Leonard Wood

Newt has unfairly maligned the reputation of General Leonard Wood in comparing his candidacy for the Republican nomination in 1920 to that of Mitt Romney today. On television today, March 13, 2012, Newt said, "Mitt would be the weakest candidate for the nomination since Leonard Wood in 1920."

Now, that's unfair to Leonard Wood. Wood was a distinguished American, a retired general in the US Army, and won the Medal of Honor for heroism in 1898. His rivals for the nomination criticized him for his strong support of the anti-communist movement (who wouldn't be for that?). But his greatest claim to fame came when he served as the second football coach at Georgia Tech. He led his team as coach and captain to its first ever victory over the University of Georgia Bulldogs, winning 28 to 6.

A weak candidate? Hardly. "Miracle worker" would better describe what he accomplished with the Yellow Jackets.

He certainly would have had a better record than the eventual nominee, Warren G. Harding.

Newt? I told you so.

Since the day Newt let it be known that he was going to run for President, I have been warning my liberal friends not to turn their backs on him. He is the original snake of American politics. I have known him since 1972 when he was a college professor at West Georgia College in Carrollton, GA. That was a time when he favored legalization of marijuana. He has been for and against virtually everything you can think of, except Newt. He has consistently been in favor of Newt.

My liberal friends now understand...but a lot of my conservative friends do not. So, as a public service, let me tell them what he is in terms that will mean something to them: Newt is a socialist conservative. Got it? Good.
That's enough for today. Class dismissed.

Newt is neutered by his staff. Darn it!

I'm just sick --- sick, I tell you, that Newt's staff has dealt his presidential campaign such a fatal blow. And it is. It's over. Everyone knows it right now but Newt. I was so hoping Newt would stay in the race to the end. Beaten around in Iowa, stomped in New Hampshire and slaughtered in SC, and finally, ignored at the convention. I really wanted to hear more about this right wing social engineering concern of his. I wanted to see if his wife would show up anywhere in expensive jewelry. But most of all I was looking forward to those pompous pronouncements he likes to make about nearly everything as if he is delivering some sort of divine revelation from Olympus. Few are the people who have chosen to enter politics in the last century with an arrogance to match his.

I remember well when he was first elected to Congress in 1978. Rep Jack Flynt had successfully deflected Newt's ambitions twice,but when age forced Jack finally to give up the seat, Newt was waiting. He was just a little fig Newt(on) in those days, a professor of history at West Georgia College at Carrollton. He had come to Georgia from his native Pennsylvania in search of a district filled with country rubes who would be easy to manipulate. He found them and waited.

Oh, well, I was hoping for a long, long public flogging of his ego in this race so we could escort him off the political stage permanently. Nevertheless, if the recent resignations of his staff succeed in pulling the plug on his campaign, the nation, indeed, the world will be better served -- and we will all be able to sleep easier at night.

Too Early for 2012? I hope not because...

I guess it's time to start commenting on the 2012 Presidential race. I apologize if it seems too early but these things are too important to leave to chance. As the Republican field becomes clearer, I'll comment here on the aspirations of the various aspirants. And they are various, aren't they? It'll be general at first, but when the field is winnowed to a precious few, the comments will become more analytical, I promised you. But let's begin by easily separating the "doesn't have a chance" chaff from the remaining classical chaff. (I don't think there is any "wheat" to consider, but I'll try.)


Newt Gingrich: Not a snow ball's chance. His staff used to say "Newt has enough ideas to fill a file cabinet; his good ideas would sit in a desktop pencil box with room to spare." If that's not enough to know, consider that this man is the human who started the modern bitter partisan bickering when he came to Congress and has continued to feed it every day that he draws a breath. One more thing: Has it ever occurred to you that when he walks into a room, his girth combined with his sly grin make him look like Captain Kangeroo?

Sarah Palin: If she lead the "Know Nothing Party," she might have a chance at the nomination, but she doesn't.


