Has Newt Gingrich Lost His Mind?
He really wrote these sentences:
There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over.
No word yet on whether Newt favors shutting down Manhattan’s Indian restaurants until the Indian legislature allows the consumption of hamburgers.
I think Ground Zero should have a church, synagogue, mosque, movie theater, Walmart, stripclub, honkytonk and Denny’s all laid out in a big circle, facing each other.
— KVS · Jul 22, 04:09 PM · #
he’s playing to the base. back in the 90s he used to be a techno-conservative, so perhaps he needs to burnish his down-home cred? actually, emotively i find the idea of a mosque on ground zero uncongenial, but it’s a free country; unlike saudi arabia. two wrongs don’t make a right.
— razib · Jul 22, 04:29 PM · #
Two posts in one day? Don’t call it a comeback . . .
— Will · Jul 22, 04:56 PM · #
THREE, Will. But no, don’t count on it.
— John Schwenkler · Jul 22, 05:12 PM · #
I would actually debate the very premise of your post. I never believed that Gingrich had a mind to lose. Remember, back in 1995 he was blaming infanticide on liberalism, and always framed his politics in such absolute and grandiose terms that he seemed either mentally ill or infantile.
I have never understood those—and there have been many—that proclaimed Gingrich an intellectual and a visionary. From my perspective, as a pretty much center-centrist, his primary contributions to our political dialog is an increased level of rancor and contempt as a defining feature of partisanship.
So I ask this seriously, and sincerely hoping for a substantive answer. Is there any reason we should ever have taken Gingrich seriously?
— Scrooge McDuck · Jul 22, 09:53 PM · #
I see from the responses so far that nobody disagrees with Newt. Can it really be true?
— The Reticulator · Jul 23, 01:55 AM · #
Oh, go read the comments on Noah’s post, Reticulator.
— John Schwenkler · Jul 23, 12:10 PM · #
Then you agree that nobody in this article and comment thread expressed any disagreement with Newt?
— The Reticulator · Jul 23, 12:26 PM · #
Okay, Reticulator. Let me express two points of view:
1. I disagree with Newt
2. I think you’re a troll
— Scrooge McDuck · Jul 23, 04:31 PM · #
“I disagree with Newt”
Prove it. Offer us a disagreement.
Free clue: Attacking someone is not the same as disagreeing.
— The Reticulator · Jul 24, 12:48 AM · #
Kind of plays right into the hands of the people who think conservatives want to make the U.S. into a “Christian” version of Saudi Arabia.
(Nice to see you blogging again, John.)
— Lee · Jul 24, 01:03 PM · #
Lee, what would you think of this as an alternative to see whether people really believe in the idea of reconciliation: Let a mosque be built on the site, maybe more than one if there are varieties of Islam that would like to be represented. Also build a Catholic cathedral as well as a Protestant church, and a synagogue, etc., depending again on who wants to be represented. The entrances would all lead out into a common courtyard, shopping mall style, designed so that people would have to mix with each other on their way to their houses of worship.
There is no reason it would have to be limited to the three main western religions.
Put some limits on height and surface area as seen from any one direction so as to keep any one of them from taking the physical and psychological high ground from which to look down on the others.
— The Reticulator · Jul 24, 08:13 PM · #
I had forgotten that KVS already said what I did.
But still, nobody other than Lee has offered a disagreement with Newt.
— The Reticulator · Jul 24, 08:15 PM · #
Who owns the land on which the mosque is proposed to be built? Surely that’s relevant.
But I take it the broader point is that NG seems to be proposing that the US have only as much religious freedom as Saudi Arabia. Not to mention what looks like collective punishment of Muslims.
— Lee · Jul 24, 08:36 PM · #
A lot would also depend on the means by which my hero Newt proposes to enact his prohibition. (Which is not unrelated to your question of who owns the land.)
— The Reticulator · Jul 24, 08:41 PM · #
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