Lawrence O’Donnell: Newt Gingrich Is The New Herman Cain

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by James Crugnale | 9:55 am, November 22nd, 2011

» 48 comments

Lawrence O’Donnell scrutinized Republican frontrunner Newt Gingrich‘s comments that he had never lobbied Congress, finding many contradictions to his claim. “Newt Gingrich is the new Herman Cain,” O’Donnell declared. “They were both lobbyists. They have both now enjoyed being front-runners in the Republican presidential campaign and they are both on their way to being losers.”

On his program Monday evening, O’Donnell played multiple videos of Gingrich unequivocally denying he had done lobbying.

“I have never done any lobbying,” Gingrich claimed during a GOP debate. “Every contract was written during the period when I was out of the office, specifically said I would do no lobbying, and I offered advice. And my advice as a historian, when they walked in and said to me, “We are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that’s what the government wants us to do,” as I said to them at the time, this is a bubble. This is insane. This is impossible.”

George Will Dismisses Newt Gingrich, Scoffs At Idea That He Is A ‘Historian’

O’Donnell juxtaposed Gingrich’s denials with George Will‘s blunt observation that the former Speaker of the House “embodied almost everything disagreeable about modern Washington,” saying:

People think his problem is his colorful personal life. He’s going to hope people concentrate on that rather than on, for example, ethanol. Al Gore has recanted ethanol. Not Newt Gingrich who served the ethanol lobby. Industrial policy of the sort that got us Solyndra. Freddie Mac he said hired him as a historian. The Bush Administration was trying to pass a large entitlement in the prescription drug entitlement. Right wing social engineering. He sits down and talks about cap and trade and climate change with Nancy Pelosi and others. The list goes on.

But the coup de grâce in the MSNBC’s smackdown of Gingrich came with his citation of a damning Washington Examiner exposé that refuted his notion that he had never lobbied:

Three former Republican congressional staffers told me that Gingrich was calling around Capitol Hill and visiting Republican congressmen in 2003 in an effort to convince conservatives to support a bill expanding Medicare to include prescription-drug subsidies.
(…)
One former House staffer told me of a 2003 meeting hosted by Rep. Jack Kingston where Gingrich spoke. Kingston would regularly host “Theme Team” meetings with a few Republican congressmen and some of their staff. Just before the House vote, Gingrich was the special guest at this meeting, and he brought one message to the members: Pass the drug bill for the good of the Republican Party.
(…)
Two aides to other GOP members who had been resisting the bill told me their bosses were lobbied by Gingrich over the phone, sometimes citing politics, sometimes citing substance. And it worked. “Newt Gingrich moved votes on the prescription-drug bill,” one conservative staffer told me. “That’s for sure.”

Watch O’Donnell scrutinize Gingrich’s lobbying denials below via MSNBC:

historian, Lawrence O'Donnell, Lobbying, msnbc, newt gingrich, The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell

Anonymous

Lawrence O’Donnell is the new Sideshow Bob.
Come on Jim….O’Donnell cannot smack down anyone. You would need an audience for that. Talent would be nice too.
TPRTR

MSNBC is not a legitimate news organization. It is merely a corrupt propaganda arm of the corrupt Obama administration. That is precisely why no one is watching. Obama=failure.
Anonymous

Lawrence O’Donnell is the old Ed Schultz.
Anonymous

Newtron Bomb is Herman Cain? Nope. Newtron Bomb’s plan: return to traditional religion, bull-sacrificing and public stonings:
http://brettcottrell.blogspot.com/2011/11/newts-traditional-relgion.html

Herman Cain’s plans for poverty and healthcare? Deliver the Magic?
http://brettcottrell.blogspot.com/2011/10/herman-cain-delivers-magic.html

Hardly the same – but equally stupid.
Anonymous

And you are the old Niles Crane…..
Centrist79

Poor Herman having to be compared to Newt, now that is an insult.
Valkyrie101

Newt is thinking, hey they elected Bill Clinton for a second term, and he had more scandals going than the local Catholic diocese, so why not him? And by this time, Newt has a pretty thick skin. Besides, the repulicans need Newt so that the forgone conclusion which is Willard, has some intelligent opposition. And Newt is unlikely to leave Romney bloody in his little vanity run, which is a good thing for the republican party. Parry, on the other hand, feels he has a duty to take Mitt down.
Anonymous

No Lawrence, he is worse.
Anonymous

Lobbying in defense of liberty is no vice.

“We can always depend on Americans to do the right thing — after they have exhausted all other possibilities.”
– W. Churchill
SammyC

Is it true that Newt Gingrich had a 6 year affair with his current wife when he was married to wife #2?
TSK

The sham -wow guy has higher ratings than L O’D
keninkansas

Larry O bounced back and forth between supporting Hillary and Edwards early on back in 07 so he should take a long look in the mirror if he has one.
http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

*Chuckle*
http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

Republicon voters are going to drop Newt as fast has they have dropped Herb, Michelle, and Perry!!
Anonymous

Republicon
Herb

Drink!
http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

Usually when someone has no credible reply to a comment, they just say drink!! Come on, you can do much better than stealing “Jester’s” only line!!
Ricci Dats Me

Well the good thing for Herman is that as a 70s sitcom icon, he can just sit back, laugh and dance his heart out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs7fJ6jAOVU
Ricci Dats Me

