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The Momentum of Ideas (Which "Big Ideas" is Newt Gingrich running on, exactly?)
New York Times ^ | 01/20/2012 | Ross Douthat

Posted on 01/20/2012 11:48:14 AM PST by SeekAndFind

During last night’s Republican debate, the candidates were asked to name something from the campaign that they would have done differently. Here was Newt Gingrich’s answer:

I would skip the opening three months, where I hired regular consultants and tried to figure out how to be a normal candidate, and I would just go straight at being a big-ideas, big-solutions, Internet-based campaign from day one, because it just didn’t work. I mean, it’s not who I am. I’m not capable of being a sort of traditional candidate. I’m a very idea-oriented candidate. And I think the Internet makes it possible to create a momentum of ideas that’s very, very exciting.

I have, for my sins, watched Gingrich make his pitch across what feels like seventeen thousand Republican primary debates, and I am at a loss to identify the “big ideas” and “big solutions” that he is supposedly campaigning on. Yes, he has an implausible supply-side tax plan, but you never hear him talk about it. He has technically signed on to some form of entitlement reform, but you never hear him talk about that, either. Instead, so far as I can tell, his “idea-oriented” campaign consists almost entirely of promising to hold Lincoln-Douglas-style debates with President Obama, grandstanding about media bias and moderator stupidity, defending his history of ideological flexibility much more smoothly than Mitt Romney, and then occasionally throwing out a wonky-sounding notion (like, say, outsourcing E-Verify to American Express) that’s more glib than genuinely significant. His last-minute momentum in South Carolina, which last night’s debate did nothing to derail, has been generated almost exclusively by the politics of ressentiment:

(Excerpt) Read more at douthat.blogs.nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: gingrich; newt

1 posted on 01/20/2012 11:48:20 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
There have been numerous debates.

Douthat has not been paying attention?

2 posted on 01/20/2012 11:51:11 AM PST by YHAOS (you betcha!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Rich Douthat writes like a pompous, arrogant fool. I’m sure there’s a reason for that.


3 posted on 01/20/2012 11:56:14 AM PST by bcsco
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To: SeekAndFind

As opposed to Hussein’s detailed plan of “hope and chage”? LOL.


4 posted on 01/20/2012 11:58:15 AM PST by mrsmel
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To: SeekAndFind

Well big ideas are the Trans-Continental railroad. The Louisiana Purchase. The Lewis and Clark expedition. The purchase of Alaska. You can go on and on. However from the small minds of the nyt they can’t see it. GO NEWT GO! See the big picture.


5 posted on 01/20/2012 11:58:27 AM PST by Parley Baer
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To: SeekAndFind

As opposed to Hussein’s detailed plan of “hope and change”? LOL.


6 posted on 01/20/2012 11:58:36 AM PST by mrsmel
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To: mrsmel

BINGO!


7 posted on 01/20/2012 12:00:01 PM PST by A. Morgan (Ayn Rand: "You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.")
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To: YHAOS
There have been numerous debates. Douthat has not been paying attention?

What big ideas would you say Newt is campaigning on?

Replacing the EPA with a new EPA to subsidize 'green' businesses?

8 posted on 01/20/2012 12:00:26 PM PST by Crichton
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To: Parley Baer
Well big ideas are the Trans-Continental railroad. The Louisiana Purchase. The Lewis and Clark expedition. The purchase of Alaska. You can go on and on.

Your contention is that Newt Gingrich's big idea is the Lewis & Clark expedition?

9 posted on 01/20/2012 12:02:14 PM PST by Crichton
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To: YHAOS

RE: Douthat has not been paying attention?

Any jounalist worth his salt would at least go to Newt’s website :

http://www.newt.org/solutions

And look at his IDEAS.

Douthat does not even do that and then writes this asinine piece... just shows what a dreg the New York Times has become.


10 posted on 01/20/2012 12:04:30 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: Crichton

My contention is that those were considered grandiose ideas at the time and I am countering the nyt article. We need some one who sees the big picture and I believe that person is Newt. GO NEWT GO!


11 posted on 01/20/2012 12:07:50 PM PST by Parley Baer
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To: Crichton

RE: What big ideas would you say Newt is campaigning on?

Here they are :

http://www.newt.org/contract/legislative-proposals

http://www.newt.org/contract/day-one-plan


12 posted on 01/20/2012 12:07:50 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind; Crichton

Or perhaps the big idea is that he’ll be the one Republican who is not afraid to kick the media’s ass? That’s big enough for a starter.


