Breitbart: "Newt Gingrich is the Tea Party by Proxy"

In a comment that seems to jibe with CNN's South Carolina exit poll, Los Angeles media impresario Andrew Breitbart said last night that Newt Gingrich's decisive victory in the Palmetto State is the first sign that the Republicans made a mistake by believing the Tea Party movement has run out of steam. 

"These last three years you've had all of this excitement because we the people got active in the political process," Breitbart told about 300 attendees at a Pomona, California, town hall kicking off National School Choice Week. "The brave people of the Tea Party were maligned in a Saul Alinsky strategy. Mitt Romney was never there for the Tea Party, but now he parrots their line… People are voting against the Republican racket, and against the fact that Romney has all that money and organization." 

The event, featuring Breitbart and Fox News analyst Juan Williams and moderated by talk radio host Hugh Hewitt, focused on school choice but covered a wide range of topics, including the Republicans' paralysis on educational issues and the upcoming recall election of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Hewitt and  Williams believed a Walker recall would set the school reform movement back while Breitbart believed it would turn Walker into a martyr and rally reformers. 

Nobody was happy with the GOP. "If you ask Republicans, they pay lip service to school choice," Williams said. "But they have no idea what to do about No Child Left Behind. They don't know what they're going to do about Race to the Top. So the left is in the pocket of the unions and the right is focused on No Child Left Behind and federal standards. We need to blow up the system." 

Williams and Breitbart both focused on finding "common ground" between the left and the right on education, with both finding surprising kind words for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in his fight with the Windy City's teacher unions. 

Williams recently collaborated with Kyle Olson on the recent documentary A Tale of Two Missions: 

Olson will be heading up the BigEducation site, which will be added to the Bretibart network in March. Asked how to frame the school reform issue, Breitbart characteristically played to the controversy: "I would drop a race bomb," he said. "I'm a kamikaze." Noting the disproportionate effects of public school failure on minority students, Breitbart invited about 50 public school teachers in the audience to leak union meeting footage and secrets to BigEducation. He also promised the site has some "secret video stunts" ready to drop. "Teachers need our help, and I know how to launder good information," he said. "So bring it to me." 

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Newt Gingrich's decisive victory in the Palmetto State is the first sign that the Republicans made a mistake by believing the Tea Party movement has run out of steam.

Then apparently we all made a mistake by thinking the Tea Party movement was interested in stemming the tide of big government.

[Episiarch]

Some of us didn't.

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

Not all of us are lucky enough to be completely impervious to hope.

[The masses who voted for Obama]

This.

[Liberty]

... you guys do know Breitbart's a liberal plant, right? We just sent him to the otherside to make all the right-thinkers look bad.

[Colonel_Angus]

Gingrich disgusts me. Obama and his whole administration are terrible people to be sure, and I am disgusted by his stupid and ignorant electorate, but I am repulsed by the simple presence of Bitchtits.

[zeroentitlement]

Agreed. If Newclear and Obama are all that's on the ballot come November, I have to hold my nose and vote for Obama.

[Colonel_Angus]

I don't think newkedtits will win the primary. But if it does, I will vote for Obama for cynical reasons. At that point I believe that the only possible closure will be collapse, and at least a second term Obama will bring us faster to that. Fuck everything.

[TomD]

This is as good a place to ask as any, I suppose: What's up with this whole "nuclear titties" play on Gingrich's name, exactly? Did I miss something around here?

[T]

My Tea Party proxy indicates voting for Newt is distasteful, but acceptable, but voting for Romney is not.

Ron Paul apparently wants the Iranians to murder us all, so he's not acceptable either.

[Anonymous Coward]

A visit into freeper-ville reveals that many a good freep considers Ron Paul to be Satan incarnate and worse yet, a liberal, but either Newt or Frothy to be the most "conservative" choices.

Political tribalism is so much fun.

[Pro Libertate]

Liberal? What the fuck?

