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Newt Gingrich commits a capital crime (George Will attacks Gingrich again)
Washington Post ^ | 12/13/2011 | George F. Will

Posted on 12/14/2011 9:00:49 AM PST by Qbert

Newt Gingrich — the friend of his detractors, to whom he offers serial vindications — provided on Monday redundant evidence for the proposition that he is the least conservative candidate seeking the Republican presidential nomination: He faulted Mitt Romney for committing acts of capitalism.

Gingrich did so when goaded by Romney regarding his, Gingrich’s, self-described service as a “historian” for Freddie Mac, which paid him more handsomely than anyone paid Herodotus. Romney was asked by an interviewer about the $1.6 million Gingrich earned, or at any rate received, from Freddie Mac, the misbegotten government-backed mortgage giant. In the service of Washington’s bipartisan certitude that too few people owned houses, Freddie Mac helped produce the housing bubble and subsequent crash. It did so even though it paid Gingrich $30,000 an hour. That is about what he received if, as he says, he worked for Freddie Mac about an hour a month, telling it that what it was doing was “insane.”

Anyway, Romney’s interviewer mischievously asked him if he thought Gingrich should “give that money back” to Freddie Mac. Romney said, “I sure do.”

Soon thereafter, Gingrich, when asked about Romney’s cheeky judgment, replied: “I would just say that if Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he’s earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at Bain Capital, that I would be glad to listen to him.”

[Snip]

Gingrich is reusing the attack honed by Ted Kennedy in 1994, when Romney suffered a 17-point loss in attempting to take Kennedy’s Senate seat.

[Snip]

Romney surely anticipated that such an attack would come — but from Democrats, in the general election, not from a volatile Republican. He now understands Rep. Paul Ryan’s response when Gingrich attacked his entitlement reform as “right-wing social engineering.”...

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


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: georgewill; gingrich; newt; romney; will4mittens
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Deflection

Definition

de·flec·tion [ di fléksh'n ]

NOUN 

...(3.) Act of diverting attention: the act of directing people's attention or criticism away from something

1 posted on 12/14/2011 9:00:57 AM PST by Qbert
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To: Qbert

I am sick of all this


2 posted on 12/14/2011 9:03:06 AM PST by SMARTY ("The man who has no inner-life is a slave to his surroundings. "Henri Frederic Amiel)
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To: Qbert

I wonder what is going on with all these folks I usually respect, going off on Newt? Will, Steyn, Krauthammer, etc...


3 posted on 12/14/2011 9:04:48 AM PST by BigEdLB (Now there ARE 1,000,000 regrets - but it may be too late.)
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To: Qbert

How would George Will know anything at all about what it tkes to be a conservative?


4 posted on 12/14/2011 9:05:34 AM PST by Bigun ("The most fearsome words in the English language are I'm from the government and I'm here to help!")
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To: SMARTY; Qbert
Will went over years back. I don't trust anything he has to say about anything anymore.

Or, put it another way, when Will highlights Gingrich's flaws (if they are flaws, which is a different issue), and does so on behalf of Mitt, then he has become a Mitt-bot.

We are not voting for Mitt.

5 posted on 12/14/2011 9:07:04 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: BigEdLB

I am done with all of them.


6 posted on 12/14/2011 9:08:33 AM PST by Gator113 (~Just livin' life, my way~.. Newt/Palin-West-2012."got a lot swirling around in my head.")
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To: Qbert

Salient point;

“It did so even though it paid Gingrich $30,000 an hour. That is about what he received if, as he says, he worked for Freddie Mac about an hour a month, telling it that what it was doing was “insane.”

I’d take $30,000 an hour from anybody willing to pay me for my opinions. What I don’t understand is what the opinions were that give everyone such agida...aren’t there any paper trails? Emails? Notes passed in the lunch room?

Bueller? Bueller?


7 posted on 12/14/2011 9:10:59 AM PST by jessduntno (The Republican elite hates him, Rove hates him, Boehner hates him, liberals hate him. It's Newt!)
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To: SMARTY

George Will won’t be happy until he gets Barry re-elected. Who even listens to that idiot anymore?