13 posted on 01/20/2012 12:10:28 PM PST by C. Edmund Wright
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To: SeekAndFind
He is running on the idea that yelling at a TV news idiot will be enough cover to blunt the ex wife fiasco and if he claims to be the new Nixon oops i mean Newt he can get enough of the rubes to buy his jive. No matter , in the end even that hot air balloon will run out of gas .
14 posted on 01/20/2012 12:12:41 PM PST by fantom (,)
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To: bcsco

bcsco wrote:
“Rich Douthat writes like a pompous, arrogant fool. I’m sure there’s a reason for that.”

OK, it’s Ross, not Rich. But otherwise I do believe you’ve put your finger on Ross’ reason for saying what he says. He was after all deemed suitable to be published by the New York Times, the epitome of pompous, arrogant, and fool(ish).


15 posted on 01/20/2012 12:12:53 PM PST by Belteshazzar (We are not justified by our works but by faith - De Jacob et vita beata 2 +Ambrose of Milan)
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To: Crichton
What big ideas would you say Newt is campaigning on?

Exactly. Perry was going to go to zero-based foreign aid, part-time Congress, and a detailed flat tax proposal. He was also going to stop every lawsuit against states by Feds.

Has Newt been saying similar things and I've missed it or has it been generalities like "cut spending and regulations" over and over again. Generalities don't translate to big ideas.

p.s. FR needs to reboot the server or check background jobs or something. Two days of painfully slow interface.

16 posted on 01/20/2012 12:15:11 PM PST by Kenny
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To: Crichton
Replacing the EPA with a new EPA to subsidize 'green' businesses?

U haven't heard Newt say he wants a new EPA to subsidize 'green' business. I have heard him say that he wants to replace the EPA with an Environmental Solution Agency which will be charged with considering the economic implications of its regulations and rulings.

Do you have a problem with that? I don't. It hardly makes Newt some kind of left-eing environmental whacko.

There IS an arguable role for the federal government in terms of regulating what pollutants can be pumped into the air and dumped into interstate waterways, as well as American waters.

It makes sense to ensure that such federal authority is vested in a federal office that is bound to recognize the law of economic reality. Even if that doesn't go far enough for you, it certainly a giant step in the right direction.

17 posted on 01/20/2012 12:17:34 PM PST by Maceman (Obama: As American as nasei goreng)
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To: fantom

RE: He is running on the idea that yelling at a TV news idiot will be enough cover to blunt the ex wife fiasco and if he claims to be the new Nixon oops i mean Newt he can get enough of the rubes to buy his jive.

__________________________

Any comments on his ideas as presented in the links in Post #12 above?


18 posted on 01/20/2012 12:19:32 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: Crichton

http://www.newt.org/solutions


19 posted on 01/20/2012 12:21:29 PM PST by MNJohnnie (Giving more money to DC to fix the Debt is like giving free drugs to addicts think it will cure them)
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To: Kenny
Perry was going

Exactly, and now he is not. So get over it.

20 posted on 01/20/2012 12:23:21 PM PST by MNJohnnie (Giving more money to DC to fix the Debt is like giving free drugs to addicts think it will cure them)
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To: C. Edmund Wright; fantom
Some days the jokes just write themselves

To: SeekAndFind; Crichton

Or perhaps the big idea is that he’ll be the one Republican who is not afraid to kick the media’s ass? That’s big enough for a starter.

13 posted on Friday, January 20, 2012 3:10:28 PM by C. Edmund Wright [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies | Report Abuse]

To: SeekAndFind

He is running on the idea that yelling at a TV news idiot will be enough cover to blunt the ex wife fiasco and if he claims to be the new Nixon oops i mean Newt he can get enough of the rubes to buy his jive. No matter , in the end even that hot air balloon will run out of gas .

14 posted on Friday, January 20, 2012 3:12:41 PM by fantom (,)

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21 posted on 01/20/2012 12:25:41 PM PST by MNJohnnie (Giving more money to DC to fix the Debt is like giving free drugs to addicts think it will cure them)
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To: Maceman
he wants to replace the EPA with an Environmental Solution Agency

What happened to dismantling the EPA...the thing that conservatives supposedly hold so dear?

Replace one federal agency with another? Why no talk of devolving power back to the states?

