Posts on Newt Gigrich

Since leaving office in 1999, Newt Gingrich has carved out a lucrative post-Congressional career for himself as a speaker, a pundit, “citizen leader,” and possible presidential candidate, all while serving as chairman of his own organization as well as a fellow at various right-wing think tanks.  Heck, he’s even got his own avatar.

In addition, he’s also established himself as something of an “alternative historian,” writing novels that re-imagine everything from the Civil War to World War II.    So enthralled with the idea of alternate history is Gingrich that he’s even pontificated on an “Alternative History of the War since 9/11” with fascinating results.  

But now it seems as if Gingrich’s obsession with alternate history is starting to infect his other, more reality-based, pursuits. 

For instance, yesterday Think Progress caught him defending John McCain’s embrace of John Hagee, saying that McCain had repudiated Hagee’s anti-Catholic statements and that attempts to hold McCain accountable for Hagee’s offensive views was “grabbing at straws.”

Gingrich went on to suggest that McCain has adopted “the Ronald Reagan position” meaning that “People get to endorse me. I'm not endorsing them."

That’s a good defense - unfortunately, it’s pretty much the exact opposite of what Reagan actually said:  

The former actor, famed for his optimism and his ability to communicate it to the American public, was also famous for introducing many conservative Christians to real political influence.

Reagan was present -- and uttered one of his most famous lines -- at the meeting that many credit as the birth of the Religious Right, which molded evangelical Protestant conservatism into a cohesive political movement.

At the Religious Roundtable's National Affairs Briefing in 1980, after being introduced by a Southern Baptist evangelist as "God's man," Reagan -- then a presidential candidate -- told the gathering of conservative Christian luminaries, "I know you can't endorse me, but I endorse you."

Reagan's quip launched a relationship with conservative Christians that would eventually reshape America's political landscape.

Perhaps Gingrich should try to confine his fictitious historical yarns to his novels and avoid working them into his appearances as a political pundit.

The Washington Times reports that the Right and the GOP might have finally figured out that blogs and bloggers are valuable, noting that the Heritage Foundation's Robert Bluey has been hosting weekly "Conservative Bloggers Briefings" that have included people such as Robert Novak, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich.

This week in Washington, DC, Pastor John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel (CUFI) held its annual convention to promote the religious-right’s support of Israel. Amid an evening featuring Gary Bauer and Rod Parsley and the bashing of the United Nations, European Union, State Department, and Jimmy Carter as enemies of the state of Israel, rumored presidential candidate Newt Gingrich provided a relatively innocuous keynote address. Well, relative in the sense that Gingrich outlined his hawkish post-9/11 worldview as opposed to discussing Israel’s role in the impending rapture.

Most of the CUFI constituents in the audience appeared to agree with Hagee’s views regarding the rapidly approaching judgment day.  As we highlighted earlier this year when John McCain was courting CUFI, Hagee’s apocalyptic foreign policy views aren’t exactly mainstream.  So what explains Gingrich’s presence at an event hosted by Hagee, whose judgments are shaped by a belief in a biblically predestined war between Israel and Iran, and the worldwide rule of the Antichrist in the form of the head of the European Union?

Gingrich, who offered up a slightly modified stump speech, making mention of the need for strength and perseverance in the face of war and references to the importance of America’s Christian heritage, is apparently looking to build right-wing support for a potential presidential bid without publicly embracing the conferees’ most extreme ideas.

As we noted the other day, James Dobson is a member of The Arlington Group, a secretive coalition of right-wing powerhouses that is throwing around its political power by interviewing presidential candidates in an attempt to anoint the eventual GOP nominee by granting said nominee its seal-of-approval.

At the same time, various polls show TV star and former Senator Fred Thompson doing quite well among Republican voters despite the fact that he is not even officially running. That apparently was frightening enough to James Dobson to compel him to make an unsolicited phone call to Dan Gilgoff, author of "The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War," in order to decree that Thompson's candidacy is unacceptable because Dobson doesn't "think he's a Christian":

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson appeared to throw cold water on a possible presidential bid by former Sen. Fred Thompson while praising former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is also weighing a presidential run, in a phone interview Tuesday.