We're so dead if the only GOP candidate who even discusses the need for radically cutting down government is dismissed as a "liberal."

Even his anti-war views are hardly stick-flowers-in-gun-barrels pacifism.

[Paul]

lib?er?al? ?/?l?b?r?l, ?l?br?l/ Show Spelled[lib-er-uhl, lib-ruhl] Show IPA
adjective
1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
2. ( often initial capital letter ) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.
3. of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism.
4. favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, especially as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.
5. favoring or permitting freedom of action, especially with respect to matters of personal belief or expression: a liberal policy toward dissident artists and writers.

It could work.

[Pro Libertate]

I don't think that's where they're going. He's Teddy Kennedy to these idiots.

[Paul]

Oh I know that. I was just being a pedant.

[Pro Libertate]

I know that you know that I knew that you know.

[R C Dean]

I've officially given up on the Tea Party.

Looks like I may have been right that they will submarine ROMNIAC's bid for power, but, fuck me, lining up behind Gingrich?

No principles at all. The only reason to support Gingrich is that you are willing to trade the Presidency for the chance of seeing Obama embarrassed in debates.

That's it. Gingrich's whole campaign really comes down to this: "I will kick Barack's ass in the debates."

Fools. We are doomed.

[Buys more gold coins, orders up some ammo, googles fruitlessly for "retail shelf-stable antibiotics"]

[Paul]

, but, fuck me, lining up behind Gingrich?

My best guess here is, there's a lot of 1994 revolution castaways that are remembering Gingrich's early days in upsetting the Democrats' Big Government agenda.

[Episiarch]

No, there's no guess. TEAM RED acts like...TEAM RED. Big surprise.

[Joe M]

They actually had some decent ideas back then. What's interesting is that I think the liberal media had a huge part in assisting the Clinton administration come off as the good guy and the GOP House as the bad guys. I bet things would have turned out differently if the same group of people had had the same conflict in the Internet Age.

[Pro Libertate]

Missed opportunity. Unfortunately, that may be the epitaph for the United States.

[Pro Libertate]

Seriously, why not Paul? Is the whole World Cop business so important that we're willing to let our economy collapse because he's not Captain Intervention? Gingrich and Romney both look willing to do very little to stave off a disaster.

[R C TEAM RED]

Is the whole World Cop business so important that we're willing to let our economy collapse because he's not Captain Intervention?

Yup.

[Pro Libertate]

[Bangs head on desk.]

[zeroentitlement]

Gingrich and Romney both look willing to do very little to stave off are a disaster.

FIFY.

Apparently, Ron Paul is not doing enough to flatter and pander to the mouth-breathers of the Heartland that their lives (boring hetero marriages with kids) should be America's One True Path, and their irrational, statistically-illiterate fears (death by terrorist attack, child molesters everywhere, drug pushers everywhere) should be America's top priorities.

[Brandybuck]

Yup. Seriously, there are "conservatives" who would rather see Obama given a lifetime dicatorship than to see Ron Paul in office for five minutes. Simply because Obama has demonstrated his willingness to project military force.

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

To the extent that the Tea Party was an actual organization instead of a vague anger at the political status quo, it was always idiotic and doomed. If the movement can survive the organization, we may have a shot.

[Joe M]

The event, featuring Breitbart and Fox News analyst Juan Williams and moderated by talk radio host Hugh Hewitt,

Hewitt is a huge Romney supporter, so he was probably hating hear all this.

Also, RC Dean:

The only reason to support Gingrich is that you are willing to trade the Presidency for the chance of seeing Obama embarrassed in debates.

I don't support him, but I'm kinda thinking watching Gingrich lose the election be worth that.

[Joe M]

Yikes, me English am bad also.

[Paul]

Wouldn't you rather see Ron Paul lose the election? I would.

[Joe M]

Well, I'll get to see that in the primaries.

