Le Figaro, France
Newt Gingrich: The
Republicans’ Great Shame
By Jean-Sébastien Stehli
Translated By Tabitha Middleton
30 January 2012
Edited by Mark DeLucas
France - Le Figaro - Original Article (French )
Although Mitt Romney seems to be getting a bit ahead of Newt Gingrich 24 hours into the voting in the Florida primary, Gingrich is increasing his attacks and his attempts to discredit Romney. “If I go down, you're going down with me,” seems to be Newt's slogan. But the former Speaker of the House, the first in the history of Congress to be required to step down from his post after being criticized by his colleagues for his ethical breaches, is above all a pure demagogue. Timothy Egan of the New York Times recently put forward a superb deconstruction of this man, drunk on pride, who will end up chickening out after using a scorched earth approach against the Republican camp.
With the financial support of Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a man with a highly colorful, if not highly moral, character, Newt Gingrich decided to launch himself into a campaign for the United States presidency by appealing to all of the worst instincts of the Republican party.
In a memo titled “Language: A Key Mechanism of Control,” addressed to Republicans in 1994, just as he was about to take control of the House of Representatives, Gingrich gave a list of words to use to discredit adversaries: “sick, pathetic, loser, liar, decadent” etc. When a mother drowned her two children by pushing her car into a lake, Newt did not hesitate to blame Democrats' values for this act of desperation. Newt did not hesitate to call Ronald Reagan “pathetically incompetent.” He'll say anything with the greatest aplomb. He also compared Reagan to Chamberlain, referencing Chamberlain's meeting with Hitler, when Reagan proposed the Rejkiavik Summit with Gorbachev.
He lied again when he was asked why he received $1.6 million from Freddie Mac, the semi-public mortgage lending company. He explained that it was compensation for his "historical work." When the New York Times found the contracts, there was no mention of any historical work.
Like the true demagogue that he is, he vehemently reproaches his adversaries for the things he himself does. For example, he criticizes Romney for his investments in Freddie Mac. He finally admits that he also invested in the company. Gingrich knows no shame.
His language is the language of hate. He criticized Barack Obama for being an “anti-colonial Kenyan.” This view has so deeply affected people that during his speech in Sarasota Florida last week, when he said he wanted to send Obama back to Chicago, his supporters chanted “To Kenya! To Kenya!”
When the Christian Broadcasting Network asked him to explain his repeated affairs, Gingrich didn't hesitate to respond: “Because I love this country so much,” which no doubt wins him the prize the most ridiculous excuse of the century. Let's hope that the walking joke that is Newt Gingrich will not come at the expense of the United States, the country of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
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