Letters to the Editor
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Babble
Newt Gingrich has the brains of a newt as we know this speedy little critter. Nothing unusual about this. Talk the talk to joint the growing group of those concerned about the future of the planet, but missing the point entirely. It was and is the greed of big business that contributed mainly to the deterioration of our ploanet that we are experiencing.Anything that makes them look better is appreciated by them. And since this Newt belongs to them he is not really believable.
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Can't take him seriously
I remember the 90s. This man is responsible more than any other individual for the decline of political discourse with his bulldog rhetoric. And I read enough of this article to realize he's still doing the same. The idea that liberals only have one way of dealing with the environment (punitive) and since conservatives are nice guys they "shrug their shoulders" (but don't come up with their own ideas." -- he hasn't changed. He's just jumping on the bandwagon.
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If Newt presents
some good ideas on the environment, I hope they are detached from his slimy grasp and applied.
As others have said, Newt 15 years ago had some "good ideas" on communications that were used by Republicans to help create the poisoned political world we live in today. He is an ammoral hypocritical creep. Rehabiltation starts not with his decrying the present partisan world but with a public apology for his role in creating it.
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Dysfunction is Right
Just look around here.
To state the obvious, the country is bitterly divided to the point of dysfunction. Environmental politics joins a long list of stale policies that need a bipartison update, such as social security and immigration. A bipartison solution will require both sides to open their minds, listen to each other and pay each other respect. As evidenced by the liberal letter writers, that seems unlikely to happen. Yes, conservative blowhards (not Gingrich) are equally guilty, but two wrongs don't make a right.
As for Gingrich's observations and proposals, I find that they have some merit. Republicans overlook that envirnonmental engineering is, itself, a robust industry. By propping up the coal industry, republicans are positioning themselves as luddites. Wake up and smell the emissons.
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Umm, Newt for Prez?
Look, muckity-mucks, Newt has been positioning hisself for months to become the savior of the Republican party. At the last minute, he will ride his white mane into the arena and the neo-cons will suddenly realize they have their candidate. Everything, everything he says and does points that way. And he will be hard to beat.
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Carrots and not Sticks
I like Newt's ideas, particularly about giving companies tax breaks for not polluting; in fact we ought to expand it. In addition to giving tax breaks to companies that don't pollute, we can give tax breaks to people who don't murder, sell drugs, or embezzle company funds. For example, for correctly reporting my income to the IRS, I get a 10% discount. And since I haven't committed a robbery this year, I get another 5% off. Instead of jailing people for selling drugs, we can pay them for not selling drugs and save on our prison system. Heck, by the time I'm finished 'not breaking any laws' the government will owe me money. And there will be no taxes!
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Newt's scarlet letter
"D" for demagogue. He's just trying to get out in front of the mob on an untainted, more popular issue -- now that "conservatism" isn't selling anymore.
More than any other individual, Gingrich was responsible for the decline of American politics into the shallow, but noxious, slime pit it is today.
The best punishment for Gingrich is to be publicly ignored into an unremarkable old age.
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Excellent article
Dear Ms. Mieszlowski,
Thank you for the wonderful interview with Newt Gingrich. It was thoughtful and interesting. I wish all interviews with everyone could be so fair and balanced. Good job.
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Shut up, Newt
You are bankrupt of any sort of credibility. Go away.
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"expensive and painful" solutions
Funny, I haven't heard anyone mention solutions that would be painful or expensive to me. Not even suggestions of the Jimmy Carter "wear a sweater" variety. In fact I haven't heard any politicians speaking of solutions in terms of transportation and personal habits that might might a significant difference at all. I haven't heard Dems lobbying hard for public transport or high speed rail. No politician in this country (with the possible exception of Earl Blumenauer) is brave enough to tell Americans to get their butts out of their damn cars.
Everyone is blowing hot air on this issue as far as I'm concerned, but to have this cretin Gingrich taking up space (and his book killing trees) to do so is especially offensive. He propped up a political party that wouldn't even acknowledge global warming until a few months ago. I'd give him a billion dollar prize for gall.
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Newt, What Happened to the Free Market?
It is supremely ironic that Newt Gingrich is pushing billion dollar prizes for developing highly efficient engines. I listened to a Honda executive a few years ago who maintained that it was Honda's policy to strive for the highest fuel efficiency vehicle in every class in which they compete - they may or may not deliver that, but that is the goal. He said it was just Honda's policy, not subject to some calculation of quarterly profits. The executive was, of course, trained as an engineer. American auto companies went merrily along churning our gas hogs and when gas prices rose, they were left with losses in market share that inflicted far more damage to their bottom lines than a measly $1 billion. Of course, most American auto executives were trained in finance - the types that think you can run any company if you are a creative accountant.
Newt Gingrich: A conservative who forgets that all along there have been prizes in the market to reward fuel efficiency that far exceed his taxpayer funded incentive - you just have to manage car companies with people who know and care about cars and are able to think past the time when they will open up their golden parachutes and jump out of the company they helped manage to the point where it is spiralling into the ground.