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"Hawaii Five-0 Crew Disgraceful To WWII Pearl Harbor Survivors"

Presented without comment, because honestly, what’s to say? This is the time we live in — where people know the pieties their to mouth, yet they believe in nothing greater than themselves, and when they think no one of importance is watching, they act precisely that way.

(h/t afs)

134 Replies to “"Hawaii Five-0 Crew Disgraceful To WWII Pearl Harbor Survivors"”

  1. cranky-d says:

    I like the take-away that only wacko right-wing bloggers care about respecting those who served. It might be true, and if so, we have fallen further than I, when in the throes of thinking people might be good after all sometimes, had thought.

  2. B. Moe says:

    Hawaii 5-0 is still on the air?

  3. newrouter says:

    its the new and improved h5o

  4. happyfeet says:

    Now I know it might be fun to trash a TV show, but I can’t understand why you would make these claims.… that’s Peter Lenkov he’s a canadian what married a hoochie what did soft porn for Zalman King

  5. happyfeet says:

    her tits are all over the internet but I’m not gonna link cause of that would be in poor taste, probably

    kind of

  6. bh says:

    Yeah, but you’re at least supposed to give us the name so that we can do it.

  7. dicentra says:

    we couldn’t stand near the graves because we were in “the line of sight” of the actors.

    Not of the cameras: the actors.

    Tender little flowers.

  8. happyfeet says:

    my bad

  9. happyfeet says:

    production assistants what aren’t aggressive don’t last long and they can be very very mean and sometimes they even arbitrarily move their signs what say where you can’t park and you end up getting your car almost towed cause they’re assholes like that

    not that that’s an excuse here exactly but this is more the fault of the location manager and the production manager I think

  10. dicentra says:

    this is more the fault of the location manager and the production manager I think

    Scheduling a shoot at a veterans graveyard on Dec 7 was definitely stoopid on their part. Surely they could have made it another day.

  11. Abe Froman says:

    Production monkeys are very focused on the task at hand. Even the Teamsters, though in their case the task at hand is usually donuts.

  12. B. Moe says:

    I was involved with one (very) small video shoot and was seriously amused the whole time at just how serious most of the folks there took themselves. Didn’t make a real good impression, I don’t think, even though I was apparently “the talent”.

  13. JHoward says:

    What is incivility inversely proportional to I wonder.

  14. Abe Froman says:

    Tell me about it, B Moe. They all want to be “the talent,” and it makes them johnny on the spot for their taskmasters, but everyone else pays the price in the form of their negative fucking energy over having jobs that they’re convinced are beneath them.

  15. happyfeet says:

    I think those Korean tower thingies are beautiful

  16. LBascom says:

    I didn’t know you could rent cemeteries. Don’t seem right…

  17. leigh says:

    Those Korean towers look like they are made of Lego bricks. They should be easy to topple.

  18. newrouter says:

    “I didn’t know you could rent cemeteries. Don’t seem right…”

    you should not be able rent private/public property?

  19. dicentra says:

    OMG.

    I don’t even know how to categorize this type of mendacity.

    Time Magazine lists 10 Species Near Extinction and presents the number of remaining individuals, usually in the dozens or hundreds.

    And then they list the poley bear, with “fewer than 25,000” remaining. The next-highest number is “fewer than 2000,” for the black-footed ferret.

    They really expect people not to notice the jump of another order of magnitude?

  20. leigh says:

    If you can rent out a cemetary for an event, the monies should go towards Perpetual Care.

  21. LBascom says:

    I don’t know how it works newrouter, but if I bought a plot for grandma, I’d hope they wouldn’t start renting her out for goth weddings.

  22. newrouter says:

    “Time Magazine lists 10 Species Near Extinction”

    anti darwinists probably believe in the 6000 year old earth.

  23. newrouter says:

    “I’d hope they wouldn’t start renting her out for goth weddings.”

    having buried someone recently it would appear that a private cemetery is sort of like being in a home owners association. set the terms of use ie types of markers etc.

