Political & Elections

Here is a good editorial from the NY times on Newt:

Op-Ed Columnist
Eye of the NewtBy GAIL COLLINS
Published: March 11, 2011

The presidential race is barely under way, but already we have had our first Big Thought. I am speaking, of course, of Newt Gingrich’s suggestion that he was driven into serial adultery by hard work and patriotism.


“There’s no question that at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and that things happened in my life that were not appropriate,” he told an interviewer on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

You can imagine how much discussion this sparked. “Will ‘feeling passionate about this country’ become the new ‘hiking the Appalachian Trail’? ” asked Bruce Handy of Vanity Fair.

Really, the concept explains quite a bit. New York’s former governor, Eliot Spitzer, worked a lot. And right now New York City is reeling over the indictment of a powerful state senator, who turns out to have had a secret life in a waterside mansion that he shared with two male gynecologists and their mother. We are still sorting out the details, but I can tell you that this guy used to be the chairman of the Finance Committee. You can only sit through so many hearings on tax policy before the call of the wild starts ringing in your ears.

Also, whenever I hear “former Mayor Rudy Giuliani” I think of patriotism and round-the-clock dedication to the job. Also, about the time he called a press conference to announce that he and his wife were separating and the wife, who hadn’t heard, started telling reporters about an affair she believed Rudy had had with a female staffer.

Gingrich is asked about his personal life more often than most politicians. If you’re on your third wife, cheated perpetually on the first two, and are running for the Republican presidential nomination as a social conservative, these things come up.

The most famous story about Gingrich’s failed marriages is about his first wife, Jackie, who had been Newt’s high school math teacher before he appeared at her door and suggested a new equation. Jackie was recovering from surgery for uterine cancer when her husband walked in and started talking about the terms of a divorce.

She is not to be confused with the second wife, Marianne, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was visiting her mother when her husband called to tell her there was another woman.

Anyway, you can see how the topic of Gingrich’s home life would come up. Generally, he doesn’t seem all that thrilled by the invitation to explain himself. But he was very chatty on the Christian Broadcasting Network. Perhaps this was because of the way the interviewer, David Brody, phrased his question.

“Talk about a forgiving God?” he asked.

Newt was quite forthcoming about both God’s readiness to forgive him and the much, much better lifestyle he has embraced now that he’s found true love with Wife No. 3, converted to Catholicism and “learned an immense amount.”

People, can we all agree now that men who spend their early and middle ages betraying women right and left are not allowed to get credit for discovering the joys of monogamy at about the same time that they receive their first Social Security check?

Of course, Gingrich is being a better husband this time around. He’s 67! By then, most men have not just finished sowing their wild oats. The oats have been harvested, ground up, reprocessed and turned into soggy cornflakes.

“In general, in men and women, the sexual hormones decrease as you age. It’s a lot of work, dating and managing multiple partners,” says Rose Hartzell, a therapist at the San Diego Sexual Medicine Center.

God forgives you at any age, but voters should only reward reformations that occur before the miscreant receives his first copy of the AARP bulletin.

Gingrich offered up his analysis of the cause of his sexual indiscretions when he appeared with other presidential hopefuls at an event in Iowa sponsored by the Faith and Freedom Coalition. This is a group established by the former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, who is recovering from a fall from grace himself. Reed’s involved secretly working with the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to block a ban on Internet gambling. Which I do not believe is the sort of thing you can blame on a heavy schedule and the flag.

In his public life, Gingrich’s rhetoric is less forgiving than apocalyptic. His speech in Iowa was laced with attacks on Democrats (“secular socialists”) and a call for “a political change so deep and so profound that nothing we have seen in our lifetime is comparable.” He has called Barack Obama “authentically dishonest,” and “a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president.”

If only Obama had committed adultery instead of health care reform, I’m sure they’d be getting along a lot better.

The reality is that our country is pursuing an increasingly unfriendly business policy and this is not going to bring businesses here.

The truth is that one of the reasons NJ suffers is because it is very unfriendly to businesses and wealthy indivicuals, tax-wise.

