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Video of Newt Gingrich “bashing” Reagan has been edited

Dan Riehl supplies the missing context. Seems like the establishment is going all in to sink Newt and give us Romney. And if they’re unable to, you can bet that they’ll point to a Gingrich defeat — which they’ll help to fuel — as proof that we need to listen to them about which candidates are “electable” going forward.

Here’s the full video of Gingrich on Reagan:

Incidentally, there are many with ties to the Reagan years who are supporting Gingrich and telling a different story. But apparently these folks have escaped the attention of National Review, Ann Coulter, and now, Mr Drudge.

Probably just an oversight, though. Because otherwise we’d almost have to conclude that Drudge, Coulter, NRO, et al are working actively against the man who engineered the Contract with America that gave the GOP the House after 40 years, and working actively for a candidate who continues to support his individual mandate, is for mortgage bailouts (provided you are financed through a GSE), and has hinted, through his advisors, that we can’t really repeal ObamaCare, because there are some really good parts to it that are worth saving and tweaking.

And that would be surreal.

(thanks to John Stephenson)

143 Replies to “Video of Newt Gingrich “bashing” Reagan has been edited”

  1. […] Jeff Goldstein: Incidentally, there are many with ties to the Reagan years who are supporting Gingrich and telling a different story. But apparently these folks have escaped the attention of National Review, Ann Coulter, and now, Mr Drudge. […]

  2. leigh says:

    Rush played audio of Nancy Reagan, in 1995, claiming that “Ronnie passed the torch to Newt.”

  3. Entropy says:

    At this point making romneybots cry is all the reason I need to support Newt.

    Come August I’m really hope Gary Johnson pulls off something historic.

  4. Jeff G. says:

    Freakin’ Hobbits simply won’t fall in line.

    If the Establishment takes out Newt — and they’re beginning to hurt his numbers — Santorum will once again rise. It’s the Romneys vs. the Hell No, Not Romneys at this point.

  5. Let’s face it, in the 80’s everyone bashed Reagan. Especially the people telling us we should be mad at Rooty-Toot-Noot because he did it. For Christ’s sake, it was Bush Sr. who came up with the term “voodoo economics”.

  6. So… longer, more nuanced Newt Gingrich: Reagan’s policies were great but we shouldn’t keep doing them we should launch the federal government on more big scale (big bux projects). Did I miss anything?

  7. Oh, sorry, I did:

    So… longer, more nuanced Newt Gingrich: Reagan’s policies were great but we shouldn’t keep doing them we should launch the federal government on more big scale (big bux projects) because the public isn’t stupid but it peculiarly fixated on the future. Did I miss anything?

  8. Crawford says:

    You know what really convinced me Newt’s not the guy? Bob Dole’s story about the bucket.

    If only the establishment (which doesn’t exist, because they say they don’t) put as much energy into the 2008 general campaign as they’re putting into the 2012 primary… Any bets that they’ll all be “too exhausted” to fight Obama this hard? Any bets they’ll make as big an issue over the LA Times video of Obama at a Palestinian fund-raiser as they are over this video?

  9. Crawford says:

    Good point, richard. Instead we should enslave the country to a national healthcare system that won’t work.

  10. Does this video cut short or are we supposed to get the full hour-twenty-four?

  11. You mean like the individual mandate Newt’s supported for 20 years? Get this clear… there is not much difference between Newt or Romney… or Newt or Romney or Obama. This is all part of the same DC club. Newt shills for Freddie Mac, Mitt’s old buddies from Bain go to work at the Obama WH… it’s all pustules from the same infection.

  12. Crawford says:

    I don’t care so much for Newt, but I care less for the way he’s being attacked, particularly in the way those going after him never showed this much fire in going after Obama.

  13. bh says:

    I often have a hard time seeing Newt as a Not Romney.

  14. B. Moe says:

    Dole: “Newt would show up at the campaign headquarters with an empty bucket in his hand — that was a symbol of some sort for him — and I never did know what he was doing or why he was doing it, and I’m not certain he knew either.”

    Stealing strawberries, obviously.

