Fresh Loaf

— Newt Gingrich was in Macon Wednesday, and Lucid Idiocy checks in on his various pronouncements. I remember when Newt was something of a liberal, back when he was a West Georgia College professor who played weekly poker games with a group that included Col. Bruce Hampton. Newt is proof that, like cats, politicians can have nine lives.

– DriftGrift adds a new feature, his “afternoon Jay.” And it kicks off with a $150,000 shopping budget for new work clothes. I did that with my last job. Didn’t you?

— But the lovely Sara at Going Through The Motions reminds us that Alaska is not exactly a high-fashion Mecca. I remember that from Northern Exposure, which was really filmed in Washington state, but what the heck? It was still one of the greatest television series ever. And Sara also points out that looking good is much more important for female candidates than their male counterparts. Touche.

— Poor D-Cup at Politits. She has the worst feeling ever: a co-worker who professes that they could never vote for a black man decides to cancel out D-Cup’s vote for “that one.” Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

— At the Wren’s Nest, there was a similar WTF? moment when a staffer of color began to lead a tour and a white person on that tour had a question and then a comment that has to be read to be believed. Let’s at least hope the tourist was from lower Alabama.

— And, finally, lost in all the election hub-bub … it’s almost Halloween. Which for me, means my annual birthday has arrived. For everyone else, it means trying to find that ever-elusive Halloween costume. But worry not. The fine ladies at Pecanne Log have got you covered with costume ideas galore.

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GOV. SONNY PERDUE AND HOUSE SPEAKER NEWT GINGRICH: Amused to find out that they’ve suddenly become outsiders, reformers and agents of feminism.

(Photo by Joeff Davis. Galleries of Joeff’s photos from both party conventions can be found on his web site, Joeff.com)

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— As Clayton County tries to rebound from four years of chaos, B. King over at Terminal Station writes a thoughtful analysis on how Eldrin Bell borrowed from his experience in Atlanta politics to put together a successful coalition of candidates.

— After a long absence, DriftGrift offers up yet another “Morning Wooten”. Fortunately, he saved up all those lost Morning Wootens and combines them all into one.

— Over at Going Through The Motions, Sara treats us to a few of her random thoughts. Most notably, she’s not happy with John Edwards. Especially because he was cheating on his wife as she battled cancer. Sort of like a former Georgia politician of note handed his wife divorce papers while she was in the hospital being treated for cancer. Call us, John; we’ll put you in touch with Mr. Gingrich so the two of you can commiserate.

— Mingaling is getting married in a DIY ceremony, and she’s sharing with us. Today’s topic: How to make a Boutonnière for the boys.

— Most have applauded the city’s recent crackdown and people hanging out in Barbara Asher Square at Five Points. But Arc of Time has a different perspective, arguing that it gives the city character and diversity.

— And, finally, it turns out we’re not the only ones confused by this Russian invasion of Georgia. On the Georgia (that’s state, not nation) feed for Lefty Blogs, are such headlines as: “Cheney: Russian aggression must not go unanswered” and “Russia versus Georgia; the reality of Obama’s candidacy” and, our fav, “Is Georgia the last Iraq casualty?” Time to get the hell out of here, ya know?

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Emory grad, former West Georgia prof and all-around party animal Newt Gingrich, when not busy playing coy about a run for the White House, likes to write books. Usually they’re about the Civil War or have self-help titles — Winning the Future, Restoring the Dream — but now he’s got a new tome out about saving the environment.

The book, A Contract with the Earth, espouses an anti-regulation, pro-technology approach to moving toward a cleaner environment.

Bravo, Newt, thanks for caring! But Joe Romm at ClimateProgress — he no likey. (Emphasis Romm’s.)

You may be surprised that Newt calls himself an environmentalist, given that he co-authored and then worked to enact the anti-environmental Contract with America. Oh, but Newt now claims:

I don’t think that the environment was a central focus of the Contract With America. I don’t think that it was bad for the environment. I don’t know of a single thing in the Contract that was bad for the environment.

