Newt Gingrich

ST. PAUL—Rudy Giuliani will finally deliver his keynote address tonight, marking his most high profile role in electoral politics since his own ill-fated presidential run.

The Giuliani campaign was done in by a variety of factors, not least among them a flawed strategy that put all its eggs in a Florida basket, an ability to assuage conservative concerns about his liberal positions on social issues, his unorthodox personal history, as well as this and this and this and this.

But the real death-blow to Giuliani’s campaign was arguably his association with Bernie Kerik, who Giuliani vouched for to be Secretary of Homeland Security, and who was later  read more »

Newt Gingrich walked into the USA Today/Gannett pavilion a little bit ago to talk to reporters as part of the paper's "Newsmakers" program. What he's saying in there-- and whether he's saying it on or off the record-- we don't know, because the event is distinctly not open to the public. Apparently, when Jimmy Carter paid his "Newsmakers" visit at the DNC last week, too many non-USAT reporters tried to sneak in and editors ordered a clampdown. According to one of the people doing scheduling and logistics for USA Today, there were supposed to be four or five other Newsmakers coming to visit over the course of this week, but at this point it's unclear which of them are going to come through. Haley Barbour was supposed to stop by yesterday but canceled.

I promise I’ll let the Lieberman/V.P. angle go after this, but I can’t resist pointing out the kooky logic employed by Newt Gingrich earlier this week in an effort to shoot down the Lieberman talk. In an appearance on Hannity and Colmes, the former Speaker said:

I like Senator Lieberman a great deal. I admire him a lot. I think he'd be a great secretary of state. I think he would be terrific as an attorney general, but I think the idea of him being the Republican vice presidential nominee would split the convention, would probably mean that Bob Barr would get about 15 percent of the vote.  read more »

That was quick!  On Friday, we noted that NBC had rejected an ad from the conservative group Freedom's Watch that asked viewers to think of U.S. soldiers in Iraq over the holidays.  The network had said its decision was based on the fact that the ad contained a link to the group's Web site, which has explicitly political content, and therefore violaterd the network's prohibition on controversial issue ads.

But over the weekend -- after Newt Gingrich had taken to Fox News to urge conservatives to boycott NBC -- came word that the network had changed its mind.   In a statement released Saturday evening and reported by the Associated Press, NBC declared: ""We have reviewed and changed our ad standards guidelines and made the decision that our policy will apply to content only and not to a referenced Web site."  read more »

Once again, Newt Gingrich’s estimation of his own genius has exceeded reality.  read more »

He’s still got it, Mario Cuomo. Remember him?    read more »

Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal saying that victory in Iraq "cannot be achieved by purely military means," and calling for the creation of an Iraqi Citizen Job Corps similar to FDR's program during the Great Depression.

President Bush's plan to boost troop levels in Iraq has run into opposition in Congress.

That opposition isn't so tough, writes Massimo Calabresi in Time.

Charlie Rangel has some words for Nancy Pelosi.

John Edwards is coming to Harlem to give an MLK speech.

Eliot Spitzer's right hand man, Lloyd Constantine, describes himself as the monster man of the administration.

Andrew Cuomo and the Albany District Attorney are teaming up to fight public corruption.

Tom Suozzi is reconsidering running for a third term.

People making moves for the state comptroller job include Joe Morelle and Richard Brodsky.

The case against Scooter Libby may not be that strong.

Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota is out of the intensive care unit and speaking a little.

And Leroy Comrie is taking on "the N-word".

-- Azi Paybarah

The flimsy philosophizing of Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House and aspiring Presidential ca  read more »

The flimsy philosophizing of Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House and aspiring Presidential ca  read more »

It’s been barely a week since her fellow House Democrats officially picked Nancy Pelosi as the  read more »

It’s been barely a week since her fellow House Democrats officially picked Nancy Pelosi as their c  read more »

Former House Speaker and potential presidential contender Newt Gingrich showed his compassionate side last night at the New School, discussing educational opportunity for poor people and ways to close the income gap.

"I am very concerned about the disparity of income in America between top and bottom," he said. "The difference is I think it's mostly a function of productivity."

Despite a couple of disturbances -- protesters were escorted out and a fire alarm was tripped -- the event, including a discussion with New School President Bob Kerrey, went pretty smoothly.

