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House GOP freshmen came out of an early morning meeting with former Speaker (and potential presidential candidate) Newt Gingrich -- not talking about his personal experience with a government shutdown, but rather about effective communication and defunding the health-care law.
Rep. Allen West (R-FL) said the message was messaging, "It's about messaging. It's about communicating. I think that's the thing that he talked to us about." (Of course, Gingrich has had messaging problems of his own in explaining his differing positions on Libya.)
When pushed on whether the former speaker talked about a shutdown, freshman Rep. Bobby Schilling (R-IL) said, "He said it's definitely not, you know, something that we want to have."
Gingrich later came out and reviewed much of what he talked about to the freshman, which sounded a lot like the beginnings of a stump speech. The topics covered:
-- "Smart ways to get to a balanced budget that fits the general direction of Paul Ryan";
-- "Bold new approaches on health including a process of using health solutions to reduce health costs";
-- "How really important it was to communicate to our activists and to our base that the primary problem is the 23 Democratic senators that are up for re-election and the Democratic president in the White House";
-- "Absolute commitment to defunding Obamacare implementation this year."
However, when it comes to the impending government shutdown, Gingrich suggested that the members are going to have to find some type of compromise. "Their goal should be to avoid a shutdown while not giving in on their core principles. They can't walk into a room and have President Obama think that they can be blackmailed by yelling the word shutdown." The former speaker continued, "I think they should seek to keep the government open. I think they should try to find ways to pass continuing resolutions that can be signed."
He blamed Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) for the rumors that there is some kind of spending deal on the table. "There is no compromise. Nobody has signed off on it. It hasn't gone through the Republican conference. Hoyer's running around desperately trying find a way to get Republican's to sell out without a fight. Well, nice try, Steny. It's not going to happen."
What did happen this morning were compliments for Speaker John Boehner seizing upon the issue of spending. "I think, overall, he's [Boehner] done a pretty good job in the starting round. And I think they've set the stage to stay on the spending issue. I think the spending issue is a huge loser for the Democrats."
But Gingrich followed that up with another glimpse of what he might say on the campaign trail. "I think the degree to which Obama is utterly irresponsible and totally refusing to provide any leadership on spending is something that gradually sinks in with the country."
Leave a Comment:
Mr. Gingrich is brilliant, he was really in his element meeting with House Republicans.
Newt would be great as a GOP Cabinet member with his new ideas and energy.
Not Presidential, in my opinion.
Part II of the meeting was on how to cheat on you wife while she is in the hospital for cancer surgery.
Bob, we agree on SOMETHING...Newt Gingrich is not presidential material.
Bob-1887910
Mr. Gingrich is brilliant, he was really in his element meeting with House Republicans.
Newt would be great as a GOP Cabinet member with his new ideas and energy.
Not Presidential, in my opinion.
What's new about shutting the government down? Apparently you forgot; and that was not brilliant it was/is bone-headed.
I doubt if he could be a fine GOP cabinet member;specially if there are ladies around since his love of country requires he have extra marital affairs.
A number of Democrats on here (like me on more than one occasion) have duly noted that John Edwards was lower than pond scum for the way he treated his wife. Are there any "true" Americans who want to admit the same thing about Newt Gingrich?
Though doesn't this same old "but your guy did it first!" argument get pretty tiresome after a while?
JoAnne in PA
A number of Democrats on here (like me on more than one occasion) have duly noted that John Edwards was lower than pond scum for the way he treated his wife. Are there any "true" Americans who want to admit the same thing about Newt Gingrich?
Though doesn't this same old "but your guy did it first!" argument get pretty tiresome after a while?
That's right you tell'em JoAnne
@TA: didn't say Mr. Edwards wasn't scum too. Not the first last politician who couldn't keep it zipped. Unfortunately, probably won't be last.
I just think it hillarious that anyone would bother taking cues from Mr. Gingrich. His little travels into the land of "do as I say, not as I do" probably helped cause the losses for which he resigned.