Michele Bachmann: Best example of reductive evolution walking around upright today. So very sad. Where was the shot heard round the world fired, Michele?


Donald Trump: He is undoubtedly an extremely smart businessman, but he is a political idiot. Regrettable that he is the only person in America who doesn't know it.


I'll let you know when I get through with the "doesn't have a chance" chaff. It may be a while.

Next time:
Mike Huckabee
Haley Barbour
Mitt Romney
Tim Pawlenty

Newt, Rush -- and Obama: A Tuesday Potpourri

When Gingrich says as he did on one of the Sunday talk shows, “No one wants Obama to fail, we just want his policies to…uh, we just want him to change policies,” make no mistake about it, he wants Obama to fail. This comment is so sad…so clearly transparent and unworthy of the former leader of the OS.

I have almost concluded Gingrich should run for President in 2012 as he has suggested he might. Maybe that would be the best way for us to dismiss permanently this less than helpful individual from the body politic. I wonder if that teaching position is still open at West Georgia College at Carrollton from whence he came.

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President Obama has more on his plate…right now…than any human…ought to face…ever. I know there must be loyal opposition – everyone is entitled to a different opinion, if they have one – but all of us, those who voted for him and those who did not, should give Obama time to lead. He hits a couple of objections to his bold attempts to stabilize the economy and the media – all of them – collectively pounce and pronounce “The honeymoon’s over.” And that was just 10 days after the swearing-in. Today, he has been in office 50 days and TV business analysts are calling the market decline “Obama’s bear market.” Give me a break. If you expect to enjoy any measure of credibility with the American people, your comments must be found somewhere within the realm of reason, please. The American people deserve more thoughtful analysis.

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Every time the TV networks replay a tape of Rush Limbaugh pontificating on the major issues of the day, as he was recently at a meeting of right-wing conservatives in Washington, I think of a day many years ago when a lady called his radio show to challenge him on a couple of issues. She had her facts ready and in a few minutes it was obvious he had been wrong and she was right. He stopped her finally, chuckled his famous, “Hehehehe,” and added, “Madam, remember, this is just entertainment.”

And so we all should remember, “…this is just entertainment.” Got that, dittoheads? No, I guess not.

Rush, your dittoheads don’t get it, that what you do is just an act. To them, what you are telling them is nothing short of gospel. That you are willing to lead these followers into a land of perpetual ignorance where they are not encouraged to challenge all that they hear, including what they hear from you, is shameful. If you would start and end each show with “Remember, what you are about to hear during the next three hours is just entertainment,” that would be an appropriate way to bring your followers back into the land of reason, knowledge and understanding.

The Best Laid Plans

Political analyst, Greg Sargent, is coming out with a new book, titled, 40 More Years: How Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation.

There will be some re-hashing of the 2008 campaign in it, but I understand the bulk of the book will address electoral trends, and how the rise of the youth vote and the decline of the white vote will favor Democrats.

I’m looking forward to reading it, but to my Democratic friends, I say, “Let’s not get too excited.” I had lunch in the early days of the Reagan Administration with a friend who had recently gone over to the other side. He invited me to join him, because, he said, “The country is turning conservative and if you want to enjoy the ride, you better join us.”

“In fact,” he said, “It is clear from recent trends that the Republicans will dominate American politics and occupy the White House, uninterrupted, for at least another generation.” The year was 1981. The restaurant was The Monocle on Capitol Hill. My friend went on to serve in the Reagan White House, the Bush 41 State Department, and the Bush 43 Defense Department.

In the 27 year period between 1981 and 2008, Republican Presidents controlled the agenda for all but the eight years of the Clinton Administration. Now you know why they hate Clinton so. Not only was he an effective President, he spoiled their plans for total domination of an entire generation. Boy, do they hate Clinton.

But I digress. My point is this: the best laid plans often go astray, especially when the fickle winds of political discourse are blowing across the land. In my view there should be no talk of “how Democrats will rule the next generation.” It is not likely to happen, and certainly not if they follow the Republican example. Obama seems to have learned the lesson of the past 27 years well and is reaching across the aisle with an eagerness to clasp the hand of anyone who wants to work to make America better.

