LIVE VIDEO: 2016 GOP Clown Car Revue

Rep. Steve King is holding his 2016 GOP Clown Car Revue in Iowa today and pretty much every right wing crackpot contender is there. The Des Moines Register is running a live stream and things are just now kicking off.

Newt Gingrich: Veto The AZ Hate Bill

Tonight on CNN, Newt Gingrich invited viewers to give their opinion on Arizona's hate bill by tweeting either "sign" or "veto" using the Crossfire hashtag. After reporting that 88% of the CNN audience had tweeted "veto", Gingrich himself did the same.

Sarah Palin's 50th Birthday Is Tomorrow

Every teabagger in Teabagistan plus major GOP figures are falling over themselves to worship her in the below clip.

Gregory Brothers Songify The News

Featuring a singing Newt Gingrich and Bill O'Reilly.  The "steak, vodka, and caviar" chorus is pretty catchy.

Gingrich Lies About Gay Adoption

During a Meet The Press panel on same-sex marriage, yesterday Newt Gingrich issued the usual lie about gay adoption.

“But what I’m struck with is the one-sidedness of the desire for rights,” he added. “There are no rights for Catholics to have adoption services in Massachusetts. They’re outlawed. There are no rights in DC for Catholics to have adoption service. They’re outlawed.” “This passing reference to religion, we sort of respect religion — sure, as long as you don’t practice it,” Gingrich continued, saying we should go beyond the question of “Are you able to be gay in America?” and ask what it means. Whether that means, for example, eliminating “any institution which does not automatically accept that, and therefore, you’re now going to have a secular state, say, to a wide range of religious groups.”

Panelist Joy-Ann Reid shot Gingrich down, properly noting that Catholic Charities voluntarily withdrew their services rather than comply with anti-discrimination laws.

CNN To Hire Newt Gingrich?

Politico says CNN is in talks to hire Newt Gingrich.

Earlier this month, news broke that CNN was looking to relaunch Crossfire, the famous debate show that pitted two pundits -- one liberal, one conservative -- against one another on the political issues of the day. Sources now tell POLITICO that the network is in discussions with former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and former Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter about roles on the show. "They are talking to Cutter and to Gingrich," a source familiar with the discussions said. "[Cutter] is in discussions; Newt is in discussions too," another source confirmed.

Ugh.

New Texas Billboard Campaign

Source.

Newt Gingrich On Gay Marriage

"I think this is a very complicated human problem and Republicans need to take a deep breath and understand we need to deal with the human side of this equation — and understand that we want to defend marriage in its classic form between a man and a woman. I don’t accept that there’s an alternative. The government can declare that a Ford truck is Air Force One. That doesn’t mean it can fly. It’s not that I want to change my belief. I think that in fact it’s a big mistake to be confused about this issue.

"But I think it’s also a legal reality that now people are being allowed to create legal status over here. And if they create it in Maryland and they go on a trip. And something happens to them on that trip. What’s their status if they want to go to the local hospital? I think the Republican Party, first of all, is a very complicated institution. It has a lot of different people in it, some of whom in fact were much more prepared to accept that than others. But I think on balance we’re going to remain the conservative party.

"We’ve got to learn to do it much, much better. I watched us get out maneuvered by the left over and over for the last couple of years in ways that I found frustrating and infuriating. And I think we have to learn from that." - Newt Gingrich, telling Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren that he doesn't necessarily regret his vote for DOMA, but that Republicans have to wake up to the reality that same-sex marriage is now legal in nine states.

New Log Cabin Head Gregory Angelo Backed Newt Gingrich For President

Today the Log Cabin Republicans announced that executive director R. Clarke Cooper will be stepping down next week, apparently as planned. Taking Cooper's place as interim head will be Gregory T. Angelo, who announced his support for Newt Gingrich's presidential bid just weeks after Gingrich signed NOM's hate pledge to destroy LGBT rights on the federal level.

From the LCR's press release:

"I am both humbled and thrilled to have the support of the Log Cabin Republicans National Board of Directors and to follow in the footsteps of the inimitable Clarke Cooper," Mr. Angelo stated. "There has never been a more exciting and historic time to be a gay Republican-with the wind at our backs following four referendum victories for the freedom to marry last November and the United States Supreme Court soon to rule on marriage equality, 2013 could mark a turning point in the fight for equal rights for all. It has never been more critical to advocate for equality to Republicans, as Republicans. As the Interim Executive Director of this esteemed organization, I will do everything I can to work for Republican victories that return the party to its roots of freedom, fairness, and liberty for all." Mr. Angelo is the current Chairman of Log Cabin Republicans of New York State, a position he has held since 2009. As New York State Chairman, Mr. Angelo led Log Cabin Republicans as part of New Yorkers United for Marriage, a coalition that collaborated to make marriage equality legal through legislative vote for the first time in a Republican-controlled legislature.

