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Red and Green
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) says environmentalism transcends the Red State/Blue State divide in his new book, written with Terry Maple, A Contract with the Earth (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007)
Event
Newt Gingrich will be speaking with Jeffrey Sachs tonight at the New York Public Library
A Contract with the Earth is available for purchase at Amazon.com.
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Comments
Ah the halcyon days of Gingrich as speaker. Surely NYers remember the government shutting down because Newt got slighted on AF1 and retaliated by not passing a federal budget, which in turn (intern?) led to the WH being staffed by volunteers bearing pizzas.
Doesn't this joker get enough air time on Fox Noise? (I'm no Cinton supporter, but those were eight years of relative peace and prosperity, no?)
Aha-Gingrich wanted to be a zoo director. But that would have put him on the wrong side of the bars.
eCAHN I can't read your comments while drinking coffee....(wipes off screen)
please ask about the drought/ water problems in the south east. and does georgia have a water conservation program?
Newt ignores the fact that incentives for a cleaner environment NEVER work.
Laws, regulation and litigation works.
Give the government teeth to bite the offenders with!
Great...another one of the scumbags responsible for the current sorry state of politics in this country.
Why is this moron who has been completely discredited being taken seriously? Isn't that the kind of thing the corporate propoganda-media does? Did my radio suddenly get taken over by Fox "news"?
ab -- I'm wavering between switching off the bs and waiting for Brian to nail him. This after waking up to Ann Garrels extolling the effectiveness on national pentagon radio.
effectiveness of torture, that is
H*Y*D*R*O*G*E*N*** as the basis of his
contract?
Give me a break he souunds like a
lobbyist for the EXXON/MOBIL corporation!
augh
I agree Newt. Airlines and passenger trains are never profitable and therefore should be subsidized and or regulated. too bad you ruined Amtrak starting in 1995. I saw today or yesterday that dems. are restoring funding.
nice to finally have you on our team.
Blah,blah,blah....less government regulation...government bad....corporations good, trust corporations to change through incentives...blah,blah,blah....same old message over and over.....
This guy NEVER has anything essentially new to say. Who cares?
Oh yes, and it's completely appropriate that discredited Gingrich appear with discredited Sachs. Their past (snark alert) successes are full testimony to the great work we expect from them in the future.
Brian
Please ask Mr G.
HOW much did he earn last year from the
ENERGY LOBBY in the past year, and specify from WHOM!!!!
bet he doesent answer
I still want a $100,000 Electric TESLA
NOT a chevy VOLT
or the dead GM EV1
Geez EVERYONE knows hydrogen cells, technology, is toooo expensive..
You have to lean on the auto industry to increase the fuel/mileage, bring back the electric car, which gets solves the emission problems..
the discussion of market incentives is highly relevant. why attack Mr. Gingrich for suggesting alternatives to the status quo which is obviously not working? to say that market incentives never work and that laws, regulation and litigation work is ignoring that fact that if these 3 elements DID work, we wouldn't be having this conversation. there's room for improvement, always.
Brian, oh Brian, how could you let this buffoon have more NPR air time considering how he insulting slighted Diane Rehm (and us, the listeners) when he was given time on her show??! Stop the madness...get guests with a serious desire to work for the common good regarding these critical issues, instead of these self-promoting frauds.
Why not a national program by an administration of vision? Like the moon landing.
Thank goodness ARPA invented the internet, and not private enterprise. Otherwise, the internet today would be a boondoggle of competing interests and technologies like ISDN.
Hmmm. Gingrich is advocating that U.S. government choose specific technologies to subsidize. Doesn't sound too free-market to me. Might there be a financial link, as other commenters have pointed to already? Color me suspicious.
Newt rejected mileage specifications but if petrochemicals were taxed to reflect their social cost wouldn't the market provide the necessary incentives development without prizes?
