A Consummate Con Artist
by tristero
We should be deeply concerned that our public discourse has become so degraded and the American right so consumed by paranoia and conspiracy theories that Newt Gingrich has released remarks (via Twitter) on the president’s school day speech that appear remarkably sane.
Maybe so, maybe Gingrich does “appear remarkably sane,” but it is vitally important to underscore dday’s earlier post: Newt Gingrich is a rightwing extremist with genuinely batshit ideas and no moral compass whatsoever.
Among the non-crazy reasons that the GOP pushed the delusional Obama’s-gonna-commify-Little-Johnny meme was to adjust the view through the famous Overton window, so we’d perceive thugs and nutjobs like Gingrich as fine, upright American citizens. You’d never guess that Gingrich, a world-class hypocrite actually is a classic sociopath who, in The Economist no less, accused the President of the United States of being “pro-terrorist-rights”. (To get his meaning, be sure to say that phrase “pro-terrorist-rights” with a huge pause between the last two words; that’s the way Phyllis Schafly used to call her opponents: “pro-abortion…rights”). And exactly like Glenn Beck – a fellow so deranged that to label him a “paranoid” would be like calling a stinking town dump a “transfer station” – Gingrich thinks Obama is creating an American “political dictatorship”.
He will say and do anything and he knows all the tricks. Gingrich recently called Sotomayor a “racist,” then, when nobody would notice, retracted it. Neat trick.
As Connie Bruck said back in 1995, Gingrich is the consummate con artist. Make no mistake: he wants to be president. Badly. As Josh surely knows, his “reasonableness” is simply positioning for a run in ’12. Let’s never forget what this man is. If you think Bush was bad, you ain’t seen nothing ’til Newt’s in charge. And given how godawful all the other Republicans are, Gingrich has a chance at a nomination, especially if he can fool everyone into thinking him a sane man.