This morning I reported in the Blue Radar that Newt Gingrich said he would run if he is able to raise $30 million. But now, just hours later, it turns out he because election law would forbid him from continuing his political action committee:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will not run for president in2008 after determining he could not legally explore a bid and remain ashead of his tax-exempt political organization, a spokesman saidSaturday.
"Newt is not running," spokesman Rick Tyler said. "It is legallyimpermissible for him to continue on as chairman of American Solutions(for Winning the Future) and to explore a campaign for president."
That just eliminated a person that the Democrats would have beat with any of their candidates (minus Gravel and Kucinich). I was hoping for him.
For a minute, let's take a much-needed intermission from the specificity of the daily political grind and just zoom out a little. Think about the era we now live in. American Idol, Survivor, Dancing with the Stars -- all of those television shows are popular because average Joe's like ourselves get to choose the outcome of something big. More than ever, we are a society obsessed with personalizing everything that is relevant in our lives. We like choice. Just the thought of inevitability bores us.
If this societal trend continues down its present course, then the desire to personalize our world will definitely play a role in shaping the 2008 presidential race. In other words, why just 'vote' for your favorite candidate when you can 'create' your favorite candidate?
It is quite possible that all of the candidates currently running have already lost. None of them -- with the exception of maybe Barack Obama -- was drafted to run. These egotistical presidential hopefuls anointed themselves. Not only that, but in deciding to run, they pretty much concluded that they were more qualified than 300,000,000 other Americans to hold the highest office. Doesn't that come across as condescending? It would not be surprising if the eventual Republican and Democratic nominees were individuals that, as of this date, have yet to announce their intentions to run.
A few years back, many people despised politicians because of their connections to wealth. Today, we despise politicians because so many of them lack both humility and authenticity. By lacking authenticity, it looks as if they have something to hide. Voters would probably respect someone for having reservationsabout running. Translation: if you think that you are the best, you probably are not.
Al Gore, Newt Gingrich and Fred Thompson are still mulling over the possibility of running, but have expressed some doubt. If by September the voting blocks in either party are bored with the candidates that already anointed themselves months earlier, then these candidates could be drafted into the race. In the general election, if it was Al Gore vs Fred Thompson or Al Gore vs Newt Gingrich, 2008 would be the most pro-populist presidential contest in history. It would also be yet another reminder of the time we now live in.
Last night on Hannity & Colmes, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich and Oliver North spent three minutes bashing Clinton and Obama for voting against the war funding bill, while giving less than one minute to Alan Colmes in the Fox studio.
Yesterday at Liberty University's , former House Speaker Newt Gingrich praised the school's founder Jerry Falwell for his against the "secular" interests:
“A growing culture of radical secularismdeclares that the nation cannot profess the truths on which it wasfounded,†Gingrich said. “We are told that our public schools can nolonger invoke the creator, nor proclaim the natural law nor profess theGod-given quality of human rights.
“Inhostility to American history, the radical secularists insist thatreligious belief is inherently divisive and that public debate can onlyproceed on secular terms,†he said.
If not wanting organized religion to have more influence on American society makes you a radical secular, then 73% of the country opposes Newt's idea about the way things ought to be. According to a taken in January, only 27% want to see "organized religion have more influence in this nation," while 32% think religion should have less influence, and 39% want to keep it the way it is.
Translation: people are pretty much okay with the way things are, and don't agree with the ideology being preached by people like Gingrich. The only moral storm on the horizon is the one invented by people like him.
In a message on his , possible GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich apologized for using the word "ghetto" to describe bilingual Americans.
Everyone deserves a second chance. But Newt, at least learn to pronounce the language! This video may have worsened the situation.
On Saturday, Gingrich got in some political trouble for this about bilingual education:
"We should replace bilingual education withimmersion in English so people learn the common language of the countryand they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of livingin a ghetto."
Without the use of the word ghetto, many people would have jumped onboard his bandwagon.