22 posted on 01/20/2012 12:28:14 PM PST by Siena Dreaming
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To: Maceman
U haven't heard Newt say he wants a new EPA to subsidize 'green' business. I have heard him say that he wants to replace the EPA with an Environmental Solution Agency which will be charged with considering the economic implications of its regulations and rulings.

For example:

Gingrich’s list of energy policies includes providing incentives for flex fuel vehicles that can use corn-based ethanol rather than gasoline — a key issue for Iowa’s farm economy. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/48143.html#ixzz1k20nK5V1

23 posted on 01/20/2012 12:29:00 PM PST by Crichton
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To: MNJohnnie
Perry was going

Exactly, and now he is not. So get over it.

Just because Perry is out of the race doesn't mean we all have to give up on good ideas for this country. Even if Newt is the nominee, we don't have to abandon our beliefs or our hopes if they don't coincide with his agenda.

This is America and the primary elections are a place to test these candidates. So again, what exactly are Newt's big ideas?

24 posted on 01/20/2012 12:29:37 PM PST by Kenny
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To: Vendome

Now, this thread could actually do with a little of that spam. I believe it encapsulates a laundry list of 10 major items, does it not?


25 posted on 01/20/2012 12:33:56 PM PST by kevkrom (Note to self: proofread, then post. It's better that way.)
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To: bcsco

Who is thus Ross Asshat fellow?


26 posted on 01/20/2012 12:35:27 PM PST by JaguarXKE
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To: fantom

Hmmm... and who do *you* favor, pray tell?

A quick review of *your* posts reveals that you’re a Romney backer. Surprise, surprise.

A *stealthy* myth buttboy, of course... to be otherwise would be to get your douchebag ass banned from here.


27 posted on 01/20/2012 12:35:48 PM PST by Nervous Tick (Trust in God, but row away from the rocks!)
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To: Siena Dreaming

Gen. DeGaul, a man who was known for his arrogance, Re-organized French politics, created the Fifth Republic that has been a stable democratic system for over 50 years,and charted a unique path for France once said something that has stuck with me. “The French are only happy when they are going something great.” America needs a man who can give us great ideas and new challenges—Newt could do this. All the downsize—lower expectations things will not go over with the majority of Americans. JFK knew this, so did other great leaders. New need new Empire State Buildings, Bolder Dams, Panama Canals, explorations, and discoveries—America must lead from the front—not the back.


28 posted on 01/20/2012 12:39:23 PM PST by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll)
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To: kevkrom

LOL

Here it comes...


29 posted on 01/20/2012 12:41:35 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: kevkrom; Crichton; Kenny

Record Huh?

Well......

That's where a record comes in. Not just the record of votes, which is often a meaningless toll of positions taken for political reasons on bills that were always going to pass or were never going to pass, but a record of actions taken that actually mattered.

A record of actions taken that actually mattered.  Newt is the man who fits that description to a "T".

He can identify what is most important to the country, develop a plan to overcome that challenge, articulate the the merits of overcoming the challenge and why the plan will work.

I hadn't been for Gingrich initially and spent plenty of energy excoriating him, these last several years, for any number of sins he committed against the Republican/Conservative ideals.  He seemed a turncoat of sorts, particularly when he babysat Pelosi on the couch.

On reflection, Newt is an attention whore seeking relevancy for his ideas and I guess I take him at his word that he made a few mistakes in his life and he has at least some regret for those decisions.  God knows I am no angel and so I have to reflect on the man's ability to get things done.

Newt gave us the Republican majority, the Contract with America and completed 2/3rds of his agenda while in office.

He now has a new plan for America and with what is likely to become a Congressional Super Majority and a Senate Majority, if not Super Majority, I believe he will absolutely accomplish his agenda.

Say goodbye to ObamaCare the single biggest scam and travesty foisted upon a free people who, by right, ought to have been given the opportunity to read the bill and debate it.  Instead, a win at all cost, cheating agenda was developed and it was signed with most people never laying eyes on at least page 2 of this utopian dreck.

Executive Orders Positions:

The following are all within the executive powers to simply order and with the exception of securing the border within one year, they are all easily accomplished with the stroke of a pen and no way to challenge them in the legislature.

Keystone may be challenged in the courts but I think the Executive can order the EPA to approve, under National Security Priorities and it is a National Security issue, as well, a jobs issue.

As President, Newt, could actually have a very busy 1st week or month just on these initiative alone.

