1995 - the year I learned to despise Newt Gingrich

[mskafka]

my mother used welfare in order to get on her feet while she had me and my siblings..

Go fuck your stupid broadbrush.

Well, I'm happy for you.

No, seriously, but do you thank those of us who worked for a living to pay for that welfare?

Or did you just think it was something you were "entitled" to?

I've been working since I was 16. I'm going to be 50 in May. So I've spent the last 34 years paying taxes and supporting the welfare state. Instead of getting all upset with me that I'm offended that there are people who are on their third generation of welfare, maybe you should be glad I'm working to provide it to you.

Because, honestly, I don't think I'll ever be able to retire.

i was like 11.....i was more interested in being a kid then being a boring adult.

you think i like being on welfare? no....but its there for a reason, and my wife and i dont plan to stay on it forever. I am looking for jobs( not much there ) and she wants to go back to school, in order to get a better job to help us.

This is a short term fix that we wont be using forever. I wont thank you because you are being an ass about it.

No i am annoyed by your broadbrush. thats it, thats all, try understanding that.

I get just as pissed seeing people driving Cadillac and paying 25 bucks in rent while we struggle period, because they are on section 8 and game the system. What i dont do is broadbrush anyone who uses welfare as the same.

If you don't have seizures, are on drugs, prior arrests, or serious mental illness-EMT school is always an option. That's what I did when I was 19 and had no direction. As long as you don't do anything really goofy, you'll have a job. Paramedic pays more. RN's pay is even better, and so on. Healthcare and funeral service is where the job security is.

 

[JoeB131]

So Susan Smith, like almost every other murderer, tries to blame others for her actions, and that's the fault of the GOP, how again?

Sorry, man, the fact that the family has disintigrated under a constant 50 year assault by popular culture doesn't become less of a truth because none of us are immune.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Hello! Is anybody in there?!

In 1994, just a few days before the midterm elections, a deranged woman named Susan Smith drowned her two young sons. Gingrich, at the time, made infanticide a campaign issue and publicly equated Smith's murders with the values of the Democratic Party. Gingrich told the AP, "The mother killing her two children in South Carolina vividly reminds every American how sick the society is getting and how much we have to have change. I think people want to change and the only way you get change is to vote Republican."

The Washington Monthly

Again, not seeing how Smith killing her kids is the GOP's fault or Gingrich's fault.

And you don't think what she did is indicative of a sick society?

 

[AquaAthena]

There's that word again...despise. A lot of hatred on the left.

I'm not sure if you read her entire post, but she is not left.

She is a RINO. But she is misquided, and precious....

 

[Chris]

The Republican attack on the poor never ends.

 

[Toro]

So Susan Smith, like almost every other murderer, tries to blame others for her actions, and that's the fault of the GOP, how again?

Sorry, man, the fact that the family has disintigrated under a constant 50 year assault by popular culture doesn't become less of a truth because none of us are immune.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Hello! Is anybody in there?!

In 1994, just a few days before the midterm elections, a deranged woman named Susan Smith drowned her two young sons. Gingrich, at the time, made infanticide a campaign issue and publicly equated Smith's murders with the values of the Democratic Party. Gingrich told the AP, "The mother killing her two children in South Carolina vividly reminds every American how sick the society is getting and how much we have to have change. I think people want to change and the only way you get change is to vote Republican."

The Washington Monthly

Again, not seeing how Smith killing her kids is the GOP's fault or Gingrich's fault.

And you don't think what she did is indicative of a sick society?

Newt Gingrich used the murder of two kids by their mother to try to get votes.

Oh, but that's OK whereas a guy who stops everything to search for an employees' missing daughter, well, that's irrelevant.

 

[JoeB131]

The Republican attack on the poor never ends.

Again, it's not about an attack on "the poor", its about an attack on a mentality.

The problem with some people on welfare- not all- but some - is that they suffer from what Heinlein called "The socialist disease in its worst form- the belief the world owes you a living."

(Second time I've quoted Heinlein tonight. Must be that kind of mood.)

Now, I put some blame on both sides. The GOP who really thinks that the rest of us should be happy working for whatever the wealthy see fit to give us, and the Democrats who think that we should all be unashamed by living off the government.

Where's the party of working Joes who see the virtue of work and the fairness of compensation?

 

[Amelia]

There's that word again...despise. A lot of hatred on the left.

I'm not sure if you read her entire post, but she is not left.

She is a RINO. But she is misquided, and precious....

 

[JoeB131]

Newt Gingrich used the murder of two kids by their mother to try to get votes.