  24. happyfeet says:

    so this girl Jeanna sees a furry creature on the ground and picks it up

    “hello little baby furry thing,” says Jeanna, to the little bat, which promptly bites her.

    “Ouchy ouch,” says Jeanna.

    37 days later Jeanna starts acting like she’s drunk.

    Ohnoes!

    Jeanna is rabid!

    Yikes! She’d never been vaccinated her whole life!

    So her concerned parents take her to the hospital, where she is cured and sent on her way.

    Yay!

  25. sdferr says:

    That’s a sort of don’t mess with bats story.

    When we capture a little bat and take it to the animal shelter, the animal shelter people will invariably become alarmed. Were you bitten they’ll ask? This is cause bats aren’t generally caught so’re assumed to be rabid suspects from the jump, though even sometimes they’re caught just cause they’re caught and not on account of rabies. But that won’t make the end of it for the animal shelter peoples. They soon begin to focus on removing the bat’s brain for testings. So much for saving bats.

  26. Abe Froman says:

    Wikipedia really needs to find them some attractive researchers. I don’t cotton to no fund raising appeals from ugly people.

  27. leigh says:

    I’m getting impatient with the bat population here next to the lake. I purchased a bat house for them a couple of years ago and we researched the best place to put it: under the eaves, with partial sun/partial shade, near the water, and not far from trees. Check on all of the above. Plus it is in a spot where bat guano is not going to fall on walkways or in outside dog watering stations. Two years and no bats.

    And agreed about the ugly Wiki spokespeople.

  28. Mike LaRoche says:

    Has anyone here watched the new “Hawaii Five-O”? I haven’t. Even though it went off the air when I was just five years old, to me that show will always be about Jack Lord and James MacArthur.

    By the way, I’ve been guest-blogging at Gateway Pundit this week and gave Protein Wisdom a hat tip with my own post on this.

  29. Mike LaRoche says:

    Waayyy OT: Yelverton?

    (h/t Ace)

    Heh, Willie should audition for a role on the new Five-O, along with his awesome paella.

  30. Abe Froman says:

    I’ve seen Hawaii Five-O a couple of times. I don’t remember the original either, – except the theme song and the big wave – but this series seems like it’s trying overly hard to be a kind of low-grade 24.

  31. bh says:

    Hey, that’s cool, Mike. Cheers.

  32. leigh says:

    Cool facts about Danno:

    James MacArthur was the son of Helen Hayes. MacArthur grew up around the greatest literary and theatrical talent of the time. Lillian Gish was his godmother, and his family guests included Ben Hecht, Harpo Marx, Robert Benchley, Beatrice Lillie, John Barrymore, and John Steinbeck.

  33. Mike LaRoche says:

    Thanks, bh. Yeah, a “low-grade 24” is the same impression I got when I saw some of the ads.

  34. bh says:

    […]but if I bought a plot for grandma, I’d hope they wouldn’t start renting her out for goth weddings.

    That’s a sneaky good line, Lee.

  35. Frontman says:

    Tacky, tacky people. What stands out most to me is how absolutely fucking clueless and classless they are.

    I know you for who you are, and I for one will remember, for whatever its worth.

  36. geoffb says:

    It’s not a private cemetery. It is “The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific” and is run by a part of the Federal Department of Veteran Affairs. Any permissions would have come through them. With the President being a no-show and the Sec. of the Interior just “phoning it in” I would easily believe that this collision was set up for the amusement of our glorious administration.

  37. leigh says:

    I’m not willing to go that far and think that there was collusion in this outrageous behavior. Having known a great number of public employees, as well as a lot of people in show business, I’m going to blame it on stupidity.

  38. geoffb says:

    I said collision not collusion.

  39. leigh says:

    Yes, you did. Never mind.

