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Tag: Newt Gingrich

  • ICANN Chief Says Russia, China Will Not Hijack Internet Oversight

    On March 14 the United States Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced plans to transition oversight of the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to the global “multi-stakeholder” community.

    Headquartered in the Los Angeles suburb of Marina del Rey, ICANN controls what is essentially the address book of the Internet: the massive database of top level domain names such as .com, .gov., .net, and .org.

    Additionally, the NTIA currently contracts with ICANN to carry out the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions. The IANA is a responsible for managing the numbering system for Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

    The NTIA’s contract with ICANN, which has been in existence since 1998, is set to expire in September 2015 and the Department of Commerce says it won’t renew the contract.

    “The timing is right to start the transition process,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information Lawrence E. Strickling. “We look forward to ICANN convening stakeholders across the global Internet community to craft an appropriate transition plan.”

    Although the announcement was a relatively quiet, low-key one, it didn’t take long for conservatives to start questioning it.

    Republican lawmakers John Shimkus (Illinois), Todd Rokita (Indiana), and Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) rushed to introduce the Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act in the House of Representatives.

    The trio said they created the DOTCOM Act “in response the recent Department of Commerce announcement that the U.S. would relinquish its remaining oversight of the Internet’s domain name system to an ill-defined ‘global Internet community.’”

    “In the month of March alone we’ve seen Russia block opposition websites, Turkey ban Twitter, China place new restrictions on online video, and a top Malaysian politician pledge to censor the Internet if he’s given the chance,” Shimkus said. “This isn’t a theoretical debate. There are real authoritarian governments in the world today who have no tolerance for the free flow of information and ideas. What possible benefit could come from giving the Vladimir Putins of the world a new venue to push their anti-freedom agendas?”

    Even former President Bill Clinton has weighed in with doubts about the multi-stakeholder model: “I understand in theory why we would like to have a multi-stakeholder process. I favor that … I just know that a lot of these so-called multi-stakeholders are really governments that want to gag people and restrict access to the internet.”

    On Wednesday ICANN president and CEO Fadi Chehadé, who has long pushed for globalization of the Internet oversight process, defended the NTIA’s plans.

    “Everyone is focused on these three, four countries … but in between we have 150 other countries that value the same values we do.”

    Chehadé conceded that individuals or governments might indeed attempt to seize control of the Internet, but insisted that the “multi-stakeholder model, it stops them. I agree that people will talk about capturing (control of ICANN), but they haven’t. For 15 years ICANN has operated without one government or any government capturing the decision making.”

    Politico calls the announcement a “smart, strategic move by Commerce to formalize, on its own terms, a process of increased globalization that has been going on for some time. It’s actually the opposite of what the critics claim: The Obama administration is trying to head off rising global pressure to give other countries, including China and Russia, more of a say in how the Internet is governed, not bow to it.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Marjorie Margolies Gets Campaign Help from Bill Clinton

    Marjorie Margolies wants to return to Congress in 2014 and she has a big name behind her: former US President Bill Clinton.

    Clinton will appear at an April 10 fundraiser luncheon at the Prime Rib restaurant in Philadelphia on behalf of Margolies. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, tickets are $1,000 and $5,000.

    Margolies and Clinton share important family ties: her son Marc Mezvinsky married Chelsea Clinton in July 2010.

    But Margolies and Clinton go way back.

    Margolies served one term in the House of Representatives from 1993-1995. She cast the deciding vote in favor of Clinton’s controversial 1993 tax increases.

    Margolies lost her bid for re-election to Republican candidate Jon D. Fox. She was one of 34 Democratic incumbents who were defeated in Newt Gingerich’s “Republican Revolution” in which Republicans took control of the House for the first time in 40 years.

    Margolies stands by her historic vote insisting that, though it cost her re-election, the tax increase “laid the groundwork for the largest expansion of our nation’s economy since World War II.”

    Other legislation that Margolies is proud to claim she fought for during her Congressional term includes the Family and Medical Leave Act, the ban on assault weapons, and increased federal funding for women’s health care.

    Post by Marjorie Margolies for Congress.

    Margolies returned to her successful television journalism career when she left Congress. Her resume boasts stints as contributing correspondent on The Today Show, Sunday Today, A Closer Look, CNBC, and Real Life with Jane Pauley as well as five Emmy Awards.

    Post by Marjorie Margolies for Congress.

    Like her son’s famous mother-in-law, Margolies has suffered humiliation at the hands of a spouse. Her ex-husband Ed Mezvinsky, who represented Iowa in the US House from 1973-1977, was convicted of financial fraud and sentenced to federal prison in 2001. He served five years from 2003-2008.

    The couple filed for bankruptcy and Margolies abruptly dropped out of her 2000 bid for Rick Santorum’s Senate seat. They divorced in 2007.

