Tom Roeser likes Newt Gingrich, but with characteristic honesty Roeser also reminds us that Newt got the boot for the same unethical behavior that undid his Democratic predecessor, Jim Wright. Now Newt is being recycled as an intellectual (the kind that takes Alvin Toffler seriously), posing “questions” to the Iraq Study Group like:
“Question 8: Any proposal to ask Iran and Syria to help is a sign of defeat: does the Commission recognize this?”
The right wing doesn’t seem to have acknowledged that FDR, our last successful wartime president, was a Democrat more liberal than most Democrats themselves are these days. Having tried to get W to fill the Churchill suit, they’re trying it on Newt. Good luck.
(By the way, successful empires know not to bite off more than they can chew. Churchill wannabes should read the excerpt in the Globalist from Anatol Lieven and John C. Hulsman’s new book, Ethical Realism: A Vision for America’s Role in the World, about how, prior to World War I, the British Empire stood down from places it couldn’t realistically dominate.)
The indispensable Brendan Nyhan also nails the Newtster for straight-up hypocrisy. Having taught a generation of Republicans how to slime their opponents, Gingrich now complains about how “nasty” American politics has become. Details here.
And over at Tapped, it appears that Gingrich’s fondness for free speech is in direct proportion to the amount of money involved.