Judging by this 2011 interview, Angelo appears to be the typical homocon who proclaims his Christianity and denounces gay pride parades.  Because, you know, he's butch. Or something.

Most of the other gay Republicans Greg knows, he says, are not fans of the pride parade. They’re not wearing their sexuality on their sleeve, he says. Many are partnered. A lot are business owners. “The bottom line is many just want to live their lives in quiet dignity. Their rights are important to them and achieving equal rights is important to them but the way to do it isn’t really to go out and bang a drum and make a lot of noise. It’s more so to make a difference within the party and to sit down with fellow Republicans and sit down with their partners, sit down with the foster children they’re taking care of, sit down and explain that they’re a business owner who is also not happy with the MTA payroll tax in New York and make the case that we are normal,” he says. Greg has met with people who think all gay men are hairdressers or fashion designers.

(Top image via JMG reader Tee Jay)

It Begins

Log Cabin Cheers Newt Gingrich

"Log Cabin Republicans welcome former Speaker Newt Gingrich's remarks calling for a Republican reality check on marriage. Gingrich speaks for many Republicans who are concerned about our party's future, and who are ready to accept the freedom to marry matters to many Americans, gay and straight. As Gingrich noted, LGBT people are part of every family and every community, and the time has come for greater inclusion. It is particularly important and welcome to hear that Gingrich now understands the difference between church ceremonies and a civil marriage license, and that equality is no threat to religious freedom." - R. Clark Cooper, responding to today's statement by Newt Gingrich. (Via press release)

Newt Gingrich: I Can Accept The Reality Of Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage

This is a major reversal for one of our movement's most vocal and nasty opponents. Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he can accept the "reality" of marriage between same-sex couples as a "legal document issued by the state" — as strong a sign as any that the landscape for marriage equality has changed dramatically in the past year.

"The momentum is clearly now in the direction in finding some way to ... accommodate and deal with reality. And the reality is going to be that in a number of American states -- and it will be more after 2014 -- gay relationships will be legal, period," Gingrich told The Huffington Post in a story published on Thursday.

Gingrich "continued to profess a belief that marriage is defined as being between a man and a woman," Sam Stein and Jon Ward report, but "suggested that the party (and he himself) could accept a distinction between a 'marriage in a church from a legal document issued by the state' -- the latter being acceptable."

The screams of betrayal will be delicious.

Read the full Huffington Post interview.

Newt Gingrich Has The Sadz

"We need to stop, take a deep breath and learn. The president won an extraordinary victory. And the fact is, we owe him the respect of trying to understand what they did and how they did it. But if you had said to me three weeks ago Mitt Romney would get fewer votes than John McCain and it looks like he'll be 2 million fewer, I would have been dumbfounded.  I was wrong last week, as was virtually every major Republican analyst. And so, you have to stop and say to yourself, 'If I was that far off, what do I need to learn to better understand America?'" - Newt Gingrich, who one week ago today appeared on the Today Show to predict a Romney landslide.

The 2012 Campaign In Two Minutes

9-9-9! Oops! And all the greatest misses...

Newt Gingrich Slams Mitt Romney For Flip-Flopping On Tax Cuts For Wealthy

Via Talking Points Memo:

“I think it’s clear he changed,” Gingrich said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” roundtable, admitting that Romney had shifted from wanting to lower taxes on all Americans to promising that his reform plan would not lower taxes paid by the wealthy. Romney’s pledge is to cut tax rates across the board by 20 percent and recover the lost revenue by closing unnamed credits and deductions for high income earners. The net effect, he says, would be to lower the burden on the middle class and keep effective taxes constant on the rich without increasing the deficit — goals that nonpartisan experts deem mathematically infeasible. In February, during a GOP primary debate, Romney said, “We’re going to cut taxes on everyone across the country by 20 percent, including the top 1 percent.” On Wednesday, facing down President Obama, he insisted, “I will not reduce the taxes paid by high-income Americans.”

Newt Gingrich And His Most Recent (Known) Adulterous Lover Speak At RNC

Chat Show For The Swingriches?

Tweet Of The Day - Newt Gingrich

Auto-correct? Insanity?

Gingrich On Mitt Romney: I Don't Particularly Dislike Him As A Person

Now THAT is a ringing endorsement.

Gingrich Says Goodbye (For Now)