Gingrich Rails At Supreme Court, Obama: 'This Could Cost Us A City'

Reacting to the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States of America - who recently affirmed, by 5-4 decision, our Constitutional rights of due process of law, accorded by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America - former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich came visibly unglued, and called the decision the worst since Dred Scott.

[WATCH.]

GINGRICH: I will say, I think the recent Supreme Court decision to turn over to a local district judge decisions of national security and life and death that should be made by the president and the congress is the most extraordinarily arrogant and destructive decision the Supreme Court has made in it's history.

REID: In it's history?

GINGRICH: In it's history. Worse than Dred Scott, for the following reason: The court has now knowingly stepped in, this morning's newspaper say, smugglers had actually gotten the design of a nuclear weapon, that we now have the evidence that people out there had a nuclear weapon design. And this court is saying that any random district judge, based on whatever their personal caprice is, whatever their personal ideological bias, can intervene with a terrorist in such a way.

Gingrich went on to slam Obama for supporting the decision. "The problem with Obama is that he's wrong...He applauded this court decision. This court decision is a disaster and it could cost us a city." Then Gingrich referred to district judges - all of them! - as "nutcake."

Naturally, it's Gingrich, and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who are nutcake, and I wonder if I can sum up why that is any better then the headline of a recent post on Jezebel: "According to Scalia, People Only Get Rights When There's Nothing At Stake." Nope! Turns out I could not have possibly said it better!

Comments

[Nonamnesiac]

Gingrich, Cheney, Bush, those who claim we should not immediately, safely withdraw all US troops and contractors from Iraq have turned the US from the home of the brave to the home of the cowards by pushing their feamonering. These people convinced the American people to fear a country, Iraq, that was 1/11th our number, 1/1000 of our military and economy and to sacrifice thousands of young Americans killed and tens of thousands maimed out of fear of this weak country. The insurgents have no air force, no navy, no body armor, no bunker busters and Americans are terrifed of them and Iran. We have a fleet, the 6th Fleet right off Iraq's and Iran's coast that's far more powerful than both oft their militaries combined. And yet Gingrich, Bush and company argue with a straght face that we should give up massive civil liberties out of fear of them.

There is NOTHING to FEAR from either of them or both of them combined except higher gas prices, more dead and maimed young Americans and the collapse of our economy and the hard hostility of the rest of the world because of our being a cowardly bully of a natio if we don't get all of our troops and contractors out now, now, safely for our troops.

[DocJerome]

True that.

[provgrays]

Please.

Just say, "That's true."

[pfc1369]

In Nazi Germany they also had a great intellectual named Alfred Rosenberg.

This Rosenberg wrote a very long book called "The Myth of the Twentith Century" which was even more turgid and unreadable than
"Mein Kampf."

It took him 900 pages to say (in German, of course), "We're #1!

Gingrich is in this tradition.

[skibum49]

But German has really long words (smiles)!

An example: Rindfleisc­hetikettie­rungsüberw­achungsauf­gabenübert­ragungsges­etz



It refers to a "law for regulating the labeling of beef"

[armadillious2002]

Why is it that many times the people who attain power are exactly the ones who should never have it. Newt is the prime example.

[southernfried]

hold up, this guy said,
"This court decision is a disaster and it could cost us a city"
- but yet we spending 10 - 12 million dollars a month in iraq, get out of here

[GOP4MoreTears]

Newt is not *ONLY* a big part of our problems, but is the "Poster Boy" for the exact cause of the problems We (all of us) have to face, due to his, and his ilk's constant neuropathic obfuscations.

[angelwax]

I think what really is P O ing the far right is this ruling came from their own hand picked "conservative court". Maybe there are things judges will not do to the constitution. Hats off to having a backbone.

[sawdustinhershoes]

Not really. The only reason the ruling went the way it did was because of Justice Kennedy. It was a 4 to 5 ruling. Bush's picks are nothing but neocons. They show it time and time again. That's why it's so important not to let another REpuglikin become president.

[gorgol]

Bush and friends opened up the Gate of Hell, and Republicans are saying we have to give up our Constitution to close it. WELL< ISN"T THAT CONVENIENT. I can just imagine "Newts" view of the future, where Americans will be dragged from their homes in the middle of the night, taken away and never seen again...as the rest of us look out from behind our curtains..­and say.."well­, they must have done something wrong..or else this wouldn't have happened". And we'll be back to Nazi Germany, in fear, thinking only Republicans can keep us safe. Can it happen here?? IT IS HAPPENING HERE!!!!

[Phil123]

Enemy combatants are not entitled to our own "Constitutional Rights." To assume that this is true, and then to equate the current state of our nation with Nazi Germany is absurd, and was either thrown out by you as hyperbole (and for what?), or it belies a shocking ignorance of our Constitution, and of world history.

Gingrich is absolutely right. What they have done this time is outright dangerous, and they have likely overstepped any reasoned interpretation of Constitutional law in reaching this decision.

This is exactly why we need originalist judges on the Supreme Court. If our legal system is broken, it's because of activist judges; not the Bush administration. (Not that I am a fan of the Bush administration, but I do give them credit for having done some things correctly.­)

Deciding what to do with enemy combatants should not be left to the caprice of some random local judge.

[Darsan54]

Enemy combatants was a term of choice by the administration to get past such pesky protocols like the Geneva Conventions. All these problems would have been avoided had the Gitmo captives been declared POWs. But Bush and Company wants it their way and their way alone.

