Newt has other ideas about American democracy

METHINKS NEWT GINGRICH's mind has strayed still farther in his profound opposition to building a mosque in Manhattan. The receding Georgia ex-congressman and presidential wannabe says the mosque should not be built until Saudi Arabia agrees to permit churches and synagogues to go up. In one failed stroke is he equating American democracy with a family-owned closed society in the desert? Is that what he thinks a free society should be all about?

Newt Gingrich, the anecdotal candidate

With more than two years ahead of us before the next national election, we are already in the advanced stage of anecdotal presidential candidates who may be remembered more for their nonsensical utterances than for a single thought on how to improve the Republic. Years from now if somebody mentions the name of an anecdotal president, somebody else is bound to say, "Wasn't he (or she) the person who insisted that you can make lemonade from apples?" (Tee-hee) Among those who quickly come to mind is Newt Gingrich. Newt, who seems to remain obsessed with his need to retire to the Oval Office, was back on Fox saying a couple of curious things that have been logged into the oddball department for future political historians.

First, he said President Obama should withdraw his nomination of Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court because she hates the military. To which I would append: "And what was your reason for avoiding military service, Newt?

Secondly, he huffed that Harvard accepted money from the Saudis while she was on the faculty there. Thanks to Sam Stein, of the Huffington Post, for reminding everyone that Gingrich offered this complaint on Fox, whose second highest shareholder in NewsCorp., the parent company, next to owner Rupert Murdoch is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a Saudi oil tycoon.

And Newt is laying to the groundwork to run for president!

GOP morphing into cult

DEAR REPUBLICANS (wherever you are):

If I may use the vernacular, your party has gone to hell.

Repugnant evidence is growing each day that  the Grand Old Party has become a cult.  It now excludes anybody who is slightly to the left of Planet Limbaugh and therefore has shrunk beyond recognition unless you are an expert in atomic imaging.      The gatekeepers for the cult have placed a premium on losing. 

The events in just the  last few days have demonstrated that the cult is so deeply intrenched in ideological cleansing that it may soon require all true-believing  members to perform  the "loyalty dance"  so popular back in the days of Mao.  

Check these:

• THE REPUBLICAN  chairman of Kent County, Mich. (Grand Rapids) has canceled a talk at a party fund-raiser by Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.  He's too moderate, the chairman said. My God!  The Republican governor of Utah, a proud red state, too moderate? 
• FOX NETWORK refused to air President Obama's Wednesday night news conference - the only network to lower the curtain -  with the apparent decision to not report so that nobody can decide. Instead the network programmed something called "Lie to Me."(I think Fox should rely more on John Stewart to upgrade its limp attempt for clever humor. )  
• RUSHBO HAS has urged John McCain to become a Democrat, too, and take his daughter with him.  
• SEN. OLYMPIA SNOWE,  Maine Republican, was placed on the right-wing's enemies list after an op-ed piece in the New Y0rk Times that questioned the GOP's exclusivity that drove out Sen. Arlen specter.
• REPUBLICAN representatives leading the fight  against the hate-crimes bill (which passed, despite their rants), declared it was a transparent attempt to protect homosexuals. Sample:  Rep. Steve King, the crackpot Iowa Republican, said of hate crimes, "I, Mr. Speaker,oppose and I defy the logic of the people that would advocate for such legislation the very idea we could divine what goes on in the heads of people when they commit crimes".  (I do have a clue to what isn't going on in King's mind.)
• GREG MUELLER,  a high-ranking Republican consultant, proposes that the party can regain its bearing by dusting  off Newt Gingrich's old Contract with America, and Newt couldn't agree more wherever he goes these days, which is usually Fox News.  
• FINALLY, FOR this hour at least, there's this word from the Cincinnati Enquirer about the Hamilton County Republican chairman, Alex Triantafilou, who shamlessly posted two photos on his blog in reaction to Specter's action.  One was a photo of a bald Specter during his chemotherapy; the other of a bald Dr. Evil from the "Austin Powers" movies.

 Believe me, folks, I don't these things up.  Jonestown next for GOP strays?