I think Salon had to pause in the interview at that point to allow Newt to douse the flames that began engulfing his trousers. In fact, the CWA was a clever, stealthy attack on the environment as detailed by NRDC in a lengthy analysis (summarized here), by the Sierra Club, and by the National Wildlife Federation, which wrote at the time: “Taken as a whole, the House plan constitutes the broadest and deepest attack ever mounted against laws that protect public health, the environment, natural resources and wildlife.”

The only thing more gut-busting than Gingrich claiming that the CWA and related legislation wasn’t bad for the environment is his newfound embrace of technology as the answer to climate/energy problems.

Recall that in the 1990s, the Gingrich Congress tried to shut down the Department of Energy, slash all clean energy research (including biofuels), stop the joint government-industry effort to develop a superefficient car, and zero out all programs aimed specifically at reducing greenhouse emissions and accelerating technology deployment (for some history, see my 1996 Atlantic Monthly article and this 1997 article).

Well put. He goes on to stab a bunch of holes in Gingrich’s “incentives” idea — rewarding companies that produce cleaner technologies with huge tax breaks — and brands him as the politician who has done the most to undermine America’s leadership in clean technology since Reagan. Worth reading.

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(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Influential talk-radio host Neal Boortz was shocked this morning — shocked, I tell you —as he blasted Barack Obama for failing to wear an American flag lapel pin in Iowa campaigning.

“Barack Obama will no longer wear a flag on his lapel because he says it is a symbol of supporting the war in Iraq,” Boortz said, in the midst of his incredulity and outrage over Obama’s near-treasonous wardrobe admission.

Never mind that Obama never actually said the lapel omission had anything to do with Iraq. Or that it’s pitiful to try to turn lapel flags into a litmus test for presidential candidates. Surely, I thought, Boortz must brandish the flag on his chest wherever he goes out in public! Then, Andisheh pointed out that Boortz (left) didn’t appear to be wearing a flag at an event CL photographer Joeff Davis shot last week. Neither did the ever-patriotic Newt Gingrich (center). Nor überpatriot Sean Hannity. Strange. Perhaps, they were wearing patriotic underwear.

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NEWT GINGRICH AT SOLUTIONS DAY IN COBB: Gingrich is beloved by social conservatives for having exclusively heterosexual extramarital affairs.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Newt’s had a busy week.

Last Thursday, the Republican former speaker of the House threatened promised to run for president if he received $30 million in contributions during October.

His political think-tank, American Solutions, held a political gab fest called Solutions Day. It was designed to brainstorm “nonpartisan” solutions to America’s problems and featured an appearance by noted nonpartisan problem-solver Sean Hannity.

He published a book called Contract with the Earth advocating what he calls “mainstream” environmentalism (translation: other environmentalists are hysterical radicals).

And then, on Saturday, he says he changed his mind about running because he didn’t want to step down as head of American Solutions. “I’m not going to walk off and allow American Solutions to collapse at this point.”

A nation weeps.

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Newt Gingrich is back, talking about a run for the presidency again. Here’s the strange thing: Some of what he says makes sense. And when Newt Gingrich becomes the voice of reason, it’s really time to get worried about things.

The part-time Georgian who left Congress in disgrace and went after President Clinton for the Monica Lewinsky incident — even as he himself was having an affair — is back and still making noise about running for president. Gingrich tells the National Journal:

“The most tempting thought about running next year is the idea of debating Senator Clinton. That would be fun. … She is actually much more centrist than MoveOn.org. She is much tougher on military affairs than [her party's] Left. She is more rational, and I have very great respect for her as a hardworking professional. No Republican should think she is going to be easy to beat.”

