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Reports

Newt and the Closet Kenyan

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Posted on Sep 13, 2010

By Eugene Robinson

Is Newt Gingrich just pretending to have lost his mind, or has he actually gone around the bend?

His lunacy certainly seems genuine enough. It’s one thing to be a rhetorical bomb-thrower, as Gingrich has long fancied himself, and another to lob damp squibs of pure nonsense into the fray. The man’s contributions to the public discourse have become increasingly unhinged.

The latest example comes in an interview with the conservative website National Review Online. Unsurprisingly, he was criticizing President Obama. Bizarrely, according to the website, he said the following: “What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?” According to Newt, this is “the most accurate, predictive model” for the president’s actions, or policies, or something.

What in the world is “Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior” supposed to mean? That Obama is waging a secret campaign to free us from the yoke of British oppression?

In fairness to Gingrich, he wasn’t being original. He was speaking in praise of a big gob of gibberish written in Forbes by conservative “intellectual” Dinesh D’Souza. In the piece—much of it strikingly lazy—D’Souza argues that Obama somehow absorbed a fully elaborated, frozen-in-time, anti-colonial worldview from his Kenyan father. Who left the family when the future president was 2.

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Well, we knew Obama was precocious. But if he was so absorbed with the study of colonialism, neocolonialism, imperialism and all the other isms, when did he have time to learn to go potty?

D’Souza goes on to froth and foam like one of those conspiracy theorists who believe the CIA is controlling our brain waves. Suffice it to say that the author believes it remarkable that there has been “virtually no reporting” on an article that Obama’s father—who saw his son once more in his life, when “Barry” was 10—wrote in an obscure journal in 1965. I’m thinking that the Da Vinci Code might be in there somewhere, too.

Yet Gingrich finds this claptrap a “stunning insight”—or pretends that he does.

The rational explanation is that Gingrich seized on the “programmed by his absent father” thesis as a way of furthering the “birther” narrative—the paranoid fantasy that Obama is foreign, exotic, alien, somehow not American. So what if D’Souza’s piece makes assertion after assertion that is plainly, demonstrably unsupported? Just throw it out there, and maybe a few gullible souls will believe it.

But this was just the latest offering from Gingrich that vaulted the barrier between provocative and crazy. It started last year during the confirmation hearings for Justice Sonia Sotomayor, when he said that her innocuous “wise Latina” remark proved she was a “racist.” He made the same lightning-quick allegation of racism against Shirley Sherrod—before a full hearing of her remarks showed that she was actually speaking against racism. And then Gingrich’s rhetorical insanity reached a new high, or a new low, last month when he accused supporters of the Lower Manhattan mosque of “triumphalism” and compared them to the Nazis.

It has been suggested that perhaps Gingrich, who is thinking of running for president, is trying to lure attention away from a recent unflattering profile in Esquire—the one that charts his three marriages in excruciating, and embarrassing, detail. But it hardly furthers his ambitions to pretend to be so nuts.

And there’s a thread that connects his outbursts: They all fit into the idea that American democracy—indeed, the whole Anglo-American-Judeo-Christian enterprise—is under attack in a titanic clash of civilizations. In this view, we are threatened most acutely by the Islamic civilization. But we must also be on guard against the “Sinic” civilization of China, the “Hindu” civilization of India, and assorted others. This analysis was developed by Samuel P. Huntington, a Harvard professor who died in 2008—and who said he never intended his work to be read as a battle plan.

Gingrich seems to believe that our culture and values are also threatened from within—by black and brown people who demand that they, too, be given a voice in defining that culture and those values. He really needs to get out more. But, hey, it’s a free country. If he wants, Gingrich can imagine himself a retired British colonel in 1963, harrumphing in his armchair about who lost Kenya. A diverse and multicultural America has long since moved on.

Eugene Robinson’s e-mail address is eugenerobinson(at)washpost.com.
   
© 2010, Washington Post Writers Group


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By tedmurphy41, September 23, 2010 at 5:55 am Link to this comment

You should really be asking yourselves how this man was ever placed in a position of power in the first place.
You can make a start by examining the lightweights who elected him at the outset.

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By drbhelthi, September 16, 2010 at 12:08 pm Link to this comment

Its amazing how some people toss around the word,
“paranoia,” as though they understand its meaning.

The chronicles of Chip Tatum and the chronicles of
former FBI director for the southern region of
California, Ted Gunderson, plus revelations of a few
former insiders, such as Sibel Deniz Edmonds,
substantiate my comments. The list of CIA operations
since 1960, published by congressman Ron Paul, add
some light to the dark subject, also. 

