These are my hands, these are my faults.These are my plans, these are my nasty little thoughts.
-Stroke 9, "Washin' and Wonderin'"
I'm Following
Ben’s Rules to Live By
61. Ignorance is not an excuse. It can be reason, but not an excuse.
Highly recommend seeing “The Book of Mormon”. I saw it last summer and it was hilarious.
Why No Responsible Democrat Should Want Newt Gingrich to Get the GOP Nomination
Republicans are worried sick about Newt Gingrich’s ascendance, while Democrats are tickled pink.
Yet no responsible Democrat should be pleased at the prospect that Gingrich could get the GOP nomination. The future of America is too important to accept even a small risk of a Gingrich presidency.
The Republican worry is understandable. “The possibility of Newt Gingrich being our nominee against Barack Obama I think is essentially handling the election over to Obama,” says former Minnesota Governor Tom Pawlenty, a leading GOP conservative. “I think that’s shared by a lot of folks in the Republican party.”
Pawlenty’s views are indeed widely shared in Republican circles. “He’s not a conservative – he’s an opportunist,” says pundit Joe Scarborough, a member of the Republican Class of 1994 who came to Washington under Gingrich’s banner. Gingrich doesn’t “have the temperament, intellectual discipline or ego control to be either a successful nominee or president,”says New York Republican representative Peter King, who hasn’t endorsed any candidate. “Basically, Newt can’t control himself.”
Gingrich is “an embarrassment to the party,” says New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie, and “was run out of the speakership” on ethics violations. Republican strategist Mike Murphy says “Newt Cingrich could not carry a swing state in the general election if it was made of feathers.”
“Weird” is the word I hear most from Republicans who have worked with him. Scott Klug, a former Republican House member from Wisconsin, who hasn’t endorsed anyone yet, says “Newt has ten ideas a day – two of them are good, six are weird and two are very weird.”
Newt’s latest idea, for example – to colonize the moon – is typically whacky.
The Republican establishment also points to polls showing Gingrich’s supporters to be enthusiastic but his detractors even more fired up. In the latest ABC News/ Washington Post poll, 29 percent view Gingrich favorably while 51 percent have an unfavorable view of him. (Obama, by contrast, draws a 53 percent favorable and 43 percent unfavorable.)
Independents, who will be key to the general election, are especially alarmed by Gingrich.
As they should be. It’s not just Newt’s weirdness. It’s also the stunning hypocrisy. His personal life makes a mockery of his moralistic bromides. He condemns Washington insiders but had a forty-year Washington career that ended with ethic violations. He fulminates against finance yet drew fat checks from Freddie Mac. He poses as a populist but has had a $500,000 revolving charge at Tiffany’s.
And it’s the flagrant irresponsibility of many of his propositions – for example, that presidents are not bound by Supreme Court rulings, that the liberal Ninth Circuit court of appeals should be abolished, that capital gains should not be taxed, that the First Amendment guarantees freedom “of” religion but not “from” religion.
It’s also Gingrich’s eagerness to channel the public’s frustrations into resentments against immigrants, blacks, the poor, Muslims, “liberal elites,” the mainstream media, and any other group that’s an easy target of white middle-class and working-class anger.
These are all the hallmarks of a demagogue.
Yet Democratic pundits, political advisers, officials and former officials are salivating over the possibility of a Gingrich candidacy. They agree with key Republicans that Newt would dramatically increase the odds of Obama’s reelection and would also improve the chances of Democrats taking control over the House and retaining control over the Senate.
I warn you. It’s not worth the risk.
Even if the odds that Gingrich as GOP presidential candidate would win the general election are 10 percent, that’s too much of a risk to the nation. No responsible American should accept a 10 percent risk of a President Gingrich.
I’d take a 49 percent odds of a Mitt Romney win – who in my view would make a terrible president – over a 10 percent possibility that Newt Gingrich would become the next president – who would be an unmitigated disaster for America and the world.
Note to self: never go back to the Quarry Rainbow Foods again. Ever.
Is it weird and/or awful that as I watched this I couldn’t help but think, “Why is the girl from Shit Girls Say dressed as a man?”
PS. Are you Stone Phillips?
Alright, alright, alright.
(love this)
hello all you wonderful people. do you remember the movie “Dazed and Confused”? me too. it was and still is one of my favorite movies. reflects my childhood so much, and also Ben Affleck is a TOTAL asshole in it. i gotta say though, when it comes to classic characters, Matthew McConaughey’s “Wooderson” took the cake… and the high school girls with him…
so.. to commemorate the 20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the filming and inception of this amazing movie, we brought a little someone from the film back to be the life of the party for our new video for the song “Synthesizers”. the song lyrics really relate to just about anyone who has a hard time moving on with the changes that life throws at you…. so without further ado…
enjoy and you’re welcome…watch it now on VEVO.
Butch Walker & the Black Widows
I use Slacker as my preferred internet radio provider. Tonight I heard an advertisement that they are adding the Minneapolis radio station, the Current, to their pre-programmed line-up. That’s pretty awesome. The ad was even delivered by local DJ, Mark Wheat.
LeaderShape 2012
For the last three years I’ve been lucky enough to attend the University of Minnesota LeaderShape Institute. I’ve attended all three years as cluster facilitator. As I’ve mentioned before it would be easy to label the week spent at Camp Ihduhapi as “leadership camp” or a “leadership retreat”, but it’s so much more. After three years the best way that I can explain it, is that it’s a once in a lifetime experience for college students to explore the many different facets of leadership and personal potential. I’ve recommended it to many people including my younger sister and so far I’ve had no one say that it wasn’t one of the best decisions they’ve made. If you have an opportunity to attend (either as a student or as a faculty/staff) and you are energized by energetic people, I’d encourage you to attend. I’ll continue to attend as long as they’ll have me. To see my pictures from my week check out this video.
