But Gingrich’s impatience with sources of authority other than himself go far beyond his hostility to the Congressional Budget Office ( a current pet peeve). He’s also campaigning to shut off funding to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, located (naturally) in San Francisco, whose decisions have been just too damn California for Newt’s fat Georgia ass. A few years back, when Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson was being investigated for corruption by the Justice Department, Newt rather bizarrely asserted that if he were still Speaker, he would cut off funding for the Justice Department.
All of this, of course, is nothing compared to his impeachment of President Clinton. In this, Gingrich was simply part of a vast right-wing conspiracy dedicated to the destruction of Bill Clinton—the destruction of anything they could not control.* Gingrich’s junior partner in crime, Tom DeLay, trumped even the impeachment, when he connived with the Bush Administration to enact the “Let Terri Schiavo Live” Act of 2005, ordering the federal court system to assume jurisdiction over a state legal matter and decide it according to the wishes of Congress, violating the separation of powers doctrine as it applies both within the federal government and vis-à-vis the federal and state governments.†
However much the contemporary right wing may yap about the Constitution, they don’t believe in it. They represent an inchoate yearning for a plebiscitary dictatorship, centered in whatever branch of government they control. Newt, for his massive hunger for power, and his utter lack of scruples, represents the worst the Republicans have to offer. Fortunately, he has lots of enemies in the party. Unfortunately, Romney does too.
*A vast right-wing conspiracy that would have been completely helpless had Clinton not deliberately offered up his vast Arkansas ass as a target. When a man as smart as Bill Clinton gets caught cheating on his wife, it’s because he wants to get caught. Clinton was both a compulsive seducer and a compulsive betrayer. Because after you’ve seduced someone how can you exert power over them except by betraying them? You thought I needed you? Bullshit! By flaunting his infidelities, Clinton let his devoted staff (and family) know that they meant nothing to him. You think I owe you? Fuck that! I own you!
†And don’t get me started on Bush v. Gore! Don’t even get me started!
