Jane Hamsher, who blogs at firedoglake, wrote this on The Huffington Post where Ariana Huffington is getting all gooey about Gingrich’s alleged change of heart on the Iraq war. I like that Hamsher wants to wait to see genuine actions from Newty Newtsterton.
I am intrinsically, temperamentally and constitutionally opposed to allowing Newt Gingrich and other architects of war to evade responsibility for their actions and give themselves political cover by handing them a “free pass” for their zealous efforts to land us in the middle of this quagmire.
Hamsher reminds us of all the times Gingrich was slandering anyone who spoke out against the war as a traitor and as giving aid and comfort to our enemies.
Here’s a link to a Glenn Greewald piece in AlterNet that outlines Gingrich’s water carrying for the Liars who got us into this quagmire.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/34878/
Gingrich must be held accountable for his words. In America, thank god still and hopefully for a long time, we can all say what we think. But we must all take ownership and accountability for what we say. Speech, in politics, is also action. So, as Hamsher puts it…..
Compare the criticisms made by Gingrich of the President’s illegal eavesdropping and his Iraq policies to this truly disgusting declaration made by him just a few months ago on Hannity & Colmes:
“I think it’s quite clear as you point out, Sean, that from this tape, that bin Laden and his lieutenants are monitoring the American news media, they’re monitoring public opinion polling, and I suspect they take a great deal of comfort when they see people attacking United States policies.”
This next quote is the whole point.
There is clearly a sea change going on. The self-interested rats who propped up this Administration with blind loyalty for the last five years are now jumping ship as it sinks, desperately trying to save themselves by showing some extremely belated autonomy and independence. But where were Gingrich, Conway and Sensenbrenner for the last five years while “the most politically and substantively inept (administration) that the nation has had in over a quarter of a century” inflicted unquantifiable, arguably irreversible damage on our nation? They were accusing Administration critics of lacking patriotism and being on the side of terrorists, and they cannot be allowed to distance themselves now from the Administration to which they tied themselves.
Newt didn’t just support the war. In addition to sitting on the Defense Policy Board and being one of its more enthusiastic cheerleaders, he created a climate where it became impossible to question the war, the rationales given for it or any of the disastrous decisions made by George W. Bush by branding people who did so as anti-American turncoats.
This is from the Greenwald piece on AlterNet and it’s exactly to the point.
The greatest evil of the last five years isn’t that our government pursued disastrous and illegal policies, it’s that the administration and its supporters attempted to immunize themselves from criticism for those actions, thus depriving our democracy of its greatest strength. To watch the people responsible for that dissent-quashing now stand up and voice the very criticisms they’ve long equated with treason is far too infuriating to celebrate. It is important to ensure that the people responsible for the indescribable mess our country is in on so many levels not be allowed to extricate themselves from responsibility. There has been one political faction which has run every part of our country for the last five years and they are responsible for everything that has happened. We know who they are and it is critically important that they not be permitted to play-act as a legitimate opposition.
So, Newt, Screw You for jumping on what you think is now a bandwagon for whatever political benefit you think you’ll get out it. If you want to be a part of the anti war movement, as my favorite Cuban would say, “Newtsie, you’ve gotta lot of ‘splainin’ to do.”
Until you publicly acknowledge your assholitude for slandering good Americans, Fuck You Newt, Bite Me Newt, Hey Newt….Go Hunting with Dick Cheney.
