking to Jews, they’re talking to Christian evangelicals.
Snowball
Speaking of Israel; Rick Perry today announced that he would increase US military aid to Israel. With what money? Do we not have a deficit? I thought the deficit was the issue of the day for the GOP.
DanielX
John Bolton as Secretary of State? They’ll have to add a new cable channel. Slogan: “ALL WAR, ALL THE TIME!”
SRW1
@burnspbesq:
Very much looking forward to the Football Weekly Extra from the Guardian tomorrow.
Brachiator
@Chris:
They are looking for a Jimmy Carter type swing.
A Sept 11 NYT story started the hand wringing over this issue
But a USA Today blog piece puts this into perspective.
Jay
Pammycakes Geller will be Bolton’s top deputy. Watch.
AA+ Bonds
@Brachiator:
Man, those wacky Jews – they didn’t even vote for the last standard bearer of white supremacy in America! What the hell is wrong with them?
You gotta love the eternal fascism of Gannett newspapers.
wilfred
Right. And Aipac? One reason that Jews vote Democratic in regard to Israel is that no Democrat opposes anything that the Israelis do anyway. Liberal Jews get to glory in their righteous ‘we care’ politics while Palestinians get their faces rubbed in shit on a daily basis. It’s the best of both worlds – even if it does give rise to the occasional Lady Macbeth post.
Netanhayu got 29 standing ovations when he spoke to congress – how many Democrats sat on their hands? All the influential American Jews in government are diehard zionists, who make common cause with the right wing when it serves their purposes – see Lieberman, Schumer, et al.
The Republicans are running for President of Israel. Obama will, too – and it won’t be because he fears losing support from Christian Zionists.
ned
@Geografist: cite, please.
Samara Morgan
@wilfred:
Nah it because he and Panetta are pants-wetting scared that Israel has figgered out We Arent That Into Her Anymore and is gunna secretly launch on Iran to start WWIII.
Bibi hasta do it before Obama gets re-elected for max effect.
Samara Morgan
@DougJ: because it welds us at the hip to the Israeli-nazis.
And Bolton cant be confirmed, Newt knows it. Its just kabuki.
The question is…….will 2012 be the year America Escapes from Distributed Jesusland?
Or not.
;)
eemom
What was that about “anti-Semitism” being just a meaningless buzzword invoked by warmongering neocons again?