All of Al Gore's We Campaign commercials I've seen are about attitudes.  It is especially galling that there's one with Newt Gingrich declaring his support for climate solutions, dating from just before he launched his well-funded "Drill now!" campaign.  I wonder if anybody's asked him how that fits with his "commitment" to reducing CO2 with increased drilling everywhere.

None of these commercials promotes immediately useful practice. The fact that Obama seems to have won the tire gauge battle has led me to reiterate the idea of practical energy commercials to the principals of Energize America and others. Why not an ad that not only promotes proper inflation of tires but also changing oil and air filters, getting a tune-up, keeping the wheels aligned, all those simple things we are supposed to do but generally don’t? You could do that in the same amount of time that you show people pulling Gore’s big switch. What about a commercial that shows exactly how to tighten up a window, add an interior storm, use curtains and valences to reduce heat loss, put on insulating shutters or shades? That would teach people to do something that would help them save energy and money as well as keep them more comfortable this winter.

Drill Here, Drill Now -- But What Are The Oil Companies Planning?

Nationally, Drill Here, Drill Now seems to be the only issue where Republicans are gaining any traction with voters during 2008.  For those who don’t know, Drill Here, Drill Now started on the website www.americansolutions.com.  A couple of mouse clicks on the American Solutions website will take you to a screen with friendly welcome from none other than former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.  

"Congressman, can you explain this John Edwards thing for me?  Why is it, that if a man has an affair, then divorces his wife and marries someone else, this is perfectly OK in American politics.  He can be thought highly of and elected over and over.

This just doesn't seem logical to me.  Can you explain this?"

Is it fair? Every single news show has been focused for hours upon hours on the Edwards affair, which was confirmed today. How much attention have all the networks given to these presidential aspirants? Presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain (affair, divorce), and past and future hopefuls, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (affair, divorce, affair, divorce), and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (divorce, affair, nasty divorce). Together, they form the most maritally challenged crop of the presidential hopeful and ex-hopefuls in American political history. Yet, I have never seen CNN, MSNBC, FOX, ABC, NBC or CBS spend one minute of precious airtime on these three adulterers.

It is 88 days until the election. "8" is supposed to be a lucky number in Chinese culture. Off topic, but how did they get the Olympics?! Anyway, I’ve admitted to my weak math skills in the past, but, last I checked, half of 88 is 44 – as in the 44th President that’ll be elected this year! OOOOOOooooooo!! If I was better at numerology, I could go on with this, but, since I’m not, I won’t.

Today was a self – imposed "mental health" day. I stayed home, slept in, didn’t turn on the television machine or the computer except once, and got some sun. So, Countdown is the first news I’ve seen today!

Finally, at least for the "intro," anyway, an off – topic toast to my parents. Sunday is their 50th wedding anniversary! They poo – pooed a multi – hour "open house" thing in favor of dinner at the same place where my wedding reception was. So, it’ll be my family, my grandmother, assorted aunts, uncles, and cousins, etc. It should be fun, and I may have pictures to share next week!

Let’s wax Countdown for tonight!

As a young Democrat I am deeply conserned by what's been happening in the walls of Congress. In case you don't know what i'm talking about last week right after Congress voted to adjourn for the month, House Republicans (most from the far right of the base) revolted after the lights and TV cameras were turned off because our Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California didn't schedule the vote on off shore drilling before the recess.

F.O.O., I need to warn you that Senator Clinton brings out the worst in me, so some of tonight's diary may seem a little "harsh." I apologize in advance for that. Between her and the news about Mr. Hamdan's sentence and hearing a couple of more interviews with Ron Suskind today, I've been keyed up most of the day. I finally had to turn off NPR and listen to Enya to save what little sanity I had.

It’s 89 days until the election. 89 was a good year. I’m talking 1989 – not 1889; I’m not talking Senator McCentury years here! I graduated from high school in 1989 – on my 18th birthday no less!

Let's count down tonight's Countdown!

Still the face of the House GOP, Newt arrives to save the day:

He led Republicans into government shutdowns in the 1990s, and now, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich indicates his party is seriously considering another shutdown threat to force a vote on offshore oil drilling in September....

Gingrich did attract more camera crews, and he used the opportunity to point to what may be the GOP's next strategy: If Democrats refuse to hold a separate vote on oil drilling, Republicans could try to block the votes needed to keep government running past September 30.

Because that worked so well for them the last time they tried it. Of course, this time they've got a seriously unpopular President in office, but this time he's actually, you know, one of them. Except that even the Bush White House is smart enough to know this is a loser of a cause, and has refused to engage in the theatrics by rejecting calling for a special session of Congress over the issue.

But, by all means, Newt & Co. should try it again. Maybe a repeat of past failures will remind the voters of the good old days of stupid Republican stunts and provide just the kickstart they need to widen the 18 point deficit they've got in polling against the Dems.

Remember back when Georgia Republican Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House and in a game of political one-upsmanship, shut down the federal government...

...Twice.

Well, the former Republican leader was in Washington yesterday where he rallied other Congressional Republicans with his calls for yet another government shutdown if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to block a vote on the Republican-backed energy plan.