    “I am convinced he had every intention of paying everybody back. He just got into a black hole that he couldn’t get out of,” Margolies has said of her ex-husband.

    Margolies is a case study in how women can defy the odds. In the years since her last Congressional term, she has served as an adjunct professor, lectured throughout the US, written books, and founded Women’s Campaign International (WCI.)

    Margolies currently serves as president of WCI, an organization whose “programs help women find their voices by giving them tangible skills in political leadership, conflict mitigation, economic empowerment and civic engagement.”

    Image via Marjorie Margolies, Facebook

  • Newt Gingrich Eyeing Sec. of State Position?

    In a Twitter rant last month, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich sounded-off against current Secretary of State John Kerry for comments he made in a speech to students in Jakarta, Indonesia, going as far as to ask John Kerry to resign from his position as Secretary of State. So what was the subject of the comments that got Gingrich in such a tissy? None other than the Republican Party’s greatest enemy: climate change.

    In speaking to Indonesian students, Secretary of State Kerry stated that climate change is “the greatest challenge of our generation” and that “climate change can now be considered another weapon of mass destruction, perhaps the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.”

    Gingrich took great exception to both comments, going to Twitter to speak his disapproval:

    One could debate the validity of Kerry’s or Gingrich’s statements all day and wind-up achieving zero progress. Thus, perhaps the more interesting question is, “Why in the world would Gingrich care so much about what Kerry has to say?”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfktxYF5x4Q

    While Gingrich was a presidential candidate in 2012, he has been irrelevant on the political scene for quite some time. He now spends his days hanging out as the lone out-spoken Republican at CNN.

    His position at CNN allows him the perfect opportunity, though, to have a national media outlet serve as his personal soap-box and campaign platform. Gingrich took full advantage of this situation yesterday by publishing an essay at CNN.com entitled “Beyond empty symbols, a serious strategy for dealing with Russia.”

    In his scathing critique, Gingrich states that the United States needs to do something more than spout “liberal symbolism” in order to deal with the threat of Russia: “What we have so far is symbolic liberalism offering words, symbolic liberalism flying around the world from capital to capital having meetings, and symbolic liberalism targeting narrowly a handful of people in a way that will have no impact on Putin. What we could have is serious, robust action that would have a genuine and immediate impact and would weaken Russia’s ability to act aggressively toward its neighbors.”

    What is Gingrich’s plan to for action, you ask? Well, it’s fairly simple, actually. All Gingrich wants to happen if for President Obama to create multiple executive orders which lead to the construction of the Keystone Pipeline and also opens up the exportation of natural gas to Eastern Europe. Through this plan, Gingrich hopes to lower the international price of natural gas so much that it will cripple Russia’s economic stranglehold on Eastern Europe and thus save the day…. Just like Gingrich’s good ol’ pal Reagan did in order to bring down the Soviet Union….

    One can only think that by lambasting John Kerry on Twitter and by releasing his plan of action to solve an international crisis that no one has been able to properly assess and address yet that Gingrich is prepping himself to become the next Secretary of State for whichever Republican presidential candidate wins the 2016 election.

    Or perhaps Newt is just being Newt. Who knows? It’s American politics, after all.

    Image via YouTube

  • Government Shutdown Imminent, For Once

    Government Shutdown Imminent, For Once

    Since Obama’s presidency began, there have been threats about a government shutdown. Fighting a two-front war and continuing to pay for ever-increasing Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security programs have been the main culprits. Over the years, however, Democrats and Republicans have been able to resolve their differences in just enough time to avoid the shutdown.

    Things don’t look so great this time, though. By September 30, the government will hit its debt limit of $16.7 trillion dollars, meaning that it will have no more money to both pay its operations costs and its debts to other countries. While the term “shutdown” sounds big and scary, the event isn’t unprecedented. A government shutdown happened every year of Carter’s presidency, 6 times under Reagan, and the biggest shutdown occurred under Clinton in 1995-96.

    So, what exactly does it mean when experts say that the government will “shutdown”? Essentially, it means that the government will have to stop federal funding of certain programs, and will have to either lay-off or furlough its workers. But don’t worry – the federal government only eliminates those programs and workers that it deems “non-essential” for the operation or security of the nation – the military will still be paid, Congress will continue to operate, mail will still be delivered, police officers will still patrol the streets, courts will continue to operate, and Social Security benefits will still be paid. However, thousands of government workers will have to go on furlough (leave without pay – this is traditionally repaid whenever the government starts to operate once again), meaning that governmental operations will become less efficient. If you apply for Social Security, your claim could be delayed? Applying for a passport or VISA to travel to a foreign country? Expect that trip to come at a later date due to a delay in processing.

