Bizarre, Politics

Gingrich Accused Of Violating 12th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Speak Ill Of Reagan

While Nancy Pelosi continues to warn Republicans not to nominate Newt Gingrich (which is being used by the Romney camp this week), the Republican establishment is doing a full court press against Gingrich. That has led to some curious moments like Ann Coulter denouncing Gingrich for “hotheaded arrogance”. However, the strangest came from Elliott Abrams who accused Gingrich of the greatest sin of a Republican. No it is not endorsing torture or promising to renew the Iraqi War or even wiping out the separation of church and state. It is the unspeakable act of criticizing Ronald Reagan. Reagan famously handed down the 11th Commandment “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” However, that is merely a venal not the mortal sin of violating the 12th Commandment, “Thou shalt not speak ill of Reagan.”

Republican leadership is calling out ranking establishment figures to question everything from Gingrich’s electability to his morality to secure the nomination for Romney. Elliott Abrams, however, shows how deep they are going in the GOP bench. You may recall Abrams from a little criminal affair called the Iran-Contra scandal. Abrams ultimately pleaded guilty to crimes of withholding information from Congress which included two years probation. He was then pardoned by President George H. W. Bush, in December 1992. Then on February 5, 1997, Abrams was censured by the D.C. Court of Appeals publicly for giving false testimony on three occasions before congressional committees. At the time, three judges wanted to not just impose the censure but to suspend him from practice.

As previously discussed in a column, many of these dark figures from the Reagan years were brought back into government by President George W. Bush, an early indication of the Administration’s approach to the rule of law. Abrams considers himself so rehabilitated in the public eye that he feels entirely comfortable in denouncing Gingrich for statements against Reagan that include criticism over . . . yes guessed it . . . Iran-Contra.

Abrams offers a rather cheerful account of his role, which led to his criminal plea. He accuses Gingrich of saying mean things about Reagan and “predicting that Reagan’s policies would fail, and in all of this he was dead wrong.” Of course, Iran-Contra was not exactly a roaring success.

Yet, Abrams notes that he and others were fighting “vicious criticism from leading Democrats — Ted Kennedy, Christopher Dodd, Jim Wright, Tip O’Neill, and many more — who used every trick in the book to stop Reagan by denying authorities and funds to these efforts.” You may recall that Congress limited funds to the Contras through the Boland Amendment. Abrams notes the Gingrich did in fact vote for the Administration, but said negative things about Reagan. His “best” example was on March 21, 1986.

“This was right in the middle of the fight over funding for the Nicaraguan contras; the money had been cut off by Congress in 1985, though Reagan got $100 million for this cause in 1986. Here is Gingrich: ‘Measured against the scale and momentum of the Soviet empire’s challenge, the Reagan administration has failed, is failing, and without a dramatic change in strategy will continue to fail. . . . President Reagan is clearly failing.’ Why? This was due partly to ‘his administration’s weak policies, which are inadequate and will ultimately fail’; partly to CIA, State, and Defense, which ‘have no strategies to defeat the empire.’ But of course ‘the burden of this failure frankly must be placed first on President Reagan.’ Our efforts against the Communists in the Third World were ‘pathetically incompetent,’ so those anti-Communist members of Congress who questioned the $100 million Reagan sought for the Nicaraguan ‘contra’ rebels ‘are fundamentally right.’

So, Gingrich is unacceptable because he criticized a criminal conspiracy that ultimately landed the Reagan administration into a quagmire of criminal investigations and convictions, including Abrams’ own admission of criminal conduct. This is a lot like a bank robber singling out a witness as unreliable and disrespectful for not remaining silent.

I previously called Abrams part of the Bush Bada Bing club – men who earned their bones by showing their willingness to violate the law. I am no fan of Gingrich, but this pile on is becoming truly Felliniesque.

Next I am waiting for James Watt to come out with his anti-Gingrich column on how Gingrich was not sufficiently supportive of his efforts to influence peddle at the Department of Housing and Urban Development — leaving to his own guilty plea.

It is hard to see how a Republican can purge himself of having spoken ill of the Gipper. The secret purging ceremony has only been witnessed by the Republican National Committee members. It involves the Souix ritual of having one’s pectoral muscles pierced and eagle’s talons are drawn through the wounds and tied to leather thongs from which the Republican hangs until purified. That may take a bit longer for Gingrich . . . at least until after the Florida primary.

Update: Other Republicans are now challenging Abrams on his account.