And what has he found? He is finding the loyal opposition dusting off the strategic playbook of Newt Gingrich, written more than two decades ago. Old Newt had three themes: “Unite against Democrats’ economic policy, block and counter health care reform, and tar them with spending scandals." This is indeed what you do if you are a party with no ideas. Remember that day in early 1995 when, after taking control of the House of Representatives, Republicans gathered on the West steps of the Capitol and Newt told them, “This is our Contract with America….and on these provisions we will not compromise.” Those words stuck in my head because they were so wrong. Politics is nothing if not the art of compromise. It is how our country moves forward. It is how both parties governed until the era of Newt.

Obama understands the lessons of the past 27 years and is offering a sincere bipartisan hand to the other side but so far, with few exceptions in the Senate, his hand has been slapped away. Hopefully, that will change. America deserves better.

Sleepwalking Into A Nightmare

Few readers thought they would hear me admit there was anything on which Newt Gingrich and I agree, but today I find myself agreeing with words the former Speaker recently wrote to his party faithful, and posted on his website. One could almost feel his pain as an exasperated Newt wrote, “We are sleepwalking into a nightmare." I agree.

At least, I agree the REPUBLICANS are sleepwalking into an election year nightmare. The rest of us are quite awake and preparing for a new day when a Democratic President will be sworn in and begin to govern by seeking a genuine consensus on the major challenges that confront the nation. Fully 82 percent of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Yes, a nightmare awaits the Republicans in November.

[And yet they persist in asserting that “Obama can’t win.” Really??]

But I digress.

Newt continues: "Republicans are isolated and trying to defend incompetence." He writes the Democrats are isolated, too, that they want peace but don't want to face the reality of fighting for it. Not true, of course. Bob Dole once said, "Democrats got us into more wars in the past 100 years than Republicans." If Dole means Democrats know how to go to war, that would be true, but they do so only when it is necessary. And that is the difference.

Newt is right when he points to the danger of terrorists or terrorist states gaining access to nuclear weapons. He says, "We are in a real war." I agree, but Iraq is not the place it should be fought.

The biggest danger to America and its allies in the world is instability in the region where nuclear weapons already exist in large numbers – Pakistan. Terrorists living freely in Pakistan AND nuclear weapons in abundance in Pakistan is a recipe for disaster. Newt understands this. And I agree with him.

Now if he would only encourage Republican candidates for federal office to READ the US Constitution again, and this time, read for a better understanding of the balance of powers doctrine contained therein, the parties might be able to come together to govern in the mutually accepted best interests of all.

Too Late, Newt

By now, you may have read media accounts of Newt Gingrich's recent strategy letter to House Republicans. In it, he calls for "real change to avoid a real disaster." Sorry, Newt, too late.

Newt is calling for "real change in legislative, communications, and campaign strategy and involves immediate, real action, including a complete overhaul of the Congressional Campaign Committee." Too late, Newt.

John Boehner, Republican leader from Ohio, added his two cents: "Republicans can only succeed this year by being agents of change and reform. The American people know that Washington is broken, and we have to convince them that we can fix it."

Too late, John. The American people have your number. We've seen the money laundering of Tom DeLay. We've seen the Bush Administration's reckless disregard for the US Constitution. We've seen your profligate spending in everything from misadventures overseas to earmarking special projects for your friends here at home. We've seen your spending up close and it is not pretty. Not even liberal Democrats, your favorite whipping boy, spend money the way you guys have spent it for the past seven years. You are not Republicans. Barry Goldwater wouldn't know you. You might best be described as the GOOP Party (Grand Old Opportunists Party) for that is mostly the course you have taken.

On one thing we do agree, there has been a "catastrophic collapse of trust in Republicans" as Newt has correctly noted, and in the end, that will be the problem that will keep John McCain from winning in November.