Good Riddance To The Gingrichites

[cal04]

CBS' Meyer: GOP 'Chess Club' Ruled The House For 12 Years And Won't Be Missed

This is a story I should have written 12 years ago when the "Contract with America" Republicans captured the House in 1994. I apologize.

Really, it's just a simple thesis: The men who ran the Republican Party in the House of Representatives for the past 12 years were a group of weirdos. Together, they comprised one of the oddest legislative power cliques in our history. And for 12 years, the media didn't call a duck a duck, because that's not something we're supposed to do.

I'm not talking about the policies of the Contract for America crowd, but the character. I'm confident that 99 percent of the population — if they could see these politicians up close, if they watched their speeches and looked at their biographies — would agree, no matter what their politics or predilections.

I'm confident that if historians ever spend the time on it, they'll confirm my thesis. Same with forensic psychiatrists. I have discussed this with scores of politicians, staffers, consultants and reporters since 1994 and have found few dissenters.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/15/opinion/meyer/main2182755.shtml

[aquart]

1. But isn't Newtie throwing his hat in the ring?

I'm sure I saw it swirling thru the air.

[The Count]

9. Yup. Shame lasts little with them - see Trent Lott, Limpballs, O'Really, Jr

It's only dems who can never live down stuff thet may or may not have happened decades ago (Murtha, Ted Kennedy, the Clintons)

[Kikosexy2]

2. Humbug...

I await the story of HOW THE GINGRICH STOLE ELECTIONS..I MEAN CHRISTMAS...

[Kolesar]

3. That was insightful! eom

[AlCzervik]

4. very good! Thanks.

[wryter2000]

5. I like Meyer's pieces

But they're always way too late and buried on the website.

[yurbud]

6. BEST: None had success in capitalism...like putting Foley in charge of missing & exploited kids

The iconic figures of this era were Newt Gingrich, Richard Armey and Tom Delay. They were zealous advocates of free markets, low taxes and the pursuit of wealth; they were hawks and often bellicose; they were brutal critics of big government.

Yet none of these guys had success in capitalism. None made any real money before coming to Congress. None of them spent a day in uniform. And they all spent the bulk of their adult careers getting paychecks from the big government they claimed to despise. Two resigned in disgrace.

Having these guys in charge of a radical conservative agenda was like, well, putting Mark Foley in charge of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus. Indeed, Foley was elected in the Class of '94 and is not an inappropriate symbol of their regime.

More than the others, Newton Leroy Gingrich lived out a very special hypocrisy. In addition to the above biographical dissonance, Gingrich was one of the most sharp-tongued, articulate and persuasive attack dogs in modern politics. His favorite target was the supposed immorality and corruption of the Democratic Party. With soaring rhetoric, he condemned his opponents as anti-American and dangerous to our country's family values — "grotesque" was a favorite word.

[agincourt]

7. Quite possibly,

the most rotten Congress in US history. They should have all been flushed in 1996. Let's keep them out.

[The Count]

8. "I apologize" Without the media complicity, they wouldn't have happened

It was propagands disguised as news, the hateful attacks on the Clintons that allowed these corrupt weirdos to get elected in the first place. So, writing their epitaph now, hardly settles the score or clears their conscience.
The watch dog din't watch. It got a juicy bones from the thieves and licked their boots.

[BlueEyedSon]

10. bunch of greedy, immoral bastages!