The Shock of the Newt

Newt Gingrich -- nothing if not opportunistic, and never one to decline an invitation to pontificate -- gives Bill O'Reilly a serious warning. Can you guess the danger about which Gingrich is so desperately concerned?

GINGRICH: Look, I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion. And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you have to confront the fact. And, frank -- for that matter, if you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism, you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they're the opposite, of what you're taught in Sunday school.

This, remember, is in response to O'Reilly's recitation of a string of unspeakable, or maybe semi-speakable, atrocities: a woman "getting a cross smashed out of her hand," a church "invaded" by gay activists, a man being fired. If you had Bill O'Reilly's delicate sensibility you'd think it presaged the collapse of civilization, too.

So Newt bravely sounds the alarm. For what is it that these "secular extremists" are "prepared to use violence" to attain? For what is it that they are "prepared to use the government" to impose on the Sunday-school-going rest of us? Forced socialization of the means of production? Universal imposition of atheism? Criminalization of Judeo-Islamo-Christian forms of monotheistic worship?

They want to get married.

And not even to us (which would be awkward, embarrassing, and in many cases bigamous, however much of an opportunity it would offer to... you know...those types to plan a wedding, "help" the caterer, and pick out flower arrangements). They want to get married to each other.

There are several things to behold with wonder in this quote from the man whom the Saturday Evening Post, if it existed, would call "either out of his mind or a calculating liar." One is the explicit encouragement it offers, to religious bigots and other troglodytes, to regard "secular" (i.e., real world) society as its enemy and as a threat to its existence.

Yes, Newt "I'm A Teacher" Gingrich is saying, the fact that gays and lesbians want to get married to each other means that they want to destroy everybody else's marriages, beliefs, institutions, and lives.

At least, this quote seems to suggest that. It's hard to be sure. When Gingrich says, "If you believe in historic Christianity," what--in his quasi-professorial, semi-erudite, pompous-nudnik way -- is he saying? What does "historic Christianity" mean? Is he alluding to a belief in Christianity's existence, as one does or doesn't believe in Santa Claus as existing historically?

Same with "If you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism." How are we to pass the quiz if the lecture is so unclear?

These questions have a two-part answer:

ONE: It doesn't matter what he means. He's the same intellectually vain gasbag he was back when Clinton was in office.

TWO: He really does (probably) mean, If you're a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Jew. But he tacks the words "the historic version" onto it to remind Bill-O and the rest of us that he, Prof. Gingrich, is a professor. Or whatever he is.

So much for the messenger's semantics. What about the message?

The message is beneath contempt, and is a sort of demagoguery-lite intended to keep the Newtmeister's stock as high as he can manage among the foamingly self-righteous and the devoutly, proudly stupid. If he really believes that gays campaigning for the right to marry are "a very dangerous threat" to straight society, then either he doesn't know any gays, or he doesn't know any straight people.

If he really perceives gays and lesbians as a monolithic, radical political force bent on the destruction of all the "values" he and his credulous followers hold dear; and if he thinks that no gay or lesbian is a practicing Christian, Muslim, or Jew, then he's every bit as provincial and ignorant as the people he purports to instruct.

But I don't think he believes those things. I think he's just peddling the same hard-right "culture war" baloney he's been selling since he arrived, with Whoopie Cushions blaring, on the national scene back in whenever-it-was.

After all, what else does he have to get excited about? His president, his party, his pals, and his policies have been beaten with the strap and sent to their room. Appeals to the twelve sane, intelligent Republicans across the land went unheeded. Ten of them voted for Obama and the other two stayed home and, like sensible conservatives, drank heavily.

So Newt pushes "I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country." Never mind what "fascism" really means, or that conflating "gay" and "secular" is at best sloppy and at worst dishonest. Never mind that the implicit content of this little aria is, as he knows full well, a signal to the army of the pious, that "the fags are out to destroy you. Better get 'em first."

Oh, and never, ever mind the fact that it's that constituency, the religious right, who for years (read: centuries) has sought, with maximum self-righteousness, to impose their "series of values" on everyone else. From the Inquisition to the Salem witch trials, from Prohibition to the "pro-life" clinic bombings, from the 2004 platform of the Texas Republican Party ("The Republican Party of Texas affirms the United States of America is a Christian Nation ...") to the Mormons' financial onslaught in favor of California's Proposition 8: when you're looking for a group of good, decent folk that wants to "impose its will on the rest of us," look nor further than the corner church.

Of course, it's possible that Newt Gingrich really does believe the proposition that the more gays are able to marry, the less straight people will want to do so. How's that for comedy gold? "I do love you. And I do want to get married. But two guys in Encino did last week, so forget it."

Memo to Gingrich: How about walking the walk, bro? They just legalized gay marriage in Connecticut. When are you going to file for divorce? On principle.

Cross-posted at What HE Said

Comments

[LMPE]

Fundamentalist Christianity - at least the type espoused by Newt - doesn't believe in evolution. The existence of ignorant people like Newt make me question the theory. He's an embarrassment to humanity.

[caterpol]

Let's be clear.