    There is a bigger implication, however. “If the federal government actually were to default on its debt obligations, the full faith and credit of the U.S. government is in question and it can have devastating effects on Treasury’s ability to borrow and on the stability of financial markets in general,” stated Keith Hennessey, former director of the National Economic Council. This means that the value of the American dollar would plummet internationally, leading to hyperinflation and the cost of goods drastically increasing in a very short period of time.

    Why can’t the Republicans and Democrats come to terms this time – the Affordable Care Act, more pejoratively known as Obamacare. The Republicans have taken a hard-nosed stance and have essentially said that if the Affordable Care Act is not repealed, then they will not agree to raise the debt ceiling and a government shutdown will result. On the other-hand, Obama’s press security has said that the government is not willing to accept a delay or repeal in the ACA in order to avoid a government shutdown.

    Republicans in Congress seem to believe that if the government shuts down, the American people will blame President Obama for his willingness to cooperate on the ACA issue. However, history shows that the Republicans will come out looking the fool. In the 1995-96 government shutdown, the Newt Gingrich-led Republicans pulled the same tactic Republicans are pulling today – they believed that if they held onto their morals and values staunchly enough, no matter the outcome, that the American people would flock to their side and catapult Republicans to office across the nation. That’s almost the exact opposite of what occurred.

    Instead of championing the stubbornness of the Republicans, the American people decided to re-elect Bill Clinton in a landslide vote. Voters decided that the actions of the GOP proved that they were not competent enough to run the government, and continued to place their faith behind Clinton (this was ultimately the end of Newt Gingrich). When the government was able to resume operations, Clinton was essentially able to get anything he wanted; all of the support was in his corner.

    So, how worried should the American people be? Chris Krueger, an analyst for Guggenheim Partners, a global financial services firm, believes that “Government Shutdown Odds Increase to 40% … We are raising our odds of a government shutdown in 14 days to 40% from a 1 in 3 probability. We are basing the 60% odds that there will not be a government shutdown on blind faith because there is little to no evidence to suggest that the House, Senate, and White House can agree to a stopgap measure in time.”

    But please, whatever you do, don’t decide that this is a good time to reenact the Panic of 1837. Unemployment is already bad enough, and America definitely isn’t ready for another Andrew Jackson.

    Image via Facebook

  • Newt Gingrich Gets Google Glass, Must’ve Figured Out the Whole Smartphone Thing

    Ok, so you know how there’s an exclusive Google Glass setup shop located on the 8th floor of Chelsea Market in Manhattan? Well, Next Gingrich was just there getting set up with his own pair of Google Glass.

    So here’s a photo of Next Gingrich getting Google Glass:

    (via Seth Weintraub)

    And here’s a video of Next Gingrich trying out Google Glass, taken through Google Glass:

    “[A]ll of us at Gingrich Productions are excited to have the opportunity to test ‘Google Glass.’ No one knows if Glass will be the next big development in technology, changing our lives like internet-connected smartphones have. But judging from what we have seen of the technology so far, it might,” Gingrich said back in April when he revealed that he’d been selected to participate in the early adopter program.

    “Google Glass is one more example of the pioneers of the future who are creating a more open, prosperous and powerful American future, despite the confusion and bickering in Washington.”

    We’re just happy that it looks like he may have figured out that whole “what the hell is a smartphone thing.”

  • Newt Gingrich Is Puzzled, Apparently Doesn’t Know the Word ‘Smartphone’

    Newt Gingrich and the fine folks at Gingrich Productions are puzzled. Truly puzzled. Just what the hell do you call a phone that has apps, lets you take pictures, and allows you to browse the interwebs?

    “Think about it. If it’s taking pictures, it’s not a cell phone. If it has, um, a McDonald’s app to tell you where McDonald’s is based on your GPS location, that’s not a cell phone. If you can get Wikipedia or get Google, that’s not a cell phone. If you can watch YouTube, that’s not a cell phone – or Netflix…think about it.”

    Apparently, Gingrich wants help in deciding what we should call these futuristic devices. Here’s what he has to say on his YouTube channel:

    To call this a “cell phone” or a “handheld computer” fails to capture the change that has taken place. It is a change in kind, not just a change in scale, and just as drivers of the earliest cars called them “horseless carriages”, our language has not caught up. So having failed for several days to come up with an adequate term for the device we call a “cell phone,” we want to open the discussion up to you. Let us know in the comments what you think we should name it, and we’ll feature the best ones in a future newsletter.

    It’s a smartphone, Newt. A smartphone. I kind of get what you’re saying, but it’s a smartphone.

