August 11, 2026

Newt Gingrich and the Art of Not Answering Questions

Mr. Dough Boy was not in full form last night. Not, unless that is, you realized just how doughy and soft his brand of conservative is. Rather, he spent the night looking sour and dour.

And who is Mr. Dough Boy? None other than the only Speaker of the US House of Representatives to ever resign in disgrace, Newt Gingrich.

Let’s stop for a minute, though. We’ll come back to the debate in a minute. Why are we calling him “Doughboy?” I mean, other than that he brought in $25,000 a month while “consulting” Freddie Mac (others might call that lobbying on behalf of…) and because he looks like a Doughboy?

Perhaps we should be calling him the comeback kid, instead. There was a time when he was almost done, when his candidacy was written off, when he went on a cruise to Greece with wife #3 and 13 of his 15 fundraising chairs resign in disgust. Yeah. Less than a year ago, that was. [cont…]

Pew Polls Mormons About Being Mormon.

With the contest for the GOP Presidential nomination leaving the more tolerant American northeast (New Hampshire) and heading back into evangelical territory, Mitt Romney’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint (“LDS” for short) faith (aka “Mormonism” or the “Mormons” in the popular press) is back in the news. The Pew Research Center, in anticipation, has released a new poll on Mormons.

…or rather, of Mormons. As in: how do Mormons see themselves?

I know. Interesting, right? Who doesn’t love a good case of ompholaskepsis? I mean, besides the Kardashian sisters and the Jersey Shore crew? (Yes, I did just manage to get a ten-dollar word in the same line as a reference to the Kardashians and Snooki. There’s got to be some kind of blogger bingo reward for that). [cont…]

Romney wins New Hampshire, demands we offer an “alternative vision.”

We have to offer an alternative vision,” says Romney upon winning New Hampshire and that alternative is a path to a place “where we are lifted up by our desire to succeed, not dragged down by a resentment of success.” In case anyone is forgetting, this election is about the economy, and Mitt’s proving that people want someone who they trust on the economy. [cont…]

What You’ll Never See if You Live in Utah: A Presidential Candidate

What will you never see if you’re a voter in Utah? You’ll never meet the candidates for President, unless you count emails asking for money or phone calls. If you live in New Hampshire, though, or Iowa, or maybe even South Carolina, you might learn something like this: You learn that Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) is awful […]

Nationwide Poll: Most know that Mormons are Christians, but especially Republicans.

Most people consider Mormons–members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–to be Christians, says a new nationwide poll by the Salt Lake Tribune. That’s interesting, and it’s also probably good news to Mitt Romney, whose biggest liability is not the health care reforms he signed as Governor of Massachusetts but his religion.

What’s more interesting, at least to me, is who questions Mormons’ Christianity. It’s not those “crazy” conservatives; rather, it’s the Democrats and Independents.

Why hope for a one-term Obama Presidency relies on this question: can Mitt still beat Newt?

Recently, I’ve been getting calls, texts and emails from my less politically involved friends and family, and they all seem to be asking one question: Is there any hope for Mitt? Or can we expect four more years of Obama after Newt Gingrich gets trounced in the fall? The messages come to me from Texas, […]

from Newt.org: “A Tale of Three Wives…”

Nope, it’s not a story about Newt’s three wives…though I can’t help but wonder who let the story get headline status on Newt’s site. For a guy who has been in three marriages, this kind of headline is more than a bit ironic. Never mind context. (Ironically, it’s not the candidates with polygamy in their […]