Herman Cain will never be Newt and Newt will never be the “New Herman”..its psychologically IMPOSSIBLE. Newt is as named! A lizard. Slimey and cold with potentially many ills in his wake that are just plain evil, greedy and underhanded. Herman? Sheesh, Herman Cain will only have the stuff in his wake that you would expect from a 70s sitcom icon. He’ll have some ladies issues. Some hot mamma who didnt understand his gallant intentions.. his flirtatious and forward ways. He’ll ONLY have these issues and his comments which are generally direct and harsh. Its the way he became a great sitcom ICON and the way he plans to run for president! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs7fJ6jAOVU DANCING BOLDLY ALL THE WAY!
53%

The self proclaimed socialist Lawrence O’Donnell is batsh*t crazy. How the hell do people like him, Rev. Al and the always entertaining Sgt. Schultz ever get their own show? They are really kicking ass in the ratings war, huh? Typical liberal drivel.
Anonymous

Usually when someone types the word republicon, they don’t have a credible leg to stand on period. The same can be said for stealing Palin’s word. Must heard to have her live so rent-free.
Pablo

How many times are you going to link that?
Anonymous

He was funny when that was his only line.
Charleston Voice

And It’s Newt By A Nose!

http://chasvoice.blogspot.com/2011/11/and-its-newt-by-nose.html
http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

What was Palin’s word… quit?? Also, I think you meant to use the word hurt instead of heard!!
Anonymous

The Newtser’s huge closet is so full of skeletons that it would make Herb’s closet look like a tiny broom closet.
Valkyrie101

Well, if Newt engaged in insider trading or that sort of thing, to go with all his sordid personal details, perhaps we may need a special investigator to pin things down. And Ken Starr is available.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OTNG3XOBO7MNX6ZCHGOQHCS3CM YGeronimoG

I have said this before, that the republican party has NOBODY on that candidate podium that would even MAKE anything happen. They talk COCKY but no one seems to ever actually say ANYTHING that makes any sense.
Anonymous

Maybe it’s your lack of listening skills that is the problem.
Anonymous

Why does O’Donnell always look like his is smoking something bad?
Anonymous

That’s okay. Lawrence O’Dummbell is the new syphilis, only you cannot take any shots to get rid of him.

All you can do is change the channel (if you were watching this unrepentant Socialist in the first place), and leave the other 14 people who waste their time watching this leftist rubbish to think that they are watching anything more important than a test pattern.
Anonymous

I feel bad for the dopes at MSDNC. Because in 2013, when their Messiah is out of office and the economy starts to pick up when we have a President who is not a Marxist, what will Ralph Maddow and the rest of the fools and dunderheads on that channel say?

They are just going to have to sit back and admit that four years of Obama were a horrific waste of time for America, when nothing got done and we spent trillions to do it.
Anonymous

I heard that Lawrence O’Dumbbell wanted to be on the new “NoNo” commercial for the thing that women use to shave their legs, because he could quadruple his ratings in one fell swoop.
Anonymous

As soon as we find out how much money Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry made through insider trading, and where Jon Corzine stashed $1.3 billion in stolen funds, I will see if we can support anything against Gingrich, particularly since they were in power and he isn’t.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IV7Q3RVQDO3MCMFC446A4ZLUMI Sidhecat

Well lets hope that if they take down Gingrich that they perp walk Princess Pelosi for her insider trading, abuse of power and general Whore of Babylon like behavior. Two speakers for the price of one. Oh wait, its legal for these scum thralls. She makes Newt look like a saint. It was priceless watching that evil right wing source, 60 Minutes as they made her look like the corrupt fool that she is.
Oh and before you pull your lightsabre, Yoda, anyone who violates that oath of office should be removed, period no matter the party. As for this President, Nixon must now feel relieved, or jealous. He looks like an amateur compared to the Chicago Way.
Anonymous

It must HURT to have her live so rent-free.
Anonymous

What a “Goofy” looking guy. Democrats have “Goofy” looking men & women who are some what questionable in the looks department.
Rex the Wonder God

Which of these things is not like the others:

1. O’Donnell is Sideshow Bob.
2. Pizza sauce is a vegetable for nutrition purposes.
3. Pike’s Pepper Spray is a food product, essentially.

Answer:

Trick question – they are all true on Planet R.
Valkyrie101

I supose I was speaking ironically.
Anonymous

Larry; it’s over. Get into a new line of work!
ROTFLMAO

MSNBC has got some ugly ass Dudes and Dudettes hosting those low rated hours
they attempt to pass off as shows!
You decide which one are the Dudes and which one are the Dudetts!
Anonymous

Nixon crookedness set the bar so high that righties are still trying to achieve it.
John Kliber

O’Donnel is the old potato eating, drunken, blarney stone kissin’ little person from a peat bog.
Friedtoad

Al Jazeera has the hottest news-babes.
proud2teabagu

Larry is the new Cyenk.
proud2teabagu

They just say it when someone is to stupid to reply to.
http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

Too*… you idiot!!
http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

When are Republicons going to denounce Newt for his big government ways and connections with Freddie Mac??
Guest

If you’re going to “take Obama out of office,” at least do us the favor of putting Ron Paul in his place. He’s really the only respectable candidate in the Republican field right now.