Talk, Talk, Talk. He just wants to wear everyone down with a wall of words. And if we talk talk talk, we don't actually have to do anything. More hot air just heats up the planet. Everyone is so worried about upsetting the status quo -- but there's every reason to believe that developing new technologies to replace the old ones will actually create jobs and move our economy forward. Not doing anything just leaves the field open to other countries -- who are moving into the vacuum. The longer we wait the farther behind we will fall.
eCAHnomics,
I have to admit I am suspicious of anything this guy says.
j
The current "system" is not working because there is no current system.
Beware the Trojan horse. The Trojans knew exactly what it was (see Tuchman's The March of Folly). We know exactly what Gingrich is. No reason whatsoever to take him seriously, and much evidence that we should do exactly the opposite.
I invite Brother Newt to incentivize Peace and Democracy in the USA and elsewhere.
Everyone prospers from Peace and Democracy, but no one makes a killing from it the way they do in the military-industrial-petroleum-security complex. For this reason, the status-quo is: organized money rules.
In the age of the Internet and beyond, surely we can organize for Peace, Education, Research, Prosperity, and Democracy to beat war as the way to move forward. What greater threat to the environment is War and the huge military machine consuming the environment and destroying it?
Wait. wait. Hydrogen??? My understanding is that it takes more electricity to create and fill hydrogen fuel cells than can be released from the hydrogen in the cell. How is this efficient? Hydrogen is another way of saying, "Give money to Coal Power" to produce the electricity. Maybe coupled with nuclear power hydrogen is less pollution but it is still FAR less efficient than electric powered vehicles, which could use the same nuclear power plants but with a higher efficiency.
he didn't say 'free market' he said 'market incentive' lehrer asked him why the the market was not providing these incentives on its own. he is advocating the CREATION of a market incentive. the creation of a market incentive and completely unregulated market are mutually exclusive. Gingrich is not denying this.
oh, and Bill Hanigsberg is on to something there! ^^
I like that solution Bill. Let the free market see all the real costs, then let them decide who's plan is best.
AUGH!!! No one should pay attention to anyone who frames these environmental issues in terms of Right and Left, Conservative and Liberal (Progressive). This is not a useful model for getting anywhere fast. And yes, let's just load up the agenda with everything but the kitchen sink -- reform education, realign the planets, explore discredited science. PHOOEY.
Oy, Gingrich's allegations of how bureacracy has failed stem directly from Rs deliberately undermining them, so that they have a free hand for their radical agenda.
But he still thinks the federal bureacracy can pick & choose technologies to subsidize.
Hypocrisy anyone?
I was travelling to Holland on business about 10 years ago on a regular basis. When my associates would pick me up at the airport, I could not put my bags in the trunk because of the hydrogen fuel tank.
We are behind!
Water Boarding ISNT torture Newt?
Volunteer to be WATERBOARDED on Brian's SHOW
LIVE on the air!
For anyone who doesn't know whether waterboarding is torture, we recommend a free sample.
Newt is repeating the cliche about the US not being able to compete in terms of science and technology education. Didn't NPR news report something to the contrary last week?
doesn’t nuclear power use large amounts of oil durning mining transportation and waste processing?
I think this article clears up the issue of whether waterboarding is torture:
http://tinyurl.com/35tkyf
Isn't appointing an atty gen who will declare illegal what the prez has done exactly what happened to Nixon? And wasn't that the correct thing to do?
...and so his true colors show. If Newt is really a conservative in an older mold as he eluded to...then why when that caller brought up the attacks on science and reason that are connected to the Republican party, he didn't take the opportunity to criticize these RADICAL elements of the Republican party but instead attacked his usual bogey-man the left.
This man is a partisan phoney. I agree he just talks and talks and fools in the media take him seriously because he is verbose. That is all. I would be suspicious of anything this partisan moron promotes.
And his waffling on waterboarding reveals much. You are no conservative in the true sense of the word Mr. Gingrich, you are a disingeious hypocritical partisan hack who shouldn't be taken seriously by anyone.