Afterwards, at a cocktail party and dinner, Gingrich told the couple of reporters who were there that he didn't intend to make up his mind about running for president until well into next year.

But he did volunteer that he had had some nice things to say about Hillary Clinton in a taped interview on NY1.

("She had the courage to say to the Left Wing of her party: 'that's wrong','' he told Domonic Carter in an interview to air this evening. "Any Republican who thinks they can beat her with a cheap and nasty campaign is crazy.")

As Gingrich also noted, kind words from him may be the last thing Hillary needs.

--Jason Horowitz

You'd think that after all the heckling John McCain endured at the New School back in May, conservative Republicans with Presidential ambitions might be a little wary of accepting Bob Kerrey's invitations. But not Newt Gingrich. He is scheduled to give a political talk about the "American Dream" at the liberal school on September 13.

Apparently the spirit of ideological cooperation extends even to the sponsors: The Milano School for Management and Urban Policy and News Corporation.

Ok, kids, get your orange signs ready.

--Jason Horowitz

Newt Gingrich will wage a campaign for president in 2008 if there remains what he calls "a vacuum" of viable candidates on the Republican party into the fall of 2007, according to a story in today's Washington Post.

Apparently Gingrich belongs to the school that thinks Rudy Giuliani, who consistently beats him in temperature polls, is unelectable.

- Jason Horowitz

A Wall Street Journal editorial writer sat down in Newt Gingrich's comfy K-street quarters, chatted for a while, and wrapped up the interview thus:

"Speaking of Iran . . . But George Pataki is at the door. We must wrap up. Some problems will have to wait."

And then he gets appendicitis. Tough week.

Now that Drudge is leading with Hillary's rare slip yesterday, in which she compared the House to a "plantation," it's worth noting that she's hardly alone in seeing things that way. "Since [the Democrats] think it is their job to run the plantation, it shocks them that I'm actually willing to lead the slave rebellion," Newt Gingrich told the Washington Post on October 20, 1994.  read more »

The Manhattan Institute has a well-produced indictment of Albany out today, and a new Web site to go with it.

Their bottom line is that the state taxes and spends too much, and the targets for blame are "the special interests," identified as teachers unions, public authorities, public employees, public "servants," and the plaintiffs' bar.

It's hard to argue that any of those groups don't have a great deal of power over Albany, but it seems unfair to leave out the vast private-sector contracting world that has grown fat off lobbying and doing business with state government. Like that Newt Gingrich line about it taking two to make a corrupton scandal.

To be fair, one policy recommendation is to make contracting more competitive.  read more »

Another, newsier suggestion -- Fred Newman, rejoice! -- is introducing a California style system of initative and referendum.

"Awake?""Mmm …. "

"Is he going to win?"

"I already told you."

"I know, but …. Promise?"  read more »

Introducing logic into religious discussion is considered terribly impolite, but the uproar over gay  read more »

Expectations for the Congressional leadership have reached such a dismal level that they can now get  read more »

If there is anything that modern conservatives hate more than fair taxation, it's a fair fight.  read more »

Whether Rudolph Giuliani and his aides succeed in gaming the electoral system or not over the coming  read more »

If the Republicans are the stupid party, as conservativecommentators often remark, they are also und  read more »

In the short periodbetween being elected and being sworn in as a Senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton  read more »

You don't have to be a hypocritical Clinton-hater to be concerned about Hillary Clinton's lucrative  read more »

In Anthony Trollope's Palliser novels, one of the subplots is how can Phineas Finn, the young Irish  read more »

While there is nothing funny at all about the painful public disintegration of the Mayor's marriage,  read more »

This is not a trick question, and its answer does not hinge upon whether a certain massively unfortu  read more »

Despite the never-ending clucking about the President's marriage, and now the amusing spectacle of f  read more »

Once again, we have a spectacle of three decent candidates in one ring, trying to knock each other o  read more »

Public opinion poll results may be what they talk about on the Sunday morning yak-yak programs, but  read more »

Usually, the politics of health care remain obscured behind clouds of professional jargon, indeciphe  read more »

Two close political associates of House Speaker Newt Gingrich were involved in attempts to discredit  read more »

The Washington press corps suddenly has noticed that the President is up to more than practicing his  read more »

Forty years after the desegregation at gunpoint of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., have we  read more »

Newt Gingrich and Steve Forbes crossed paths at the International Conservative Congress in Washingto  read more »