Or that he saw a problem that a society that condones abortion might also condone infanticide. Personally, I'm pro-choice (or at least, I see banning abortion as being impractical), but you can't deny the easy access and acceptablity of abortion isn't a large leap to the next step.

Oh, but that's OK whereas a guy who stops everything to search for an employees' missing daughter, well, that's irrelevant.

Again, he searched for a RICH guy's daughter. Not the same thing. It wasn't like the police weren't already doing everything they could and giving it a lot more attention than they would a missing black kid. But keep trying to use that as example that Romney might actually resemble a human being, I know you have very few of those.

 

[AquaAthena]

I'm not sure if you read her entire post, but she is not left.

She is a RINO. But she is misquided, and precious....

Thank you sweetness.

 

[mskafka]

The Republican attack on the poor never ends.

Again, it's not about an attack on "the poor", its about an attack on a mentality.

The problem with some people on welfare- not all- but some - is that they suffer from what Heinlein called "The socialist disease in its worst form- the belief the world owes you a living."

(Second time I've quoted Heinlein tonight. Must be that kind of mood.)

Now, I put some blame on both sides. The GOP who really thinks that the rest of us should be happy working for whatever the wealthy see fit to give us, and the Democrats who think that we should all be unashamed by living off the government.

Where's the party of working Joes who see the virtue of work and the fairness of compensation?

Fairness of compensation. That's a huge issue these days. It began to get bad, in my career, around 2002. And it's gotten worse and worse.

It's a bad thing, but when one makes more on unemployment than they would by working...well....you know the outcome that often happens. Compensation. Benefits. That's what keeps people faithful to a job/career. You have the option of working two jobs. But then, when will you have time to improve your situation by attending college, tech school, whatever? It's rough out there. Manufacturing jobs....a thing of the past.

 

[JoeB131]

Fairness of compensation. That's a huge issue these days. It began to get bad, in my career, around 2002. And it's gotten worse and worse.

It's a bad thing, but when one makes more on unemployment than they would by working...well....you know the outcome that often happens. Compensation. Benefits. That's what keeps people faithful to a job/career. You have the option of working two jobs. But then, when will you have time to improve your situation by attending college, tech school, whatever? It's rough out there. Manufacturing jobs....a thing of the past.

And I don't see either party really offering a fix to the problem.

Didn't get bad in my career until 2006. that's when I hit my height, and my boss noticed I made more money than his ass-kisser because I was hourly and she was salary.

(Keep in mind, I asked for Salary in 2003, and didn't get it because he liked being able to get more work out of me by waiving overtime when when we had six people doing ten people's work.)

Not sure if there is a solution. I think part of the problem is that consumers don't realize they are also workers. When they buy from a company that manufactures in China or routes their service call to India, they are taking a job away from an American just like themselves and driving their own wages down.

 

[mskafka]

Fairness of compensation. That's a huge issue these days. It began to get bad, in my career, around 2002. And it's gotten worse and worse.

It's a bad thing, but when one makes more on unemployment than they would by working...well....you know the outcome that often happens. Compensation. Benefits. That's what keeps people faithful to a job/career. You have the option of working two jobs. But then, when will you have time to improve your situation by attending college, tech school, whatever? It's rough out there. Manufacturing jobs....a thing of the past.

And I don't see either party really offering a fix to the problem.

Didn't get bad in my career until 2006. that's when I hit my height, and my boss noticed I made more money than his ass-kisser because I was hourly and she was salary.

(Keep in mind, I asked for Salary in 2003, and didn't get it because he liked being able to get more work out of me by waiving overtime when when we had six people doing ten people's work.)

Not sure if there is a solution. I think part of the problem is that consumers don't realize they are also workers. When they buy from a company that manufactures in China or routes their service call to India, they are taking a job away from an American just like themselves and driving their own wages down.

It's difficult to find things that are made in America anymore. The whole China thing is one of the many reasons that I will NOT shop at Walmart. I don't like to shop period. But I avoid that place like the plague.

They don't pay their employees wages that are compatible with living indoors. They work them just few enough hours that they don't have to offer them benefits, OR their insurance premiums are too expensive. And because Walmart pays such low wages, many of them qualify for medicaid. Now, I don't fault or look down upon the employee for this. I fault Walmart. Talk about abusing government programs. Look no further than Walmart.

But I also understand that so many people are so strapped for cash these days, Walmart is their only option. What is the solution? I don't know.

 

[Ravi]

So Susan Smith, like almost every other murderer, tries to blame others for her actions, and that's the fault of the GOP, how again?

Sorry, man, the fact that the family has disintigrated under a constant 50 year assault by popular culture doesn't become less of a truth because none of us are immune.

