This group of so-called Godly people worship Newt even though Newt was one of the major characters in the Contract ON America which has brought us the dirtiest politics as we know politics today. Newt was one of the first Republicans that called others opposing him ‘unpatriotic’ and ‘unAmerican’. Now where have we seen this strategy played out before – oh yeah, Bush and Company also play that game.

Newt’s biggest feat was brainwashing the so-called Christian Conservatives into his political scheme and somehow try to protray the GOP party as the party of God.

If this was not so tragic, I’d have to laugh. God gets the blame for alot of stupid things Newt has done.

Love this. When are you dumb butts going to quit blaming Bush’s blunders on Clinton. This is one very sad repeating theme of your ridiculous party. I have had enough. America has had enough.

Please keep it up. You will be thrown in the dust bin of persona non-gratas forever.

Hallelujah – is all I have to say.

“Happy days are here again, the sky above is clear again, happy days are here again…”

On the contrary- the Clinton campaign was notable for hitting hard, and immediately, always in attack mode. And the Clinton White House set a model that unfortunately may become the rule: the endless political/campaign mode, and the inevitable melding of campaigning with governing.

Very few things are enduring in this world. Politics is. And by the standard of 100-150 years ago, we are in a period of peaceful bliss. Campaigns were much dirtier then.

The Who were exactly right: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. It has always been so.

No, the Dems were less rancorous because they had become used to being in the majority, relying on machine politics and entrenched constituencies. With the real competetiveness of the collapse of that seemingly endless majority coalition came the rancor of the campaign, when both parties saw each election as key to control of Congress.

Neither party wears halos here.

That was the style he developed – not Bill Clinton. Clinton knew how to play political hardball, but Gingrich ratcheted it up several notches.

Impeachment was Gingrich’s finest moment, by his definition.

Unfortunately for him and the GOP, there will be many Democrats that will not forget it.

Newt Gingrich has ensured that a great number of Americans will never vote Republican in their lifetimes.

Refresh my memory if Clinton had been carrying out ‘partisan rancor’ against the GOP.

You may remember that the original charge that Starr was to investigate was the Whitewater land deal. After Clinton left office, Starr’s successor issued his report indicating that there was no wrongdoing by the Clintons regarding the deal.

We will never forget the impeachment of Clinton and we will never forgive the GOP. You had better believe that if McCain gets the GOP nomination, one of the big questions he will have to answer is why he voted for conviction when Clinton was impeached.

We will not forget the partisan rancor that the GOP turned loose on America.

ESPECIALLY an impeachment.

Opinion polls or not.

1) The “approval” ratings are driven by pollsters, who get any answer they like. Liars, damn liars, and statisticians.

2) Any policymaker, whether a President, a member of Congress, or a local DA, who’s decisions are driven by polls or what is popular is not fit to hold office.

Both impeachments of US Presidents in our history were for partisan, political reasons. That is not what was intended by the Founding Fathers. The GOP conducted a $75 million witch hunt against Clinton, looking for ANY reason to impeach him and remove him from office.

We will never let the architects of that witch hunt pretend that it did not happen. We will never forget that the GOP impeached a president with a 67% approval rating, but gives a pass to one with a 28% rating.

2) That’s a two part question. a) is perjury an impeachable offense? Yes. Was THIS perjury one which should have been impeachable? No.

But it’s politics. What else is new?

Sort of like Nixon – he was potentially a great prsident; unfortunately he allowed Watergate to consume him.

Fair enough?

No discussion of Gingrich is possible WITHOUT discussing impeachment. He can’t just sweep it under the rug. He pressed for it, Burton’s subcommittee issued over 1,000 subpoenas, the GOP House of Representatives make it a central part of their agenda in 1998.

Gingrich’s role in the proceedings are part and parcel of who he is.

By some measure, if he gets the nomination of his party for president, don’t you think somebody might bring it up?

Didn’t say or imply that. That wasn’t the point. You’re changing the subject again.

Just get the facts right.

It’s kind of like Rush calling drug addicts “dregs of humanity.” Well, now that he is one of them then that makes him a self-described “dreg”

At this point, of course, the major candidates get it out in the open right from the start. George W. copped to the booze problem and people let it go, at least in part because he believes in Christianity. It’s hard to tell how a recovering boozer would play if the guy just said he quit and that was that. What would happen if a candidate went on stage at some debate and admitted that half the time he truly can’t decide if God exists? A lot of people kick it around in private. You start at a young age with the eternal questions. It’s part of life. Yet a candidate is called upon to walk on stage and somehow have a mindset, a couple of sentences at the ready to box it up. “I believe this or I believe that.” Done and done. Maybe it’s that simple and maybe it’s not. It’s possible to be a person of faith and to question that faith from time to time. Priests have written books on the subject. Would a presidential candidate admit it though? Probably not. In America, it’s safer to tell the story.

Now take Obama. We know he snorted coke a long time ago, and we know he still smokes and he’s trying to quit. Can you get elected president as a smoker? It’s a shallow world we live in if Americans hold it against him: Churchill smoked cigars on a daily basis and Hitler probably never torched a thing. Rest assured, however, that if Obama makes the finals, the shallow smoking thing will be a dilemma.

How about Rudy? People are having doubts about his family life, as if they know enough about it to make a judgment. In a separate post, Brownlee referenced a Dickens novel. What do you learn from Dickens? Well, you learn plenty, but you certainly get the message in full that there is much more to people than meets the eye. The inner life is a mystery. Great people sometimes emerge from early mistakes. They have the problem of being blind to their own defects but make progress and gain awareness as life goes on.

What’s this mean for Gingrich? Anybody’s guess. Fred Thompson has momentum at the moment. It looks like he can walk between the wings of the Republican Party.

Yet we haven’t even launched the Kentucky Derby. People are still trying to find a seat. The track looks muddy and it’s raining.

http://www.salon.com/news/1998/08/28news.html

“The most notorious incident in Gingrich’s marriage — first reported by David Osborne in Mother Jones magazine in 1984 — was when he cornered Jackie in her hospital room where she was recovering from uterine cancer surgery and insisted on discussing the terms of the divorce he was seeking.Shortly after that infamous encounter, Gingrich refused to pay his alimony and child-support payments. The First Baptist Church in his hometown had to take up a collection to support the family Gingrich had deserted.”

What a guy!

At the time of impeachment, most of the “outrage” was focused on the affair. It was when the attempt to remove Clinton from office failed and Republican infidelities were exposed, that the GOP began it’s CYA campaign of insisting that it had “nothing to do with” the infidelity.

And, by the way, why did Gingrich state that he had set himself up for a charge of hypocrisy during impeachment, if his own affair had come to light?