  15. ThomasD says:

    If Newt does win the nomination he’ll know where his bread got buttered.

    Sadly, the same goes for Romney.

  16. BT says:

    Newt is getting hammered on the airways here in FL. Mostly by the Romney PAC so Mittens can appear to have clean hands to the ill informed.

  17. leigh says:

    with an empty bucket in his hand …

    Of all the stupid things to remember. It’s probably time to send Mr. Dole to the home.

  18. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich have been at odds ever since Newt Gingrich stopped Bob Dole from weakening the “just say no to new taxes” plank in the 1984 Republican Platform the way Bob Dole and Bob Dole’s friend Don Regan thought it should be. If George H. W. Bush had taken his cues from Newt Gingrich instead of Bob Dole, maybe Bob Dole’s brand of fiscal conservatism wouldn’t have sunk his re-election.

    If Bob Dole hadn’t been so eager to balance the budget by raising taxes, when Bob Dole ran for President, people might have believed Bob Dole when Bob Dole said Bob Dole wanted to cut taxes.

  19. JHoward says:

    If the Establishment takes out Newt — and they’re beginning to hurt his numbers — Santorum will once again rise. It’s the Romneys vs. the Hell No, Not Romneys at this point.

    I’m seeing a PW series entitled Being Mitt Romney, complete with the little tunnel behind the filing cabinet on the floor with five foot ceilings.

    Which would be the Team R polling both.

  20. Squid says:

    Did I miss anything?

    The absurdity of GHWB running as a continuation of RR? Never mind Gingrich’s point about such a campaign being backward-looking — it wouldn’t pass the smell test in the first place.

  21. bh says:

    This thread just reminded me of something.

  22. geoffb says:

    It’s true that Newt Gingrich used to go around with an empty ice bucket in 1996. It was a symbol of his efforts to cut congressional perks and costs. For decades prior to 1995, every congressional office would receive a daily delivery of ice from a central freezer on the Capitol grounds. It was a holdover from the days before easy refrigeration, and it made for a nice demonstration of the sort of silly and costly perks that members of Congress received. When he became Speaker, Gingrich ended the practice and (in large part because that meant eliminating several staff positions) saved some $400,000 a year. Gingrich liked to use the ice bucket as a metaphor for Democratic governance: expensive, wasteful, and out-of-date. Whatever you think of the metaphor, it was something Gingrich talked about constantly, including on many occasions in the presence of Bob Dole.

  23. dicentra says:

    the man who engineered the Contract with America that gave the GOP the House after 40 years

    And now he’s offering us what, exactly?

    Newt supporters who cite CwA as a great thing don’t seem to notice that Newt isn’t proposing anything concrete this time around.

  24. dicentra says:

    Steyn:

    When the rap on your campaign is that you’re the guy whose turn it is, the establishment candidate of no fixed beliefs whom the base doesn’t trust, a fellow waging an empty, passionless campaign and whom the media are already palpably longing to hail for the graceful dignity of your concession speech, what better way to kill that damning caricature than to trumpet your support from …Bob Dole.

  25. geoffb says:

    How about a different video from 2008.

  26. dicentra says:

    Thing is, Newt really isn’t a good pick for POTUS, regardless of the Establicans’ dubious motives for supporting Mitt.

    The only candidate who genuinely understood our dire straits (Bachmann) is out. The ones left don’t seem vaguely tuned in to how close we are to the edge.

    But then, if we were a rational populace (and where does one of those exist?) we’d never have arrived at this juncture. Now that things are looking especially bad, it’s panic all around and irrational choices and running back into the burning building to check that the iron’s been unplugged.

  27. Jeff G. says:

    And now he’s offering us what, exactly?

    The fact that he’s not Mitt Romney.

  28. Jeff G. says:

    Newt supporters who cite CwA as a great thing don’t seem to notice that Newt isn’t proposing anything concrete this time around.

    Oh.

  29. dicentra says:

    @28

    This is what I get for not watching the debates or the campaign ads.

    I stand corrected.

  30. iron308 says:

    If Newt does win the nomination he’ll know where his bread got buttered.