Paid pimps of NAZI offspring cannot cover up the
files on “Operation Paper Clip”, similar subsequent
operations, and the recorded congressional action
against the Bush family during WWII.  The fact that
Werner von Braun became a hero in the USA, when he
should have stood trial with his NAZI colleagues in
Nuernberg, is also a sad fact of history.

The last bodyguard of Adolf Hitler, LTC Otto
Skorzeny, provided more than adequate documentation,
prior to his death.  His death was faked in Madrid
in 1975, yet he married an American woman, sired a
daughter and lived fairly comfortably in the USA til
his death in 1999.

Paranoia ?
Not hardly !

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By berniem, September 16, 2010 at 9:58 am Link to this comment

To drbhelthi: Cmon Newt, we all know its you! No one can come up with paranoid, conspiracy nonsense like you can! Boy, if you ever got to be POTUS I’ll bet you’d make that hilarious preacher from Fla. Secretary of State.

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By drbhelthi, September 16, 2010 at 5:11 am Link to this comment

Having watched “Mr. Gingrich” on his meandering, quasi-honest, political trail for fifteen years or so, I am surprised at the accuracy of his comments on comrade B. Hussein Obama. Certainly, I agree with the idea that they are not his creation, as they are too accurate and comprehensive.

A preponderance of insider information indicates that Kenyan, H.B.Obama was inducted into the CIA in his late teens due to his facility with an Arab language. This is naturally predictable, since both sides of his parentage were CIA associates.

As to the idea of “precocious,” several folk need to acquaint themselves with the literature on adjustment to life of allegedly “precocious” people. Kenyan, Mr. Obama´s “precocious” facility seems to lie in his ability to “act.”  Look how well he is “acting” as U.S. “president.” Although, his decisions do not reflect the allegedly “precocious” characteristic.

The loving old Grandmother of Barack Hussein Obama said he was born in Kenya, hinted that she was helpful in his birth; the wife, Mrs. Obama stated in a video that they visited Kenya, his homeland; the former custodian of birth records in Hawaii said there is no birth record for a Barack Hussein Obama in the birth records of Hawaii. Birth certificate or not, he is not an American.

What additional evidence is necessary to conclude that this CIA IMPOSTER is not qualified to even run for the U.S. Presidency, much less be installed ? Obviously, Americans are not prepared to gain insight into the fact that the U.S. has been furtively governed by NAZIs since before the great Patriot Dwight D. Eisenhower departed office. He gave a warning, to which few paid attention. Now look where we are - with the second, non-American president, who in reality is a CIA puppet, proceeding with the destruction of the U.S.A.  Continued denigration
of the U.S. Constitution.

And all the distracting, “bull-shit” comments of pimps of the administration? 
Once upon a time we thought that a job was more than a source of income - - -
Especially, if one has acquired several degrees, honestly, that were not simply falsifications
by the CIA machine.  Apparently, employed pimps
of the NAZI/CIA administration have lost the American vision.  If they ever had it - - .

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By berniem, September 15, 2010 at 4:25 pm Link to this comment

It is truly a sad commentary on the disasterous decline of American public education system that a troll like Gingrich is actually given credence for his ludicrous and asinine pronouncements! Used to be that freedom of speech gave fools the ability to prove themselves such. Now it tragically reveals the foolishness of those so learning impaired as to be incapable of critical appraisal of what is said!

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By Night-Gaunt, September 15, 2010 at 8:31 am Link to this comment

We’ll see how they do against Democrats and any third parties who run.

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By peterjkraus, September 15, 2010 at 6:40 am Link to this comment

Judging by last night’s Republican primary results,
Newt may very well be on his way to the top of the
Repub 2012 ticket. Which would only assure the total
destruction of the Wingnut league.

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By FrostedFlakes1, September 14, 2010 at 4:48 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

What has really happened to this country ? How are we steadily going backwards instead of forward ? Why are these demagogues allowed to dictate the daily discourse ? When will we stop allowing fear to reign ? It’s just simply amazing that with all the technology and diversity within this nation that the citizenry allows the media to still set agendas. The two party system is a sham, and the Senate should be abolished because it only serves corporate interests. America’s walk with capitalism has sent it reeling to the same demise as the Roman model that it was built to emulate. Now we have the poor and underpriveleged voting against their own interests in the pursuit of some mythical sense of patriotism. The American nation should be ashamed of what it has allowed to be done to itself.

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By Night-Gaunt, September 14, 2010 at 4:29 pm Link to this comment

They will do it soon enough with the next super hike in oil, probably from an attack on Iran (Israel and/or USA) and expect them to plaster the entire country killing millions at a stroke and leaving it a smoldering ruin. Or else Iran would wreck what has been done in the Middle East since 1990. Then our economy would collapse and our gov’t. They will waltz in and give us a “helping hand” as the only ones who will keep the electricity running and our present concept of a modern age intact. [Minus the annoyances of the Bill of Rights and ACLU and Social Security will all be wiped out as being “unfundable” in leaner times to come.] I would be interested in seeing where they trade off on profit versus religious austerity and removal of distractions. They know the Milgram experiments and everyone will follow suit or be eliminated from their “perfect” society. Believe it.