He also throws a bomb at the Republican Party for not separating itself from the failed presidency of George W. Bush:

“I think [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy said it very well when he said of the Chirac administration, ‘We need a clean break.’ There is no excuse for not controlling the border. There is no excuse for New Orleans being the mess it is. I think we ought to say these things are not right. … There is nobody out there prepared to say, on the Democratic side, “If we don’t win in Iraq, here’s how big the mess is going to be,” with the exception of Joe Lieberman. There is nobody out there on the Republican side who is prepared to say, ‘You know, we are going to have to do it differently.’ I mean, ‘Stay the course’ is not a rational option.”

Will Newt run? Don’t be surprised.

Will Newt win? No. He’ll be the right’s version of Ralph Nader.

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“Young Americans should not be killed by people who should not legally be in the United States in the first place,” Mr. Gingrich told Republicans gathered in Ames, Iowa, for the Iowa Republican Party straw poll.

I agree with Newt.

Americans should be killed by other Americans.

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While I think it’s pretty accepted in political history that the Republicans’ takeover of Congress in 1994 (thanks to Bill Clinton’s missteps, Newt Gingrich’s belligerence and that catchy “Contract With America” gimmick) is a lesson in political hubris, it’s nice to revisit the good old days.

Interestingly enough, Rich Galen, Gingrich’s former communications director, offers up a nice look back in Salon at the takeover, which preceded the disastrous showdown with Clinton over Medicaid and the subsequent government shutdown in 1995. He uses this overview as a lesson for the Democrats as they try to take advantage of their regaining control of Congress after the 2006 elections. It’s informative stuff, including this little trinket…

The decision of congressional Democrats to surrender on the matter of a withdrawal date in order to get an Iraq funding bill that President Bush would actually sign is yet another example of a canon of life in Washington: The White House controls the legislative process in 2007 just as it has for more than 70 years, since FDR reversed the flow of power from one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other.

Galen concedes the parallels are not exact, but the point is made: If you’re going to dictate the agenda, you’d better have the power to actually do so.

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4.5 presidential candidates are coming to Atlanta this week.

Why 4.5?

Newt acts like he’s running, but he hasn’t declared.

Check them out while you can. Georgia is solidly Republican, so the likelihood of seeing them in 2008 outside the doors of a high-dollar fundraiser event is pretty low.

In strictly nonpartisan, alphabetical order:

Hillary Clinton: Sat., May 19, 7 p.m., at the home of Michael Coles ($1,000 to get in)

John Edwards: Thurs., May 17, 5:15 p.m., Georgia World Congress Center (free)

Newt Gingrich: Fri., May 18, Borders bookstore in Buckhead at 4 p.m., GOP Convention at Gwinnett Civic Center at 7 p.m.

Rudy Giuliani: Wed., May 16, noon, Emerson Student Center at Oglethorpe University (free)

Mitt Romney: Fri., May 18, 3-3:30 p.m., Gwinnett Civic Center (free, for those in the convention hall)

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A few weeks ago, one of my reporters told me that the Georgia General Assembly was going to adopt a new health insurance savings plan being pushed by a Newt Gingrich think tank. My first question to him was: Since when does Newt Gingrich have credibility?

Newt is a great example of how somebody who thinks fast on his feet and has a smooth delivery can talk his way out of anything. Even through ugly public divorces, affairs (in the plural) and now, the revelation that he was cheating on his wife in private at the same time he was leading a very public witch-hunt against President Clinton because Clinton was dumb enough to get a blow job in the Oval Office.

Is there any end to the hypocrisy?

(more…)

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It’s hard to muffle the audience at the annual and generally raucous Buckhead Coalition luncheon, a close encounter of the Atlanta kind that smushes together corporate heavy hitters and media paparazzi in a West Paces Ferry eatery a size too small for the crowd.

But the newly minted chairman of the Fulton County Commission, John Eaves, managed to drop jaws and provoke palpitations at the Jan. 31 shindig. He had a little help from a slippery critter called a Newt, which is generally a small amphibian but at the lunch was clearly a forked-tongue reptile.

Continue reading “A reptilian Newt’s forked tongue” at atlanta.creativeloafing.com.

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