One thing that came off again and again during last night’s Republican debate is that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is an asshole, but perhaps never so much as when he called for imprisoning Democratic Rep. Barney Frank and former Sen. Chris Dodd:
“If you want to put people in jail, you ought to start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd,” Gingrich said in the debate. His remark came after the candidates were asked about the lack of criminal prosecutions of Wall Street officials in the wake of the financial crisis.
Honestly. What an asshole.
But here’s the thing. Gingrich didn’t appear to be joking. This is a guy who’s campaigning for president by calling for the imprisonment of opposition political leaders… exactly the sort of thing we see in banana republics and fascist dictatorships. It’s the kind of high-stakes political hardball—lose the election, lose your freedom or life—that destroys democracies.
Yeah, sure, I’ve heard Democratic rank and file call for the prosecution of Dick Cheney, George Bush and other suspected war criminals… but these calls for retribution aren’t coming from people who are running for fucking president. They’re not former House speakers. They’re not on television every week or two being paraded as one of the leaders of their party.
No, Gingrich can’t win. But I’m telling you, there’s a dangerous, fascistic streak in American politics—and in the Republican Party in particular—that could quickly turn this nation in on itself in response to a major crisis.
Been there for quite some time, too.
This is America, and we are very clear: we will hold our leaders accountable for either tangential personal issues or for global forces almost completely beyond their control.
However, no leaders will be held accountable for only the actual decisions they make on our behalf, criminal or otherwise. I mean really, how gauche would that be?
Asshole – yes.
Fascist – no.
*twinkle-down* Goldy.
In his defense, he said they should go to jail because of their ties to financial companies at the center of the mortgage crisis. However, if the bar is set that low, I can list a few dozen Republicans who should be prosecuted first.
Also, torture is a federal crime, and there is plenty of evidence that Bush and Cheney committed war crimes, whereas Dodd and Frank got campaign contributions from large banks, and their mortgages have terms about as good as any other rich white dude.
That said, Newt Gingrich is one of the worse candidates. This is a guy who still defends impeaching Clinton in a lame duck session after a pretty severe electoral whooping given to punish Republicans for spending all their time sniffing the President’s crotch instead of running the country.
I’d vote for someone who advocates putting Bush and Cheney on trial for war crimes. I’d even make it part of my own platform if I was going to run for high office. Does that make me a fascist?
@ eldepeche: There’s a reason he chose Dodd and Frank and no one else with ties to those same companies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodd-Frank
The tactic is called the dog whistle. Part of it is tricking the rest of us by saying “oh it’s really because of their ties to the companies that wrecked the economy” while at the same time telling those companies what he really means – that consumer protection advocates should be imprisoned. Don’t be fooled.
Edit to that last: He isn’t really advocating imprisonment, that’s obviously rhetorical, however dangerous it may be. What he is really communicating that he unequivocally opposes consumer protection. While pretending essentially the opposite of that.
I understand PM is a leftist Pinko Rag: one that makes WW look moderate. If you lable Newt as Facist and Asshole… give me more that an extremely predictable “Goldy” whining. Give me meat and potatoes, not just some phony whiner with a box of tissues and a leftist axe to grind. “Goldy”?…serious…how easy to predict…
Well shit Joe Sixpack, don’t feel like you need to conform to everybody’s insultingly low expectations with crap grammar and sentences that go nowhere. YOU ARE NOT A STEREOTYPE, AMERICAN!