Newt to Clinton: "Surprise! I'm Still Comin' At Ya!"

Newt Gingrich to White House:
New Year Surprise! I'm Still Comin' At Ya!
by Mac MacArthur

The arrogantly contemptible Speaker Newt Gingrich
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24th (CHRISTMAS EVE), 1997 -- NEW YORK (APJP) -- In a surprise Christmas present to Bill Clinton and Al Gore, sausage-brained House Speaker Newt Gingrich let it be known -- through the unofficial GOP whore publication, "The Wall Street Journal," that the Speaker... "is poised to launch a battery of probes next year that will involve half of the House's 20 committees and could be expanded to include state governors. In addition, more than a dozen Republican House members are pushing for Clinton impeachment hearings."

Hah! Well, we know who those "more than a dozen" are -- nobodies and a general embarrassment to most House Republicans and the GOP itself, as is Gingrich himself, who three quarters of the House would like to see depart, if not this week, then next.

Gingrich, reputed to be the subject of a wide-reaching Department of Justice investigation on GOP money laundering schemes, may be in the dock yet again before too long. The schemes, cooked up by the evil-minded corpulent Speaker, his top staff, and several heads of non-profit corporations included methods by which campaign funds were laundered for the Republican Party and Gingrich's own GOPAC. Gingrich, hanging on to the speakership by his fingernails, must be suicidal to pursue what he knows will only lead to his political demise.

Ralph Reed -- worried he
won't make bail for lack
of clients.
Former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed, also deemed destined to be an FBI investigation target, has all but begged and demanded that Newt cease and desist before it becomes clear to the American voter that conservatives are spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars merely for political showmanship.

The Wall Street Journal says Reed warns Republicans "not to appear to be "capitalizing" on the Democrats' debacle. Moreover, if the hearings stir public ire, Republicans risk a backlash if they don't follow through with campaign-finance overhaul legislation."

They will not pursue that, for to do so would cripple their ability to carry on much as they are crippling the Democrats with legal fees -- the result of abuse of process and Congress. When will the DNC move to sue them for it?

Despite warnings from several camps, including some -- loyal to Gingrich -- from within the Justice Department, the Speaker continues to rev up his folly pursuit of rumor and innuendo and has made even more taxpayer millions available to finance Republican-sponsored witch hunts.

I spoke with a highly placed White House aide this morning who told me that many inside the executive office building are convinced the Speaker has "gone over the edge" and that most Democrats welcome his threatened acceleration of "investigations" inasmuch as they'll result largely in "nothing" as has Senator Fred Thompson's Campaign Finance hearings which delivered nothing but a poor reputation to all Republicans having the unfortunate duty to sit on that Committee with him.

The Three Fools of the "Oz" Congress
To top things off, Gingrich will continue to spend huge amounts of citizen tax dollars on House Lunatic Dan Burton's Government Reform and Oversight Committee which has, during months of stalled hearings and millions of dollars in investigative costs, uncovered nothing, nada, zero about so-called Democrat campaign fundraising illegalities. Burton himself who shoots at cantaloupes shaped like Vince Fosters head, and is himself under investigation for shaking down foreign governments for campaign cash, is the laughing stock of the House and his own party. One GOP House member told American Politics that "to believe anything Burton says is akin to believing anything Gingrich says -- and that's not a good idea in either case."

Rep. Connie Morella, (Republican of Maryland) telegraphed an "American Politics" constituent that she was loathe to sit on Burton's Committee but "had to" for other oversight dedications that did not include campaign finance investigations. Morella is known to "sit out" purposely when Burton is about to make a bigger fool of himself and his colleagues than usual.

Gingrich will also tap other House Republican subcommittee to look for linkage between the Teamsters election fraud and the Democratic National Committee.

In the usual "Gingrinchian" way, one subcommittee, headed by Michigan Republican Peter Hoekstra will try to make media hay on the back of a New York grand jury investigating the Teamsters. And, as usual, nothing will come of it. Gingrich already knows this, but will use and abuse Hoekstra to twist the truth and attempt to make it appear as though the White House planned the entire Teamster election -- including Carey's illegal use of union money for personal campaign purposes.

Meanwhile, a resolution introduced by GOP Congress-Nut Bob Barr of Georgia, is winding its way through the Internet underground trying to attract more than 11 people to support it. Barr, an oft-described bitter "Robocop" prosecutor, thinks the House Rules Committee, controlled by Gingrich himself, will seriously entertain such a resolution.