Yea, good idea Newt.

It did wonderful things for your career and the GOP last time you pulled this stunt.

He led Republicans into government shutdowns in the 1990s, and now, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich indicates his party is seriously considering another shutdown threat to force a vote on offshore oil drilling in September.

Newt Gingrich was on C-Span this morning going on and on about how 1,400,000 Americans had signed his petition to drill here and drill now. The American People have spoken, he repeated over and over. Christ, there are more millionaires in America than that. Hell, there are more Americans making their living on offshore drilling than that. With over 300,000,000 people in America it means 1/2 of 1% of Americans are behind old Newt. Seeing as how he didn't offer a nay vote on his petition the assumption must be that if you didn't sign it you must be against it. He loses big time by only 286,000,000 signatures. He had fans, though, call in and suggest that both Barack and McCain consider him for VP.  I doubt Barack will be so inclined but I really hope that McCain asks him.  Imagine two adulterers on the same ticket, perfect for the masses of hypocrites to battle their consciences over. Or not.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been all over wingnut websites and TV/radio shows lately gloating that his "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" campaign has the Democrats on the defensive.

He has a column at the Human Events website, titled "The Left is on the run," that is full of GOP triumphalism you rarely see these days.

Here's a taste of his mendacity:

We are winning and the Left is losing the argument over our country's energy future because Americans know that thirty years of their policies has led to the current mess.

(Gingrich has some kind of Southern Ph.D., and Human Events presumably employs copy editors, but none of them caught a basic grammatical error in that sentence.)

As if "the Left" has controlled national energy policy for the past 30 years!?

More Gingrich lies and propaganda below.

From the Wonk Room...

The same old men that propelled George W. Bush into office in 2000 and 2004 are behind Newt Gingrich's multimillion-dollar front group, American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF). ASWF has capitalized on the energy crisis caused by the Bush presidency to promote a "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" campaign. Although the campaign's priorities are just a rebranding of an oil-company agenda, ASWF's well-funded drill-drill-drill message has achieved significant success.

So who is behind ASWF? The key funder is right-wing casino kingpin Sheldon Adelson, who has pumped over $3 million into the organization since its beginning in 2006. Adelson is flanked by 56 other such donors who have given at least $10,000. Donors can give unlimited amounts to this 527 corporation, making it an ideal mechanism for the superrich to influence the presidential season.  In the first of a Wonk Room series, we discuss the seven right-wing billionaires bankrolling this "non-partisan" organization:

A recent UPI poll showed that half the country believes obama would be a good commander-in-chief, still trailing McCain by 24%.

72% of respondents said McCain, the likely Republican presidential candidate, would be good commander-in-chief of the military. By contrast, 48 percent said Obama, McCain's likely Democratic challenger, would be a good commander-in-chief

However, as terence I think correctly comments in the "Obama wins the presidency" diary, "times they are a changing".  And Obama is gaining credibility on the commander in chief and experience front at the same time McCain is being exposed for his poor judgment.

So what will happen next and what does it have to do with the drat Newt movement?  follow me on the flip..

You are the majority. In fact you are a supermajority. You are the mainstream.  You are the center.  

Conservatives are a superminority.  They are extremists.  They can NEVER win on the issues.  They should NEVER hold power again in American politics.  They should not be the 2nd major party nor the 3rd major party.  They should be 4th party gadflies at most.

Don't believe me?  Want to concern troll?  Think I'm exaggerating?  Wrong.

Of course I can direct you to extensive research by Pew or give you hundreds of better phrased questions than the garbage Gallup asks but I'm not going to do that today.

I'm going to give you one quote, it's 10 words long and says it all.

Jesse Helms 1921-2008:  The man who gave the Karl Rove types the blueprint on how to divide and conquer the United States of America.

That is BIG news were I'm from.  Practically the entire Section A of the Charlotte Observer is dedicated to Senator NO this morning.   Different writers with both positive and negative views expressed.

If we want to drive the far right out of power, we need to start at the foundation Senator Helms built.

draft Newt

That website, which appears to have been created by Gingrich himself last summer, indicates just how how badly he wants the job. His unofficial campaign for president never got far off the ground however, as seen by his meet up page where all of his 33 supporters in 4 different groups could go to connect. With my longtime curiousity about what's Newt up to and does it matter,  I've been following his attempts to remain a major player, reform/rebuild the republican party and develop the conservative grassroots by using internet organizing strategies (similar to Dean and now Obama.) Because few  (if any) dkos readers likely share my (odd) interest in Gingrich and the (laughable) possibility of a second republican revolution, I'll keep this diary short and end with a poll, where you can vote pie to protest my wasting your valuable time.

Violent Rhetoric Watch (VRW) - Jun 20, 2008

Giuliani and Gingrich Sabotage Civic Debate Using Arguments From Their Best-Selling Books

This past week, America saw two familiar figures impose violent rhetoric into the Presidential debate on behalf of John  McCain: Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani.  It was a textbook example of the right-wing effort to use violent language not just to distract the public, but to undermine the attempt by citizens to have a pragmatic discussion with an eye towards solving problems.