    Therein lies my problem with Newt- will he care when the wind is blowing the other way? Will he further tarnish the ‘conservative’ brand after getting elected as one?

  31. leigh says:

    Di, Gingrich was Bachmann back in the 80’s.

  32. sdferr says:

    The people can offer to kill them all, then see whether office holders will choose to listen. Think of it as a kind of reverse propaganda cup. Or, nevermind waiting, nevermind offering, just take after them and be done with it.

  33. Don’t feel bad, Jeff, he hasn’t mentioned it since he posted it, AFAIK. And it ain’t zackly overflowing with detail.

  34. McGehee says:

    A twisted voice in the back of my head whispers, “Newt Romney, All-American.” But neither one of these clowns is going to win it for the Gipper.

  35. Ernst Schreiber says:

    If Hillary Clinton reminds us of our ex-wife (the first one) in Rush’s memorable characterization, Newt can only remind us of that ex-girlfriend who a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty (and really, who among us hasn’t had one of those?)

    Now that you’re older and wiser, you recognize that the excitement and the melodrama went hand in hand, and your leary of getting back on that roller coaster,

    but man, what a ride!

  36. geoffb says:

    “A little bit?” Mine were way beyond “little bit”.

  37. sdferr says:

    This half-hour brought to you by: PoliticalSexToys LLC., developing debased playthings for the Public Pleasure at the drop of a pant-leg. Need a ginned-up smear? Call us, we’re yours.

  38. jdw (note the "w") says:

    In my opinion if we want to avoid an Obama landslide in November, Republicans should nominate Governor Romney as our standard bearer. He has the requisite experience in the public and private sectors. He would be a president we could have confidence in.

    Rotten old bastard. That is all.

  39. dicentra says:

    that ex-girlfriend who a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty (and really, who among us hasn’t had one of those?)

    [raises hand]

  40. jdw (note the "w") says:

    Coulter

    Romney is “moderate” only in demeanor — which is just another word game. His positions are more conservative than Gingrich’s, but he doesn’t scare people like Gingrich does. Ronald Reagan and Jesse Helms were moderate in demeanor, too. No one would call them political moderates.

    Ann, no one in his or her right mind could seriously call Romney “conservative”, unless they were playing these word games of which you speak. Newt Gingrich may have flaws, but I for one like his demeanor, and once liked yours as well. At what price did you find it acceptable to sell out to the Establishment?

  41. geoffb says:

    Gingrich today.

    “He is counting on us not having YouTube. That’s how much he thinks we’re stupid, and we’re not stupid,” Gingrich said. “The message we should give Mitt Romney is you know, `We aren’t that stupid and you aren’t that clever’.”

  42. happyfeet says:

    Romney is for sure a big silly …. that is very insightful of Newt to see that

  43. sdferr says:

    Are you a candidate in the “Fight Of Your Life”?

    Scared shitless your electorate might finally run into a clue, merely by accident of fate? Paralyzed by fear that the populace will trip over the question they should be asking, but haven’t yet found the wit to discover?

    Let us corbel AttenzionSpanzSpazmz.Com over DiverzionzDrumz.Net for you! We’ll have the people distracted from now ’til August 27 2012! WE GUARANTEE they won’t pick up the tiniest inkling what they ought to be focused on, and none the wiser for the fact! Your election committee can’t afford NOT to hire us.

  44. newrouter says:

    i hear the hanging chads are the opening act

  45. Pablo says:

    Santorum is being principled on immigration. He’s screwed.

  46. sdferr says:

    Oh, roar a roar for Nora,
    Nora Alice in the night,
    For she has seen Aurora
    Borealis burning bright.

    A furore for our Nora!
    And applaud Aurora seen!
    Where, throughout the Summer, has
    Our Borealis been?

  47. happyfeet says:

    i like dinothors and moon rockth and sometimes when I’m alone with callista we play like I’m a t-rex on the moon and she’s a naughty congressional aid what likes married men – you know – that way

  48. happyfeet says:

    aide I mean

  49. Pablo says:

    Is it just me or is Romney beating Newt like a rented mule?