The waterboarding as torture issue: "I have no idea (if it's torture)".
And the furor is just another reason for Dems to reject Mukasey, because of "bitter, petty partisanship."
I had been about to comment on his "one-sided" (as he told one caller) presentation of the nuclear power issue, his avoidance of the problem of nuclear waste.
But now, the more he talks the MUCH less respect I have for him.
So many enemies, so little time. How to prioritize which one to bomb first.
eCahn,
there are in fact environmental protection laws in the United States. Perhaps not enough but we have more regulation than, say, China.
and pardon me from listening to him with an open mind.
this just in: Newt is still a nutjob. yeah there will be a nuclear holocaust: and those committing it will be the US and Israel.
yes that's the thing...if you actually listen to this idiot there is noway to respect him
SO WHY DOES THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA TAKE HIM SERIOUSLY???????????????
listening to a hard core republican talk with great concern about the environment is like seeing a dog talk.....at first you are amazed such a thing could be possible....but you soon realize that something is not quite right and start looking for the trick behind the illusion.
Second Holocaust? Why do these republican shmucks keep comparing the situation in the Middle East to WWII?
j
I was referring specifically to CO2 pollution, for which there is no current program in the U.S.
Ditto eCAHNomics..
Great minds think alike, visit my blogs!
PS: We Need a NEW "New Deal"
including :
* a LIVING Wage ($15-$20/hr!)
* a National Mandatory (free?) day care system from 6months to 4yrs old
* Mandatory paid Maternity leave for six months
* A mandatory (3 yr) draft, including a opt-out service corp for national service.
* A national program to rebuild
-- Schools (starting at 6 months gives head-start like interventions in advance)
-- Math training and FUN math for all
-- Job retraining
* National Health care (YES, single payer, with a transition period from today!)
And a few other things!
and the Haiku:
Impeach Cheney. Pelosi Pardons. Democracy Restored.
It's a pleasant idea that the marketplace can solve our woes. But it's already been documented that when innovation is on the doorstep, as we saw "Who Killed the Electric Car," companies like GM ultimately regress to the status quo for what amounts to a variety of excuses. Hydrogen fuel is much further off than electric transportation, but for some reason it's become the sexy option.
I am intrigued by Mr. Gingrich's idea of prizes for pragmatic solutions to issues such as climate change, but it's clear that in addition to incentivizing positive change, we need to de-incentivize doing business that is damaging an environment we all have a stake in.
mark brown,
Why have Pelosi pardon?
Gingritch is already on the 'Bomb Iran Cabal' By claiming that there will be a second holocaust? - Right now we have hundreds of thousands of innocent families killed in Iraq.
What Gingritch is supporting is actually helping the most right wing, radical elements in Iran AND in the US which will lead to war and may lead to deaths in Israel. Instead of helping moderates and isolating the radicals this administration helped Ahmeidijan to get elected. The Republicans are giving AHmeidijan too much power in order to promote another war. Your bellicose lies about Iran only help the gun runners and radical right wingers in Israel and the US. THis does NOT help the average Jew in Israel
hydrogen is just a way to keep the alternative to gasoline 5 years away.
Oh, and I forgot the other thing on the plan we need in my "grand solution"
* Political Reform
(including $250 via internet only)
* Truth and Reconciliation commision
(will pardon rep's and lobbyists)...
and help get the TRUTH out about the past 8 years!
and other stuff
And take Newt's so called "SOLUTIONS"
and shove them up his rear!
Sunshine!
I find it incredibly grating...this hypocrite attacks the left every moment he gets but then says we should be less partisan. What a hypocrite. This guy is one of the main people responsible for the current state of extreme partisanship! UGGGGGGGHHH! I hate Fox radio in the morning! My ears are bleeding from all the hypocrisy!
Ab: see my blog (see location)
The Haiku implies a WHOLE lot of reading in between the lines...