  40. geoffb says:

    They stupid defense is the first one the left reach for every time. I no longer give them that benefit of the doubt, they have not shown me that they deserve it and besides they are proclaimed to be the smartest people ever to walk the Earth. I think they should wear that sign stamped on all they do.

  41. leigh says:

    I will offer a reason for what they do: They are a bunch of classless fucks. They know what they should; they should show respect to the WWII vets. They know they are wrong for not doing so and go out of their way to act like pricks. They’re rational to anyone who dares to take them to task? “Fuck ’em. And while you’re at it, fuck you, too.”

    It’s one in the endless list of reasons I want to see them all disgraced and imprisoned, from the prez all the way down to the production assistant.

  42. Pablo says:

    I blame an excess of unearned self-esteem. People who’ve been raised to think they’re all special flowers tend to be unable to recognize the real thing.

  43. leigh says:

    Yup. Try setting foot in a high school where it’s like Lake Wobegone—at least that is what they think.

  44. geoffb says:

    “Fuck ‘em. And while you’re at it, fuck you, too.”

    Sorry I didn’t mean to be offensive if the last part of this sentence was aimed at me. Not sure as it is in quotes but I don’t know where the quote is from.

  45. sdferr says:

    It isn’t a quote exactly, save as an imagined thing said by the production people about the vets first (fuck them) and the taking-to-taskers second (and . . . fuck you too), I think, geoffb.

  46. geoffb says:

    Ok. My misunderstanding then.

  47. McGehee says:

    Watched one episode of the new Five-O. Unimpressed.

    I do have some vague memories of a few eps of the original, but I seem to recall my folks didn’t watch it much in first-run, and most of what I saw was syndicated reruns, like after school instead of doing homework.

    When it wasn’t that it was The Mod Squad or Flipper.

  48. leigh says:

    No no no! I’d never say that to you, geoffb! sdferr decoded my intent.

  49. McGehee says:

    Or if the TV station was running Little House twice a day, I gave up and did homework.

  50. sdferr says:

    Lloyd Bridges, Sea Hunt.

  51. leigh says:

    What? You guys didn’t watch Gilligan’s Island and the Flintstones?

  52. sdferr says:

    Dobie Gillis and Mr. Magoo

  53. geoffb says:

    Rocky and Bullwinkle and the Three Stooges.

  54. sdferr says:

    R & B were my gods.

  55. geoffb says:

    Sky King?

  56. geoffb says:

    “R & B were my gods.”

    A big ditto.

  57. sdferr says:

    Sky King, absolutely. And Lone Ranger round about then too I think.

  58. leigh says:

    Another ditto.

  59. Pablo says:

    Also Lost in Space, and The Streets of San Francisco.

  60. sdferr says:

    What was the Steve McQueen vehicle? brb

    Wanted: Dead or Alive, with the goofy shorty robe gun. Also the Nick Adams thinger, The Rebel.

  61. leigh says:

    Rat Pack and The Rifleman.

  62. leigh says:

    Rat Patrol, I meant.

  63. Pablo says:

    Oh, and Hogan’s Heroes.

  64. sdferr says:

    How about the Robert Culp series, Trackdown? Met him in ’58 at a rodeo in Coffeyville Ka. when my family won free tickets, dinner and a motel lodging while passing through town in a strange car (headed home from Independence back to Ft. Worth in a ’57 Volvo 444). The rodeo promoter, out with the town constable in a black and white, pulled us over on account of the oddity, then awarded us the prize.

  65. geoffb says:

    And all this in a home that only got CBS and NBC as ABC was only on a distant station my folks rooftop antenna wouldn’t pick up. From my really younger days there was Captain Kangaroo in the morning and The Mickey Mouse Club after school with their various serials like “Spin and Marty”

    Does anyone remember the show hosted by Andy Devine featuring “Froggy”?

  66. Pellegri says:

    Time Magazine lists 10 Species Near Extinction and presents the number of remaining individuals, usually in the dozens or hundreds.

