Gingrich concluded his statements by insisting black was white, up was down, and crass misrepresentation of the truth was a bold stance for freedom.
If I beat Gingrich about the head with a bat, causing such trauma that he could no longer form connected thoughts, I believe this would actually constitute an improvement in his intelligence, moving as it were from erroneous to no longer erroneous.
this might even be a worse statement, from Pudgy G:
"If you give me any signal in the age of terrorism that you're a terrorist, I'd say the burden of proof was on you," Gingrich said.
2: I've always put Gingrich in the "mendacious" rather than "stupid" camp. I bet he knows that what he is saying makes no sense, and feels it is to his political advantage to live in a world where rationality does not hold sway.
I would support Gingrich in the primary if and only if he promised to let Jim MacDonald provide an official rebuttal to every campaign speech. That thar's good eatin'.
Oh, Gingrich isn't stupid at all. He's probably the smartest Republican in the field. He knows exactly what he's saying and why he's saying it.
I love it! My favorite part is the word pretending -- it seems he's not even interested in disguising the fact that "arrested and prosecuted for pretending to be terrorists"="arrested and prosecuted for being muslims".
Gingrich is not genuinely stupid, but he he is genuinely nutty. What would be great about him as a nominee is that he's not very convincing at being Just Folks, and he has a PhD, so there's some narrative payback to be had.
Do we need to pass more anti-pretending laws in order to continue the fight on terror?
On the other hand, I'm not entirely convinced that the imams were not being a bit deliberately provocative.
It's amazing that Newt managed to get through a PhD program without becoming a total brainwashed liberal.
Smart, yes, but not as smart as he thinks he is. Such people are dangerous.
(No particular opinion on just how smart the guy actually is, but he's not the smartest guy who ever lived and therefore can't possibly be as smart as he thinks he is.)
I'm going to have you all arrested for being pretend friends.
From the original article:
suspicious behavior, which included reports they prayed before the flight and had sat in the same seats as the Sept. 11 hijackers.In consideration of the overall level of foolishness in that situation, I'm betting that by "the same seats as the Sept. 11 hijackers," they mean "aisle seats".
He's not Hegel or anything but IQ-wise he's pretty above average for the contemporary republican party.
So what's worse, someone who says awful stuff and pretends to be dumb (see also, Instapundit)? Or someone who is a true idiot like say George Allen?
Shows what YOU know, Matt. It was the exact same plane as the one used in the 9/11 attacks and they deliberately picked the exact same seats...
um.
Actually, what it is that all flights now have designated 9/11 memorial seats and designated 9/11 pretend terrorist seats. The attendants talk about it before the flight, along with the stuff about safety belts. That'll show you for not paying attention! Anyone sitting in the designated pretend terrorist seats is advised that they may in fact be regarded as a terrorist at any time that the air marshals on board get bored or at any time that you may appear to be in any sense Muslim.
He's not Hegel or anything but IQ-wise he's pretty above average for the contemporary republican party.
Which would put him at what, maybe the 60th percentile for the population as a whole?
He's re-defining the fringe. If he's outrageous and totally out of bounds, then Sam Brownback or whatever nutjob the wingnuts settle on as their candidate of choice ought to seem moderate and relatively sane.
A real genius. Like Val Kilmer in that movie with all the microwave popcorn.
He's not Hegel or anything but IQ-wise he's pretty above average for the contemporary republican party.
Which would put him at what, maybe the 60th percentile for the population as a whole?
The 60th percentile is above average.
Is a terror seat like an emergency exit seat? I don't remember being told that, in the event of terror, I would be required to charge the cockpit. I guess I've been lucky enough not to have that row.
Would it be conciliatory or provocative to replace a turbin with a towel?
19: Yes, but marginally. And if the big-time Republican smart guy is just above average for the population as a whole, where does that put most of the Republicans? (Cross-posted at SB's blog)
Maybe Gingrich was suggesting that we should pretend to arrest these guys for being pretend terrorists. If we don't, the pretend terrorists will pretend to have won.
Ah, they were mistaken for terrorists, therefore they must have been pretending to be terrorists. Modern conservatism really is dedicated to the proposition that objective reality doesn't exist, no?