  50. newrouter says:

    swiss bankster romney: #ows/baraCKY

  51. LBascom says:

    I’m actually warming up to Newt these days. And not just ‘cuz he’s the underdog putting up a fine scrap against an underhanded smear artist. Not even ‘cuz people call him certifiable when I know he’s not.

    No, I’m beginning to realize if he is the nominee, I can can see myself not just voting for him in good conscience, unlike McCain or Romney, but I might even be able to work up some enthusiasm.

    The realization has cheered me up considerably.

  52. newrouter says:

    newt-rick-nor coalition might be fun

  53. sdferr says:

    I can imagine enjoying beating Wolf Blitzer to a bloody pulp.

  54. newrouter says:

    will baracky release his health records?

  55. motionview says:

    Wait, hasn’t it been about three months since some academic proved conservatives are low IQ racists? About due don’t ya think?

  56. Pablo says:

    Newt is an underhanded smear artist. Lee. If tomorrow mornings news were to inform us that both he and Romney were hit by meteors, that would be a very nice morning.

  57. newrouter says:

    good allan mitt is an idiot

  58. BT says:

    Newt still has hope in America. The rest meh.

  59. BT says:

    I am beginning to loathe Mitt.

    I hope Santorum finishes second to Newt.

  60. BT says:

    Ricky is a pit bull

  61. Pablo says:

    Fuck hope. Santorum has faith in America and you can actually tell what he believes in by listening to him say it.

  62. newrouter says:

    mittens will have hate ricks ad out tomorrow.

  63. newrouter says:

    the “angry” card go mittens/jerk

  64. BT says:

    Hopefully he will double pinky swear that he won’t install ecclesiastical law in the good ol USA

  65. newrouter says:

    yes let’s play the hispanic card

  66. sdferr says:

    Tell me America wouldn’t applaud were the four guys to go kick Blitzer’s ass right there on the stage right now. Tag team him, even.

  67. newrouter says:

    oh just push wolf off the stage and let the cocktail party mob deal with him. hammer wolf with cucumbers.

  68. leigh says:

    Hammer Wolf with real hammers.

  69. RI Red says:

    Aargh! I can’t take this debate. Answer – what’s with the identity politics? My cabinet would be based on merit, not if you’re Hispanic or Irish. And by the way you’d be electing me, not my wife as First Lady.

  70. LBascom says:

    Pablo, I won’t argue with you, and if I was voting today it would be for Santorum.

    Maybe I’m getting all carried away with a tiny glimmer of hope that Romney won’t be the nominee, ANYBODY else, but it did brighten my day.

  71. RI Red says:

    Pander pander pander. Santorum is landing body blows and nor luap sounds sane.

  72. BT says:

    I think we should stop the embargo of Cuba.

  73. newrouter says:

    “I think we should stop the embargo of Cuba.”

    why?

  74. Pablo says:

    If I had to pick between Romney and Newt, Lee, I think I’d start praying for a heart attack. Mine or both of them, either way.

  75. BT says:

    why?

    Because the time is right. They are no longer in the Soviet orbit.

    Because the benefits of opening trade and travel between the countries will far outweigh the liabilities of not doing so.

  76. leigh says:

    So, Ron Paul it is, eh Pablo?

  77. newrouter says:

    “Because the benefits of opening trade and travel between the countries will far outweigh the liabilities of not doing so.”

    for whom?

  78. BT says:

    Paul nailed the religious question.

  79. BT says:

    @78 both countries as well as the rest of the western hemisphere.

    Do you disagree?

  80. Bob Reed says:

    Santorum is hitting statism HARD right now; saying explicitly that our rights come from our creator (God) and not the state-and says explicitly that Obama believes the latter.

    Looked to me like he was takin’ it strong to the hoop…

    He gets it

  81. newrouter says:

    “Do you disagree?”

    opening up trade with cuba rewards the castro lobby. better to free the peeps 1st.

  82. RI Red says:

    Please shoot me. Nor luap got it right on difference between religious beliefs and duty under constitution.

