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Gingrich: The phony intellectual
Washington Post ^ | November 17, 2011 | Jennifer Rubin

Posted on 11/17/2011 10:04:39 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife

Andy Ferguson, a senior editor at the Weekly Standard and arguably the most dazzling writer on the right, has been a one-man killing machine. In a series of pieces on Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Jon Huntsman, he has systematically done in (or helped to do in) more Republican candidates than Think Progress, the New York Times and George Soros ever could.....

But none is so devastating as his literary journey through Newt Gingrich’s books. All of them. Twenty-one of them. In doing so he exposes what too few recognize: the vacuity of Gingrich’s ludicrously exaggerated intellect. Gingrich posits himself as a sort of Alvin Toffler meets Allan Bloom. Ferguson’s skewers it all......

There is the over-the-top Gingrich.......

There is Gingrich the lover of technology by way of the Jetsons.......

And there is Gingrich the liberal.......

Finally, there is Gingrich the disorganized. “Gingrich’s vagueness was always a problem, but the books show something more: a near-total lack of interest in the political implementation of his grand ideas — a lack of interest, finally, in politics at its most mundane and consequential level. Gingrich’s inattention to detail is one reason his speakership was so chaotic, as readers of a certain age will recall, and the primary reason he was shunned by his own party after four years with the gavel.”

When many in the mainstream media and far too many conservatives who should know better swoon over his pronouncements, the cannier on the right and left justifiably roll their eyes in disgust. Gingrich’s mind is an attic of throwaway, unusable and downright goofy ideas, piled high like newspapers in the room of a troubled subject on “Hoarders.”...........

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: gadfly; gopprimary; newt
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1 posted on 11/17/2011 10:04:40 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

There is Gingrich the lover of technology by way of the Jetsons.......

Oh dang, I can hear the music in my tiny brain from this cartoon....


2 posted on 11/17/2011 10:08:24 AM PST by Fred (no job no house no gas no food no problem Obama 2012)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

I’m shocked...a liberal writing for the Washington post is badmouthing Newt Gingrich!


3 posted on 11/17/2011 10:09:46 AM PST by ontap
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

I wonder who Andy Ferguson is backing? I wonder...


4 posted on 11/17/2011 10:10:43 AM PST by Russ (Repeal the 17th amendment)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

ah, yes....
so “conservatve” the author would rather have Obama rule for another 4 years, than have his imaginary perfect candidate overshadowed...


5 posted on 11/17/2011 10:11:03 AM PST by G Larry (Catholic Conservative Supporting Israel!)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

ah, yes....
so “conservatve” the author would rather have Obama rule for another 4 years, than have his imaginary perfect candidate overshadowed...


6 posted on 11/17/2011 10:11:22 AM PST by G Larry (Catholic Conservative Supporting Israel!)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Who wrote this, Andy’s mom? He’s barely a blip on the screen of irrelevance.


7 posted on 11/17/2011 10:11:40 AM PST by jessduntno ("They say the world has become too complex for simple answers... they are wrong." - RR)
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To: ontap

She’s the conservative columnist over at the WP. That would make her a liberal anywhere else in the world.


8 posted on 11/17/2011 10:12:43 AM PST by CaptainK (...please make it stop. Shake a can of pennies at it.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

You seem to be on an anti-Gingrich posting spree this morning.

Perry’s your guy. Good luck with that. :-)


9 posted on 11/17/2011 10:13:00 AM PST by nesnah
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Gingrich is brilliant, but sometimes his brilliance disagrees with mine. I’d like to see him as President Cain’s Chief of Staff.


10 posted on 11/17/2011 10:13:08 AM PST by greatvikingone
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
...and has Ms Rubin read *any*, much less all, of Prof. Gingrich’s books?
11 posted on 11/17/2011 10:16:41 AM PST by VietVet (I am old enough to know who I am and what I believe, and I 'm not inclined to apologize for any of)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Right, they all can’t compete against that geeeeenius President Urkel. I haven’t settled on a candidate just yet, but I’d love to see Gingrich debate President Barry. Gingrich would make the Metrosexual in Chief cry, curl up in the fetal position, and wet his big boy pants.


12 posted on 11/17/2011 10:17:18 AM PST by Made In The USA (This post may be recorded for quality purposes.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Today’s new Rasmussen Iowa Caucus poll:

Gingrich 32%, Romney 19%, Cain 13% Ron Paul draws 10% of the vote in Iowa, and all the way at the bottom Texas Governor Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann each grab six percent (6%).


13 posted on 11/17/2011 10:19:14 AM PST by CaptainK (...please make it stop. Shake a can of pennies at it.)
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To: greatvikingone
.... a near-total lack of interest in the political implementation of his grand ideas — a lack of interest, finally, in politics at its most mundane and consequential level. Gingrich’s inattention to detail is one reason his speakership was so chaotic,....

This is Newt. He doesn't like the daily grind -- he's always chasing the next "intellectual" high and is not one to stick with the day to day drudgery of advancing an agenda. The next president must want to, because we need him to, work like there is no tomorrow.

14 posted on 11/17/2011 10:19:26 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2011/11/16/smear_machine_shifts_to_newt

Newt will be on Greta Van Sustern’s Show tonight!


15 posted on 11/17/2011 10:19:43 AM PST by katiedidit1 ("This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." the Irish)
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To: Made In The USA

I think you mean his mom jeans....LOL.


16 posted on 11/17/2011 10:20:34 AM PST by onyx (PLEASE SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC BY DONATING NOW! Sarah's New Ping List - tell me if you want on it.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

It’s purely my own personal opinion and clearly not that of Ms. Rubin, but Gingrich does qualify as the intellectual that 0bama only poses as. Whatever other complaints one might have about Gingrich, and I have plenty, the fellow has earned his stripes both in terms of subject matter and academic environment.


17 posted on 11/17/2011 10:20:50 AM PST by Billthedrill
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

How vacuous can you get? It is obvious to anybody with an IQ above room temp that Gingrich has a depth and breadth of knowledge that only a goo intellect can acquire. The author can’t separate Newt’s intellect from his personality which is simply a flaw in the authors intellect.


18 posted on 11/17/2011 10:20:55 AM PST by jwalsh07
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To: Fred

do do do dooooooo zzzzrrrrrrrrrrrrr


19 posted on 11/17/2011 10:21:12 AM PST by blasater1960 (Deut 30, Psalm 111...the Torah and the Law, is attainable past, present and forever.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Andy Ferguson, a senior editor at the Weekly Standard and arguably the most dazzling writer on the right, has been a one-man killing machine. In a series of pieces on Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Jon Huntsman, he has systematically done in (or helped to do in) more Republican candidates than Think Progress, the New York Times and George Soros ever could.....

Sounds like a line all of us should pay attention to.

20 posted on 11/17/2011 10:21:21 AM PST by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! True Supporters of our Troops PRAY for their VICTORY!)
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