    Check out the bizarre video below:

  • Newt Gingrich Drops Out Via YouTube Video

    Newt Gingrich Drops Out Via YouTube Video

    Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee for President – everybody knows it. After sweeping five primaries last Tuesday, it’s pretty much a done deal. But Newt Gingrich is taking his time exiting the 2012 GOP Presidential Primary race. At an event in North Carolina last week, Gingrich told supporters that his campaign “will go bye-bye,” but didn’t officially drop out of specify a date for dropping out.

    It was widely speculated that Gingrich would officially announced the suspension of his campaign on Tuesday – and he has, kind of. He posted a YouTube video to his supporters, announcing that he will officially suspend his Presidential campaign at a press event on Wednesday.

    “I wanted you to know first, because your help was vital. We had nearly 180,000 people who donated to the campaign. We had thousands more who worked as volunteers. We had two and a half million voters, all coming together at a grassroots level to try to fight for a better America.”

    Gingrich went on to praise a “terrific campaign” and says that he will continue to tour and campaign (for Romney, we assume).

    “When we do announce officially on Wednesday that we’re suspending the campaign, it’ll be with great thoughts of those who were with us side by side all these months. And we want you to know that without you, none of this would have been possible,” he closed.

    Check it out below:

    According to filings, the Gingrich campaign was $4.3 million in debt by the end of March. It’s expected that when Gingrich officially drops out, he will throw his support behind Mitt Romney.

  • Gingrich & Santorum Bashed By White House Advisor After Obama Comments

    During a press conference on Friday, President Obama expressed his concern for the parents of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year old boy who was shot and killed last month and whose killer has yet to be arrested. Obama said when he thinks about the boy, he thinks about his own kids, even going so far as to say that if he had a son, he would look like Trayvon.

    Those comments were enough to spark the ire of Republican primary candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, who spoke out against the president in two separate radio shows on Friday.

    “Is the president suggesting if it had been a white who had been shot, that would be OK because it wouldn’t look like him?” Gingrich told Sean Hannity. “That’s just nonsense. I mean, dividing this country up, it is a tragedy this young man was shot.”

    Santorum spoke similarly, saying, “And then, this, it is – again, politicizing it. This is, again, not what the presidents of the United States do. What the president of the United States should do is try to bring people together, not use these types of horrible tragic individual cases to try to drive a wedge in America.”

    White House senior advisor David Plouffe said yesterday that the reactions of the two politicians were uncalled for.

    “I don’t think there’s very many people in America that would share that reaction,” Plouffe told CNN. “You know, this is – this Republican primary at some points has been more of a circus show, a clown show. And those two comments are really irresponsible. I would consider them reprehensible. I think the president spoke movingly about this tragedy, as a father, made it clear that there’s an investigation going on.”

    Twitter users had reactions similar to Plouffe’s:

    (image)@lmdapper
    Linda Dapper    Obama adviser smacks down Gingrich’s comments on Trayvon Martin – http://t.co/7f3AB76c || Gingrich needs to think before he speaks!(image) 6 hours ago via bitly ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@LexLuther4
    ?Luther™?    Am I surprised Newt Gingrich had something negative to say about Obama’s comments concerning Trayvon Martin? No.(image) 53 minutes ago via Echofon ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@cguthier
    Christian Guthier    Obama playing politics with Trayvon’s name? Now that you tell me Newt, it must be true… #Trayvon http://t.co/b5Q8obPf(image) 1 hour ago via Twitter for Mac ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Gingrich tweeted his feelings about the president yesterday:

    (image)@newtgingrich
    Newt Gingrich    To be clear, I believe any GOP nominee would be better than @BarackObama.(image) 20 hours ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • Robert De Niro Makes a Mock Ironic Joke

    Robert De Niro Makes a Mock Ironic Joke

    Liberals are up in arms over a joke that Robert De Niro made about the country not being ready for a white first lady while he was at a New York Obama campaign fundraiser Monday evening. Michelle Obama attended the fundraiser and some people felt that he was getting into dangerous territory for President Obama.

    The scene played out like this according to reports from NPR:

    “Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?”

    The wealthy audience laughed uproariously. Someone shouted “No!”

    De Niro then added, “Too soon, right?”

    But the Obama campaign started to distance itself from De Niro’s joke yesterday. “We believe the joke was inappropriate,” said Olivia Alair, Mrs. Obama’s campaign press secretary.

    Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich, the Republican presidential candidate, pounced:

    “What De Niro said last night was inexcusable and the president should apologize for him. It was at an Obama fundraiser, it is exactly wrong, it divides the country…”

    Apparently De Niro went wrong by “recalling the kind of comments that many whites made about blacks within living memory, he ran afoul of the unwritten rule Obama and his tight knit team of advisers have operated under going back to his 2008 campaign. Anything that reinforces racial divisions or focuses attention on the president’s race should be avoided.”

    Representatives for the Obama campaign are very concerned that the comment might make Obama the “Other” and spur racial conflict.

