"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." Samuel Adams

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Flawed Hero

Well, Newt is at it again. Our favorite corpulent popinjay, erstwhile savior to conservatives, was pictured on the front page of yesterday's Wall Street Journal, posing with the notorious "Reverend" Al not-so-Sharpton, as the two of them make a tour to tell us how we should run the education system. Why would the great, brilliant "conservative" savior associate himself so visibly with such a scoundrel? Newt just has a fatal flaw. He talks tough, for example, about the phony stimulus bill; then some people get him in a room inside the Beltway (which is where he now dwells exclusively), and he nervously appears before the cameras to tell us why we have to approve the phony stimulus. Now (and this is not new, by the way) he tours around the country with the notorious scoundrel and charlatan, Sharpton. Is Newt just so much smarter than the rest of us? Is it only he who can recognize what every other reasonable person somehow just can't, that there is a shred of merit to "Reverend" Al? There are only three explanations for this behavior: 1) abject stupidity; 2) a political tin ear; or 3) incredible arrogance. None of these alternatives is very flattering. Newt is of absolutely no use to honest, thinking conservatives. He should be tuned out.

8 comments:

Dave said...

Aye, aye, cappin. March 'im off the plank!

Bill said...

I’m reluctantly coming to the same conclusion. His big problem is that he is poisoned, absolutely poisoned, by ambition. What we want is a man with the temperament of Ronaldus Magnus. While he certainly wanted to be president and tried hard for years to finally be elected, one never got the sense he identified himself, in his core, by the office he held. He wanted to take charge because he had a very clear vision of what needed to be done and was convinced of his powers – correctly convinced by the way – to accomplish his conservative agenda. Newt is clearly one of those garden variety politicians who derive their entire self-validation by the office they hold, the clippings they get in the NY Times, the adulation and deference of sycophants. He is the embodiment of Kurt Vonnegut’s dictum that we always end up being governed by the kids we couldn’t stand in high school.
My guess is that he schmoozes with the likes of Al Sharpton not because he admires or respects the man – I do think Newt is too intellectually honest to harbor any private illusions about Sharpton - but in an effort to help his “negatives,” which I think he sees as the big stumbling block to a successful presidential run. Of course, he’s delusional. John McCain found that out the hard way. When push comes to shove, your liberal buddies inside the beltway and in the editorial rooms on the NY Times will, happily and without missing a beat, shove you under the bus the minute you’re not useful to their purposes – i.e. to use you as a battering ram to discredit conservatives.

Brian C. Caffrey said...

Bill, for a "conservative" to schmooze around with Sharpton is even worse than when these political candidates crawl up to Harlem to kiss Sharpton's ring. "And evil will be called good, and good will be called evil." (Hope I have that right.) (By the way, Bill: I like the new picture. Makes me think of William F. Buckley.)

Tom said...

You guys are just now seeing that Newt is only out for Newt.

Dave said...

We've know it for a while. It's just been hard to give up his intellectual power. But as is always the case, character trumps intellect and Newt's poor character definitely trumps whatever intellectual prowess I may have once admired.

Tom said...

psst.....he is not the only one :)

Bill said...

Just so, Dave. My feelings exactly.

Tom said...

Newt at his best

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9B2I5500&show_article=1

http://www.mediaite.com/online/newt-gingrich-honors-porn-prez-then-pulls-out/