1. Eliminate the thirty-nine White House "Czar" positions created during the current administration. The president does not have the authority to appoint bureaucrats to power who are not accountable to the Congress.

2. "Mexico City Policy" of Respect for Life. Reauthorize President Ronald Reagan’s policy – also known as the "Mexico City Policy"— to stop tax payer dollars from being used to fund or promote abortions in foreign countries.

3. Restore conscience clause protections for Healthcare Workers.No American working in a medical environment should be forced to perform any procedure that he or she finds morally or ethically objectionable based on religious teaching. This protection should include, but not be limited to abortion. Existing conscience clause protections need to be strengthened.

4. Respect Each Sovereign Nation’s Choice of its Capital. Each sovereign nation, under international law and custom, may designate its own Capital. Accordingly, the U.S. State Department should be instructed to respect the choice of each sovereign nation and place the American embassy in their Capital.  (Israel is the only country the United States discriminates against in this regard. The people of Israel have designated Jerusalem as their capital. Yet the United States retains its embassy in Tel Aviv.) 

5. End the Attorney General's Assault on the States. Instruct the Attorney General to withdraw all immigration-related lawsuits against states immediately, including those pending in Arizona and South Carolina. The Obama Administration refuses to enforce federal immigration laws, and instead sues states who are merely trying to enforce the laws that the federal government neglects. The Gingrich Administration will secure the border by Jan. 1, 2014 by any means necessary. 

6. The Keystone Pipeline

Unleash American Energy by Approving the Keystone XL Pipeline. Instruct the State Department to approve a Presidential Permit immediately for the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that will send 700,000 barrels of oil a day from Great Plains and Southwestern states to Gulf Coast refineries lower staggering energy prices, and create up to 120,000 American jobs.

LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS

 Now we get into the details of an inclusive agenda that brings the people(you and me), through their representatives, into process.  The TEA Party and conservatives are going to have a majority in both houses.

Let’s elect an Executive who will absolutely fulfill the promise of our ideals.

Executive Summary

  1. Repeal Obamacare and pass a replacement that saves lives and money by empowering patients and doctors, not bureaucrats and politicians.
  2. Return to robust job creation with a bold set of tax cuts and regulatory reforms that will free American entrepreneurs to invest and hire, as well as by reforming the Federal Reserve and creating a training requirement for extended federal unemployment benefits to encourage work and improve the quality of our workforce.
  3. Unleash America’s full energy production potential in oil, natural gas, coal, biofuels, wind, nuclear oil shale and more, creating jobs,  stimulating a sustainable manufacturing boom, lowering gasoline and other energy prices, increasing government revenues, and bolstering national security.
  4. Save Medicare and Social Security by giving Americans more choices and tools to live longer, healthier lives with greater financial independence.
  5. Balance the federal budget by freeing job-creators to grow the economy, reforming entitlements, and implementing waste cutting and productivity improvement systems such as Lean Six Sigma to eliminate waste and fraud. Pass a balanced budget amendment to keep it balanced.
  6. Control the border by January 1, 2014 and establish English as the official language of government; reform the legal visa system, and make it much easier to deport criminals and gang members while making it easier for law abiding visitors to come to the US.
  7. Revitalize our national security system to meet 21st century threats by restructuring and adequately funding our security agencies to function within a grand strategy for victory over those who seek to kill us or limit American power.
  8. Maximize the speed and impact of medical breakthroughs by removing unnecessary obstacles that block new treatments from reaching patients and emphasizing research spending towards urgent national priorities, like brain science with its impact on Alzheimer’s, autism, Parkinson's, mental health and other conditions knowledge of the brain will help solve. 
  9. Restore the proper role of the judicial branch by using the clearly delineated powers available to the president and Congress to correct, limit, or replace judges who violate the Constitution.
  10. Enforce the Tenth Amendment by starting an orderly transfer of power and responsibility from the federal government back “to the states, respectively, or to the people,” as the Constitution requires. Over the next year, state and local officials and citizens will be asked to identify the areas which can be transferred back home.    

Newt gave us the three most important victories of the 90’s Welfare Reform, Balanced Budget and Reduced Taxes.  I hope I don’t need to describe the benefits of those victories.  They ought to be obvious to everyone by now.

Lastly, there have been some reports that Newt shouldn’t get all the credit.  Really?  Then perhaps we marginalize the accomplishments of Washington, Roosevelt, Kennedy and ….wait for it… Reagan.