A committee, chaired by Gerry Solomon ( Republican of New York), may hold hearings next year to examine whether enough evidence exists to bring a motion to the full House which would instruct the House Judiciary Committee to begin "impeachment proceedings" against the president.

But I'm told that Solomon is more than a bit uneasy with the prospect and may bolt, leaving Gingrich with egg on his sorry looking face.

Gingrich, knowing that a continuous array of committee lynch mobs is the only thing standing between him and a prison cell or a teaching post at some low-grade junior college, has also whipped several other committees into action solely for the purpose of attempting to embarrass Democrats:

House Commerce: Subcommittee chaired by Joe Barton of Texas is examining whether former Clinton-Gore campaign officials used their White House contacts to aid large contributors from business to win government contracts. It may try not to mention how House and Senate Republican Chairman of powerful GOP committees and sub-committees scattered billions among loyal GOP corporate campaign cash donors. It is this investigation that will bring Gingrich down quickest.
Corporate American won't like what will be exposed. Not one bit.
House Judiciary: Chairman Henry Hyde of Illinois, will hold closed hearings on the attorney general's interpretation of the law. Also, a subcommittee is investigating wild rumors that the Administration pressured the Immigration and Naturalization Service to speed citizenship applications in order to boost Democratic voter rolls. Why closed hearings? Because Hyde privately agrees with Reno's interpretation of the law, but doesn't want you to know it -- or see it.
House Appropriations : A subcommittee is already investigating whether the Democratic Party has reimbursed the treasury for political events held at the White House. It has. But the GOP will dig up supposed expenditures of at least $75 dollars which have not been reimbursed.
House Oversight: Is conducting a probe of alleged voter fraud in California Democrat Loretta Sanchez's defeat of former GOP "B-1 Bob" Dornan -- a certifiably insane congressman -- last year. Dornan was thrown off the House floor earlier this year for abusing his "retired congressman" privileges. The investigation promises to turn up facts that will show Dornan, not Sanchez abused the voting process, and that Dornan engaged in racist anti-Hispanic activities during his futile race to keep his seat.
House Resources: Chairman Don Young of Alaska wants to conduct a copycat investigation to the Department of Justice's ongoing look at Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt's decision to stop yet another Indian gambling casino opposed by competing tribes that gave heavily to Democrats. To illustrate the almost total waste of money here, Babbitt's ruling was already the focus of a Senate hearing and is now is under Justice Department and FBI review. Crazy Dan Burton recently announced that he too will hold hearings on the Babbitt case during January.
House Veteran Affairs: Plans hearings on waivers at Arlington Cemetery. Larry Lawrence, a major Democratic Party supporter is alleged to have lied about his military record and was buried there. What they'll find are plenty of non-qualifying Republican "waivers" buried at Arlington as well. "Dig 'em Up" may now be the cry of liberal Democrats -- although I doubt it. They are sensitive to others feelings.
House Select Intelligence Committee: Scheduled closed hearings on ridiculous reports that the Chinese government sought to "funnel money" into political campaigns, including the presidential contest. Of course, many other countries pour money to GOP candidates through soft-money donations arranged by their embassies and consulates using multinational corporations loyal or beholden to those countries. There is nothing illegal about it. However, Republicans will seek to pretend that only Democrats are beneficiaries of poorly worded and weak laws regarding soft money donations. They'll be in for a surprise.
The Thompson Committee: If Fred Thompson's D-minus performance on campaign finance didn't persuade him to retire, his newest outrage planned for next year -- scrapping the independent counsel law and replacing it with a "permanent office of independent counsel" -- may very well finish him off.

Face it folks. If you're a Democrat it's time to cheer up.

If you're a Republican, it's time to switch parties.

If Newt and the boys continue their suicidal plunge into phony campaign scandal, the only ones they'll kill off are themselves. Already public and more so, private, polls are showing that America is tiring of Republican political shenanigans at the cost of good, or even mildly effective national government.

The Speaker and his do-nothing Congress may have some secret reasons to step up his spendthrift ways, and the rest of the wastrels following him may be as desperate as he to save their political skins.

But the fact is they've lost and truly frittered away their last chance in decades to control the Congress and perhaps even the White House. By the year 2000, if not before, Democrats will re-take the House and Senate and move Al Gore into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

"Congress-Nut" Bob Barr
Guys like Bob Barr won't even be able to practice law in their home towns. And Newt, well Newt will probably be divorcing yet again. This time as a defendant.

Even Marianne isn't fool enough to suffer such a contemptible man.