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The Florida Smear Campaign
http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2012/01/31/the_florida_smear_campaign ^ | 1-31-2012 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 01/31/2012 2:12:46 AM PST by sheikdetailfeather

The Republican establishment is pulling out all the stops to try to keep Newt Gingrich from becoming the party's nominee for President of the United States -- and some are not letting the facts get in their way.

Among the claims going out through the mass media in Florida, on the eve of that state's primary election, is that Newt Gingrich "resigned in disgrace" as Speaker of the House of Representatives, as a result of unethical conduct involving the diversion of tax-exempt money. Mitt Romney is calling on Gingrich to release "all of the records" from the House of Representatives investigation.

But the Wall Street Journal of January 28, 2012 reported that these records -- 1,280 pages of them -- are already publicly available on-line. Although Speaker Gingrich decided not to take on the task of fighting the charge from his political enemies in 1997, the Internal Revenue Service conducted its own investigation which, two years later, exonerated Gingrich from the charges. His resignation was not due to those charges and occurred much later.

Do the Romney camp and the Republican establishment not know this, a dozen years later? Or are they far less concerned with whether the charges will stand up than they are about smearing Gingrich on the eve of the Florida primaries?

(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: campaign; fl2012; florida; romney; romneyspew; smear; sourcetitlenoturl; sowell; thomassowell; waronnewt
Thomas Sowell exposes the liar Romney and all his flying monkeys.
1 posted on 01/31/2012 2:12:52 AM PST by sheikdetailfeather
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2 posted on 01/31/2012 2:15:35 AM PST by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: sheikdetailfeather
Isn't Thomas Sowell and Eugene Robinson agreeing on as issue one of the signs of the Apocalypse?

A campaign not for Romney, but against Gingrich (A blind pig finds an acorn)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2840414/posts

3 posted on 01/31/2012 2:26:57 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (You can't invade the US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.~Admiral Yamamoto)
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To: sheikdetailfeather
Newt can beat the governor of the only state carried by Mondale in the ’84 election against Reagan

.

4 posted on 01/31/2012 2:32:05 AM PST by Elle Bee
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To: sheikdetailfeather

New tagline...


5 posted on 01/31/2012 2:34:27 AM PST by EternalVigilance (The Republican Party: 'Destroying conservatism, or any facsimile thereof, since Nelson Rockefeller.')
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

LOL!


6 posted on 01/31/2012 2:53:33 AM PST by sheikdetailfeather (Click "UNDO" on OBAMA! VOTE NEWT!)
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To: sheikdetailfeather

The current primary in Florida is reminiscent of the George Smathers-Claude Pepper race of the ‘50’s. Smathers won by reportedly saying things like “Pepper’s sister was a thespian” and Pepper was “known in Washington as a notorious heterosexual”.


7 posted on 01/31/2012 4:07:31 AM PST by NTHockey (Rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners)
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To: Elle Bee

“Newt can beat the governor of the only state carried by Mondale in the ’84 election against Reagan”

That was Minnesota.


8 posted on 01/31/2012 4:08:08 AM PST by Luke21
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To: sheikdetailfeather

The Republican establishment is pulling out all the stops to try to keep Newt Gingrich from becoming the party’s nominee for President of the United States — and some are not letting the facts get in their way.

Among the claims going out through the mass media in Florida, on the eve of that state’s primary election, is that Newt Gingrich “resigned in disgrace” as Speaker of the House of Representatives, as a result of unethical conduct involving the diversion of tax-exempt money. Mitt Romney is calling on Gingrich to release “all of the records” from the House of Representatives investigation.

But the Wall Street Journal of January 28, 2012 reported that these records — 1,280 pages of them — are already publicly available on-line. Although Speaker Gingrich decided not to take on the task of fighting the charge from his political enemies in 1997, the Internal Revenue Service conducted its own investigation which, two years later, exonerated Gingrich from the charges. His resignation was not due to those charges and occurred much later.

Do the Romney camp and the Republican establishment not know this, a dozen years later? Or are they far less concerned with whether the charges will stand up than they are about smearing Gingrich on the eve of the Florida primaries?

There are also charges made about what Congressman Gingrich said about Ronald Reagan on March 21, 1986. But this too is a matter of public record, since his remarks are available in the Congressional Record of that date, so it is remarkable that there should be any controversy about it at this late date.

On that date, Gingrich praised Reagan’s grasp of the foreign policy issues of the day but later questioned whether the way the actual policies of the Reagan administration were being carried out was likely to succeed. Gingrich was not alone in making this point which such conservative stalwarts as George Will, Charles Krauthammer and others made at the time.