Also in the "grand idea" is a six year ONE TIME presidency
the contract on america was a disaster, as evidenced by the shrinking middle class, the increase rates of poverty, people without healthcare, children going hungry, record-breaking foreclosures year after year, etc...
and now we're supposed to take this guy seriously when he tries to tell us how to save the planet. these guys don't understand that the planet will be here with or without us. the point of paying attention to what we're doing is to prevent large scale catastrophies that will destroy their precious economy much faster, and with more devastating effect, than forcing car manufacturers to raise their cafe standards by 10 mpg.
having a microphone and having sound ideas are not the same. we're still being plowed over by the old-boys money network looking out for itself with no concern for the citizens of this country or any other.
All the Republicans seem invoke the Holocaust or WWII when it comes to Iraq / Iran.
Good thread. Nice blogging with y'all. Too bad it took such a person to get the juices flowing.
oh, poor newt has had his sensiblities offended... put the kid gloves back on brian before he starts to cry!
Oh Brian stand up for yourself. Tell him no one appealed the First Amendment yet.
poor NEWT is offended so sad, too bad.
thank you brian
meh
The side of the arguement that mentions Hitler or Holocaust first, loses. eCAHN's rules.
LOL! Finally! Way to go Brian! You revealed the real Newt!
Pathetic! There he is the SAME baby who shut down government when he didn't get his way...gets so offended when asked about the money...when challenged on his hypocrisy.
What an idiot. And then he attackls the left. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Newt...you are a big immature pathetic baby full of nothing but hot air!
Oh Now Newt is indignant, since Brian said
F o l l o w T h e M o n e y
What a bs person and crank
Like Mr. Gingrich, I believe in markets.
Yet, beyond global warming, much of the rationale for changing our energy policy is NATIONAL SECURITY.
If this is true, reducing US consumption of imported petroleum should be reduced by coercion if necessary. It think that $5.00/gallon gasoline (maintained over time in real $ terms), WILL change driver behavior toward lower consumption.
I am sure Mr. Gingrich believed that rasing the "price" of teenage pregnancy by tightening up the welfare system would reduce teenage out-of-wedlock births. If so, he was right.
Also, it's hard to swallow his criticism of "partisanship" in Washington. Is this not the author of the Contract for America? Quel chutzpa!
Brian, stay strong and don't back down when he goes all O'Reilly on you!
$15 general admission for an event at the public library? It seems only people from a certain tax bracket are welcome.
Markets don't solve everything. people need to step away from the immature Ayn Rand rantings...step away....step away....
Ouch. FYI Argument there was, " according your logic then you are morally OK with providing health care advice to the Nazis." Newt scores again before lunch.
I find this faux outrage over BH's questioning of funding links to be disingenuous. G is smarter than that. Perhaps he's pure as the driven snow, but he also knows that money almost always influences positions.
Advertising is the exact reason we were never properly informed on tobacco for 50 years.
The industry's advertising bought at the very least silence. Time, Newsweek, US News--each lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising dollars when they dared to run factual articles their tobacco advertisers didn't like. Other pubs got the point. The result--tobacco and its health effects became a non-issue, buried under threats from pit bulls and sharks.
All that we know about tobacco today we _should_ have known 40 years ago.
Just one example to rebut your ridiculous position that we should not "follow the money."
eCAHNomics
maybe that works on the internet, but unfortunately, republicans have had a lot of political success with comparing people they don't like to nazis (saddam is like hitler, therefore we have to get rid of him, etc.)
Newt, you're such a hypocrite in so many ways, but I wish you and your Republican buddies would learn that it's the media's job to function as cross-examiner of sorts. This means that Brian is absolutely justified in asking you about who provides money to your causes.
When people like Newt scream about a "biased" media, what they really are trying to do is prevent tough questioning that could expose the stupidity of their ideas.
