ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist&reg;.com: Duke's Damage Control</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style1 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> <table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="116" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="24" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="18" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr height="26"> <td width="624" height="26" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong>HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#149; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#149; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#149; <a href="teflon.html">THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#149; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com">REACTIONS</a> &#149; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="1"> <td width="116" height="2574" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td height="1" colspan="3"></td> <td width="18" height="2574" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> <tr height="2573"> <td height="2573" colspan="3" align="left" xpos="116" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="5"><b> <br /> GOP&#39;s Attack Dog</b></font> <p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b>by John M. Curtis<br> (310) 204-8700</b><br> </font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright June 9, 2009<br> All Rights Reserved.</i></font></p> <p><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span class="style1">L</span>ooking to rise from the ashes after eight years of former President George W. Bush, the Republican Party scrambles for a new leader, looking backward to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Recent battles between Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and conservative radio icon Rush Limbaugh underscored the civil war within the GOP.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Putting former Vice President Dick Cheney in front of the microphones backfired, causing more doubt about GOP leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Responding to the SOS, Gingrich, whose high-pitched voice and well-publicized infidelities, attacked President Barack Obama s economic recovery plan as  already failed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Speaking to the Republican House and Senate Campaign Committees, the former House Speaker blasted Barack s stimulus program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Gingrich pinch hits for Bush, now viewed by the GOP as radioactive.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Gingrich, a regular contributor and analyst on Fox News, couldn t launch a presidential campaign because of low interest and poor fundraising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>His keynote address, less than a year-and-a-half before the 2010 midterm elections, signals his intent to keep himself under consideration for the next go-around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Gingrich was especially critical of Barack s takeover and bailout of General Motors, calling the president s economic stimulus and recovery plan a failure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Bureaucrats managing companies does not work, politicians dominating the economy does not work, Gingrich told 2,000 Republicans looking for some red meat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Newt found it difficult to criticize Bush for doing the exact same thing on the advice of former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Now that economic recovery is in Barack s hands, it s a whole new ballgame.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Newt pushed hard for Bush s $750 billion toxic asset bailout plan called TARP, attempting to provide liquidity to the nation s cash-strapped financial institutions, including J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He didn t object to bailout of GM, Chrysler, American International Group [AIG], Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and a host of other insolvent institutions under Bush.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Now that the burden of fixing, what former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan called  a once in a century economy event, falls on Obama, Gingrich has nothing good to say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>With Steele and Rush defaulting, the GOP hopes that Gingrich, the once vaunted nemesis of former President Bill Clinton and leader of the so-called 1994  Republican Revolution, steps in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>You don t see Alaska Gov. and former GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin picking up the slack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Her notoriety hurts the GOP. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Gingrich and other congressional Republicans, especially Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), like to pin the nation s economic woes on Obama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>They hasten to point out how Barack s economic recovery plan hasn t worked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>They offer no explanation for their unconditional support of Bush s comparable bailout program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Gingrich ignores the 30% rise in the U.S. stock market since Obama took office in mid-January.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Nor does Newt admit improvement in U.S. credit markets, with several TARP-recipient banks asking to pay back the government sooner than expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Newt criticizes Barack s continued bailout of GM and AIG but offers no alternative plan, other than letting the free market place take care of itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Gingrich knows that Bush and Obama followed the exact same advice from the nation s leading economists.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>:Looking for traction in an otherwise sinking Party,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>McConnell called Obama s recovery plan a  radical agenda, drumming up the socialist label.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>No such labels were attached to Bush when he and Paulson spent billions bailing out the nation s destitute financial institutions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Republicans have  watched them [Democrats] take over banks, insurance companies, auto companies, said McConnell, blowing more smoke than a Kentucky barbeque.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> And now they want to take over your health care, taking a swipe at Obama s health care agenda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>McConnell and Gingrich know that Bush did exactly the same thing, including passing the biggest increase in Medicare spending ever, launching the Part D, prescription drug plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Republicans want to blame the nation s economic and foreign policy ills on Obama but he hasn t rolled out more than 6% of his economic stimulus and recovery plan.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Looking to resuscitate a moribund Party, Gingrich fed the GOP red meat, blaming Obama for everything but the kitchen sink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Keynote speaker actor John Voight called Barack a  false prophet, insisting,  we are a weak nation, disowning the eight-year slide under Bush into oblivion, leaving the nation in a foreign policy and economic mess<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span> Gingrich touts himself as having answers but has no idea other than free market capitalism to fix the nation s economic woes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Last week Gingrich called Barack s Supreme Court pick, 5th Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, a  racist for facetious remarks to law students in 2001 about how she, as a Latina, makes better decisions than her white male counterparts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Gingrich needs to explain why he had no problem watching Bush bailout various financial institutions but, suddenly, when it s a Democrat doing the same thing, he s so alarmed.</p> <p><u><b>About the Author</b></u></p> <p><b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a> and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a>.<br> </p> <p></p> </td> <td width="1" height="2573"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2573"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="116" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="116" height="1"></td> <td width="24" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="24" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td height="1"><spacer type="block" width="283" height="1"></td> <td width="18" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="18" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong>Home</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com">Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.net" target="_blank"><img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">&copy;1999-2002 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>