Do we really want to go down the road with that kind of adolescent sophistry and parsing of what happened?

Newt is the guy who thought of these big things, proposed them and shepherded their implementation?

Newt has once again identified what is important to us now, at this time and described how we can get there with our representative majorities. He has done it before and I declare Newt Gingrich was then and is Now a leader.

We should elect Newt Gingrich to the Presidency of the United States

30 posted on 01/20/2012 12:44:17 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: SeekAndFind
Not really impressive syle from Ross Donuthat...

Attacking Gingrich is REQUIRED now, since Romney-the-RINO would not win against The Messiah, and Newt knows the 24/7, ass-kissing, State-Run-Media will do ANYTHING to trash LEGITIMATE threats (Romney is not trashed, simply because they don't fear running against him).

For the whiners, Paulbots, etc. on here who are looking for the PERFECT candidate that can contend....there isn't one.

31 posted on 01/20/2012 12:50:07 PM PST by traditional1 (Free speech for me.....not for thee)
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To: JaguarXKE

He’s just some jerk writing for the NYT. Since I don’t read, let alone follow, the NYT that’s all I can answer about him.


32 posted on 01/20/2012 12:50:07 PM PST by bcsco
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To: Forward the Light Brigade
America needs a man who can give us great ideas

That would be fine if I knew of some great original ideas Newt has come up with. I hear things from him about creating a new type of Federal Environmental program...and the other day I heard about a new Federal Adoption agency.

Funny though...I don't hear enough from him about devolving power back to the States. Freedom and Power to the People would be a good theme for him to take up. Rather, Newt's made lots of mistakes with health mandates ideas, global warming ideas, bashing the Ryan plan, and his marriage. Why on earth would I think he's another DeGaulle?

33 posted on 01/20/2012 12:56:17 PM PST by Siena Dreaming
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To: Crichton
“Gingrich’s list of energy policies includes providing incentives for flex fuel vehicles that can use corn-based ethanol rather than gasoline ...”

No, thanks. This is a form of social engineering (and was political pandering to Iowa at the time) that is no better than left-wing interventions in the free market. The federal government shouldn't help determine what fuels can or should be burned in flex-fuel or any other type of vehicle.

34 posted on 01/20/2012 1:21:22 PM PST by riverdawg
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To: SeekAndFind

That Obama is A freakin Left wing America Hating Marxist,Is That Big Enough For you


35 posted on 01/20/2012 2:50:07 PM PST by ballplayer
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To: Crichton
What big ideas would you say Newt is campaigning on?

Preventing a majority of nine Black Robes from becoming an American Oligarchy, restoring the economy (including jobs) and defending entrepreneurship, turning back 0bmacare, restoring national security, restoring American energy independence, defending life, stopping lawless immigration, defending religious liberty and other First and Second Amendment rights.

I don’t propose that Newt has all the best answers. But to propose that Newt does not deal in “big ideas” is to propose an absurdity. He has always dealt with “big ideas.” Even to the point that his ideas get in their own way.

For the record: I’m not committed to support Newt (or anyone else).

Whom do you support? Do you feel obliged, therefore, to attack everyone else?

36 posted on 01/20/2012 3:51:18 PM PST by YHAOS (you betcha!)
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To: SeekAndFind
RE: Douthat has not been paying attention?

Of course he has. But he must feign ignorance so that he may propagate his agitprop. The New York Times is not a newspaper. It has become a propaganda sheet in the service of a Marxist/Democrat credo. Maybe it was never anything else.

37 posted on 01/20/2012 3:56:51 PM PST by YHAOS (you betcha!)
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To: SeekAndFind

I would recommend he Google Newt Gingrich 2+2=4


38 posted on 01/20/2012 3:57:14 PM PST by Valin (I'm not completely worthless. I can be used as a bad example.)
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To: SeekAndFind
They’ll be elevating, as Mitt Romney’s final adversary, a man whose “idea-based” campaign has been anything but, and who won last night’s debate (or at least won its biggest ovation) by turning the topic of his own serial adulteries into an exercise in self-righteousness so shameless that Bill Clinton would have blushed to deliver it.

Bill klintoon blushing?

I'd pay money to see that.

Donut must have forgotten slick willy's finger wagging at the TV, "I did not have sex with that woman... I never told anyone to lie..." yeah, he was blushing.

39 posted on 01/20/2012 4:50:02 PM PST by USS Alaska (Nuke The Terrorist Savages)
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