  83. guinspen says:

    Halftime !

    “I … find it reprehensible to be associated with individuals who advocated blowing up police stations and federal buildings,” Koch wrote in his resignation letter. “I would be a hypocrite to look the other way on this.”

    In December, the Humanities Council sold a dinner with Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, as part of an online fundraiser. The auction item was purchased by conservative correspondent Tucker Carlson for $2,500.

  84. RI Red says:

    And Bob/Santorum is right re natural “god-given rights”.

  85. BT says:

    The people will free themselves if they get a hint that we are behind them.

  86. Pablo says:

    Santorum and if not him, a brokered convention, leigh. Or, second look at Gary Johnson.

  87. Pablo says:

    Ayers is a retired University of Illinois at Chicago professor and co-founder of the Weather Underground, a radical anti-war group responsible for bombings in 1969 and the 1970s. He has written extensively about his past.

    Jesus. An “anti-war” group that was trying to foment a violent revolution, huh?

  88. RI Red says:

    Santorum is takin’ it to the house.

  89. Bob Reed says:

    Tomorrow all of the blather will be about how Newt beat Mitt and vice-versa. In my opinion, Santorum did very well, and spoke to most of the ideas that conservatives hold to be true.

    And now he’s delivery a strong finish, complete with an exhibit of how Obama is desperately trying to coopt his message about the need to revive the smokestack industry/manufacturing sector…

  90. newrouter says:

    rick did good at the close

  91. sdferr says:

    Sounded like straight up Thomism to me Bob, which, nothing wrong with that. Modern natural right theory, however, it ain’t, which, again, nothing wrong with that. Santorum, I’m thinking, has been excellent, the best on the stage both tonight and in the last show (these are, after all, just shows), but especially tonight. He didn’t miss.

  92. Pablo says:

    Yeah, Santorum won that debate. Newt Romney was too busy pissing on himself. I’m beginning to draw the conclusion that Ron Paul is a simpleton.

  93. motionview says:

    Carlson is taking a reader along with him, I’ve applied.

  94. Bob Reed says:

    Duty calls, but I’ll stop back later if I get the chance. The young-un has discovered how to flip over, but wakes up mad if sleeping lightly and ends up on his belly.

    For those of you long past this experience in life, the MDs “scare you straight” about the absolute metaphysical imperative that they exclusively sleep on their back.

    But since his name could be “pinwheel Bobby”, as he’s flip-flopped more than Romney, or even Kerry, I’m thinkin’ it’s not the end of the world; we’ll find out at his check-up next week…

    My Regards to all

  95. RI Red says:

    Pablo, you’re right. Hope he can keep this going to keep Newt/Romney hard right.

  96. leigh says:

    I was just teasing you, Pablo. I think Santorum did the best tonight.

    What was with all the loaded Hispanic slant? It’s not like everyone in Florida is hispanic.

    Blitzer is still an asshole and even shorter than I remembered.

  97. B. Moe says:

    Wolf: If Raul Castro were on the phone what would you say?

    Paul: I would ask him why he called.

    That right there’s almost enough to make me vote for him.

  98. leigh says:

    All three of my boys slept on their bellies, Bob. When they were really little I used to swaddle them, then roll a receiving blanket up behind their little backs and lay them on their sides. They were propped up like little pigs in a blanket.

    Babies startle a lot. They wake themselves up if they are on their backs.

  99. newrouter says:

    “I’m beginning to draw the conclusion that Ron Paul is a simpleton.”

    or comic relief or steering the discussion to sumthing interesting

  100. Pablo says:

    Brit Hume was just talking Rick up. A crack in the dam?

  101. LBascom says:

    I’d be more interested what Paul would say if Netanyahu was on the phone about Iran building a bomb…

  102. Jeff G. says:

    Romney has that “everybody else is able to buy the nomination, why won’t anybody let me…?” look.

    The media keeps telling us it’s Romney / Gingrich. If Santorum holds up long enough and Paul drops out, people could start coming around to Santorum. He doesn’t have Newt’s baggage, and he’s not afraid of a fight, either.

