Newt Gingrich has a book to promote. His 5 Principles for a Successful Life: From Our Family to Yours, co-written with his daughter Jackie, isn’t strictly about politics. But that doesn’t mean he’s not going to use politics to get publicity for it. This week the former speaker of the House launched an all-out offensive on the current one, Nancy Pelosi, over her controversial claims regarding how much she knew about enhanced interrogation, and when. Last night, he went on The Daily Show and said she should step down as speaker over it:
I don’t care if she stays as member of Congress. To be speaker of the house means you are third in line for the president. It means you have access to all the national security. It means you have a responsibility for the safety of the country. A person who would lie about everyone in the intelligence community in the middle of being speaker of the House is utterly irrational.
Gingrich also ominously cracked: “No one, even the most bitter partisan, has suggested that enhanced interrogation should be used on Nancy Pelosi.”
Gingrich also ominously cracked: “No one, even the most bitter partisan, has suggested that enhanced interrogation should be used on Nancy Pelosi.”
Last night, Gingrich also posted an editorial on Human Events, replete with grandma-style font and color variations for emphasis, making much the same point — but adding that Pelosi is making “America less safe.”
She’s made America less secure by sending a signal to the men and women defending our country that they can’t count on their leaders to defend them. And every day they spend worrying about being politically persecuted is a day we are made more vulnerable to a nuclear attack on one of our cities, a biological attack on one of our subways, or a bomb going off in one of our malls. America is losing ground because of Nancy Pelosi’s contempt for those who defend her.
This morning, Gingrich (book in tow) continued his tirade on Good Morning America, continuing his argument that her skeptical statements about the CIA have “disqualified” Pelosi from the office, and that she needs to be “replaced” by Democrats. We expect this parade of public appearances to continue as Gingrich tries to renew his relevance with the Republican Party and sell his book. It’ll be good for the latter effort, to be sure. But as for the former — is slamming the ethics of a current speaker of the House and calling for her to be replaced really the best strategy for a former speaker who was ruled in violation of House ethics himself, who was the target of a replacement by his own party, and who had to step down because most Americans also thought he should be replaced? We’re just not sure.
Why Nancy Pelosi Should Step Down [Human Events]
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/05/gingrich-pelo-1.html [ABC News]
Newt Gingrich [Comedy Central]