If you look at the "contract with America" I guess it didn't say anything about not cheating on your wife, so that's ok. I guess the "pledge to america" (however they rebranded it) it still doesn't have that, so I guess its ok for Mr. Boehner to cheat on his wife, at least to Teapublicans.
Did he give 'em any snappy pick-up lines?
why would anyone listen to newt . a man that said that the reason he committed adultery was because he loved his country so much . I don't think was what he loved . LOL
Yes, good. I can't imagine what would make the House Freshmen Republicans more ineffectual and annoying to the general public than to follow advice from Newtie, "I got kicked out of my job because I am a hypocrite" Gingrinch. Do that, freshmen, really. The American public needs a good strong reminder as to why the Republicans were booted out in the first place.
hmmmm... seems like the democrats need more of a reminder after nov 2011. The freshmen only need to be reminded not to expect to get everything they want. After all they aren't democrats from 2009 - 2010.
Newtie is SO beyond his experiation date...
Having said that, I can't wait to see what kind of signs the baggers are waving around today - with any luck they'll at least be spelled properly this time around! lol
You said it there Feisty. I'm so glad that the public is seeing the Tea Baggers for what they are. Nuts.
"Newtie is SO beyond his experiation date...Having said that, I can't wait to see what kind of signs the baggers are waving around today - with any luck they'll at least be spelled properly this time around! lol"
Feisty disses Tea Party signs for being misspelled....and, yet, her meandering semi literate posts are full of misspellings....how typically moonbat.... and the piece de resistance, the "lol" <--- indicates the poster admires her own lame attempts at 'wit'.
For the love of God, they can't even spell socialism correctly...
Take a peek at these oldies but goodies - they never fail to make me LMAO! ;o)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/
Did Newt ever stick his finger in the camera and say "I did not have sexual relations with that woman.."?
So is a hypocrite who resigns worse than an admitted liar who is impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice?
Newt ever have to pay $850,000.00 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit out-of-court?
Newt ever receive a contempt of court citation for lying in court? Did he lose his license to practice law?
For that matter, did Newt ever drive a woman into water and leave her there to die?
And finally, if you do the Republican ad hominem stuff but don't acknowledge the above - the Democrat's transgressions - aren't you a hypocrite?
Maybe you change to newtdayDawning.
BTW - He wasn't booted out, he resigned - something you certainly that Dems do not posses the grace to do.
And here I thought you WANTED to be insulted.
Oops. Never mind.
Whatever gave me that idea, anyway?
Maybe that's because Republicans have been running it for most of that time. Look it up.
And then take a moment to commune with your spellchecker. It's no better than Spanky's.
Maybe you should have paid more attention in school.
No, but he did have to pay a $360,000 fine for ethics violations while he was Speaker of the House, including providing misleading information to a panel investigating him.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/leadership/stories/gingrich123198.htm
Tsk, tsk, tsk. How quickly they forget. Or doesn't that count for anything?
Ooops. I meant newt gingrich had to pay a $300,000 fine for ethics violations while he was speaker of the house of representatives, including providing misleading information to the committee that was investigating him.
sorry. not $360,000.
" Why is it that people can't spell, Feisty?............"
Guess you'd have to ask one of those "underpayed" teachers you mentioned, True.
The Department of Education, which is what you were talking about. But nice try at changing the subject, you goofy right-wing batboy. Or is your attention span really that short?
Res ipsa loquitur.
Bob-1887910
The Tea Baggers have not been known to be very bright. Remember, they are Koch brother's operatives.
So, you would think that the signs will get better with the Koch boys buying them their signs from people that can spell.
UNDERPAYED, True - look it up!
I take the hint. So sorry to disappoint you -- and your Ph.D. friend, apparently -- with our boringness and our irresponsible waste of your time and our own.
Have a nice life.
Sigh. These are YOUR words, True, not mine:
I was just pointing out that, if the Department of Education is being blamed for no improvement in education, as YOU seem to be doing, or at least you seem to be saying that it's not producing any results, maybe that would be because republicans have been running it for most of its existence.