    And then they list the poley bear, with “fewer than 25,000? remaining. The next-highest number is “fewer than 2000,” for the black-footed ferret.

    Ha ha what the actual eff?

    You mean to tell me there’s not several dozen species between those two that are more critically endangered than polar bears, which are in fact doing pretty well, thanks?

    Thanks, Time. Thanks. Using your climate wank to shill for a charismatic vertebrate species that’s well above the critically endangered threshold and go on and forget all the other, far more endangered animals out there that aren’t mammals with big ol’ mookie eyes.

    Like everything on this list, none of which are ADORABLE POLAR BEARS. In fact the 2008/9 list is entirely amphibians, which no one who reads or writes Time apparently cares about because they’re 1) not furry and 2) aren’t polar bears. I’m not sure any of Time’s writers could even identify the mammals from the 2007/8 list if shown pictures and descriptions.

    Excuse me I need to go scream into a pillow.

  67. bh says:

    G-Force for me.

    I’d say that I’m young but that was was a quarter century ago now.

  68. sdferr says:

    Any Philadelphians in here who recall Bertie the Bunyip? Never saw it myself, but alla pals from up there could go on about it at the drop of a hat.

  69. Pellegri says:

    Also, polar bears are jackasses.

    Just like all the other bears.

  70. Joe says:

    Assholes.

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  73. Joe says:

    Assholes start with Barack Obama.

  74. serr8d says:

    Wasn’t a fan of the original; certainly would never watch even three minutes of this new farcical farce that is a joke (but not much more of a joke than 99% of current TV fare, I’d warrant. If I watched any, which I don’t.).

    Oh, but only slightly OT, the FCC has ruled that broadcasters can no loner make commercials louder than regular shows. How many times have you had to scramble for the remote to lower the volume when crappy commercials came on and your half-asleep watching some dull and boring bit of televised crowd-pleasing pablum & nonsense ?

  75. serr8d says:

    ‘you’re’, or ‘you and your half-asleep wife are’

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  77. McGehee says:

    What? You guys didn’t watch Gilligan’s Island and the Flintstones?

    Well, yeah. Also Star Trek and Ironside and The Dick Van Dyke show.

    Putting off homework was time-consuming.

  78. apotheosis says:

    I will offer a reason for what they do: They are a bunch of classless fucks. They know what they should; they should show respect to the WWII vets. They know they are wrong for not doing so and go out of their way to act like pricks.

    I disagree. Not to excuse them in any way, but I seriously believe a large number of people who chronologically qualify as adults were brought up with little or no knowledge of the respect you’re talking about, of the debt owed to those servicemen and women, or how and when to express it.

    They’re vaguely aware some people believe it and do it, the way you or I might be aware that some people worship trees and dance around the woods “skyclad”, but they weren’t brought up with the understanding that it should have any effect on their actions. It has no importance to them, and they react to it the way anyone else might react to exposure to an unusual and foreign custom – mild amusement, indifference, sometimes even disgust. But not respect.

    We allowed the better part of an entire generation to mature with a full and thorough indoctrination that patriotism was tantamount to nationalism, and nationalism was pretty much fascism, and was therefore bad and wrongheaded. At no point was it ever substantially counterbalanced with reasons why it was okay and even good to be proud of the United States, but encouraging every citizen to take great and noisy pride in their own country of genetic or cultural origin.

    Thus we have grown adults in prominent political venues discovering that pride in the United States for the first time in their lives, and for all the wrong reasons.

    We’re hating ourselves to death.

  79. McGehee says:

    Said the rabbi:

    it will buoy his faithful, and emboldened faithful can do insane things

    I guess we’re lucky the rabbi doesn’t make any effort to embolden his faithful.

  80. pdbuttons says:

    zulu as kono

  81. Slartibartfast says:

    headed home from Independence back to Ft. Worth in a ’57 Volvo 444

    I saw one of those painted a glossy black with flames going down the sides.

