Newt Gingrich's massive ignorance:From
Meet the Press:
Prime Minister Maliki is doing the best he can in a chaotic environment, and he’s not a very strong person, but if—imagine we were the French in the 1700s, debating the American Continental Congress and saying, “Well, should we really send aid to these guys?
Gingrich is trying to sell the story that is was
good for the French to support the American rebellion, and by some logic, the U.S. should therefore be in Iraq supporting the Maliki government. But first, a little
history:
Louis XVI 1774-1789
[Jacques Necker] supported the American Revolution, and progressed upon a policy of taking out large international loans instead of raising taxes. This, Louis hoped, would reduce France's deficit and fund the American Revolutionary War which France was fighting in. When this policy failed miserably, Louis dismissed him ...
... Louis convoked the Assembly of Notables in 1787 to discuss a revolutionary new fiscal reform of Calonne's. When the nobles were told the extent of the debt, they were shocked into rejecting the plan. This signalled that Louis had lost his legitimacy to rule as an absolute monarch ...
You know how that story ends.
posted by Quiddity at 5/20/2007 01:24:00 PM
Evertime I have heard Gingrich speak over the past year, he has been lamenting the way the country has become polarized.
Yet, each time I have heard him, he has also tossed out a new epithet to hang on those left-of-center. These are sort of trial baloons to see what catches on. I guess "liberals" has been run into the ground.
I guess at the Liberty commencement he threw out "extreme secularist" a few times.
Watch next time, see if there's a pattern, and pick out the label he will use to polarize and truncate the debate.
It is also worth noting that Gingrich had (has?) a job teaching college History courses.
How inspiring his vast knowledge must be! /sarcasm
