{"id":20587,"date":"2011-03-28T20:19:33","date_gmt":"2011-03-29T02:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=20587"},"modified":"2011-03-28T20:19:33","modified_gmt":"2011-03-29T02:19:33","slug":"when-ostensibly-smart-people-have-to-act-dumb-in-order-to-appeal-to-the-political-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/03\/28\/when-ostensibly-smart-people-have-to-act-dumb-in-order-to-appeal-to-the-political-base.html","title":{"rendered":"When ostensibly smart people have to act dumb in order to appeal to the political base"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Oh, look, must be presidential candidate season<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am willing to believe that Newt Gingrich really is a pretty intelligent fellow. I disagree with his political philosophy, not to mention his personal ethics, but all told he strikes me as a man with a certain measure of smarts.<\/p>\n

Which is why, when he says something like this<\/a>, it isn’t just a Michelle Bachmann moment. Newt is smart enough to know this for the idiocy that it is.<\/p>\n

“I have two grandchildren \u2014 Maggie is 11, Robert is 9,” Gingrich said at Cornerstone Church here. “I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they’re my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How can a “secular atheist country” also be a country “dominated by radical Islamists”?<\/p>\n

The rhetorical bankruptcy of the Right is such that they’re just stringing buzz words together, regardless of whether they make any sense.\u00a0 To the base (taught well and hard by the Right’s leadership, yet seemingly out of their control), “secular” = “atheist” … but somehow both are also = “radical Islamist.”<\/p>\n

Never mind that atheists disdain Islam as much as Christianity — or that Islamist regimes persecute atheists (as well as secularists) as much as any other group, if not more.\u00a0 Never mind that one can be a secularist (pressing for a government that is not dominated by religious factions) without being an atheist.<\/p>\n

No, all that’s important is stringing together a bunch of dog whistle words so as to either whip up the base into a voting frenzy (“Secularists! Islamists! Atheists! Radicals!”) or else establish bona fides <\/em>with the folks most likely to vote in a primary or turn out for a caucus.<\/p>\n

From someone whose only claim to fame is stridency — a Bachmann or a Palin — I might expect it.\u00a0 From someone who actually claims to be (and has some credit for being) someone with an IQ out of double-digits, it’s disappointing, disgusting, and alarming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am willing to believe that Newt Gingrich really is a pretty intelligent fellow. I disagree with his political philosophy, not to mention his personal ethics, but all told he strikes me as a man with a certain measure of smarts. Which is why, when he says something like this, it isn’t just a Michelle … Continue reading “When ostensibly smart people have to act dumb in order to appeal to the political base”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[99,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elections-2012","category-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/newtgingrich.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":130810,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/07\/when-you-lose-newt-gingrich.html","url_meta":{"origin":20587,"position":0},"title":"When you lose Newt Gingrich","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 7-Jun-16 5:07am","format":false,"excerpt":"Newt still supports Trump, but has criticized his racist comments about American-born District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing suits against Trump University. Newt joins Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and John Kasich in \"supporters\" who think Trump's off-base in claiming that Curiel's Mexican heritage means he should recuse himself from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25786,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/28\/the-best-reason-to-vote-against-newt-gingrich-to-date.html","url_meta":{"origin":20587,"position":1},"title":"The best reason to vote against Newt Gingrich to date","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 28-Jan-12 8:54pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The company that wants to keep him ... #ddtbReshared post from +Breaking NewsHerman Cain endorses Newt Gingrich for presidentWest Palm Beach, Fla., USASat Jan 28, 9:11 p.m. EST: +POLITICO reports that +Herman Cain has endorsed +Newt Gingrich for president, calling him the right person to address the \"crisis of leadership\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11487,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/08\/16\/he_turned_me_into_a_newt.html","url_meta":{"origin":20587,"position":2},"title":"“He turned me into a Newt!”","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 16-Aug-07 1:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cAs an American, I am sickened that the political leadership of America could continue to go on vacation and do nothing,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy are the August vacations for the...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27100,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/14\/newt-claims-hes-in-it-for-the-long-haul.html","url_meta":{"origin":20587,"position":3},"title":"Newt claims he's in it for the long haul","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 14-Mar-12 6:59pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Which probably make Romney pretty happy, since Gingrich has been splitting the anyone-but-Romney vote with Santorum, but has to have Santorum chewing nails. #ddtb Embedded Link Alabama, Mississippi primary results: 'I'm not leaving,' Newt Gingrich says - Mackenzie Weinger Newt Gingrich said Tuesday night he feels \u201cno pressure\u201d to drop\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26639,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/23\/no-you-cant-blame-newt-gingrich-on-sf-or-on-robert-heinlein.html","url_meta":{"origin":20587,"position":4},"title":"No, you can't blame Newt Gingrich on SF (or on Robert Heinlein)","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 23-Feb-12 8:54am","format":false,"excerpt":"I can't imagine Heinlein being particular pleased with any of the GOP candidates this year. Maybe Ron Paul, strictly from a libertarian standpoint (though I think he'd still have some serious policy disagreements with him), but certainly not Newt.That Newt likes SF is no more meaningful than if he professed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25563,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/whod-think-i-would-be-so-torn-about-a-political-scandal.html","url_meta":{"origin":20587,"position":5},"title":"Who'd think I would be so torn about a political scandal?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 18-Jan-12 6:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"On the one hand ... Drudge is an obnoxious partisan hack who craves attention that he thinks he is so deserving of. On the other hand, so is Gingrich. Hate to see one succeeding by torpedoing the other. On the other hand -- having Newt hoist (or so rumor says)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}