Newt should take tough questioning like a man and just give a straight response. What's funny is he did (eventually) give a response to Brian's questions about the connection between the car companies and Newt Gingrich: the response was, "no, the car companies do not influence me." Now you can disagree over whether the answer was truthful, but conservatives like Newt should learn that giving a straight response to the question is all that's necessary. But Newt should not be whining about how "offensive" it is for him to be asked a valid question on his own biases.
Bottom line: Republicans just want people to shut up and fall in line.
meh
I said it was my rule. The last time anyone paid any attention to my rule was: never. (And that particularly includes my wingnut son.)
Brian got his but kicked by Newt when he said he takes money from big polluters when in fact Brian had no PROOF to that fact.
Hey Brian maybe you should do your homework before you ask a question.
Butt kicked? Funny...I guess we were listening to another show. Newt sounded like a big baby who was overly-sensitive...probably for a REASON
Brian had no proof or basis for his question.
All Brian did was say Next took money from the auto industry.
Then Brian was rattled and backed off
Where was the proof of Brian's accusation.
I'm not a Fan of Newt's but Brian has to know what he's talking about.
Yes, Brian was probably talking about the big businesses that have traditionally been so recalcitrant about buying policies that have gotten us into this environmental mess--energy, oil, auto.
Newt was obviously well-prepared--probably has had the question put to him for years. And now uses it to trash "liberal" media.
But yes, BH wasn't prepared to be called on it, probably counting on its common-sense acceptance, and not expecting Newt to get all "How dare you?" feudal on him.
So he didn't have all his ducks in a row this time. He will.
Just a heads up:
Several comments have been edited or removed because they were not directly pertinent to this segment, used profanity, or simply took an uncivil tone.
Thanks to those (the vast vast majority) who provided constructive insight, and thank you for tuning in.
BL Show
BL Producer,
I fail to see why my "correction" of the book title violated your rules. Perhaps you could explain, for future reference. Is sarcasm forbidden?
On hearing the book title, I thought it pretty nervy of Gingrich to continue use of that "Contract with" phrase, as it was such a big issue in 1994, with so many people talking about "The Contract ON (instead of with) America."
I don't remember the rest of eCAHN's post, or its tone, but that part seemed perfectly legit in this context. Which was why I didn't mention it myself.
Thanks Gene. As a snark, I thought it was pretty mild & pretty obvious.
eCAHNomics -
Perhaps this was another example of email's (and comments') difficulty in conveying sarcasm. The comment read to us as a pretty straightforward correction, not a sarcastic "correction." So the comment was removed, as there wasn't, in fact, a typo.
Sarcasm is by no means forbidden. It just doesn't always shine through. Sorry to have missed it.
BL Show
BL Producer
All is forgiven. Guess I'll put in a snark alert next time. It never occurred to me anyone could interpret it as a serious correction. *Smiling
Brian, it sure took you long enough to get around to challenging him. I thought there was a good opening when he said all that garbage about more conversation across party lines. Why not point out that his chanting "Democrats are insane!" over and over is not exactly healing the nation through constructive dialogue?
On the other hand, since he got so paranoid once you asked about conflicts of interest, I guess I see why you avoided any sticky spots until the end. I wish Gingrich had run so we could have seen him humiliated.
I don't care what you all say, especially you "ab". Newt rocks!
Not.
No one has pointed out yet, so I will- Brian, always the gentleman, knew exactly how to handle Newt. Far from backing down, he prodded exactly as far as he could before Newt actually had a breakdown and stormed out of the studio. I think it was the most revealing interview I have ever heard with Mr. Gingrich. Brian showed how to reveal a side of Newt which the mainstream media should take a cue from. Kudos, Brian.
Please, don't just follow the money, follow the person. Gingrich is a fraud. He went on the Diane Rehm show (WAMU), made his ridiculous (sounds sensible at first)statement and then when the time came to pick the illogic apart, he split. That's right...left her hanging with dead air and stuttering about how he had promised to take listener questions in the next segment and then didn't. He can't stand the light. Bravo Brian for pushing him. Now, enough of Newt...turn off the mic.
This thread is closed.
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