"Everyone knows he's conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for," Dobson said of Thompson. "[But] I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression," Dobson added, saying that such an impression would make it difficult for Thompson to connect with the Republican Party's conservative Christian base and win the GOP nomination.

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Thompson, took issue with Dobson's characterization of the former Tennessee senator. "Thompson is indeed a Christian," he said. "He was baptized into the Church of Christ."

In a follow-up phone conversation, Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger stood by Dobson's claim. He said that, while Dobson didn't believe Thompson to be a member of a non-Christian faith, Dobson nevertheless "has never known Thompson to be a committed Christian—someone who talks openly about his faith."

"We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians," Schneeberger added. "Dr. Dobson wasn't expressing a personal opinion about his reaction to a Thompson candidacy; he was trying to 'read the tea leaves' about such a possibility."

Dobson went on to say that Gov. Mitt Romney can't win because "there are conservative Christians who will not vote for him because of his Mormon faith," and that "the current excitement over Giuliani" will soon fade.

The only potential nominee for whom Dobson had any praise was Newt Gingrich, who just so happened to appear on Dobson's radio program a few weeks ago where he confessed to having cheated on his wife during the impeachment of President Clinton and claimed to have sought forgiveness.

While stating that he wasn't endorsing anyone, Dobson praised Gingrich as the "brightest guy out there" and "the most articulate politician on the scene today."

Despite Dobson's claims to the contrary, it is hard to see how this unsolicited call to Gilgoff could be considered anything but an open declaration of support for Gingrich.

Dobson has already said that he will not vote for Sen. John McCain, accused Thompson of not being a Christian, made clear that he doesn't think Romney can win, and declared that Giuliani's campaign is doomed. And since he is not out there praising third-tier candidates such as Sam Brownback or Mike Huckabee, that pretty much leaves Gingrich as Dobson's only choice.

Iowa GOP dir.: “Everybody here loves Gingrich.” Gingrich: Running early is “stupid.”

Like Potomac: “looks beautiful” but “polluted.” Other candidates criticized for “liberal bent.” Also: Gingrich’s back-door campaign features new policy outreach organization.

War on Terror means new speech limits, ’08 dark horse contends.

In Arizona. Measure supposedly aimed at illegal immigrants.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, host of last weekend’s Values Voter Summit, noted the appearance of prominent politicians Sen. George Allen (R-Virginia), Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Arkansas), Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), Newt Gingrich, Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts), and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) – all potential 2008 presidential candidates. And recalling the famous line by Ronald Reagan at the 1980 National Affairs Briefing of the nascent Religious Right – “I know you can't endorse me, but I want you to know that I endorse you” – Perkins writes:

The Washington Briefing, however, was not an opportunity for us to endorse candidates but rather an opportunity for candidates to endorse us and our values.

And indeed, sandwiched in between speakers shouting about “faggots” and telling electoral activists how to deceive their fellow churchgoers, these politicians expressed their admiration for the assembled. As George Allen said, “I want you to count on me as a teammate … as part of your extended family.”

While The New York Times took note of Connie Marshner’s workshop on turning out churchgoers to the polls using deceptive tactics and The Los Angeles Times revealed that Jerry Falwell joked to a pastors’ breakfast that the Religious Right base would be more riled up about Hillary Clinton’s nomination for president in 2008 than Satan’s, the theme that reporters covering the Values Voter Summit latched on to was whether a disillusioned Right Wing would come through for Republicans facing daunting mid-term elections.

