Republicans Continue to Lose Their Way

It's hard to believe that Newt Gingrich wants to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate. He has become a demagogue, itching for World War Three and pining for limits on free speech. Keith Olbermann had a commentary on Newt Gingrich and the speech he recently gave; here's the first part of what Olbermann had to say (via Truthout):

And finally tonight, as promised, a Special Comment about free speech, failed speakers, and the delusion of grandeur.

"This is a serious long term war," the man at the podium cried, "and it will inevitably lead us to want to know what is said in every suspect place in the country."

Some, in the audience, must have thought they were hearing an arsonist give the keynote address at a convention of firefighters.

This was the annual Loeb First Amendment Dinner in Manchester, New Hampshire - a public cherishing of Freedom of Speech - in the state with the two-fisted motto "Live Free Or Die."

And the arsonist at the microphone, the former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, was insisting that we must attach an "on-off button" to Free Speech.

He offered the time-tested excuse trotted out by our demagogues, since even before the Republic was founded: widespread death, of Americans, in America, possibly at the hands of Americans.

Newt Gingrich is one of the architects of the radical right wing agenda that has been gaining steam in recent years. But it's the same tired nonsense that Republicans have been trotting out since the days of the John Birch Society back in the 1950s. And at last it shows. They finally got the president they wanted and it's been a disaster. Public relations, the TV talking heads and a host of over-hyped right wing think tanks and journals can't hide the fiasco.

A former Speaker of the House should have the right to speak; I have no problem with that. Let's hear Gingrich, where everyone can hear his nonsense, so that when the time comes we can know him for what he is: a person who shouldn't be taken seriously. Radical conservatism has failed America. It's time to rebuild the politics in Washington on a new foundation and move on. The Democrats are ready but have some work to do. Let's wish them well despite Bush's veto powers. On the other hand, Republican politicians, having fed at the public trough and taken too much campaign money from wealthy conservatives, have had their day. Let's move on.