During a speech today, former House Speaker and likely GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich compared being bilingual to :
“The American people believe English should be the official language ofthe government. ... We should replace bilingual education withimmersion in English so people learn the common language of the countryand they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of livingin a ghetto," Gingrich said to cheers from the crowd of more than 100.
It looks like someone needs to take a journey outside the country club gates for a change!
This fear of other languages is not a new thing to Gingrich. Back in 1998, the former Speaker of the House about this same issue, and it was reported in the Washington Times:
"When we allow children to stay trapped ina bilingual program, where you do not learn English, we aredestroying their economic future."
Even Gingrich cannot stop the fact that we are living in an interconnected world. When you learn another language, you are not trapping yourself -- you are opening the doors of communication with other cultures. With all the tough times abroad that we are facing today, maybe it's not a bad idea to stress the importance of communication and understanding.
If he wants to talk about the economy, then maybe he should talk to the thousands of interpretors across the country that are well-off financially because they work a high-demand job that uses their bilingual talents.
While jump-starting the effort to impeach Bill Clinton for the president's affair with Monica Lewinsky, former House Speaker Newt of his own:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledgedhe was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge againstPresident Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged inan interview with a conservative Christian group.
"Thehonest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2008 Republicanpresidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Familyfounder James Dobson to be aired Friday, according to a transcriptprovided to The Associated Press. "There are times that I have fallenshort of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallenshort of God's standards."
Gingrich argued in the interview, however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton's infidelity.
Oh, of course -- no hypocrisy at all.
That just about axed his '08 presidential chances.
When half-way pressed by on whether the Democrats were wrong to offer a resolution against Bush's troop escalation plan, former House speaker Newt Gingrich said Democrats are entitled to criticize but not legislate:
WALLACE: "..aren't Democrats perfectly entitled to say we shouldn't be sending more troops after the ones that are already there?"
GINGRICH:"There's a different — look, I can offer advice. The Senate can offeradvice. Any American can offer advice. There's a difference betweenoffering advice, which I think we should do, and legislating."
Telling the Congress not to legislate is the same thing as telling a judge not to rule, or an executive not to govern.
The cable news networks have been rather quiet about this. Immediately following the November elections, possible Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich received a $1 million donation from , according to the :
Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker and a possible presidentialcontender, jump-started his new political group with a check for $1million from a source many in his conservative base would shun -- thegambling industry.
Gingrich's American Solutions for Winning theFuture reported to the Internal Revenue Service that it collected a $1million check from Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon G. Adelsonshortly after the November elections. The IRS reported the donation inrecent days.
The contribution dwarfed the other checks, totaling just $60,000,gathered for the group's start-up. Gingrich announced the group latelast fall, setting it up as a "527" organization, a type of politicalnonprofit that can collect and spend donations of unlimited size.
The Sands Corp owns the Venetian Hotel and a few other properties in Vegas.
If Gingrich indeed runs for president, he can at least count on getting a free penthouse suit at the Venetian when he campaigns in Nevada.
on an about Newt Gingrich's 2008 election strategy. Instead of announcing his candidacy early, the former GOP Speaker of the House will wait until late and then orchestrate a four-month sprint to the finish leading up to the Iowa Caucuses:
It's an interesting gambit considering that most of the '08aspirants in both parties are going to crawling all over each othertrying to announce first. But as we learned in the '04 WH Dem primary,some of the early frontrunners had burned out by the fall of '03 whichgave a candidate like Wesley Clark an opening.
Gingrich is a well-known figure and doesn't need to raise the same amount of cash that a Romney, Allen or even a McCainneeds to raise. And Gingrich doesn't doesn't necessarily wear well in along campaign, but he could be very intriguing in a four-month sprintin Iowa. Both primaries are going to be in need of "new blood" by thefall of '07. On the Dem side, there are two candidates who could employNewt's fall '07 strategy: Al Gore and Barack Obama.
Speaking of Obama, the Chris Matthews Show spent a segment discussing the possibility of the Illinois Senator running for president. If I have time, I will try to get that video up sometime within the next few days.
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