Bless me voters because I have sinned!

newt

Newt comes clean, sorta, saying roughly:  Anything I once believed that the Tea Party doesn't like I no-longer believe; bless me voters for I have sinned it has been a long time since my last confession, in fact this might be my first confession, but let's face it...

I admit that I cheated on my second wife while trying to drive Bill Clinton from office for lying about sex.  But he did it under oath, so it's different.
It's true that I used to support the individual mandate, which I thought was a good, even necessary idea.  But now that it's part of Obamacare, I'm against it.
I have gone to confession (because I'm Catholic now).  I am sorry for my unspecified sins.
It's true that my company The Gingrich Group got paid a lot of money by Fannie Mae, helping them develop strategy.  But I never tried to persuade anyone to do anything, so I was not a lobbyist.  I was just a strategist.

READ IT ALL on the Newt seeks forgiveness web page

Gingrich: Muslim "triumphalism", slandering Obama, forgetting the past

When I lived in India forty years ago I often found myself reacting with habitual anger as I passed houses decorated with swastikas the way we use stars on festive occasions.  The swastika is an ancient Aryan symbol appropriated by European criminals - as the Islamic crescent and star is claimed by al-Qaida for its own "jihad".   Right-wing activists like  Human Events columnist Robert Spencer's blog Jihad Watch agree with al Qaida thus identifying all of Islam with the crimes of a few.   Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker and history teacher, spoke in similar vein about the proposed mosque/Islamic Center in lower Manhattan and the President's admirable comments on religious freedom at the White House's traditional Ramadan dinner.  
According to news accounts of Gingrich's remarks:

"There is nothing surprising in the president's continued pandering to radical Islam," he said. "What he said last night is untrue and inaccurate. The fact is this is not about religious liberty."

Mr. Gingrich said the proposed mosque would be a symbol of Muslim "triumphalism" and that building the mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks "would be like putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum."

"It's profoundly and terribly wrong," he said.

Speaking of triumphalism - at the center of the seal of Fordham University, where I teach, are a cross and the letters IHS.   They are the first letters of the Latin maxim In Hoc Signo Vinces "in this sign you will conquer".  The vision of soldiers advancing behind the cross came to Constantine in a dream before the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 A.D.  Constantine triumphed in that civil war among rival Roman emperors.  Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire - thanks to the power of the sword.


Symbols are powerful in deed and in memory.  The crescent  and star, the star of David, and the Christian cross have each been wielded for deplorable  purposes.  A bit of humility is in order particularly for Christians.  We might reflect, for example,  on the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, or the Crusades. 

Jon Stewart wipes out Newt Gingrich

One of the strengths of the right is their smug dismissiveness. The newt Gingrich dared to engage in light sword combat with Jon Stewart. Newt blithely asserted that Obama is a radical, who doesn't understand that terrorists are soldiers? not ordinary criminals, and failed to understand the absurdity of trying KSM, etc al in New York City which they had attacked,

But Stewart set Gingrich back on his haunches when  he announced that as a lower Manhattan resident he wants to see the attackers tried here, and to show ur system at work. (As I wrote "I want to be a KSM juror"

And he handles Gingrich with aplomb on the economy, the deficit and many other issues.

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