    Newt Gingrich didn’t appreciate the irony within De Niro’s comment and demanded an apology from Mr. Obama.

    Gingrich fired back by saying, “I think that Robert De Niro’s wrong. The country is ready for a new first lady, and he doesn’t have to describe it in racial terms.”

    Tuesday afternoon, a senior Gingrich adviser – African-American, female – also jumped in, arguing that if a conservative had made such a comment, the media would have had a field day: “Racial comments and jokes degrade the political process,” said Kiron Skinner, a national co-chair of the Women With Newt Coalition, in a statement. “They have no place in this presidential campaign season. The media and many others would decry an equivalent comment by a conservative or a Republican supporter of a presidential candidate.”

    Dr. Skinner continued, “As a senior adviser in Speaker Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign and as an African American woman, I stand against comments like DeNiro’s.”

    Do you think the Obama campaigns stance is ridiculous, or a necessary precaution?

    De Niro’s wife, Grace Hightower is black.

    (image)

    Obama never apologized.

  • Newt Gingrich Turns To Social Media For Donations

    One of the hardest things for a presidential candidate in the United States is the amount of money needed to compete. It was the downfall of Bachmann, Huntsman, and Perry. Those candidates had enough money to stay in the first 3 primaries/caucuses in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. But once it got to Florida it became a big boy race and only the candidates that did well in those 3 states even had the money to stick around.

    In wake of everything that has happened, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has turned to social networking platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to get the money he badly needs to continue. “This is part of how we’ve survived against Romney, frankly. He raises lots of money off Wall Street and we reach out through the Internet, so we can run a very inexpensive campaign,” Gingrich said in Savannah, Georgia, on March 2.

    Gingrich has even gone as far as to hire a “Digital Media Consultant” to help him with things such as a website redesign and more agressive Twitter campaigns such as the #250gas campaign. “I stepped in to a campaign that was very well-versed with everything online, they just didn’t have the people resources,” said Vincent Harris. Harris had previously worked for Governor Rick Perry’s presidential campaign.

    One of the problems that people had with John McCain is that he seemed to ‘out of touch’ with the younger generation. Gingrich seems to be trying to buck that trend by embracing what social media has to offer. “On Twitter if you go to hashtag $250gas and just put that in, that’s a whole new group that we’re building around so we can Twitter and we can send out tweets,” Gingrich said in Tupelo, Mississippi. “For those of you who don’t know about Twitter, you send out tweets to ‘tweeples’ so everybody who’s on Twitter is a tweeple.” He isn’t totally social media savy, but he is beginning to realize the importance of it.

    @newtgingrich
    Newt Gingrich    Please Retweet #250gas today! 3 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @newtgingrich
    Newt Gingrich    Happy B-Day this weekend to my friend Chuck Norris. New energy proposal: When Chuck Norris looks at gas prices they drop in fear. #250gas 17 hours ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • Romney Has A Santorum Problem (With Search Engines)

    You can’t bottle lightning, but you can at least flick the lights on and off really quickly to create a similar albeit campier effect. That seems to be what’s happening with online activists/pranksters trying to duplicate the magnificent hex Dan Savage cast upon Rick Santorum when he codified “Santorum” to mean something other than some guy’s surname, except the new target is Mitt Romney.

    While Romney’s last name isn’t getting quite the revulsive rechristening that Santorum got, it’s still becoming a legitimate issue as far as search engines are concerned. Searching “Mitt Romney” only summons news about Romney’s election as well as many websites that support him. Search only “Romney,” however, and the third return you receive is a link to www.spreadingromney.com.

    (image)

    In case you are hesitant to follow that link, romney has been defined as a verb that means, “to defecate in terror.” The word “terror” is a hyperlink that will send readers to story on Huffington Post recounting the time Mitt Romney strapped his dog to the roof of his car while driving to Canada. The dog reportedly “defecated in fear” while housed atop the vehicle. So you see, the name Romney and the verb romney have met on the other side of the track.

    A similar wind-up is happening with Newt Gingrich’s last name, although the arbitration of what exactly gingrich will mean is a more democratic process. Currently over at www.spreadinggingrich.com, visitors can submit their suggestion for what gingrich should mean with the eventual winner becoming the adopted definition of gingrich.

    Given how boar-ish (no, I did not spell that incorrectly) and lewd Gingrich’s personal life has been, the disgusting potential for what gingrich will eventually mean could be disastrously vile and possibly rival the gag-inducing definition of santorum. Blegh.