[thizzkid]

Any Human detaidned by USA and is being held on USA territory ie Gitmo is subject to US law . Article 1 section 9 Us Constitution check it out before u agree to say its just a damm peice of paper

[bhenry112]

Even "enemy combatants" should have a chance to prove they are NOT "enemy combatants". Some of them were goatherds and farmers who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Others were denounced by jealous neighbors, etc. Now they have been held for SIX YEARS without anyone demonstrating they were "enemy combatants" at all!
And using the phrase "random local judges" makes one think of Sherriff Andy Taylor who was JP in Mayberry. We're talking about Federal District Court justices.

[thebirdstheword]

what, phil- is the rest of the world too good for our Constitution? I'm under the impression that we have the best form of government in the world. Shouldn't that be good enough to apply to all?

You must be a marxist.

[RoloTomassi]

"Not that I am a fan of the Bush administration, but I do give them credit for having done some things correctly.­"

That statement alone defines your credibility on this issue: ZERO.

[The 13 Colonies]

Newt is living proof that dinosaurs still roam the Earth.

[buzzy]

That is so funny. What a wit....ver­y good.

[LAR1969]

Thus proving the ever-popular Flintstones documentary correct - man and dinosaur DID live side by side. Wilma!

[Harrygton]

This is an intellectual? Germany too, closed her eyes to the horrors in its mids in the name of "Nationali­sm"... is America to do the same? We have done just that for almost eight years! This man is nothing but a purveyor of fear, suffering from the same socio pathology that afflicts ALL the Necons desperately looking for America's First Reich!

Time to return America to its true root and destiny as a beacon of Freedom, Hope and Reason in a Wold where Brutality and Idiology Reign!

Obama 08 for Truth in Government!

[nice2blucky]

If only Adolf Hitler were on the U.S. Supreme Court instead of Anthony Kennedy.

Zen ve vould be safe.

[heal57]

Scalia could be called Adolf as far as I'm concerned.

[nellie]

Or Archie Bunker.

[mm29464]

Is Newt fricking serious? I thought he was supposed to be the intellectual of Republicans. All the court did was support habeas corpus--the foundation of our legal and political system. He is just unbelievable demagoguing an issue and not even doing it well. He says in his hypothetical about nuke wielding terrorists, "we now have the evidence that people out there had a nuclear weapon design". The key word is "evidence". If we had evidence, nothing the court has done would impact how the terrorists would be dealt with; to suggest otherwise is simply wrong. Evidence is habeas corpus. duh.

And to state that a ruling upholding such a foundational right is "the most extraordinarily arrogant and destructive decision the Supreme Court has made in it's history" just about leaves me speechless in its wrong-headedness.

I think it is time for the professor to go back to school.

[Wingit]

The Republicans attack on the Constitiution through fear tactics will not work this time around. It is better to die or lose a city than to lose the Constitiustion of this country. Without a Copnstitiution we have nothing. Too bad Gingrich is too dumb or too unpatriotic to undertsnad that.

[Thorn2008]

amen

[debrouillard]

You are right,in Newt comparison if a city could be lost to safe guard habeas Corpus,then its a price worth paying,because the dead of harbeas Corpus id the dead of the entie USA and possibly a considerate propotion of the world.

[eyesopenwide]

Newt and his neocon fearmongers are obviously trying to appeal to their base--the ignorant and uneducated.

[ez14livin]

i wouldn't consider newt the 'brain of the GOP'.... considering he comes from one (if not the only) town in america that requires gun ownership for residency.­.. yeee hawww by newt's kennesaw logic, all it takes for safety is a loaded gun; and by that standard, iraq should be the safest country in the world, since the US has given every citizen and his brother an uzi - or does that just mean that they are right to be shooting at us for an unlawful homeland invasion?

where exactly did you earn your military credentials, newt?

anytime he opens his mouth, he should be shouted down for his hard on to impeach clinton while he was conducting his own extramarital escapade: HYPOCRETIN

stay in the classroom professor newt, where you can try to warp the young minds all you want (not that anyone believes you even there, but at least they know that all they have to do is regurgitate your inane positions to stroke your ego and get the grade to move on to reality)

[Bettysdad]

"intellectual of Republicans?"

Sorta like the "Obese of Sprinters.­"

[Bettysdad]

Hopefully, that city will be in Cobb County.

[GeoLee]

:^)

[JScott]

He just worried because it's the city where he lives. And they know his exact address too I'll bet.

[izAriver]

"The problem with Obama is that he's wrong..."

Wow, insightfully stupid and stupid all at once! What a right-wing extremist automaton!

[HotATL]

"smugglers had actually gotten the design of a nuclear weapon, that we now have the evidence that people out there had a nuclear weapon design" THIS IS THE NOVEMBER SURPISE!!!

I knew that they would come up with something to scare the people. They just played it too soon. Now they will have to come up with something else. :>)

[izAriver]

Stupid creatures. They should be released back into the wild. shootemintheface cheney will take care of the rest.

[writeaway]

One of Tom Clancy's books had basically a desgn for a nuclear weapon, facts he got from reading readily available information. However its one thing to have design or a blueprint, building one is a whole nother matter. It takes complex equipment to actually make one. Probably much easier to steal one from George's buddy Putin or buy it on the black market.

[egal]

I wonder how Newt missed that all the Intelligence professionals consider these rights-violating imprisonments to have done more harm to the United States' safety in any given month than it has helped in all of its criminal activity?

Oh, wait, that's right--Newt believes that experts have no idea what they're talking about, and only HE knows the truth, no matter the topic. This is why independent forces need to regulate our politician­s...when a Psych Eval is neccessary due to illogic and unreason being so prevalent, it's probably about time to kick somebody out of any random high office they hold.