  103. newrouter says:

    rick is attacking mittens on greta

  104. leigh says:

    It’s very frustrating trying to find information about the candidates that isn’t slanted by the news media. I’m more than to spend time looking for it, too. No wonder the low info voters are low info. If you are just a news watcher at the gym or while you’re eating a meal, all you get is the headlines. Lord knows there are no decent newspapers anymore, no matter how award winning they may be.

  105. leigh says:

    toss a “willing” up in that sentence there

  106. sdferr says:

    It appears to me Santorum is emerging in greater possession of himself and his beliefs as regards our politics and future. In simple terms, I think I see him growing. Maybe it’s a simple matter of practice, maybe it’s a matter of his focused attention and efforts, but the cause isn’t entirely relevant in the short term, so long as his stronger showing — of his ideas and purposes — takes hold of the voters. On the other hand, he can’t be held responsible for their, or our, failings. He has to go to war with the recruiting pool he’s dealt, and if that recruiting pool isn’t up to recognizing their own needs? Ah well. Who would justly be surprised?

  107. RI Red says:

    leigh, I sleep on my back, but it makes me snore. On my front, well, we won’t go there. But you still need to equalize pressure.

  108. Pablo says:

    He certainly seems to have found a fine hook to hang his candidacy on, that being that there’s no daylight between Gingrich, Romney and Obama on Obamacare, Cap and Trade, and …what’s the third thing? I can’t remember. Oops.

    Oh, yeah! Bailouts.

  109. newrouter says:

    so michigan gets interesting?

  110. RI Red says:

    Santorum sounded so … conservative … tonight. As long as he doesn’t legislate that icky social stuff, I guess we might be okay.
    I mean, it’s not like social stuff has any bearing on life.

  111. newrouter says:

    ” As long as he doesn’t legislate that icky social stuff, ”

    ax boner about that sh*t

  112. newrouter says:

    also ax dingy harry

  113. geoffb says:

    Azizona is winner take all while Michigan is partially proportional. Both on 2/28 Colorado is proportional but has more delagates up than either AZ or MI and comes on 2/7. Maine and Nevada before that on 2/4.

  114. RI Red says:

    Boner is not high on my list of whom I’d ask anything. Quintessential establishment Republican: “It’s our turn to run things!”

  115. Ernst Schreiber says:

    For those of you long past this experience in life, the MDs “scare you straight” about the absolute metaphysical imperative that they exclusively sleep on their back.

    If he’s turning himself over Bob he’s most likely okay, as long as you don’t have a crib overloaded with pillow, blankets, comfortes, puffy curb bumpers etc. We did the same side sleeping thing leigh described.

    Unlike the frau’s brother and sister-in-law, whose kids both ended up in helmets to fix the flat back of the head from exclusively sleeping on their backs.

  116. Danger says:

    I got a phone call from Mitt tonight. Or wait… maybe it was Ro-Mitt, anyone know how to tell the difference?

  117. newrouter says:

    “Ro-Mitt, anyone know how to tell the difference?”

    bain if i knows

  118. Danger says:

    Have to send in the absentee ballot tomorrow. Think I’ll be droppin a little below the Romney bubble. I Guess he won’t be calling again.

  119. Bob Reed says:

    Thanks for all the input folks. I realize that essentially anyone who’s over 30 had their parents told the polar opposite back in the day.

    He’s been so active, since he was 6 weeks old, that unless I duct tape the swaddling blanket he works his way out of it-and he’s too large for the swaddling blankets with built in velcro.

    The other non-negotiable admonition the MDs laid on us was no pillows, blankets, etc until they’re a year old. They said no bumpers either, but since he was getting his arm stuck between the crib slats, I got the equivalent of an ultra-tight weave seine net mesh and zip tied it around the perimeter to put a stop to it.

    It’s only him, the mattress, and his feet-pajamas, so I’m hoping for the best.

    In fact, earlier I found him flipped onto his belly again and sleeping soundly. We’ll see how it goes, I’ll keep my eye on him…

    The only drag is I can’t get deep into the conversation!