How many times do people have to tell you this, True? Just look up.
Anna Molly,
Yea the Dems tried to drum something up - pay back is a bitch, right?
They filed 84 ethics charges. 83 were dropped. The one remaining had 2 counts - failure to seek legal advice? Whew. OMG - The HORROR! and a tax issue that they left up to the IRS to settle - the IRS said no prob.
The $300 K was re-imbursement for the cost of the investigation.
The SHAME.
So newt paying for a Dem witch hunt / investigation that came up with zilch after 84 attempts is worse than what Clinton and Kennedy did?
Your guys political bigotry is pathetic.
bob-1805084
BTW - He wasn't booted out, he resigned - something you certainly that Dems do not posses the grace to do.
Resigning under duress is a nice euphemism for FIRED!!!
Bev,
No it isn't.
Read #2.23. Use your finger to point at the words and read them out loud. Do it 5-10 times, if necessary. Maybe get a 4th grader to explain it to you?
Maybe that will help.
TA: no amount of money will replace what is missing in the formula for many children, their families. While many students can succeed in spite of not having a positive family to assist them, most can't. The reality is that for many children, the school becomes their family. Thus, the schools have to have social workers, nurses, aids as well as teachers, just to try to stem the march to the bottom.
While giving money to schools has not improved the NCLB test scores (another topic) taking money away is sure not going to improve them.
Love how people always go to personal attacks in the political argument!!! Guess if you cannot defend your position with facts, then personal attacks are the next best thing. Both sides are guilty, but one must agree that the Libs are by far the best at it...
did you no the whole time that Newt was trying to get Bill impeached of which he never was completely impeached the senate did not impeach him . but ole Newt was haveing papers served on his wife who was in the hospital dieing of cancer ,pares for divorceing her while doing so committing adultery the same as Bill .
ole newt no morals at all. not in my book .
hope he made a point too about being willing to accept the fact that they wouldn't get everything they wanted as well.
american-2051576
hmmmm... seems like the democrats need more of a reminder after nov 2011. The freshmen only need to be reminded not to expect to get everything they want. After all they aren't democrats from 2009 - 2010.
You mean like most t-baggers still living in the past? It wasn't quite the mandate you think. Many democrats didn't vote and the Kochtopus tentacles had millions of dollars to a fake grass root organization called the Tea Party.
CNN poll: Tea party unfavorables at all-time high
Seems no one likes them. Urban, rural, midwest or south, makes no difference, the numbers are similar: favorable view is in the low 30's. Looks that back to the past trend is in full swing.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/30/961519/-CNN-poll:-Tea-party-unfavorables-at-all-time-high
P.S. of you don't like this lefty source you can go straight to CNN's website.
Oh, almost forgot less than 500 people came out to the T-bagger rally today in D.C.
It'll be interesting to see the statistician and top cuck-coo, Glenn Beck and the unrepentant bigot, Sean Hannity at FOX explain this.
Nah, they probably will choose to bash the President instead.
True American-2367375
Beverly......thou doest protest TOO much.....I think you are so afraid of the Tea Party and Glen Beck you can't sleep at night.
Of course, I am!!! I would never go anywhere near them for fear of my life. All those guns, milita and neo Nazi groups, spitting on Congressmen, stomping a woman to the ground. Don't forget how t-baggers mocked and scorned an apparent Parkinsen's victim telling him "he's in the wrong end of town to ask for handouts", calling him a communist and throwing money at him to "pay for his health care".
I will not sell my soul to be accepted.
Don't worry, I'm sure you will still get some kind of check from the government. The good guys won't be able to cut all the wasteful spending and welfare to the lazy.
So you still think those Robber Barons who get huge profits are not getting government checks with their subsides? Plus, they do not pay any taxes. Ask you pal Spanky about GE.
bev - try all you want at misdirection. the fact remains that democrat legislation passed in 2009 thru 2010 was rarely, and I do mean rarely, bipartisan in nature. A clear majority in the house and what 1 vote shy of a clear majority in the senate.