    So far, this phenomenon seems relegated to the liberal or Democratic pranksters. However, www.spreadingobama.com is actually a registered domain but nothing live is going on with it as of today (meaning: squatters). The domain is registered to Domains By Proxy, LCC, which is allegedly owned by GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons (thanks for the tip, Internet). Last year, Washington Post reported that several potentially derogatory domains related to presidential candidates were yoinked up by Domains by Proxy but, amusingly, while Obama seems to have been spared the risk of Santorum’s fate, Romney and Gingrich have been left to fend for themselves.

    Then again, given Parsons’ disdain for elephants, maybe this is a sly political maneuver? Subtle humor for the win!

  • Twitter Roundup: Florida Primary Results

    Mitt Romney’s win in the Florida GOP primary race was no surprise. And, there has been a not-so-surprising dearth of responses on Twitter from regular folks. Everyone, especially Newt Gingrich, was just ready to move on to the next one. But, there’s always snark to be had.

  • Twitter Responds to Newt’s Robocalls

    In some last-minute robocalls in Florida, Newt Gingrich accused Mitt Romney of de-funding kosher meals for Jewish senior citizen Holocaust survivors in rest homes. Twitter is ablaze with reactions:

  • Florida Primary Election Tech: Gingrich Robocall Aimed At Jews

    Florida Primary Election Tech: Gingrich Robocall Aimed At Jews

    As the GOP primary race in Florida comes to a head today, Mitt Romney has a decisive lead in all polls. The Gingrich Campaign has sponsored robocalls to Florida’s Jewish senior citizens that are specifically aimed at turning the Jewish vote away from Romney.

    “As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney vetoed a bill paying for kosher food for our seniors in nursing homes. Holocaust survivors, who for the first time, were forced to eat non-kosher, because Romney thought $5 was too much to pay for our grandparents to eat kosher. Where is Mitt Romney’s compassion for our seniors? Tuesday you can end Mitt Romney’s hypocrisy on religious freedom, with a vote for Newt Gingrich. Paid for by Newt 2012.”

  • Gingrich Sued For Playing Eye Of The Tiger At Rallies

    Newt Gingrich has been sued for playing the Grammy-award winning Eye of the Tiger at his political rallies. Rude Music Inc, which is owned by Frank Sullivan, who co-wrote the song, filed suit against Gingrich, his campaign, Newt 2012 Inc, and the American Conservative Union for copyright infringement.

    The suit alleges that Gingrich is knowledgable about copyright issues and that the violation is therefore knowledgable. Sullivan requests a court order requiring Gingrich stop playing the song at rallies and award damages.

    The song is closely associated with the movie Rocky III (and the Rocky franchise in general), and was originally written in 1982 at the request of Sylvester Stallone for the movie. It was the number one song of 1982, and won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. And now, because I’m sure we could all stand an afternoon pick-me-up, here’s the music video:

  • Pets With Newt 2012: Gingrich Wants The Domesticated Animal Vote

    Presidential candidates have been trying to find efficient, effective ways to incorporate the realm of social media into their campaigns ever since Barack Obama parlayed it into a four-year (at least) stay at the White House. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, perhaps known as much for his unconventional habits as he is for his unconventional “wisdom, is really starting to stretch the limits of this whole social media-as-campaign thing.

    While he and Mitt Romney (and those other two guys) shell their embarrassing political ads en español in order to cajole Latino voters to cast in with them during today’s Florida primary, Gingrich has been quietly courting the vote of another demographic: pets. As in your pets.

    Pets With Newt 2012 sounds like a prank site but – I swear – it’s legit and actually paid for by Gingrich’s official campaign. As you can imagine, the website offers his supporters an opportunity to enlist their pets – who I presume have no prior qualifications aside from territorial pissings and the occasional corpophagia – into Gingrich’s cause. All you need to do in order to commit your small, furry companion to the amusing-if-it-wasn’t-true campaign of Gingrich is submit a few pieces of info.

    The site’s harmless enough and, honestly, if it were anybody else other than Gingrich I’d probably pass over it. But it’s Newt Gingrich. And it’s attached to his 2012 presidential campaign which, in case you’ve been smartly living under a rock when it comes to modern American politics, has been an epic farce.

    You can also see a list of Newt and (third wife) Callista’s favorite zoos. That’s worth taking a look at if only for the opportunity to glimpse the slideshow of Newt mingling with captured animals of prey. I guess his handlers thought it’d be too risky to go find one of those Burmese pythons that have been decimating the Florida ecosystem as a good PR shot for today’s primary.

    Finally: I think I get a high-five for making it all the way to this point without making any jokes about how “Pets with Newt” is not really the best name for a site that endorses a known two-time (that we know of) philanderer.

  • Romney Has Drudge Report In “Back Pocket”, Says Thompson

    Romney Has Drudge Report In “Back Pocket”, Says Thompson

    Former Senator Fred Thompson, an also-ran in the 2008 GOP presidential race, has made his support of Newt Gingrich well-known.

