Newt Gingrich calls war on terror "phony", admits we're losing

[Looney]

The problem with PJ now is his two heroes are now diverging in their views. Who will he stick with? Only time will tell!

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: BMW540I6speed
Skoob said:

I don't know anything about Newt, but I know that he's right here. The sleepy, sheepy proles have been led astray again (and it will happen in the future, as it always does) by their government chasing this evil around the globe, frothing at the mouth over something they have no real comprehension of.

The US response to terrorism has been like taking a broken finger and then breaking and casting the leg, so its response has been a) overblown based on the severity of the threat and b) utterly ineffectual and aimed at the wrong thing. That a Republican hopeful can retort a comment by Ron Paul with a cocky, dismissive little grin and comment about "Did you forget about 9/11" shows that they've learned nothing.

There is a phenomenon experienced by very young children called "wish fulfillment."

The child wishes for food and it magically appears. The child wishes for a hug, cries, and hugs happen. As the child grows a little older, his/her wishes are a little more complicated - that daddy loves mommy, that I'll get a horse, etc .

A mark of maturity is growing out of the wish fulfillment stage and beginning to recognize cause and effect, consequences, etc. But if a child is coddled and protected from cause and effect and from consequences, it is possible to go on believing utterly in "wish fulfillment."

George Bush is the ultimate silver spoon child. Until the mid 80's, he was a spoiled trust funder, drinking, drugging, just having a grand old time with every "wish fulfilled", but probably depressed (leading to drinking and drugging) because he was not his own man.

Then he got religion and stopped drinking and drugging. So, he substituted a new "wish fulfillment strategy." I'll believe in Jesus and he'll get me what I want. He wished to be governor, and by golly it happened. No matter that the cause was daddy's money and friends and his malleability arising from having no political, moral, philosophical code of his own. Jesus made it so. Then he wished to be President, and it happened again. No matter again that his daddy's money and friends, and a willingness to lie continuously, i.e. complete moral suspension, paved the way. Jesus made it so.

Then he wished to change the world and expected it to happen just as it always had before. No matter that it hasn't and everything has gone disastrously wrong - he knows it will happen, everything will be just fine, because he wished it to be so. Accordingly, it is no surprise he spends his days sunny and optimistic, unfazed by the facts, uninterested in studying reports, investigating consequences, exploring options. He needs merely to wish and it will be so.

But he is supported by a huge team of enablers and one team leader devoid of moral compass who has a single goal, power for its own sake with the corollary of fabulous wealth. Of course, that is Dick Cheney, himself happy and content, because he can run the country unhindered by the fool in the Oval Office who is busy "wishing and knowing" but otherwise out of the way.

That is the real danger to the US, to you and me, mothers and children in Iraq, Iran, and the rest of the world, that the chariot of our power is pulled by two horses - a fool and a power-monger, and they have had a very long run before most of the complacent dullards in the chariot even began looking for the reins.

Wow, i have to say, that was very well said!

 

[ProfJohn]

Originally posted by: Looney
The problem with PJ now is his two heroes are now diverging in their views. Who will he stick with? Only time will tell!

Can you tell me who my heroes are so I can decide which one to follow?

 

[TheAdvocate]

Originally posted by: BMW540I6speed

There is a phenomenon experienced by very young children called "wish fulfillment."

The child wishes for food and it magically appears. The child wishes for a hug, cries, and hugs happen. As the child grows a little older, his/her wishes are a little more complicated - that daddy loves mommy, that I'll get a horse, etc .

A mark of maturity is growing out of the wish fulfillment stage and beginning to recognize cause and effect, consequences, etc. But if a child is coddled and protected from cause and effect and from consequences, it is possible to go on believing utterly in "wish fulfillment."

George Bush is the ultimate silver spoon child. Until the mid 80's, he was a spoiled trust funder, drinking, drugging, just having a grand old time with every "wish fulfilled", but probably depressed (leading to drinking and drugging) because he was not his own man.