• Christian Conservatives Look to Re-energize Base, New York Times. “Openly anxious about grass-roots disaffection from the Republican Party, conservative Christian organizers are reaching for ways to turn out voters this November, including arguing that recognizing same-sex marriage could also limit religious freedom.”
• Conservatives Confident Base Will Vote, Associated Press. “Critical to the Republican base, conservatives expressed confidence Friday that their rank-and-file will vote Nov. 7 even though the GOP-controlled Congress hasn't delivered this year on their core issues.”
• Tactic Uses Pulpits to Power the GOP, Los Angeles Times. “[T]op evangelical leaders pleaded with their followers Friday to put aside frustrations and turn out for GOP candidates.” As a side note, Televangelist Jerry Falwell – who confided that God will save the Republican majority this November –
• Dobson: Rallying family values voters, Rocky Mountain News. Despite disappointment, Dobson is committed to helping the GOP this year – holding rallies in battleground states Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Tennessee.

And while the Religious Right activists on the podium, at least, were sure of their commitment to the Republicans this election cycle, they still want to push through a few more items on their “values agenda.” At the conference, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said that House Republican action on some of the items in their wish list this summer “brought some trust and confidence back”; now, FRC is asking its supporters to pray for a few more.

The conference was also an opportunity for Republicans looking to solidify their credentials with the far Right. The right-wing Washington Times called speeches by Newt Gingrich, Sens. George Allen (R-Virginia), Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), and Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) as well as Govs. Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts) and Mike Huckabee (R-Arkansas) “auditions” for potential Republican presidential candidates – and noted that the Family Research Council says it invited Sens. Bill Frist (R-Tennessee), John McCain (R-Arizona), Hillary Clinton (D-New York), and John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) as well. Maggie Gallagher, a speaker on the marriage panel, concluded, “I believe Mitt Romney may be the only hope social conservatives have in 2008.”

The Values Voter Summit ended Saturday night with the “Family, Faith & Freedom Gala.”

Newt “Family Values” Gingrich gave the keynote address focusing on three large challenges facing America. One, of course, is the external threat, which he described as an emerging coalition of Islamic fascism and assorted dictators.

Another, he said, is the challenge posed by courts and secularists who reject the reality that “God defines America” and “America is defined by its relationship to God.” Gingrich said the 9th Circuit ruling against “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, and what he saw as signals that a Supreme Court majority agreed, could be comparable in its impact to the ruling in Dred Scott, the 1857 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that blacks were not and could not be citizens. Gingrich denounced the idea that the judiciary has the final word, and demanded that the legislative and executive branches assert their authority and prevent Supreme Court justices from “rewriting the Constitution.”

Gingrich was a rare speaker to address poverty, saying that it is a great challenge that “there are people in America so totally outside the system” that they have “no realistic chance” to pursue happiness. Gingrich cited dropout, unemployment, and incarceration rates for young black men. But he seemed to ultimately pin the blame on public schools.

FRC head and seeming Dobson heir-apparent Tony Perkins gave the closing address. Seemingly annoyed by criticism from more progressive Christian leaders earlier in the week, he started by mocking liberals who make “faith speeches.” “They talk about their faith, but they don’t let it get in the way of their public policy.” He seemed especially rankled by the “Red Letter Christians,” a group that held a press conference earlier in the week to call for a greater religious focus on poverty. He said the only way to address poverty is to strengthen the family. Perkins recounted the Bible story of a disciple who questioned whether an expensive perfume should have been sold to aid the poor rather than poured on Jesus, and Jesus’ response that “the poor you have with you always.” Referring to the “Red Letter Christians,” Perkins sneeringly noted that it was Judas who had asked that question.

Perkins also covered the now more-than-familiar territory of “radical homosexuals” who present “a clear and present danger” to religious liberty in America.

Perkins wrapped up saying that “our enemies are not people….We fight against the rulers of darkness.” He urged people to pray, prepare, and participate in the “great battle of our day.”

Embattled Florida Senate candidate Katherine Harris appeared on the program between Gingrich and Perkins, offering her own faith testimony and telling people to remember that she had won two previous campaigns after being down by 30 percents. She said God would get the credit for her victory in the race. “God gave us authority and dominion over this land…God is our king, our judge our lawmaker….we have a right to claim our historic heritage.”