The US is, as well.  Even NYC has lost ownership of one of the exchanges, for many of the same reasons.  Businesses fled to CT.  Businesses in Illinois are poised to flee to Indiana.  And what walker is doing in Wisco is using southern right to work states as his model to draw business back into his state.

When politicians continue to act as if tax policy does not effect jobs?  They are in trouble, the state, the country are in trouble.

If you want to change the jobs situation in the US, you have to penalize companies for shipping jobs overseas, and you have to tariff on foreign products....But, we pursue a policy of taxing within our country and not taxing outside of our country, and this is not how other countries deal with us.

I'm not sure exactly how to address this, but, as an example, think about this:  the U.S. citizens who were evacuated from Libya by ferry boat were charged for this.  OTOH, we spend billions "nation building" in other countries, and other countries feel free to "ask for a no fly zone" over Libya, assuming we will foot the bill.  We are fools, Tom.

In the meantime, any governor who continues to pursue unfriendly tax policy is going to be paying pensions by taxing the people who work at McDonald's more, because that is going to be his entire population.

Here's a favorite of mine:  In Illinois, they are now considering taxing 401K and other retirement withdrawals, based on means testing, in order to cover the budget shortfall, which occurs because of pensions.  You do see why this might annoy some tax payers?  You do see how easy it is to move to a state without this plan when you are retired?  But, no, they think they can just tax people without repercussions, as the tax-payers among us steadily trickle south. 

Right.  I understand, Tom, that they don't want to collect the sales tax.  But, ask yourself this....Is it better to have the income tax from the workers who were employed by those outlets in Illinois?  Or is it better to have nothing at all?

This is the kind of thinking which is driving this country into the ground.

Amazon left your State because they are fighting nexus requirements that require them to collect sales tax just like any other retailer. The are doing the same in Texas and many other States.

But WHY is the property tax up? 

Because he is willing to move in the practical direction, that's what people see.

In Illinois, we have a governor who has raised income taxes and taxes on business, and just drove Amazon out of our state.  At some point in time, you have got to understand that people are sick and tired of paying more taxes for less services, or even equal services.

And yet, pay and pay, we do.  I think what people like about Christie is that he broke the taboo and talked about stuff that was unspeakable, before, which the rest of us are just jaw-droppingly stunned at, like the fact that public unions will never give a milimeter and will ask for your first born child in return. 

What R would want to run? Besides someone with a ego problem.
It's really all about the A. problem .
Take away the A and the R's go away.

I don't think we have seen the whole field of contenders, yet.

One of the nicest compliments ever received was from one of my son's roommates, who said that he thought our family reminded him of the Weaselly's.

I am actually a big fan of the Weaselly's.  :)

Gingrich is entertaining, at least. Got to love his excuse for cheating on two wives: patriotism. He was so patriotic, he cheated. Or at least that's his story and he's sticking to it.

Paul Ryan is too weasely.  Haley Barbour is too "good ole boy."  He would never win.
Actually none of these guys would win against Obama, except maybe Romney might have a chance. 

I like Paul Ryan.  He seems sensible and has a clue. 

I can not see how anyone can take him seriously, not with a history and excuses like this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-politics/8374272/Newt-Gingrich-my-love-for-USA-contributed-to-my-affairs.html

I really wish Newt Gingrich wouldn't run for president. 

But, it doesn't matter, he'll never win.

I'm an independent and I like both Christie and Ryan, for different reasons.  I like, also, the governor of Indiana, Daniels, as well. 

Don't know much about Gov Gary Johnson, he might be interesting. Gingrich has zero chance. My money's on Paul Ryan.

As far as running for president, his nickname says it all.

Except for the deficit thing, he sounds like a Democrat.

Maybe he is just what the country needs.

I hope not, too.  If anyone's going to intervene militarily to overthrow Gaddafi, let it be another Arab country in North Africa -- specifically, Egypt.  Their military is certainly big enough.  Not the U.S. or any European country, or even the UN.