Then he got religion and stopped drinking and drugging. So, he substituted a new "wish fulfillment strategy." I'll believe in Jesus and he'll get me what I want. He wished to be governor, and by golly it happened. No matter that the cause was daddy's money and friends and his malleability arising from having no political, moral, philosophical code of his own. Jesus made it so. Then he wished to be President, and it happened again. No matter again that his daddy's money and friends, and a willingness to lie continuously, i.e. complete moral suspension, paved the way. Jesus made it so.

Then he wished to change the world and expected it to happen just as it always had before. No matter that it hasn't and everything has gone disastrously wrong - he knows it will happen, everything will be just fine, because he wished it to be so. Accordingly, it is no surprise he spends his days sunny and optimistic, unfazed by the facts, uninterested in studying reports, investigating consequences, exploring options. He needs merely to wish and it will be so.

But he is supported by a huge team of enablers and one team leader devoid of moral compass who has a single goal, power for its own sake with the corollary of fabulous wealth. Of course, that is Dick Cheney, himself happy and content, because he can run the country unhindered by the fool in the Oval Office who is busy "wishing and knowing" but otherwise out of the way.

That is the real danger to the US, to you and me, mothers and children in Iraq, Iran, and the rest of the world, that the chariot of our power is pulled by two horses - a fool and a power-monger, and they have had a very long run before most of the complacent dullards in the chariot even began looking for the reins.

No offense to moonbeam, but this is the best post on P&N in ages. Brav-fvcking-O! :thumbsup:

 

[ProfJohn]

Newt himself has weighted in on this whole ?phoney war? thing by linking to some thing he wrote on July 10.
Link

For the past six years, we have been engaged in a "phoney war".

The period during World War II from 1939-1941 became known as the "phoney war." After Hitler had attacked and occupied Poland, the Nazis had made their intentions clear, but the Allies did little to respond to Hitler's aggression. In this period of "phoney war," the British people eventually came to believe that they could avoid war. Children who had been evacuated from the cities began to return to their families.

And then, in May 1940, Hitler attacked France. The "phoney war" was over. The real war had begun.

Standing in that cemetery in St. Petersburg last week, I thought of all the other Tanyas who had died because their leaders refused to believe the evil words of evil men and refused to convey that truth to their people.

I thought of today's Tanyas -- all the young girls and their families who are threatened by the Irreconcilable Wing of Islam.

Just as in the years leading up to World War II, the signs are all around us. The rise of Hamas. The re-arming of Hezbollah. The Iranian dictatorship's relentless drive for nuclear weapons. Terrorists from New Jersey to London to Iraq and Pakistan who are saying repeatedly and publicly that they want nothing more than to kill us.

So my question is this: In our own existential war, do our leaders hear these voices that are determined to destroy us? And will our "phoney war" end on our terms, or the terms of our enemies?

I?ll be waiting patently for those who were wrong to come back and admit that I have been right all along.

 

[umbrella39]

Newt Gingrich, former Republican House Speaker, called the war on terror "phony" in a speech to a group of young conservatives in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Augest 2nd, 2007.

The potential GOP presidential candidate told attendees of the National Conservative Student Conference that "We?re about to enter the seventh year of this phony war?and we?re losing."

Gingrich added, "None of you should believe we are winning this war. There is no evidence that we are winning this war."

Gingrich also attacked the current administration and former Republican Congressional leadership in saying "We were in charge for six years?I don?t think you can look and say that was a great success."

Now the funny thing is if you replace the bolded name above with Pelosi, you freeperville hacks would be creaming yourselves.

:roll:

 

[ProfJohn]

Umbrella it is all about context.

Newt is saying that we are not being serious enough about the war when he calls it a phony war.

If Pelosi called it a ?phony war? she would be literally calling it a ?phony? (aka fake) war.

There is a historical context to what Newt is trying to say, there would not be such a thing with Hillary.

 

[1EZduzit]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Newt himself has weighted in on this whole ?phoney war? thing by linking to some thing he wrote on July 10.

Originally posted by: umbrella39
Newt Gingrich, former Republican House Speaker, called the war on terror "phony" in a speech to a group of young conservatives in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Augest 2nd, 2007.

The potential GOP presidential candidate told attendees of the National Conservative Student Conference that "We?re about to enter the seventh year of this phony war?and we?re losing."

Newt's an idiot, but I knew that. I guess even an idiot has the perogative to change his mind when they want to.