  120. Bob Reed says:

    By the way, Santorum won, in my opinion, large…

    I’ll see you all later.

  121. Danger says:

    Bob,

    All of my kids slept on their sides with one of those little wedge type pillow restraints like this. Prolly explains why they never clean their room ;)

  122. Ernst Schreiber says:

    [Santorum] [s]ounded like straight up Thomism to me Bob, which, nothing wrong with that. Modern natural right theory, however, it ain’t, which, again, nothing wrong with that.

    Which means it’s an Aristotlean mixer, if you like that sort of thing. It’d be nice if somebody could find a way to reconcile Aristotle with Locke.

  123. geoffb says:

    Newt has done one thing for good or ill, he has brought out of the closet the media’s Alinsky love. 75 recent articles and counting.

  124. Bob Reed says:

    I’m surprised my wife never saw one of those devices Danger!

    I guess we’ll have to rely on you, Slart and sdferr to stop Mitt in Fla :)

  125. Bob Reed says:

    I’d have to agree on the Thomism sdferr; it’s definitely right bestowed by God as opposed to being part and parcel of our existence.

    I’d also have to agree about his “evolution” over the last few months. He’s certainly expressing himself much better than he had in the past, and saying the right things too-at least in my opinion.

    As you say, it’s on the voters to understand what’s being said.

  126. Mueller says:

    #82
    I totally agree.Since we’re the only nation embargoing Cuba, Castro has had the whole rest of the world to draw upon. Free the prisoners first, then lift the embargo.
    Keep the faces of the Cuban dissidents in the news, or on the blogs.

  127. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Is it that Santorum himself has improved as a debater, or is it rather that the media (im)moderators find it harder to relegate him to the second tier when there’s only one tier left?

  128. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Lifting the Embargo won’t happen before Castro croaks. The liberals needs it too much.

  129. Bob Reed says:

    That’s a very good point Ernst. It did seem that in some of the early debates he’d be lucky to get a question of two asked of him. And then in trying to cover ground from some other, unrelated, prior questions his answers seemed to ramble without a point. Which may have given some folks the impression of disorganized thinking, lack of command of the issue at hand, or inability to focus.

    I have to think that more folks must be taking a second look at Santorum after his strong performance last night. At least I hope so.

    From glancing at some of the aggregator sites, though, it appears I was prescient last night in saying most of the blather so far seems to focus on opinions that either Newt or Mitt won the debate.

  130. Pablo says:

    Is it that Santorum himself has improved as a debater, or is it rather that the media (im)moderators find it harder to relegate him to the second tier when there’s only one tier left?

    I think you’re on to something there. It’s easier to notice him in a smaller crowd. He’s not snazzy, he’s just got good answers that he believes in.

  131. Ernst Schreiber says:

    This is interesting. Not only because it’s something I never knew (but then again, why would I waste my time reading Georgie Stephopopopus, when there’s so many more interesting and useful things to do —exfoliating with a belt sander for instance), but also because it goes to Jeff’s oft-repeated point that the churls will be made to heed their betters, one way or the other:

    Bob Dole, you will remember from George Stephanoupolos’s memoir of his time in Clinton’s White House, totally cut the legs out from under Newt Gingrich and House Republicans during the government shut down. According to the Democrats, they were within twenty-four hours of caving to the House Republicans’ demands, but Bob Dole surprised them all by caving first.

    Dole went on to lose to Bill Clinton and still hates Newt Gingrich for it because Gingrich was the face used to attack Dole — a man who would have been the hero in the fight had Dole not caved.

    And we’re supposed to hate Newt Gingrich because Bob Dole caved to the Democrats twenty-four hours before they were going to cave to Gingrich?

  132. ThomasD says:

    it’s definitely right bestowed by God as opposed to being part and parcel of our existence.

    If you assume the existence of God, and further posit Him as the Creator, then – our entire existence being owed to God – these two are one and the same.

    Which is somewhat removed from ‘modern’ natural rights theory, insofar as that theory isn’t much more that the convenient removal of the Creator as an essential element. ie. it avoids all that inconvenient god-bothery.