Source: National Review

58 thoughts on “Gingrich Accused Of Violating 12th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Speak Ill Of Reagan”

  1. Pingback: Roger Fredinburg — Republicans in Congress are Spineless Cowards « ~ BLOGGER.GUNNY.G.1984+. ~ (BLOG & EMAIL)

  2. Off Topic–but about Newt Gingrich:

    Newt Gingrich Robocall: Mitt Romney Forced Holocaust Survivors To Eat Non-Kosher Food
    By Amanda Terkel
    Posted: 1/31/12 12:00 PM
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/31/newt-gingrich-robocall-mitt-romney_n_1244284.html

    Excerpt:
    LAKELAND, Fla. — The Newt Gingrich campaign has a robocall out in Florida claiming that Mitt Romney once took kosher food away from Holocaust survivors.

    The allegation made in the call, obtained by anti-robocall activist Shaun Dakin, is undoubtedly targeted at Florida’s large Jewish and elderly populations.

    The text of the call:

    “As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney vetoed a bill paying for kosher food for our seniors in nursing homes. Holocaust survivors, who for the first time, were forced to eat non-kosher, because Romney thought $5 was too much to pay for our grandparents to eat kosher. Where is Mitt Romney’s compassion for our seniors? Tuesday you can end Mitt Romney’s hypocrisy on religious freedom, with a vote for Newt Gingrich. Paid for by Newt 2012.”

    The call is referencing Romney’s veto of a 2003 bill. It came at a time that some nursing homes were considering eliminating their kosher kitchens during a period of budget cuts. Their plan was to instead bus in kosher food from other locations. The bill Romney vetoed would have given an additional $600,000 in funding to nursing homes, therefore making it possible for them to continue cooking kosher food on site.

  3. Swarthmore mom, This link is probably as good as we are gonna get as to proof of Ole Ron’s knowledge of the published comments. It doesn’t change anything for me, since I knew already he was trying to dismiss the whole thing by “lying”. Oh no, a career politician lying to the American public! They wouldn’t do that would they?…..Ron does have some grandiose ideas though, that actually make sense. Leave the usage of illegal drugs up to individuals and let the morgues and God sort them out. If people are too stupid to control their addictions and habits without Gov. oversight, then let the chips fall where they may. We would see a spike in the economy when the dust settles, since most of the drug related crime would come to a screeching halt. Population decrease immediately. Less work and expense for our strained law enforcement. Less prison overcrowding. No taxpayer funding for treatment of coke and heroin addicts. A big increase in jobs for mortuaries and the funeral home business. etc.,etc.

  5. Neuter is running himself off the rails on his “crazy” train. Even if I were, hardcore repub, I’d vote for anyone but Newt. This guy is up to his armpits in lies about his past. All the way back to Ronnie “cowpoke” Reagan; whom, by the way, started the whole banking debacle by pushing deregulation of that industry down the throats of Americans. Some heroe he turned out to be.

  7. Detroit Democrats told to vote for Ron Paul in GOP primary

    They wore Obama T-shirts and draped a banner calling for the re-election of President Barack Obama.

    But a couple hundred Detroit Democrats got a bit of a conflicting message Thursday evening at Triumph Baptist Church in Detroit.

    At a rally for Obama’s re-election, they were told to vote for U.S. Rep. Ron Paul for president at the Feb. 28 presidential primary.

    http://www.freep.com/article/20120127/NEWS05/201270475/Detroit-Democrats-told-to-vote-for-Ron-Paul-in-GOP-primary

    Michigan was able to thwart a Bush Victory when the Democrats voted for McCain….

  10. enibob,

    Let’s hear more from Neil Gallagher … the FBI DC who shut down the investigation … oh yeah, let’s hear a lot more from him and everybody he asked for advice.

  15. Mike Appleton,

    “Mr. Gingrich has adopted the notion of the political campaign as personal vendetta. He wants to make his former congressional colleagues regret that they stripped him of power. He has Machiavellian values, but lacks Machiavellian discipline. His train is now moving at such high speed that it is bound to miss one of the curves.”

    Excellent analysis … good enough to be repeated.

    1. Mike A.,

      Damn, I wish I thought of that, I of course didn’t, but it makes so much sense as to be most probably the truth.

  16. Professor: You are possibly absolutely wrong. Sins are mortal or venial, not “venal” (sic), although of course a venial sin could also be venal, depending on the facts. The difference, by the way, is that for a sin to be mortal, it must contain: a. grevious matter, b. sufficient reflection, and c. full consent of the will. In Newt’s case, perhaps b. is inoperative. I’m at the stage where my memory of grammar school is stronger than that of law school.

  17. Mike,

    I have learned over the years to repeat back to people what they say….and it is interesting that some people will not realize what they have said until it is repeated back to them….and Newt is a prime example of this….But, as you pointed out…He has to get even….It makes perfect sense….

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