Sponsored Content









































« WikiLeaks Bolsters Claim That Enhanced Interrogation Was Effective And Necessary | Main | Email of the Day: I Definitely Do Not Agree With Andrew Breitbart; and, "Further, Obama NEVER makes a mistake" »
May 20, 2011

John Lithgow Performs Dramatic Reading of Gingrich Press Release

I hear the guy who wrote this is a great guy. So hopefully this won't follow him around too much.

But, as damaging as Gingrich's original statements were, this is actually what's going to drive him out of the race: The ridicule. You can get pretty far in American politics being wrong (hi President Obama!), but you can't get anywhere being ridiculous.

So this is damaging to Gingrich.

But it's also generally helpful to us. The more Gingrich looks absurd, the less respectable his comments about the Ryan's plan will be. The Democrats will still use his comments of course, to damage all those Republican congressmen who took substantial political risk to support a course of wisdom and restraint, but there will be at least some mitigation available, as Republican talking-heads can just roll their eyes and say, "Yes, that comes from the Hero who Emerges Unscathed from the Hail of Elite Bullets."

It doesn't undo the damage. It just makes it a little bit less.

I sorta like Gingrich and I even feel a little bad. But this is necessary for the good of the party. The guy basically put his own ambitions above party and principle and tried a Democrat style pitch in the Republican primary, to differentiate his brand and advance himself. (And then he tried that whole immigration-boards thing.)

He's playing for real, genuine Republican voters --- a lot of our voters do not like the Ryan plan and would like very much to pretend along with the Democrats that the plan is already fixed -- and that's a constituency, certainly.

But Gingrich was already shoulder-to-shoulder with Pelosi on cap-and-trade; he now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with her on Medicare.

"It is a flag we’ve planted that we will protect and defend. We have a plan. It’s called Medicare.”

Yes, that plan involves death panels for granny in ten years or less, or huge taxes on the young to support a bankrupt system, and all I can say is if the old plan on being unreasonable now they shouldn't plan on the young being reasonable later.

And yes, Gingrich wants some reforms here and there but he also wishes to pander, along with Nancy Pelosi, and perpetuate the fiction that this is all just a minor accounting thing that can be corrected with a band-aid here or there.

But none of that intergenerational warfare stuff is funny, while that press release is a scream.

Done Before and Better By James Lileks: Lileks already did this in a podcast. At around 3:45.

Thanks to Whatever.


The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
John Lithgow Performs Gingrich Press Release
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogVideo Archive

I got this from Hot Air, but rather than link that (just to confirm I got it from there), here's Tom Coburn telling Gingrich to drink a nice tall glass of Where's Your Plan, Chief? juice.

Thanks to gg.

More: I hadn't seen the video of Newt's heckling until now. Here's that exchange.

digg this
posted by Ace at 01:03 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
IrishEi: ">>> because he had people like John Solomon and Sa ..."

micky: "Jan Hook as Tammye Faye was hilarious in a torrent ..."

BignJames: " The stuff is dangerous. Deadly even. Posted by ..."

Daddy, why do muffin pans have 12 spaces instead of five?: "Tango hahahaha ..."

Rick67: "I will cut Macron slack for this. Partly because p ..."

IrishEi: " Just made some Tang...don't think I've had any si ..."

Sasquatch, the Original Trans-Wookie: "265 Speaking of, I don't know her name but the lad ..."

humphreyrobot : "Remember the Jesus lady on TV, she cried on live t ..."

BignJames: "They just wanted to be able to visit their loved o ..."

sven: "263 Posted by: Nightwatch at March 27, 2023 09:52 ..."

Nightwatch: "Anyone... LADYL's son. Status? ..."

Daddy, why do muffin pans have 12 spaces instead of five?: "This all started with the fight for GEY Marriage a ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64