Newt and his ilk are used to winning with the Xtian values argument where they successfully legislate against---not to mention marginalize-----those Americans they deem unworthy of acceptance in polite society. They are now watching, horrified, as their neighbors move toward accepting minorities as full citizens, deserving of equal, rather than separate, rights under the law.

And as the X-tian values argument becomes less convincing, they resort to casting themselves as victims; good folks who are being forced to abandon their historical, traditional values of the great white patriarchy.

But, obviously, no one can force anyone to replace their personal values for that of another. When gay marriage passes, Newt will still be free to chastize his neighbor's for their lack of morality; he'll still be free to marry and divorce his partner/s of choice; and he'll still be free to sermonize how the terrible secularists took away his ability to enact what's best for his neighbors.

[FirstShirt]

I am a conservative republican out of the Goldwater mold, I guess.

Government has no business in the bedroom, or the library or the Internet. Except to protect the innocent and those who cannot protect themselves from abuse. GOVERN for goodness sake. Protect our pensions, make sure we are safe from attack on our country, do what needs to be done for the economy but if companies are run so poorly they fail....let them. They have a right to fail.

If you want to get married, God bless you and go do it. Who cares? I don't believe in abortion but it is the woman's body and she should be left to her own decisions. Gays have served in the military. GET OVER IT!

We have elected the first black President. I didn't vote for him but I cherish our country for electing him.

[kjstjohn]

You're alright, FirstShirt. I think I kinda like Goldwater Rebublicans. Don't know many here in Geotgia, though.

[research]

Just more GOP

Bold Lies and Projection.

The homophobes are afraid the gays will fruit the whole marriage thing up.

Rainbow dress on the husband, etc...

They hate it when straights do any weird stuff at their weddings,

All weddings should be black and white and formal.

It's tradition.

It won't just be out of sight either. It will end up on TV, in newspapers and books. You won't be able to escape it.

It will taint their beautiful minds.

Since they can't escape see it, it's being "forced" on them.

Thus they project their desire to control everyone's apperance and behaviourr, onto free people.

[BottomLine2008]

Why take Newt any more seriously than Joe the Plumber?

[sparkle44]

Spare me from Newt and all his pontificating about the "historical christianity" nonesense. Mr Gingrich my son who is 19 has been around gay family members and friends his whole life and doesnt' think any less of them for it. In fact being gay makes about as much difference to this generation as being tall, short, skinny, fat and on and on. The problem you will come face to face with in the very near future is that the current generation of new voters doesn't look at the world with the same narrow, hateful view as yourself. They have had the luxury of instant communication with a whole world of people of differing perspectives, making them the generation most open to change and progress. So keep clinging to your outdated way of thinking it will only make you more irrelevant than you are now.

[RoveRoveRoveYourBoat]

...he knows lindsey graham

[KidSampson]

"...that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they're the opposite, of what you're taught in Sunday school."

If Newt had a solid understanding of either the practice of Christianity or its history, he would realize that a Christian cannot be forced to accept anything antithetical to conscience. Since the time of Jesus, Christians have been able to render unto God the things that are God's while rendering until Caesar the things that are Caesar's. As a result, Christianity throve in the midst of gladiatorial combats, mass executions, widespread infanticide, barbarian invasions, faddish foreign cults, and all sorts of other influences that are not only the opposite of what is taught in Sunday School, but that ought, by his feeble reckoning, to have destroyed Christianity altogether.

[montemalone]

The real question is: Why are amphibians allowed to marry, and divorce, and marry again?

[Dan4Equality]

We have got to get our national leadership - and I'm not talking about our gay leadership - to decry this kind of nonsense. It is spreading fast - I heard it frightening things all across my FM dial yesterday. The right wing is going to stirring up anti-gay sentiment and it is going to get ugly fast.

It's probably also time to start working on strategy for winning people's hearts and minds - we will not achieve equality without doing that.

[wolfmanman]

Strange that this man would so strongly advocate a Christian Theocracy, considering that he would likely be serving jail time in such a society with all of the divorces and affairs and whatnot...

[JailNeoconVicts]

Gingrich, who cheated on his own wife and seems to have no problem with divorce--the actual destruction of a marriage--is, as usual, a flaming hypocrite.

[dwedge]

Well, it appears Americans have lost their way and we are confused about how we get back on the moral track. Why don't we find some ex-Congressman who used to take his girlfriend with him on Govrnment Trips and get the Taxpayers to pay for it? (Of course, he was married at the time, so he had to get her a job for cover.) Who better to lead us out of the Wilderness. If he's too busy, maybe we could ask Joe the Plumber?

[ttinglum]

Hasn't Newt Gingrich been married a gazillion times? If anyone should be prohibited from marrying, it should be him.

[goodasitgets]

How did he ever find anyone of the opposite sex that would marry him?

[zizyphus]

Newt has a gay sister, one would think he would have compassion for the struggles of of the GLBT community, but no. Ideology is everything for the newt.

[fetchezlavache]

A newt is a little slimy amphibian, and the fact that Gingrich shares a name with it is an insult to the amphibian.

[wildflowermaven]

Yes I would think so too. I wonder what he says to her across the Thanksgiving table, or does he separate his general bigotry --ie you're okay, its those öther" people who are dangerous.