You might know the term “Flippin’ the bird”, but I want to call this “Flippin’ the Newt”:
Newt Gingrich on March 7, on what he would do in Libya:
Exercise a no-fly zone this evening, communicate to the Libyan military that Gadhafi was gone and that the sooner they switch sides, the more like they were to survive, provided help to the rebels to replace him. I mean, the idea that we’re confused about a man who has been an anti-American dictator since 1969 just tells you how inept this administration is.
Newt Gingrich yesterday (two weeks later), after Obama did pretty much what Gingrich said he himself would do:
Let me draw the distinction. I would not have intervened. I think there were a lot of other ways to affect Qaddafi. I think there are a lot of other allies in the region we could have worked with. I would not have used American and European forces.
Political commentator Taegan Goddard calls this “An Epic Flip Flop“. What’s really frustrating is that Matt Lauer, who was interviewing him yesterday, let him get away with it.
Not only that, but Gingrich criticized the Libyan intervention, saying “This is about as badly run as any foreign operation we’ve seen in our lifetime.” Perhaps he was born yesterday, or else he just conveniently forgot about the Iraq War, which Gingrich helped plan. What a jerk.
UPDATE: PolitiFact gives Gingrich a “Full Flop” on this one.
7 Comments
That guy is a joke. How can anyone take him seriously? He’s like Christine O’Donnel or Sarah Palin’s brother or something (except at least he knows where Libya is). He can waste good money running, but he’ll never get close to a nomination. Incredible. Good call IK.
“What’s really frustrating is that Matt Lauer, who was interviewing him yesterday, let him get away with it.”
So frustrating that this happens so often that a reporter will not follow-up on statements they know to be false, only to discuss the inaccuracy later in a commentary about the interview that may or may not be heard by the same audience.
Welcome to 1984. Doublethink is alive and well. The main difference between the GOP and the Dems is this: With the Dems, it’s what they say and not how they say it; with the GOP, it’s how they say it, not what they say. Gingrich either doesn’t care or didn’t realize that he’s contradicting himself. The whole point is to place himself against Obama, irony and hypocrisy be damned.
And the sad part is that people believe him.
Politicians not in power are like backseat drivers who give you wrong directions and then get angry when you wind up in the wrong place.
If ever there was call for a Monty Python reunion this guy is it “She turned me into a newt” Unfortunately this guy didn’t get better. Gingrich may appear like a knight in shining armour on his fine arabian charger(apologies Mick) but it definately the sound of empty coconuts behind him, and plenty of them. And think of what you could make of the Killer Rabbit. That’s only one film!
The guy is a serial bullshit artist. Good Luck with him
Someone asked me who I’d like to run against Obama next year. “Newt” I replied. I decided he could run on the creed, “I believe in marriage between man and woman, lots of women.”
Tim Russert certainly hasn’t been replaced, has he?
Anymore, I don’t particularly think he’s a hypocrite. I think he’s observant and realistic.
He woke up one day, looked around, and thought, “well, I guess they’ll believe anything we tell them!”