    My favorite Volvo is still the P1800, provide adequate suspension and engine mods are made so that it drives almost as fast as it looks.

    But I’d rather have a Sunbeam Tiger, and play the theme to Get Smart constantly & loudly from the stereo.

  82. sdferr says:

    My fave is the P210, though I admit to lusting heartily after the P1800 hatchback for a while.

  83. leigh says:

    I never much cared for Volvo, new or older. My very first car was a 1963 Triumph TR-4 hardtop/convertable. My dad painted it black for me with so much lacquer it looked like you could stick your arm into the paint. I loved that car. I hated that car. It had a bonnet that was hinged at the front and famously fussy dual carbs. I was poking around under the hood trying to sync the little bastards one day and shocked myself on the distributor cap. I then banged my elbow into the hood. I spent a few minutes hopping around trying to figure out do I hold my hand? Do I hold my elbow?

  84. sdferr says:

    “fussy dual carbs”

    SU’s? Probably. Volvo’s had ’em too, and if one owned such a car, ’twas wise to learn to service them (which wasn’t all that big a deal). But, other than that, they worked fine.

  85. leigh says:

    That was them. They put me off of buying an E-type Jaguar, since it had three of the buggers. Man did those cars have a great rip roaring sound! It breaks my heart that I can’t seem to teach my boys to drive a stick shift.

  86. Slartibartfast says:

    I like the P220 Amazon wagon, actually. The P1800 wagon is cool, too.

    I had a 145 wagon, and before that a 142. But I got rid of all that when I got married; it’s hard to juggle a job, a marriage AND a 30-year-old Volvo that happens to be your transportation.

    It used to be that you could get an overbore kit for the B20E engine. Some of the early overbores could get you out to 2.5l (from 2.0l) but the one I used went to 2.2l I believe. I did some cylinder head work, put in a performance cam, and an electronic ignition. The fuel injection I switched from L-Jetronic to D-Jetronic because the L-Jetronic was flow-limited, plus the injectors clogged a lot, and the injector seals were notoriously faulty. Also did double valve springs and an exhaust header. All that stuff made it accelerate rather more smartly. I put stiffer, lower springs in it and upgraded the shocks accordingly, put a rear swaybar and a thicker front swaybar in, and it prestochangeo cornered much better.

    Overall, nearly a complete waste of money. For what I spent, I could have bought an RX-7 in good working condition, and it would have been faster, more agile, and quite a bit more fun to drive. But it was a cool car, and people were much more surprised by it than they would be by an RX-7.

  87. sdferr says:

    As it happened, my love of the old things was based mostly on fuel mileage and durability, never really speed and handling. I don’t know why that was (mostly my dad’s influence, I’d guess). Going fast or cornering well just wasn’t a thing to me, where getting over 30 mpg or the promise of running 250,000 miles with moderately diligent but commonplace maintenance was the shizzle. On the other hand, riding shotgun in my buddy’s Lotus Europa was fun too, but then I was hands free to guzzle scuppernong wine and wolf down devil’s food cookies without a teenage care in the world.

  88. Slartibartfast says:

    Older Volvos used either SU or Stromberg carbs, IIRC. Both sucked.

    Other things that sucked about the older Volvos were the AC compressors, which were York reciprocating. They sucked, I might have mentioned that.

    Things that were good were the engine-mechanical, the gearbox, and the rear end. The suspension was fine. My gearbox was a Borg-Warner manual 4-speed that I added an electric overdrive to. Which was nice; reduced cruising RPM at 65mph by about 1000.

  89. sdferr says:

    AC? Ha. As if. The chainpull-operated radiator roll-up blind was the prize.

  90. leigh says:

    The good ole days of being a motorhead. *sigh*

    My neighbor had a ’54 T-Bird in primo condition. My boyfriends in high school all drove Chevy II’s or Dodge Darts. My best girlfriend had a VW wagon that she neglected the hell out of. “Leigh, I think there’s something wrong with my car. It steers really hard.” “Try putting some air in your tires, gf.”

