Newt Gingrich on Drugs

From Chris Moody at THE TICKET at YAHOO!:

NAPLES, Fla. — The staff at Books-a-Million didn’t know what hit them.

In preparation for a Saturday morning book signing with Newt Gingrich, the bookstore printed numbered cards for the first 500 people looking for an autograph from the former House speaker and Republican presidential candidate. The store gave out its first card at 8 a.m. on Black Friday–27 hours before Gingrich was scheduled to arrive–and ran out before he stepped in the door. After that, the Gingrich fans had to fend for themselves.

Gingrich spent the two days after Thanksgiving on a campaign swing through Naples, Florida, a wealthy conservative stronghold in the Sunshine State that was, to say the least, extremely welcoming.

…snip…

After his speech, during which he took time to clarify his position on illegal immigration, Gingrich hopped over to a $1,000-per-person fundraiser at a city council member’s home and then spent four hours the next morning at a Books-a-Million, where he brought in 650 people.

After months in the middle tier, Gingrich is the latest presidential candidate not named Mitt to ascend to the top of national polls. And with just five weeks until the first caucus in Iowa, he may have the best chance at being there when it matters. On Sunday, the largest newspaper in New Hampshire, the Union Leader, endorsed Gingrich in the Republican primary.

Although he has been in the public eye for years and seen his share of crowds, this kind of attention is new for Presidential Candidate Newt.

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The Seducers…I mean, Producers

From STEVE KORNACKI at OPENING SHOT at Salon:

We may be witnessing the political world’s answer to “The Producers,” the Mel Brooks musical about an avaricious showman who concocts a sure-to-flop production that somehow turns into the surprise hit of the season. It’s called the Newt Gingrich presidential campaign.

The former House speaker has rocketed to the top in national GOP polling, and with only weeks remaining until the Iowa caucuses he now has an opportunity to cement his status as the conservative movement’s designated alternative to Mitt Romney. In a month full of breakthroughs for him, Gingrich scored his biggest coup yet over the weekend, when the Manchester Union Leader awarded him the most coveted newspaper endorsement on the Republican side.

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B-lather, Rinse, Repeat (whatever you think people want to hear)

From Ruth Marcus at POST OPINIONS at The Washington Post:

Let us now contemplate Mitt Romney’s hair.

Actually, let us now join the crowd contemplating Mitt Romney’s hair.

The growing crowd. The would-be First Hair made the front page of Friday’s New York Times. At a debate in Michigan a couple of weeks ago, the blogosphere responded to a few uncharacteristically stray Romney locks as if they were loose nukes.

And when late-night television host Jimmy Fallon asked presidential rival Michele Bachmann recently what comes to mind when she thinks of Romney, she answered, perhaps inevitably: “Hair.”

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It’s the Cheesiest!

From BET:

Televangelist Pat Robertson holds many convictions in his heart, but, apparently, knowing what’s on the Thanksgiving menu in the homes of African-Americans is not one of them.

On his 700 Club show on Wednesday, Robertson showed a clip from co-host Kristi Watts’s interview with Condoleezza Rice, in which Rice says her favorite Thanksgiving treat is macaroni and cheese.

Following the snippet, Robertson turns to Watts, who is Black, and asks inquisitively: “What is this mac ‘n’ cheese? Is that a Black thing?”

Yes, you read that right.

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You’re a dimwit, Megyn Kelly

From Doug Molitor at THE HUFFINGTON POST:

Fox News’s Megyn Kelly thinks cops pepper-spraying unresisting prisoners isn’t so bad, because after all, it’s “a food product, essentially.”

My advice to Megyn would be first, to spell her name with a normal vowel.

…snip…

My second bit of advice would be not to eat out for a while. Definitely not at any restaurant where the waiters aren’t her fellow one-percenters.

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I hope your Thanksgiving was peppered with happiness!

And I hope you didn’t have to eat at Megyn Kelly’s house.
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He even flip-flops on his name!

From THE HILL:

Early stumbles at Tuesday’s GOP foreign policy debate had little to do with policy — instead, the Republicans vying for their party’s presidential nomination struggled with names.

First, Mitt Romney tried to play off of a joke by debate moderator Wolf Blitzer. Blitzer asked candidates to give short introductions, joking, “Here’s an example of what I’m looking for:  I’m Wolf Blitzer and yes, that’s my real name. I’ll be your moderator this evening and I’m happy to welcome each one of you to our debate.”

When the introductions turned to Romney, he opened with, “I’m Mitt Romney and yes, Wolf, that’s also my first name.”

But as political watchers were quick to note, Romney’s first name is not Mitt — it’s Willard. Mitt is Romney’s middle name.

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Rub-A-Dub-Dub, Two Schlubs in a Tub

From the guardian:

[Grover] Norquist holds no elected office but is one of the most powerful figures in Washington, head of a lobbying and activist group Americans for Tax Reform. Democrats blame him for the impasse over deficit reduction.

The Democratic senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry described him as the “13th member” of the 12-member congressional super-committee given the task of drawing up a plan to reduce the country’s $15tn national deficit.

Kerry and other Democrats complained that Norquist’s name was repeatedly invoked by the Republicans, and the word “pledge” came up over and over again.

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