I would have thought that someone as erudite as yourself would have failed to see the results of such partisanship actions on the American populace. Perhaps you are so hung up on liberal ideology that you fail to see the consequences to the American taxpayer by refusing bipartisanship over partisanship.
BTW - if you are going to block quote a comment of mine either keep it to that thread where it was posted or at least reference the post number.
Think Progress:
At one point, Rand Paul referenced these flip-flops by Gingrich to criticize both his politically driven foreign policy positions and his infidelity to his wives. Paul also poked fun at Fox News, saying that it is having a hard time deciding what it likes more, bombing the Middle East or attacking President Obama, in deciding its opinion on Libya:
PAUL: I was happy to see that Newt Gingrich has staked out a position on the war, a position, or two, or maybe three. I don’t know. I think he has more war positions than he’s had wives. [...]
There’s a big debate over there. Fox News can’t decide, what do they love more, bombing the Middle East or bashing the president? It’s like I was over there and there was an anchor going, they were pleading, can’t we do both? Can’t we bomb the Middle East and bash the president at the same time? How are we going to make this work?
_________
Obama is utterly irresponsible ~ So says Newt.
BWD: A new poll of 18- to 29-year-olds by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics (IOP) found 55 percent of so-called Millennials approve of Obama’s presidency — a six-point increase over a similar IOP survey in October. His approval rating is even higher among those attending a four-year college, where 60 percent back Obama. That was a nine-point increase from the last survey.
________
Newt. Palin. Huckabee.
The country is moving on from your hate. It was just a matter of time before the young people started growing up and thinking for themselves. And they like their President.
And Newt, even though I think you are one of the most disingenuous politicians out there, I would never call you a POS. Never.
I don't believe any person should be called that, regardless of differences.
Another fine post, Pat.
Rand Paul pointing his finger at Gingrich for flip flopping, how ironic. For two days, Paul has spoken in opposition to the President's action in Libya while the press (other than Lawrence O) fails to ask why Paul voted "YES" March 1, 2011, on S.RES.85--a resolution fully supporting the exact steps President Obama took.
I keep waiting for some brave media host to simply ask any Senator, right or left, complaining about Libya to explain their March 1 unanimous "yes" vote.
You can read it yourself...
thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:SE00085:@@@L&summ2=m&
The resolution was passed with Unanimous Consent. What does that mean? It means either:
a) Senator Paul actually agreed with the resolution but now wants you to believe that he's opposed to action.
b) Senator Paul disagreed with the resolution but was too chicken-s*** to say "no" to it on the Senate Floor.
Neither qualifies as "leadership".
Pat in boston - interesting that you use this in your argument...
How many of us over 40 remember our attitudes and beliefs when we in that age range. Didn't we believe we had all the answers? Didn't we believe that generalized statements were the truth? Didn't we consider the old folks (30 and over) didn't understand the glorious future just ripe for the taking because we knew better?
Some of us were beaten down or gave up because we failed to heed the message of what it took to define personal success.
Some of us saw the realities and responsibilities facing us with family, economics, business and community and started looking and thinking long term.
Some of us just saw a way to get government support for very little in return.
An 18 to 29 year olds opinion shouldn't be ignored totally but should be heavily discounted based on experiance.
I would value an 18yr and older combat veterans opinion more than than someone just recently moved away from mommy and daddy.
Who knows, the Republicans may nominate the former speaker. Though he probably would be the gingrich who stole Christmas for the middle-class. But, wouldn't that be true of any their candidates?
Good one, Tom.
Cheater of the House
First Cheater
Cheater in Chief
Liar
Ha! Allan West "thinks" Gingrich's message was about messaging--is he not sure what Newt said? That would be no surprise since no one else is sure exactly what Newt thinks these days since it changes daily based on what President Obama does or says. If I were those freshmen republicans, I'd be cautious about anything Newt told me.