Is that Newt's excuse for cheating on his second wife for six years? He's a victim of popular culture.

 

[Douger]

1995. I remember that !
Fun times. I was building a little Cacao farm on Ometepe.
Shortly after the empire takes freedumb and demoncracy to a country, it's a fine time to buy. Thanks Ronnie and Ollie ! $100 an acre !
Problem is, in the middle of the beast ( near IsNtReal), you can't grow much. The CIA has it all covered.

 

[Douger]

OH. Gawd Blast murka !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

 

[Caroljo]

So Susan Smith, like almost every other murderer, tries to blame others for her actions, and that's the fault of the GOP, how again?

Sorry, man, the fact that the family has disintigrated under a constant 50 year assault by popular culture doesn't become less of a truth because none of us are immune.

Is that Newt's excuse for cheating on his second wife for six years? He's a victim of popular culture.

Did you see that interview with his 2nd x-wife??? She came across as a vindictive b***h. There's more to the story than she's telling, and i didn't believe a word she said. There's 2 sides to every story (or divorce).

 

[Old Rocks]

So Susan Smith, like almost every other murderer, tries to blame others for her actions, and that's the fault of the GOP, how again?

Sorry, man, the fact that the family has disintigrated under a constant 50 year assault by popular culture doesn't become less of a truth because none of us are immune.

Susan Smith grew up in a home where her stepfather was the head of the Republican Party for that county. So she grew up in a Republican home.

The despicable actions by her father, and then by her, had nothing to do with either party.

Nor does the changing mores of the people of this nation.

But Newtie, in an action that was despicable in it's own light, used this as a campaign tactic to denigrate the Democratic Party. As far as I am concerned, Newtie is not competant to serve in any public capacity. He is an amoral narcistic demigogue.

 

[Seawytch]

I get just as pissed seeing people driving Cadillac and paying 25 bucks in rent while we struggle period, because they are on section 8 and game the system. What i dont do is broadbrush anyone who uses welfare as the same.

I don't know anyone who doesn't get pissed at that, but the answer is not to destroy the system...we need to fix it. We ALL want to see an end to waste, fraud and abuse...but that does not mean throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Common sense solutions ARE possible and it doesn't mean ending these necessary programs.

Here's an example of who's using food stamps...

More Troops Relying on Food Stamps

 

[WillowTree]

I finally found a quote I have been looking for for some time. Gingrich said this after a pregnant woman was killed by people who wanted to steal her baby:

Let's talk about what the welfare state has created. Let's talk about the moral decay of the world the left is defending.

This happened in America. It happened in America because for two generations we haven't had the guts to talk about right and wrong. We've talked about situation ethics. We've talked about victimization. We've talked about our needs. We've had soap-opera-like television shows where people get on and describe the most disgusting behaviors.

And we have gradually tolerated, as Moynihan put it, the process of lowering standards so that you could engage in virtually any behavior and have a reasonable case. And we shake our heads and say: "Well, what? What's going wrong?"

What's going wrong is a welfare system which subsidized people for doing nothing, a criminal system which tolerated drug dealers, an educational system which allows kids to not learn and which rewards tenured teachers who can't teach, while destroying poor children who it traps in it -- in a process with no hope.

And then we end up with the final culmination of a drug-addicted underclass with no sense of humanity, no sense of civilization and no sense of the rules of life in which human beings respect each other.

Speaker Gingrich Lashing Out, in His Own Words - Text - NYTimes.com

(there are some more Gingrich quotes in that NYT article)




There might be a time for that kind of analysis - after all the facts have come out and after loved ones have had time to mourn. But my memory is that Gingrich didn't wait for the right time, and that after the case was further investigated by the police it turned out that there was a degree of inappropriateness in Gingrich's reference to "welfare" in connection with the criminals.

Whether my memory of the details is right or wrong, the effect of his speech on me was a profound and enduring revulsion.



That was the year that The American President came out. When I saw the movie and heard the Annette Bening character ask, "How do you have patience for people who claim they love America, but clearly can't stand Americans?", I immediately thought of Gingrich as a man those words fit.



I've become more right-leaning since the 1990's and can appreciate more of what Gingrich accomplished legislatively but that impression of him lingers and has on occasion been reinforced by new statements from him. I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt and I've gotten caught up with some of the excitement of him socking it to the media. But as I listen to the results of the exit polling from South Carolina, my sinking heart tells me that I haven't gotten over that feeling about him as hard as I've tried.

vote for obummer then and be happy. idiot

 

[uscitizen]

Newt is counting on the short memory span of republicans and their gullability.
Well that and Murdoch pushing him to victory.