  91. Abe Froman says:

    I’ve never owned a car. Ever. Unbelievable, ain’t it?

  92. leigh says:

    That’s ’cause yer one a them City boys, Abe.

  93. Abe Froman says:

    I grew up in the plush suburbs, Leigh. But the curse of being a jock is that you can’t really work except during summers. I barely had enough money to get drunk every weekend.

  94. Joe says:

    Five O trivia: Richard Boone was approached to be the original McGarrett. He declined, but he did strongly suggest they film on location in Hawaii (which they did) and recommended Jack Ward (who was a bit player he knew from Have Gun, Will Travel).

    I suspect if Richard Boone was alive and participating with the show, something like this recent event would never have happened.

  95. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Jack Ward was the original Felix Leiter, but not as good as Rik Van Nutter.

    The wife likes the new 5-0 because Steve and Danny bicker like an old married couple. I pretty much dislike it for the same reason.

    The only time we see it is when Castle is a repeat.

  96. dicentra says:

    I’d just like to point out that if it were Criminal Minds filming instead of Hawaii 5-0, Joe Mantegna would have personally ensured that the veterans were treated respectfully. He and Sinise are both huge pro-military boosters and frequently work together on projects.

  97. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Jack Lord. Jack Ward is a different actor entirely.

  98. newrouter says:

    In summary, Newt Gingrich’s approach can’t be fully understood with an easy caricature of big or small government, status quo or radical change. What Newt stands for, and intends to carry out if elected, is a series of major changes in how government operates – done step by gradual step, introducing more popular choice and control and reducing public employment, rather than focusing on making dramatic and immediate cuts to public outlays or public functions. Newt’s gradualism is an attitude that’s inseparable from both his training as a historian and his obsession with the future: Newt sees change as a constant and a continuum, in which the future is reshaped by the way in which incentives are altered and power put in the hands of people who will not willingly cede it back.

    It is open to fair debate whether, in designing such an agenda, Newt is more realistic and more savvy in reading what is politically possible than more Tea Party oriented Republicans, or is passing up a unique historic opportunity to get the public behind razing big chunks of Washington at once. But either way, there is a distinctive philosophy at work that deserves as much attention in understanding his platform as Newt’s personality, character and experience.

    link

  99. newrouter says:

    Stephen Kruiser and Tony Katz are California-based Tea Party activists. Kruiser boasts an audience of more than 133,000 Twitter followers, making him a one-man Tea Party when he’s not speaking at events across the country. “If I have to support Newt, I will,” he says, but adds, “I think most people in the Tea Party movement can embrace Newt solely because he’s not Mitt.”

    Katz, a talk radio host and Tea Party organizer says Gingrich can earn something from the Tea Party that Romney cannot, “I think the Tea Party can have serious philosophical differences with Newt. But he can earn the respect of the Tea Party. Newt’s not defensive when he’s defending his positions and he’s big into Reagan’s 80-20 rule.”

    link

  100. leigh says:

    Jack Ward was Joe Friday. I loved that show. “Just the facts, ma’am.” He also played William Holden’s screenwriter pal in “Sunset Boulevard.”

  101. sdferr says:

    Henry Morgan?

  102. leigh says:

    Henry Morgan was Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H and Bill Gannon, Joe Friday’s partner.

  103. sdferr says:

    hehs/w chuckles, Ja!, leigh, it was just a lame attempt to contribute to the general tumult of absurdities, which can, given snowball enough, become its own amusement, at least in our failing memories of such as Harry and Mr. Webb.

  104. Joe says:

    Jack Lord, my bad.

    I did like Jack Ward.

  105. leigh says:

    Ach! Right you are, sdferr. Jack Webb, indeed. Though, Harry Morgan was indeed Henry Morgan at a point in time.