  133. Ernst Schreiber says:

    ‘[M]odern’ natural rights theory … isn’t much more that the convenient removal of the Creator as an essential element. ie. it avoids all that inconvenient god-bothery.

    Unfortunately that’s why modern natural rights theory also susceptible to co-option by the “general will” or the “Übermensch” or the “Führerprinzip” and we find ourselves back to rights deriving from the State because only the State is capable of actualizing them for us.

    Or something like that.

  134. McGehee says:

    Ernst, I remember that. And then the Idiot Party nominated Dole for president in 1996 despite having … well, come to think of it, a field kind of like we have this year … to choose from.

    But it wasn’t as if we weren’t warning the non-existent party establishment that Dole would be a bad choice.

  135. leigh says:

    Those were dreary times. Bob Dole was the most lackluster candidate we could have run against a young’un like Big Dog.

    I resigned myself to Clinton’s second term the second Dole won the nomination.

  136. Bob Reed says:

    ThomasD, I happen to agree with you completely, but was simply addressing the philisophical comparison sdferr spoke of.

    And Ernst, you are correct in the ability of natural rights theory to be perverted in a manner leading back to statism (fuherprinzip, etc).

  137. sdferr says:

    Gulliver might help a little, where he relates his encounter with Aristotle’s shade while on Glubbdubdrib. Aristotle seems to me to point to the source of the problem:

    I then desired the governor to call up Descartes and Gassendi, with whom I prevailed to explain their systems to Aristotle. This great philosopher freely acknowledged his own mistakes in natural philosophy, because he proceeded in many things upon conjecture, as all men must do; and he found that Gassendi, who had made the doctrine of Epicurus as palatable as he could, and the vortices of Descartes, were equally to be exploded. He predicted the same fate to ATTRACTION, whereof the present learned are such zealous asserters. He said, “that new systems of nature were but new fashions, which would vary in every age; and even those, who pretend to demonstrate them from mathematical principles, would flourish but a short period of time, and be out of vogue when that was determined.”

  138. Bob. Get a rock-hard crib mattress, one of those zip up travel bag thingys and put the kid on his stomach. I have multiple pediatricians in my family and I also have 4 boys, the pediatricians said back, then side, then back again. The boys said stomach. Granny said stomach. Crazy old Italian lady with the squint from next door who used to watch my oldest while my wife shopped or slept off the long night of screaming, crying, pooping and boob sucking and a cranky baby, (I thought she wanted to boil my first kid in a giant iron kettle with weird herbs and eye of newt. She used to rub him down with olive oil like twice a day. He’s 16 now and has perfect skin. Seriously. If I had known him when I was 16, I probably would have murdered him.) said tummy. We put them on their tummy and they (and we) slept. The pediatricians used to tell us that we were doing a great job turning the baby so his head didn’t get flat, we pretended we were. All of our boys have nice, round, c-section, tummy sleeping, noggins.

  139. sdferr says:

    Just curious ThomasD, what’s the need for quote marks on modern (“somewhat removed from ‘modern’ natural rights theory”)? Are quotes there for the purpose of indicating that there’s good reason to doubt that a distinction between modern and classical natural right can be made? Or is it simpler, just to mark that we’ve not adequately pinned down the parameters we intend by modern? Or for neither of those, but some other purpose?

  140. LBascom says:

    I don’t ever remember being conflicted over taking care of my babies. I figure if a freak’in Neanderthal handled it without an Md’s advice, we could get along without.

    Granted, I did absorb how my family raised children…

  141. Curmudgeon says:

    Wait. Is this the same Newt Gingrich who was pushing the Man Made Global Warming Hoax with Nancy Peelousy, and attacking Mitt about Bain Capital in a Michael Moore-ish disgusting fashion? And the same Newt who went after Mitt about immigration, in a disgusting Hispandering fashion? Really?

    I’m not happy with Mitt the RINO, but Newt has so many more skeletons in his closet that the Demunists will release for maximum impact.

    At this point, I wish Rick Santorum all the luck in the world.

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