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By Big B, September 14, 2010 at 1:02 pm Link to this comment

What worries me is that there are Newts all over the political and business spectrum. And people vote and work for them every day.

Bring on the christian dominionists. Lets make it official, elect blathering idiots like Imhoff, Bachmann, and Palin. Lets pull the plug on this floundering american experiment and send it swirling down the drain.

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By Sybll, September 14, 2010 at 12:13 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

One should read ‘anti-colonial’ as terrorist of the time.  An anti-colonial Kenyan might be a bomb-tossing nationalist targeting, say, a club frequented by British troops or civilians.  That’s what Newt meant.

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By barb, September 14, 2010 at 11:47 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

kudos gene. as for Newt…. he one crazy mother. why do people even listen to him? maybe his tinfoil hat has gotten too tight.

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By robert puglia, September 14, 2010 at 10:24 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

gingrich is terry jones without the mustache or
integrity.

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By Night-Gaunt, September 14, 2010 at 9:58 am Link to this comment

In a reasonable society such creatures of lust (for power) as Gingrich would die on the vine. But here, now in the USA of 2010? I’m not so sure.

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By felicity, September 14, 2010 at 8:46 am Link to this comment

Gingrich’s sound-and-fury signify nothing more than
he’s a man suffering from a huge case of narcissism
brought on by a huge inferiority complex.  Look at
me.  Listen to me.  (Although I haven’t noticed it, I
bet he pouts a lot.)

Remember when as Speaker he shut down Congress to get
back at Clinton for making him get off the back of
Air Force I rather than the front along with Clinton.
Of course, politicians across-the-board are
narcissists but most don’t require medication whereas
in Newt’s case he should definitely up his.

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By Fat Freddy, September 14, 2010 at 7:59 am Link to this comment

I don’t agree much with Mr Robinson, but Newt is an ass (and that’s putting it mildly). What’s amazing is that people like him still get air time and Press. He is just a media whore. Don’t they have a nice little quiet position for him over at the Heritage Foundation?

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By phasor, September 14, 2010 at 7:22 am Link to this comment

Oklahoma City Newt’s time came is now gone.

We don’t need his rhetoric for attacking the government or superior race/culture ideology.

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By ofersince72, September 14, 2010 at 6:18 am Link to this comment

Eugene, 

  You are supposed to ignore idiots, however, you

every week like to give them as much publicity as it

takes to keep from talking pertinent issues…......

You are just as big of a danger to our country as Newt!!!

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By Paul_GA, September 14, 2010 at 6:06 am Link to this comment

If he’s a nutter, then the lust for power has made him one. The Grinch, as I see it, doesn’t want just any Repub in the White House on January 20, 2013—he wants to be that Repub.

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By walldizo, September 14, 2010 at 3:24 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Time for this lunatic to be washed away.With people ignorant as Gingrich, No wonder why the US is going down the drain.People like Gingrich augur the future of the US.

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By Mike789, September 14, 2010 at 3:04 am Link to this comment

“Tis a tail told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Wm S.

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By Inherit The Wind, September 14, 2010 at 2:51 am Link to this comment

It should be no surprise that a fellow named “Newt” is a cold-blooded opportunist with NO moral fiber whatsoever who will do or say anything to gain or re-gain power.  Look at the immoral way he conducts his personal life, selfishly and coldly casting women aside, impeaching a President for cheating on his wife while the the time the impeachment was going on Newt was cheating on HIS wife.

I think if the Denesh D’Souza was trumpeting that Obama was an extra-Terrestrial and it was “sticking” with the right-wing-nuts, Newt would be out there saying (or implying) that President Obama was “ET”.  Just plain cold-blooded opportunism, nothing else.

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By kerryrose, September 14, 2010 at 2:19 am Link to this comment

Isn’t being ‘anticolonial’ a good thing?  Aren’t we all ‘anticolonial’?

I mean, are we now admitting that we colonize other soverign nations?

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By Druthers, September 14, 2010 at 12:58 am Link to this comment

No doubt that Gingrich has been “around the bend” for a long time and is quite at home there.  He is even perhaps one of “those” from around the bend and bent on sailing down the “Curly River.”

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By PhLip, September 13, 2010 at 9:26 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Newt Gingrich is an obsessive opportunist.  In his desperation for making a
political point or two, he sniffs out insanity and plays to it.  No one takes him
seriously and for good reason.

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