The local news had a segment on Bobby Schilling this week, he's considered the most vulnerable of the representatives elected in our area in 2010. He represents a long-standing democratic seat and barely won.
Jody, Iowa
Ha! Allan West "thinks" Gingrich's message was about messaging--is he not sure what Newt said?
Maybe it was something Newtie revealed to him in private. After all, Allan West has been privy to classified information. LOL
The t- baggers are mostly liars and nuts.
Hands down, the funniest thing I've heard all day. Thanks, FR.
I agree, almost choked on my coffee when I read that sentence.
anna to bad you left out what appeared to be FR take on one his quote...
Res ipsa loquitur.
Any word on whether or not Newt had any words of wisdom for that poor pitiful Wisconsin GOP freshman who was crying about how he'd personally be affected by a government shutdown on one of yesterday's threads?:
"As freshman Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) told constituents last week: "I guarantee most of you, I have more debt than all of you. With six kids, I still pay off my student loans. I still pay my mortgage. I drive a used minivan. If you think I'm living high off the hog, I've got one paycheck. So I struggle to meet my bills right now."
.....("Members of Congress who do not hold leadership roles make an annual salary of $174,000.")
I'm sure Newt wouldn't mind loaning the poor guy a few bucks to tide him over.....
I missed that one, JoAnne. You know, there's something sad in what Rep Duffy said--he's a middle class guy with a family, with student loans and bills just like everyone else--he doesn't want a government shut down because it will hurt him. Yet he doesn't grasp that the "extreme" cuts the GOPTP is making to the budget are cuts that will hurt people like him or worse off than him. The disconnect between their individual circumstances and the reality for millions of others is the size of the Grand Canyon.
Maybe he could have used some Planned Parenthood. And maybe his wife could take a job, too, like a lot of other struggling families have to do. Or maybe, like some teachers I've read about, he could take a second job on the weekends, delivering pizzas.
Republicans love to tell public workers that they've made a choice by going into public service. If living on "one paycheck" of $174,000 is such a bite, well, then, maybe he should have thought of that before giving up his day job.
Too funny. I bet he'd be among those telling public workers in Wisconsin that they have to share the pain.
What a hypocrite.
Good points, Anna Molly. I found the disconnect between his circumstances and that of others worse off so telling and yes, hypocritical. It's like that newly elected GOP/TPer last November who demanded "his" government health care start immediately after telling those who elected him, he'd repeal theirs.
Jody -
It was a thread yesterday about whether or not Congress would still get paid in the event of a government shutdown:
"The Senate, led by Democratic sponsor Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, has already unanimously passed a stand-alone bill to prohibit members of Congress from getting a paycheck in the event of a shutdown."
But for some unknown reason, the GOP-led House won't even bring a stand-alone bill on it up for a vote.
Anna Molly -
Republicans also like to preach about us all having "personal responsibility" for our financial situations. Like our decisions to quit our jobs when we still have student loans and six(!) kids to feed.
Wonder what all the congressional staffers and security people and clerks and janitors and Capitol tour guides who also won't be getting paid manage to feed THEIR families on? Bet it ain't anything close to $174,000 a year plus perks.
Maybe Rep. Duffy and his wife can both go back to MTV and relive their days on "The Real World"?
Now, Now, Joann, Jody and AnnaMolly: don't go bringing up Facts to TeaPublicans, you'll just confuse them. Like the fact that the avearge American does not earn anything near the $174,000 they earn. Like the fact that the average American does not have 2 homes in 2 cities and a vacation home. Like the fact that if their employer shuts down for lack of revenue (like a government shut down) they don't get paid, unlike our fine Congressmen. Or the fact the TeaPublican party really doesn't know what it is doing.
Please, please listen to Newt!
Then the same Republican self-destruction can begin as it did in the 90's.
...and we can get this country back on track!
I guess his speech was how to pick up cheap woman ? The finer points of adultery...How to be a family values cheerleader while diddling other peoples wifes ! Sounds exciting !!!