Since a column of my own back in the 1980s suggested that the administration’s policies seemed to be to “speak loudly and carry a little stick,” I can well understand the misgivings of others. But that is wholly different from saying that all who expressed misgivings were enemies of Ronald Reagan.

One can of course lift things out of context. But if you want to read the whole context, simply go on-line and get the Congressional Record for March 21, 1986. Among the other places where the smears are exposed are the Wall Street Journal of January 29th, Jeffrey Lord’s article in the American Spectator’s blog of January 27th, and an article by Heather Higgins in Ricochet.com of January 29th.

Unfortunately, there are likely to be far more people who will see the smears than will have time to get the facts. But, if nothing else, there needs to be some understanding of the reckless accusations that have become part of the all-out attempt to destroy Newt Gingrich, as so many other political figures have been destroyed, by non-stop smears in the media.

Gingrich is by no means above criticism. He has been criticized in this column before, over the years, including during the current primary season, and he will probably be criticized here again.

But the poisonous practice of irresponsible smears is an issue that is bigger than Gingrich, Romney or any other candidate of either party.

There have long been reports of people who decline to be nominated for federal judicial appointments because that means going before the Senate Judiciary Committee to have lies about their past spread nationwide, and the good reputation built up over a lifetime destroyed by politicians who could not care less about the truth.

The same practices may well have something to do with the public’s dissatisfaction with the current crop of candidates in this year’s primaries — and in previous years’ primaries. Character assassination is just another form of voter fraud.

There is no law against it, so it is up to the voters, not only in Florida but in other states, to punish it at the ballot box — the only place where punishment is likely to stop the practice


9 posted on 01/31/2012 4:44:24 AM PST by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: jazusamo

Ping


10 posted on 01/31/2012 4:45:49 AM PST by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: sheikdetailfeather

I’m voting for Newt today, just as a protest vote against the sleazy and Nixonian liberal RINO Willard Mittons.


11 posted on 01/31/2012 5:13:44 AM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: sheikdetailfeather
Do the Romney camp and the Republican establishment not know this, a dozen years later?

Of course they know it as do all the GOP types that endorsed Romney as do Coulter and the pundits on FOX

But none will call Romney on it because they have revealed they have no integrity as so called journalists and reporters
12 posted on 01/31/2012 5:42:55 AM PST by uncbob
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To: Luke21
Oops ... my bad ... all those Ms

.

13 posted on 01/31/2012 7:47:09 AM PST by Elle Bee
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To: sheikdetailfeather; Kaslin; abigail2; Amalie; American Quilter; arthurus; awelliott; Bahbah; ...
Thanks for the post, sheikdetailfeather and the ping, Kaslin.

*PING*
Thomas Sowell

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Recent columns
Getting Nowhere, Very Fast
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Too Many People Speak Out Of Their Ignorance

Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to or removed from the Thomas Sowell ping list…

14 posted on 01/31/2012 8:59:34 AM PST by jazusamo (Character assassination is just another form of voter fraud: Thomas Sowell)
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To: NTHockey

Not even close. Those accusations were true at their base. The things the Mormon candidate and his verminous supporters are accusing are lies by knowing what they’re accusing is in fact an error. And we have several working FR who have spittled the same deceit on threads where an attack Newt agenda is the purpose of the thread. Some of these purposed liars are stealth Romney shills.


15 posted on 01/31/2012 9:09:11 AM PST by MHGinTN (Being deceived can be cured.)
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To: jazusamo

Thanks for the ping jaz. Helps keep me on top.


16 posted on 01/31/2012 9:15:20 AM PST by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will, they ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)
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Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: jazusamo

sorry, wrong thread!!! I thought I was responding to the Limbaugh ping, Obama was talking about the H1B visa situation, showing his total ignorance. Mea culpa


18 posted on 01/31/2012 9:44:43 AM PST by NonValueAdded (Limbaugh: Tim Tebow miracle: "He had atheists praying to God that he would lose.")
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To: sheikdetailfeather

Thank You, Dr. Sowell, for your wise and timely article.


19 posted on 01/31/2012 10:22:35 AM PST by left that other site
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To: sheikdetailfeather
...the Wall Street Journal of January 28, 2012 reported that these records -- 1,280 pages of them -- are already publicly available on-line. Although Speaker Gingrich decided not to take on the task of fighting the charge from his political enemies in 1997, the Internal Revenue Service conducted its own investigation which, two years later, exonerated Gingrich from the charges. His resignation was not due to those charges and occurred much later.

It's creepy when our side picks up the lying tactics of the left... Romney and his crew need to drop the lies - we're NOT liberals.

20 posted on 02/02/2012 9:02:36 AM PST by GOPJ (GAS WAS $1.85 per gallon on the day Obama was Inaugurated! - - freeper Gaffer)
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