[Paul]

I know that, but wouldn't that be a kick in the pants to the GOP to have Paul win the primary? I know he'd lose the general... but that would send a very sharp message to the GOP establishment.

[Pro Libertate]

If he somehow wins the primary, he will not lose the general.

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

Newc starts the Bull Hippo Party, gets 20% of the vote. Obama wins with a plurality.

[Paul]

If he somehow wins the primary, he will not lose the general.

With all due respect, you and I will have to continue to disagree on this.

I believe you seriously underestimate the amount of rationalization that the left and mainstream democrats are able to stoop to come November.

I started warning about the "Why I'm voting for Obama" navel-gazing two years ago. It's now in full swing.

[Pro Libertate]

Thanks to this absurd and likely brief moment of Gingrich love, Paul's chances are getting weaker. I think he's still got a reasonable chance at making a splash, and certainly the delegate count is screwed up enough to keep him alive, but something needs to happen soon for him to have a chance at winning.

[Paul]

but something needs to happen soon for him to have a chance at winning.

Romney, Gingrich and Santorum suffer some unfortunate stage accident during the next debate?

[Pro Libertate]

It's not that bad, and you know it. I do think he could beat Romney, and Santorum should be gone soon. The strange wildcard is what happens with Gingrich. How long does this insanity last?

Fucking Newcular Titties. If only he were what he had appeared to be for a brief instant in 1994.

[Paul]

They're politicians. None of them are what they appear to be. Or wait, maybe they're all what they appear to be.

It's so confusing.

[Pro Libertate]

What's truly weird is that these guys get away with so much open venality and idiocy. Even among the political class, there are people who at least appear somewhat principled. Paul's the only one in this election--even setting aside my preference for him politically--and naturally, he isn't the favorite.

[BigT]

If Paul lost to Obama that would doom libertarianism for a generation. See Goldwater, Barry.

[Pro Libertate]

I don't agree with this at all. There is a definite undercurrent of libertarianism in the U.S., if for no other reason than fear that the government is taking us off an economic cliff, and Paul is merely the face of that movement right now. If he loses, the problems making him appealing still exist, and other candidates will try to take advantage of that discontent (not just at the presidential level, either).

[Paul]

If Paul lost to Obama that would doom libertarianism for a generation

So statu quo?

[TomD]

Hewitt is a huge Romney supporter

God, Hugh Hewitt sucks. Not because he's a "Romney supporter," per se, but just because he... because he sucks.

This is amusing: Go to Google, start typing hugh hewitt hac in the search box, and look what Google Suggest pops up with, based on the frequency of the term.

Yeah, he's the very fucking definition of a HACK. He's a lame, milquetoast, principle-less, boring party hack. And topping it off is that he's bad at the whole "be interesting/entertaining on the radio" thing, which makes it absolutely stunning that the guy actually has a nationally syndicated drive-time slot.

[Sidd Finch]

Noting the disproportionate effects of public school failure on minority students

bullshit

[BigT]

Berkeley is not representative of US public education. Thank FSM.

[Sidd Finch]

Where in the US are Asians subject to "disproportionate effects of public school failure?"

[No]

You're reading "minority" the wrong way.

[El Commentariosa]

HAHAHAHA

[James Anderson Merritt]

House: Dr. Chase, quick, what is the differential between Tea-Party by proxy and Munchausen by proxy?

[P Brooks]

I actually think Paul's chances of winning the general election are better than his chances of getting the Republican nomination.

For reasons already covered above.

and- Fuck the so-con warmonger rats who have apparently seized the reins of the "Tea Party".

[Spur]

If Olsen is serious about educational reform in America why would he join a Breitbart organization called Big Education? Olsen may well have fun and score some points, raise his profile, etc., but that's about it...

[Brian from Texas]

Gingrich is not a Tea Party Conservative in any sense. Breitbart's spending too much time in front of a computer screen. Go get a real job in the outside world.