    On NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, Fred Thompson and Senator John McCain, who endorses Mitt Romney, sat side-by-side. Each extolled the virtues of their respective candidates, prognosticated on the outcome and consequences of the upcoming Florida GOP primary, and talked about different topics of the day.

    At one point, Fred Thompson referenced a New York Times article from that morning that outlined Mitt Romney’s recent attacks on his man Newt. In that context he also stated that Romney was getting biased support from Matt Drudge’s “Drudge Report” website in the form of positive coverage for Romney and negative for Gingrich, saying Romney has Drudge in his “back pocket”.

    Recently, much hay has been made some supposed statements Newt Gingrich made in private, disparaging Ronald Reagan. And, that headline was played up big on Drudge.

    Most GOP candidates go out of their way to speak glowingly of Reagan, who was an extremely popular president for them. To be seen as critical of Reagan in a GOP race would invite ostracism from the party faithful and old guard. And, Gingrich has been selling himself in Florida as a “Reagan conservative”.

    Gingrich stumped in and won the recent South Carolina primary with the message that Romney was the GOP pick, regardless of what the people want. He presented himself as an anti-establishment Washington outsider who would challenge the GOP’s presumption.

    The Drudge Report ran the story of Thompson’s accusations, and responded with links to three stories that had reported Newt in the lead in weeks prior.

    But, they also soon top-lined these gems.

  • Newt Gingrich Wants a Moon Base

    Newt Gingrich Wants a Moon Base

    As the political season heats up, the presidential candidates are campaigning harder to earn your vote. All kinds of promises have been made, hands have been shook, and negative ads have been created. Most of the content being the same stuff we’ve heard before. Luckily, Newt Gingrich made things a little more interesting when talking about his plans for America’s space program.

    In short, he wants a moon base and he wants one by the end of his second term as hopeful president.

    Speaking at a rally in Cocoa, FL, Gingrich laid his plans out for the space program, which included some visionary outlooks.

    “By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon, and it will be American.”

    The reason you have to have a bold, large vision is you don’t arouse the American nation with trivial bureaucratic irrational objectives. It gets to the question, do you want to be part of the generation that goes to the moon and Mars, or do you want to have pork?

    It should be noted that Gingrich’s speech was given in an area which relies heavily on the space program to provide people with jobs, and have personal investment in its success. However, Gingrich wasn’t simply pandering to the crowd as he’s mentioned his plans on the national scene as well.

    [Credit: Spaceflightnow]

  • Twitter Responses To Newt’s GOP South Carolina Upset

    Twitter Responses To Newt’s GOP South Carolina Upset

    Newt Gingrich won over South Carolina’s conservative voters this past weekend. Mitt Romney had performed strongly in the past two match-ups – Iowa and New Hampshire – but just couldn’t shake the Newt in the Palmetto State.

    Twitter lit up in response:

    @eileeninga
    Eileen Johnson    @russellcrowe Newt Gingrich finally discovers his ideal constituency. ” 900 dead people voted in South Carolina”| http://t.co/zlpuSac0 7 minutes ago via Tweet Button · powered by @socialditto

    @ConanOBrien
    Conan O’Brien    South Carolina voters just found out Newt has been seeing North Carolina voters on the side. 1 day ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @nickconfessore
    Nick Confessore    Newt super PAC: “Newt WON South Carolina by more votes than Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum RECEIVED combined in Iow.” 12 minutes ago via UberSocial for BlackBerry · powered by @socialditto

    @jaberdeen
    JabberJaw    The real Repubs of South Carolina stood up & said no to liberal Romney. They said we want a conservative nominee. Go Newt. #teaparty #tcot 8 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @365reasonsNo
    365PrettyGoodReasons    NOM Congratulates Newt on South Carolina Victory, Defines Marriage As Between One Man, Three Women http://t.co/oWo9J1Ra 6 minutes ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

    @timeclockman
    Rick Sadecky    Gingrich got the most votes of any candidate in South Carolina’s history http://t.co/QBIMy3Cx #Newt 6 minutes ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

    @DylanByers
    Dylan Byers    RT @TheFix: The top 4 search terms for Newt Gingrich in SC? “Callista”, “Marianne”, “Newt scandal”, “Newt wives”. http://t.co/wRXtYSl5 1 day ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @EWErickson
    Erick Erickson    Dear South Carolina, assuming Newt wins, *thank you* for giving the finger to the DC-GOP set who’ve tried to force Romney on us. 1 day ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto

    @Shoq
    Shoq Value    Newt’s victory speech: “Thank you, South Carolina. Without your hatred of black people this night might never have happened.” #p2 1 day ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @andylevy
    Andy Levy    40% of married women voters in South Carolina went for Newt. The other 60% are his exes. 1 day ago via Echofon · powered by @socialditto