8 posted on 12/14/2011 9:11:33 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Bigun

“How would George Will know anything at all about what it tkes to be a conservative?”

Up in his eucalyptus tree, George -is- the conservative koala.

Very, very, very, VERY niche ecology there. Ann Coulter’s tree is nearby, but they have never mated or had offspring.


9 posted on 12/14/2011 9:12:12 AM PST by Psalm 144 (Voodoo Republicans: Don't read their lips - watch their hands.)
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To: Qbert
which paid him more handsomely than anyone paid Herodotus

Not so fast. The Athenian people reportedly awarded Herodotus 10 silver talents, which is about 300 kilos.

At present prices, that's (verrry roughly) $320,000.

Comparing prices from one era to another is amazingly difficult, but there is at least a chance H's 10 silver talents had more purchasing power than Gingrich's dollars.

H could certainly buy more slaves with his silver, while G could buy more electronics.

10 posted on 12/14/2011 9:12:27 AM PST by Sherman Logan
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To: muawiyah

“...when Will highlights Gingrich’s flaws (if they are flaws, which is a different issue), and does so on behalf of Mitt, then he has become a Mitt-bot.”

Here’s an interesting take on the Bain issue:

http://legalinsurrection.com/2011/12/bringing-up-romneys-bain-problem-is-not-socialist/


11 posted on 12/14/2011 9:13:12 AM PST by Qbert ("The best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry" - William F. Buckley, Jr.)
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To: Qbert

WILL = ROMNEYBOT


12 posted on 12/14/2011 9:14:45 AM PST by VanDeKoik (1 million in stimulus dollars paid for this tagline!)
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To: Qbert

The same George Will who called Gingrich a Marxist. I wonder if he would call Obama a Marxist? George has lost all credibility with me.


13 posted on 12/14/2011 9:15:04 AM PST by Parley Baer
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To: VanDeKoik
WILL = ROMNEYBOT

WILL = PRISSY ROMNEYBOT
14 posted on 12/14/2011 9:15:56 AM PST by aruanan
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To: Psalm 144

Indeed!

An ecology with which anyone outside the Washington beltway is entirely unfamiliar.


15 posted on 12/14/2011 9:19:20 AM PST by Bigun ("The most fearsome words in the English language are I'm from the government and I'm here to help!")
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To: Qbert

I’m starting to think I should support Newt based on who is opposing him.


16 posted on 12/14/2011 9:21:55 AM PST by PjhCPA (I'm an equal candidate criticizer.)
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To: Qbert

George Will is dead.


17 posted on 12/14/2011 9:23:50 AM PST by onyx (PLEASE SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC:DONATE MONTHLY! Sarah's New Ping List - tell me if you want on it.)
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To: Qbert
Not surprised to see the WP pick up on this Fox News pro-Romney campaign. Trying to paint Newt as a leftist is the silliest thing I've seen. But somehow even Dr. K thinks this is a story. Fox is being greatly diminished in my mind as they pursue this sort of nonsense. They've even roped Brit Hume into supporting Romney and pushing this non-story.

I'm about ready to say goodbye to Fox News.

18 posted on 12/14/2011 9:24:12 AM PST by InterceptPoint (TIN)
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To: Qbert
Gingrich is reusing the attack honed by Ted Kennedy in 1994, when Romney suffered a 17-point loss in attempting to take Kennedy’s Senate seat.

Hey George how come you didn't mention that the early polling had Mitt ahead by double digits over Teddy and then Romney giddy with glee comes out and makes the following statement
"I don't want the votes of the extremist NRA or Christian Right Types
19 posted on 12/14/2011 9:26:09 AM PST by uncbob
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To: SMARTY
I am sick of all this

Me too. Its proof that the whole lot of 'em have NO idea of the stakes in this election - its just a game.

20 posted on 12/14/2011 9:29:05 AM PST by skeeter
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