Newt Gingrich Caught in Lie, Almost Kind of Admits It

Remember back when CNN's John King asked Newt Gingrich about his swinger lifestyle and then found himself being gutted like a pig in front of the whole country during a nationally-televised debate? Yeah, I'm sure you might have vague-ish memories of such a thing.

Well, during that exchange, Newt Gingrich made the claim that his campaign offered ABC News multiple sources who could prove that the whole polyamory story was false, but that they refused the exclusive scoop, as news teams are wont to do. A lot of people considered that moment a home run for Gingrich. And it's true; it very likely won him South Carolina.

Though, an equally adroit description of that moment might be total fucking lie…

It takes a big man to outright 100 percent lie directly into a person's face in front of the entire country and then turn around and lie even more so again into another person's face and then eventually kind of have someone in his staff send off  a hastily written email acknowledging maybe some facts might have been incorrectly stated.

Newt Gingrich. He certainly is a big man.

Tags: CNN, Debates, John King, Newt Gingrich, Primaries, Republicans

Quote Unquote: Newt Gingrich on a Candidate's Responsibility

Newt Gingrich on a candidate's responsibility to allow him- or herself to be vetted by the press…

"I think that’s part of his responsibility as a candidate, and I think that's part of what a campaign is about, is to raise question and see whether or not whether or not your competitor can answer them effectively before you get to a general election where you know those questions are going to be asked."

I should have pointed out that that's him during the January 16th debate, discussing his campaign's policy of raising uncomfortable questions concerning Mitt Romney's legal though morally-questionable business practices NOT him during the January 19th debate, discussing John King's decision to ask an uncomfortable question concerning Newt Gingrich's legal though morally-questionable personal relationship practices.

He had a different response to that one.

Tags: Debates, John King, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Primaries, Quote Unquote, Republicans

Rep. John King Wants to Investigate Rupert Murdoch

Wait, what's all this? Conservative congressperson John King (R-NY) wants to investigate Fox News and Wall Street Journal-owner Rupert Murdoch over something 9/11-related.

I don't get it. Murdoch isn't a Muslim, is he?

New York Republican Pete King is calling on the FBI to investigate whether Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation hacked into the voicemail accounts of Sept. 11 victims, calling the allegations of the scandal "disgraceful."

"As I see it, I would expect more things to be coming out over the next several weeks," King told Politico. "And as we approach 9/11, the tenth anniversary, it's even going to get worse."…

A number of Democratic senators are also calling for inquiries into the scandal. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, asked for an investigation on Tuesday into whether American phones were hacked by News Corp. reporters. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) says she supports Rockefeller. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J) wants authorities to look into allegations that News of the World reporters bribed London police for information about the British royal family.

Jeeze! Can you even imagine what would happen if Rupert Murdoch was actually held accountable for something his place in this News of the World scandal (which, oddly enough, isn't getting much play with the New York Post or Fox News) just like any other person would be?

No, me neither.

Can't wait to find out why all of these investigations are unpatriotic wastes of taxpayer money being foisted onto an unwilling public by socialist upstarts. I can't wait! I keep refreshing the Wall Street Journal opinion page, but it's not there yet.

Tags: 9/11, Barbara Boxer, Fox, Frank Lautenberg, House of Representatives, Jay Rockefeller, John King, New York Post, Rupert Murdoch, Senate, Wall Street Journal

Quote Unquote: In the Surveyor's Symbols of Scrutiny

CNN's John King issues an on-air apology for the terrible, terrible language that a guest of his used…

"Before we go to break, I want to make a quick point. We were having a discussion about the Chicago mayoral race. My friend Andy Shaw used the term 'in the crosshairs' in talking about the candidates. We're trying, we're trying to get away from that language. Andy is a good friend, he's covered politics for a long time, but we're trying to get away from that kind of language."

Ugh! Could you possibly come up with a better example of what makes CNN so consistently "Ugh!"-inducing? Way to take an actual thoughtful argument about the way that politics is discussed in our modern media-drenched society and chase it down the  deepest, most absurd hole available.

So, what? A pundit can't even say "in the crosshairs" in passing reference without being shamed on air? Can they say that one candidate is "beating' another in the polls? Or refer to candidates' "war" rooms? Or to a politician "smashing his opponent in the face repeatedly with an iron fist with razor blades glued onto it, oh, and there's also poison on the razor blades"? Is that no longer acceptable parlance?

If so, James Carville is gonna lose a lot of work.

Tags: CNN, James Carville, John King, Quote Unquote, Sarah Palin

Everything You Need to Know About This Whole Shirley Sherrod Debacle, as Told by Someone Who Kind of Understands It Mostly

Here's a quick recap of this Shirley Sherrod story because you get all of your news here on this website for some reason (you should really stop doing that, by the way)…

* The NAACP calls the Tea Party movement out for its obvious, very obvious, super obvious racist strains, and asks it to hold itself accountable.

* Teabaggers respond by being racist (because, really, what else can they do, not be racist?).

* Conservatives get mad at the injustice of it all.

* Seeking retribution, Andrew Breitbart finds footage of Shirley Sherrod — a black woman who is black — making a speech at an NAACP event about how she — many years earlier while working for the USDA in Georgia — overcame some racist prejudices to help a white couple save their farm from bankruptcy, and in doing so learned some very valuable lessons about race, people and life.

* Andrew Breitbart edits it to make her look like a racist black racist.

* Everybody freaks the fuck out and calls for this horrible black racist monster woman's head to be chopped off and then fired.

* The Obama administration — being the brave and noble warriors for justice that they are — demands Shirley Sherrod's resignation.

* The portrait in Andrew Breitbart's attic grows a bit more gnarled and horrific.

* Even Glenn Beck takes a break from being the worst to be momentarily reasonable about this.

* The farmers — whose farm Shirley Sherrod helped save years earlier — are all like, WTF?

* Andrew Breitbart goes on CNN to blow everybody's mind: How do we know these farmers are actual real farmers and not just actors hired by Shirley Sherrod to save her shitty government job? Whoa! We're through the looking glass, people! There is no Spoon(er).

* The White House grows a pair of balls. Kind of.

And that's pretty much it so far. If you haven't drank all the Drano by this point, you're probably in the clear. Go about your day and try not to say anything that can be edited by Andrew Breitbart to sound like you're a racist black woman.

Tags: Andrew Breitbart, Barack Obama, CNN, John King, NAACP, Obama Administration, Racism, Shirley Sherrod, Tom Vilsack, White House