  106. newrouter says:

    why glenn beck’s ideological purity via-a-vis gingrich is the wrong course of action:

    After redeeming 10+ WIC checks, Welfare Queen #1 had me adjust the prices of several items she was buying (Wal-Mart’s policy is to just adjust the price of the item without question if it’s within a dollar or two). She then pulled out a vacuum cleaner, and informed me that the cost of the vacuum was $3.48 because, “that’s what it’s labeled as.” The vacuum cleaner was next to a stack of crates that were $3.48. Somehow, every other customer was able to discern that the vacuum cleaner was not $3.48, but Welfare Queen #1 and her friend Welfare Queen #2 were fooled. Welfare Queen #2 informed me that she used to work for Wal-Mart, and that the “laws of Wal-Mart legally said” that I would have to sell her the vacuum for $3.48. After contacting my manager, who went off to find the proper vacuum price, Welfare Queen #1 remarked that it must be tough to stand on a mat all day and be a cashier. I looked at her, smiled, shrugged, and said, “Well, it’s a job.” She was speechless. After they finally admitted defeat, (not before Welfare Queen #2 realizing she didn’t have enough money to buy all of the food she had picked out, resulting in the waste of about $200 worth of products) the two women left about an hour and a half after they arrived at my register.

    link

    the obama zombies won’t be giving up easily

  107. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I did like Jack Ward.

    Too bad his name is Jack Warden (assuming we’re thinking of the same guy)

  108. Pablo says:

    why glenn beck’s ideological purity via-a-vis gingrich is the wrong course of action:

    WTF does that have to do with Welfare Queens and WalMart?

  109. Ernst Schreiber says:

    “[A]n apology for giving offense is not an apology for offensive action[.] [heh] [A]pologize to each of the veterans for what happened, not how our veterans felt.”

  110. newrouter says:

    “WTF does that have to do with Welfare Queens and WalMart?”

    the Overton window

  111. newrouter says:

    We fear that to nominate former Speaker Newt Gingrich, the frontrunner in the polls, would be to blow this opportunity. We say that mindful of his opponents’ imperfections — and of his own virtues, which have been on display during his amazing comeback. Very few people with a personal history like his — two divorces, two marriages to former mistresses — have ever tried running for president. Gingrich himself has never run for a statewide office, let alone a national one, and has not run for anything since 1998. That year he was kicked out by his colleagues, the most conservative ones especially, who had lost confidence in him. During his time as Speaker, he was one of the most unpopular figures in public life. Just a few months ago his campaign seemed dead after a series of gaffes and resignations. That Gingrich now tops the polls is a tribute to his perseverance, and to Republicans’ admiration for his intellectual fecundity.

    Both qualities served conservatives well in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Gingrich, nearly alone, saw the potential for a Republican takeover of Congress and worked tirelessly to bring it about. Even before the takeover, Gingrich helped to solidify the party’s opposition to tax increases and helped to defeat the Clinton health-care plan. The victory of 1994 enabled the passage of welfare reform, the most successful social policy of recent decades.

    Gingrich’s colleagues were, however, right to bring his tenure to an end. His character flaws — his impulsiveness, his grandiosity, his weakness for half-baked (and not especially conservative) ideas — made him a poor Speaker of the House. Again and again he combined incendiary rhetoric with irresolute action, bringing Republicans all the political costs of a hardline position without actually taking one. Again and again he put his own interests above those of the causes he championed in public.

    link

    go Richie Rich

  112. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I’d like to know what exactly NR believes to be the opportunity before us that a Gingrich nomination risks blowing.

  113. newrouter says:

    us small nr types wonder what the fuss is all about. mr beck thinks saying that ” fdr is a great president”
    is horrible. well ’32-’40 sure but ’40-’44 fdr kicked butt. and moved the overton window.

  114. Pablo says:

    ’40-’44 fdr kicked butt. and moved the overton window.

