My first thought was that Rachel Martin was overmatched when she spoke with Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich Wednesday morning on NPR about the president's disenchantment with his attorney general. Not once did Martin effectively counter Gingrich's charges that the Justice Department's culture is very liberal, the department an extraordinarily left-wing institution, and pretty much the entire federal government top to bottom, that insidious "deep state," I suppose, is out to get the president.
More than a few minds out on the far left lunatic fringe must have been blown by the revelation that Justice is an extraordinarily left-wing institution. Who'd have thought? No doubt it came as shocking news to the Sanders wing of the left, liberals, centrists, and whatever remains of the right that does not buy the bucket of folderol Gingrich has made a career of shoveling. Might this be a patch of that mythical common ground so much invoked but seldom witnessed, elusive as Bigfoot and the Yeti?
On reflection I am more charitably disposed toward Rachel Martin. What do you say to someone who has made a career of "[playing] politics with an utterly Lenin-esque lack of conscience" (Tomasky, Newt Gingrich, Hypocrisy Pioneer), someone who responds to counterpoints by pulling "No, no, no..." and "Oh, give me a break," from his rhetorical arsenal?
Does Newton believe this stuff himself? Does that matter in what Ezra Klein at Vox dubbed the era of bullshit politics? I rely on memory here, always a dicey proposition, but I seem to recall a time some years ago when NY Times columnist and PBS Newhour regular David Brooks declared that Gingrich is the smartest person in any room he is in. This was not a shining moment for Brooks. It was however unfortunately typical of PBS and NPR which continue to provide a forum and cloak of legitimacy for this two-bit Tartufferer, third-rate intellect, and all-around scoundrel.
Memo from the Editorial Desk
Once again minor, nonsubstantive revisions were made to this piece after it was published. Most likely there is a DSM-5 classification for the clinical condition that renders the author incapable of leaving well enough alone.
Memo from the Editorial Desk II
I may have been unfair to David Brooks. Upon reflection it seems possible that Brooks was being sarcastic when he spoke of Gingrich being the smartest person in any room he is in. Certainly Gingrich is in his own mind the smartest person in the room. That may have been what Brooks was getting at.
References
Ezra Klein, Republicans’ Obamacare repeal drive has revealed a political system where words have no meaning, Vox, July 27, 2017
Newt Gingrich: The Justice Department Is 'Very Anti-Trump,' NPR Morning Edition, July 26, 2017
Michael Tomasky, Newt Gingrich, Hypocrisy Pioneer, The Daily Beast, June 20, 2017
Matthew Yglesias, The Bullshitter-in-Chief, Vox, May 30, 2017