Not A Citizen Of The World

Newt Gingrich is headed for outer space. He just announced that he's not "a citizen of the world." You read that right, he is not (that's a big negatory) a citizen of the world.

This means we have our first politician astronaut since John Glenn. And the faster Newt ships out, back to Mars or Rigel 7, the happier the rest of us will be.

Newt has caused nothing but trouble on planet Earth, and now we know why. He's an alien from some other planet and was sent here to cause grief.

Maybe we need a super special Gitmo for space aliens like him.

Did Palin Plagiarize Gingrich?

It appears not, but she appears to have credited her source, an article that Newt wrote.

I heard part of the speech. What a dud. Great minds must think alike. If I'm looking for a source it's not going to be something Newt wrote.

C'mon, Palin, you want to be president, show you have an independent, non-cliched thought up there. And drop the "Golly gee, my audience is so much on my side I can just say trite things with an everpresent note of sarcasm and exasperation in my voice" attitude. When it comes to presidents we're looking for statesmen and stateswomen more or less in the mainstream, not extremist mockers.

By the way, that leaves Gingrich out. He dresses his extremism up like it's something academic, thereby meant to be acceptable. That's hardheaded, which we also don't want. It's basically Bush with the sheen of faux intelligence.

Government By Insult

It makes me wonder what some of the most scurrilous Republicans were like as kids. Probably reform school would've done them some good.

All the vitriol over Sotomayor from the wingnuts is obviously over the top. And the weird thing is they would've done it for anyone Obama nominated. They're equal opportunity slanderers. There's no way this kind of tomfoolery can be rewarded by giving in to them, of course. Because it's just civic vandalism to put it nicely.

I just have to trust that the American people are generally separating out the decent from the indecent. Limbaugh, Gingrich, Beck -- that strain of garbage -- of course are indecent to the extreme. I wouldn't give a dime to hear what any of them say. You'd think, though, Gingrich might have a little more sense, being a guy who once upon a time was actually given the opportunity to lead in government. But he's right out there in the lead on this one. The guy's a mess.

Some are calling for a filibuster, all that. We've come a long way from a few years ago when the Republicans actually said filibustering was unconstitutional and threatened the "nuclear option." I said at the time, What? They don't think there'll ever be a Democratic president? But now it's all just blatant hypocrisy. They don't care. I do have to hand it to them though on this point. If you're going to be a hypocrite, it is best for your hypocrisy to be so blatant and overboard that no one will know what to do with it. Because once people have pointed out a million times that you're a hypocrite, it loses some of its edge. Of course they're hypocrites.

Just get her confirmed as fast as possible and let these miserable souls crawl off somewhere and sulk.

I'm Losing Track

Wow, I've been out of touch. I'm losing track of all the give and take between Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Steele, Newt Gingrich, and all the other Republican clowns. And when I say I'm losing track, I mean exactly that.

I keep checking on the blogs I look at, and there are the headlines, what one of these (I'll say it again) clowns has said today or yesterday, and it just starts to run together, like fountain pen ink in a rainstorm. Or like mascara when you've been crying.

As far as Michael Steele goes, maybe I'm living in a circular world in which the same report is being processed and reprocessed over and over. Or maybe this guy just never shuts his mouth. Is he giving interviews in his sleep? Once you've been burnt on some of the stupid stuff you say ... it's just my opinion ... but it seems like you'd fly below the radar for a while. Or is his job just to be incendiary and let the chips fall where they may?

Newt Gingrich wants to jump into the mix and seems to be doing so more and more. He thinks he has a chance. I don't think he has a chance. I think his best days are behind him. And they weren't that great. Rush, I don't listen to him, but somehow it seems like I've heard that he's pulling back a bit. And Dick Cheney, the guy is such a disgrace -- doubtlessly guilty of crimes against humanity -- it seems like he would want to keep a lower profile. But I suppose when you were at death's door over 10 years ago with heart problems, you're not that worked up now about what might happen to you.

And Cheney obviously thinks the best defense is a good offense, or the best way to play is to stay on offense as much as possible. And there's a certain logic in putting it blatantly "in our face," and thereby keeping his risk down. It's counterintuitive. I believe we've seen that over the years. If you're going to muck up things, muck up the water, do it in a blatant, drastic, overwhelming way. Take Clinton for an example, he did some little thing and got nailed for it. But if he had some it in a blatant, drastic, overwhelming way, the case would have been so complicated and convoluted no one would've known what to do about it.

I can't believe I'm about to say something nice about George W. Bush. At least he's had the decency to keep a fairly low profile.