    Yeah, right into Wickard and the demise of liberty. Fuck that.

  115. Pablo says:

    FDR sure could get things done! I like it! – Newt.

  116. newrouter says:

    ” ’40-’44 fdr kicked butt. and moved the overton window.

    Yeah, right into Wickard and the demise of liberty. Fuck that.”

    fdr won the war. wickard be the suck phase. truman took on the commie bastards.

  117. newrouter says:

    yea turning a big massive ship around is easy peasy. go ax alice she’s 10 ft tall.

  118. leigh says:

    Eisenhower won the war or at the very least, merely liberated Europe. FDR gave us a new amendment to the Constitution so we don’t end up with the likes of him again.

    FDR made the Depression last twice as long as it needed to and took us off the gold standard.

  119. newrouter says:

    “FDR gave us a new amendment to the Constitution so we don’t end up with the likes of him again.”

    no he did not

    amendment 22 did

  120. geoffb says:

    I’d say #21 would be FDR’s, at least it all happened right after he was sworn in.

  121. leigh says:

    Goeffb, I meant the 22nd amendment was proposed (1947) and then ratified (in 1951?), to codify the two term rule, and to add to the eligability requirements laid out in the 12th.

    As to the 21st, well, that makes for better parties!

  122. Joe says:

    Fuck me.

    Yes Jack Warden.

    Jack Lord.

    While we are at it, One Eyed Jacks.

  123. geoffb says:

    I knew what you meant Liegh. I’m not usually as clueless as last night.

    See what I did there?

  124. Joe says:

    Let’s not forget Jack Ass.

  125. dicentra says:

    yea turning a big massive ship around is easy peasy

    That’s why it won’t get turned around in time, regardless of who is POTUS. Newt’s clever incrementalism and insistence on only doing what’s “popular” because otherwise you’re engaging in social engineering won’t help at all.

    At. All.

    Nor do I think he could cope with the tremendous economic crisis that is bearing down on us. There’s no historical precedent. He’d have no idea what to do, or if he did, it would be totally wrong, because he’d just pluck something out of history that doesn’t apply to the situation.

    Because of it being unprecedented and stuff.

    It’s not down to Newt or Obama yet. Cripes, I wish people would stop acting like it is.

  126. dicentra says:

    Oh yes, FDR moved the Overton window, all right: flung it so hard and so far to the left that the momentum continues to this day, right over the cliff.

    Newt’s not defensive when he’s defending his positions and he’s big into Reagan’s 80-20 rule.

    Newt’s 80% progressive and 20% conservative, and THAT’S THE PROBLEM!

    Besides if someone presents with a brain tumor, you don’t prescribe incrementalism by first starting with aspirin and then cold packs and then something stronger, etc. You go for “extreme” measures such as chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. On account of that’s what’s called for to save the patient.

    You call it “Glenn Beck’s ideological purity” if you like, but it’s actually a call for a remedy equal to the problem. Also known as “screw business as usual: man the lifeboats and hang on.”

  127. Ernst Schreiber says:

    The Law of Unintended Consequences:

    Who doubts Reagan wouldn’t have been re-elected in 1988 if he’d been eligible?
    Further, who doubts that a third Reagan term would have been better than Bush’s only term —early stages of Alzheimer’s and all?

    Part of the Reason FDR moved the Overton window was the fact he served three terms and was elected to a fourth. The 22nd shows typical Republican defensive/reactive thinking —worried about being frozen out of office for 12+ years instead of planning how to freeze them out of office for that amount of time.

  128. Pellegri says:

    That Twitter about not voting for Obama being like voting for cancer via a struggling metaphor about failure to cure cancer is looking more idiotic all the time.

    Sure, I’m not going to vote for the cancer if my oncologist doesn’t succeed in curing me, but if the treatment he prescribes results in a dramatic and horrific Cloward-Piven metastasis I’m getting a new oncologist.

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