    @michaelianblack
    Michael Ian Black    Congratulations to all Democrats for Newt’s victory in South Carolina. 1 day ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @ComicJimDavid
    Jim David    Newt Gingrich has always thought that voters are stupid. The voters of South Carolina proved him right. 1 day ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @whowhatwhy
    WhoWhatWhy    RT @LOLGOP: South Carolina voters respect how Newt Gingrich defines marriage as between a man and a woman who does not have cancer. 1 day ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @kvox
    Karen Wickre    You can’t make this stuff up. @BuzzFeedBen: inbox “The National Organization for Marriage Congratulates Newt Gingrich on South Carolina Win” 1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    @KenJennings
    Ken Jennings    Of course Newt won South Carolina! It’s an “open primary state,” if you know what I mean. 1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    @JoeNBC
    Joe Scarborough    “Last night was not about Newt, it was a primal scream from South Carolina Republicans against the GOP Establishment.” #meetthepress #mtp 22 hours ago via Twitterrific · powered by @socialditto

  • SOPA: Twitter Weighs In On GOP Debate

    As we reported earlier, all four candidates in last night’s GOP debate in South Carolina stated their opposition to SOPA. Ron Paul pointed out that he had always been against it and waiting for the others to catch up. Newt said he ‘favors freedom’. Romney agreed. Santorum doesn’t like SOPA, as is, but still thinks that government should regulate the content of the Internet. I wonder why?

    Here’s how the Twitterverse responded to this rash of nods from all four remaining GOP candidates.

    (image)@kn0thing
    Alexis Ohanian    Dear, Congress: You finally got all the #GOP candidates to agree during this @CNN debate — against you. Ouch. #SOPA #PIPA.(image) 15 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@WebProNews
    WebProNews    SOPA: GOP Candidates All Agree #WebProNews http://t.co/dLozvF2e(image) 42 seconds ago via Tweet Button · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@JustinRYoung
    Justin Robert Young    Pretty pumped to hear the GOP Debate Crowd boo #SOPA and 3 of the candidates equate further legislation with a loss of freedom(image) 14 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@sjvn
    sjvn    RT @JBrodkin: sweet RT @arstechnica: At GOP debate, all four candidates oppose SOPA http://t.co/Dslu0Bbi Me: They got 1 right!(image) 1 hour ago via Twitterfall · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@asteris
    Asteris Masouras    Back from Twitterjail, wondered why I stayed up so late watching this debate but the SOPA round was worth it: it is now toxic to the GOP(image) 15 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@acarvin
    Andy Carvin    Ron Paul: I was one of the first to sign up against #SOPA. The GOP has been on the wrong side of the issue; these guys are playing catch-up.(image) 15 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@TheTeaParty_net
    TheTeaParty.net    Newt on SOPA—You’re asking a conservative about the interests of Hollywood #tcot #teacyber #gop #cnndebate(image) 15 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@kaepora
    Nadim Kobeissi    #SOPA question was just asked at the CNN GOP Debate – everyone except Santorum surprisingly gave a non-douchey answer.(image) 15 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@mpetricone
    mpetricone    #SOPA #PIPA question @ GOP debate! Romney, Paul, Santorum, Gringrich all against. Audience boos when John King says that CNN supports.(image) 15 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

  • SOPA: GOP Candidates All Agree

    Last night’s CNN debate in South Carolina found all four remaining GOP candidates in harmony on one issue at least. They all feel that SOPA is overreaching and needs to be rethought.

    Newt Gingrich answered the SOPA question first, saying, “I favor freedom.” He said that there are already tools and avenues of recourse in place to allow copyright holders to sue and stop piracy domestically. Gingrich continued:

    “The idea that we’re going to preemptively have the government start censoring the Internet on behalf of giant corporations’ economic interests strikes me as exactly the wrong thing to do.”

    Mitt Romney chimed in:

    “I think he got it just about right… The law as written is far too intrusive, far too expansive, far too threatening to freedom of speech and movement of information across the Internet. It would have a potentially depressing impact on one of the fastest growing industries in America, which is the Internet and all those industries connected to it.”

    Ron Paul pointed out that the others were late to the party:

    “I was the first Republican to sign on with a host of Democrats to oppose this law… The Republicans, unfortunately, have been on the wrong side of this issue.”

    Rick Santorum, while agreeing with everyone else that SOPA goes too far, did have a personal axe to grind.

    “The Internet is not a free zone where anybody can do anything they want to do and trample the rights of other people… The idea that ‘anything goes’ on the Internet, where did that come from? Where in America does it say that ‘anything goes’?”

    Of course, Rick Santorum has been embroiled in his own personal fight with Google and difficulties on the Internet.