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May 25, 2012

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Thinking About Faith
Mark Clayton: Is Hillary's State Dept. hacking Al Qaeda? Not quite
David G. Savage: Supreme Court limits protection against double jeopardy
Ashley Powers: A nightmare, then conviction is tossed
Erika Bolstad: Temple cancels Wasserman Schultz speech
Deroy Murdock: WWII hero Karski to receive U.S. Medal of Freedom
Kimberly Lankford: Health Coverage for College Grads
The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman: The former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with contemporary Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Sweet Noodle Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread
May 24, 2012
Jeff Jacoby: The peace process battered Israel's reputation
Clifford D. May: What Iran's Rulers Want
Michael Muskal: 'Pro-choice' position hits record low, according to poll
Chris Farrell: Are We in a Tech Bubble?
Kimberly Lankford: Switching Medicare Advantage Plans Mid-Year
Bryan McIver, M.B., Ch.B., Ph.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Understanding hyperthyroidism and its variety of treatment options
The Kosher Gourmet by Penelope Wall: PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS --- hold the steak!
May 23, 2012
Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: Baghdad talks highlight Western naivete
Tony Pugh: More private colleges offering tuition discounts
Lisa Gerstner: 4 Money-Etiquette Questions Answered
Mary Beth Franklin: How to Choose the Right Annuity for You
Art Markman, Ph.D.: Get smart: How to bulk up your creativity muscles
Tina Susman: The wig wasn't enough: Man gets 13 years for posing as his dead mom
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen:A simple way to do fish right
May 22, 2012
David S. Cloud and Kathleen Hennessey: Obama changes mind on Pakistan invite to NATO summit --- and then gets dissed by country's president
Warren Richey: Can US group challenge overseas surveillance act? Supreme Court to decide
Thomas M. Anderson: Walking Away From a Mortgage
Environmental Nutrition editors: The lowdown on a low-acid diet
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: Enjoy a celebration of the most rich and layered flavors: Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa chili
May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
Howard LaFranchi: NATO summit: Who will foot the bill for long-term Afghanistan security?
Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
James K. Glassman: 5 Stock Picks Among Online Retailers
Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
Guy Jackson : Victim's father regrets death of Lockerbie bomber
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
Caroline B. Glick: Embracing dangerous delusions and not our friends
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
Janet Bodnar: How to Teach Kids to Handle Credit Cards
Mary Pickett, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Don't be forced into gluten-free lifestyle based merely on a doctor's false-positive test
The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
Warren Richey: Teacher fired for being unwed and pregnant can sue religious school, court rules
Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Mary Beth Franklin: Retirement Savings Tips for New Grads
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
Chelsea Sheasley: Social media: Is it too feminine?
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
Jackson Holahan: The Aleppo Codex
Jonathan Tobin : Iran Declares Victory in Nuclear Talks
Anne Kates Smith: 7 Stocks That Let You Sleep Tight
Carmen Terzic, M.D., Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: A variety of exercises can help improve balance
Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Dennis Prager: God and Man at (and for) Liberty
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
Environmental Nutrition Editors: Get the facts on palm sugar sweetening
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Richard Simon: Purple Hearts for domestic terror victims?
Nando Pelusi, Ph.D.: The privacy paradox: Surrounded by strangers, we risk isolation, anxiety
Chris Farrell: Investing Lessons from the Great Recession
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
Tiffany O'Callaghan: New hormone mimics effects of exercise without the sweat
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
Rabbi B. Shafier: Why happiness will always be elusive
Charles Krauthammer: Echoes of '67: Israel unites
Howard LaFranchi: With G8 snub, US-Putin 'reset' off to stumbling start
Jeremy J. Siegel: Investors, Relax About Rising Interest Rates
Jessica L. Anderson: Get the Best Deal on a Used Car
Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Clifford D. May: The Real Palestinian Refugee Problem
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
Harvard Health Letters: Palliative care: Underused therapy yields surprising benefits
Jeff Bertolucci: Get Home Phone Service for Less Than $10 a Month
Rachel L. Sheedy and Susan B. Garland : Make the Right Moves to Boost Benefits
The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
John Rosemond: Parents, stop destroying the American male
Valerie J. Nelson: Maurice Sendak, author of 'Where the Wild Things Are,' dies at 83
Bob Frick: Angst Over Annuities
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Why did my blood pressure suddenly shoot up?
Lisa Gerstner: Lower the Rate on All Your Loans
The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : Springtime soba with miso sauce offers a coloful mix of fresh textures and flavors
May 8, 2012
Edmund Sanders: Netanyahu suddenly cancels new elections, forms unity government
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: Farewell to European superstate
Anne Kates Smith: 4 Stocks That Mimic Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway
Gaia Vince and Clare Wilson The Rise of Miniature Medical Robots: Fantasy Fast Becoming Reality
Paul Takahashi, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Never suffer night leg cramps
Jessica L. Anderson: Extended-Warranty Warning
The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate National Chocolate Chip Day with the Best Cookie Ever (Includes techniques)
May 7, 2012
Mark Clayton: Homeland Security warns major cyber attack aimed at gas pipeline industry underway
Angus Roxburgh: Putin Decoded: World view of a Russian feeling dissed
Kimberly Lankford: Navigate a Course for Long-Term Care
Kevin McCormally How to Adjust Your Tax Withholding
Celeste Robb-Nicholson, M.D.: Harvard Health Letters: How do you treat a Baker's cyst?
Joanne Capano: Healthy Snacks for Children: The Choices May Surprise You
The Kosher Gourmet by Penelope Wall: Classic Creamy Spinach Dip with a Fraction of the Calories and Fat
May 4, 2012
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Holy 'trivialities'
Jonathan Tobin: Bibi v. Barak will be no contest this time around
Steven Goldberg: Blue Chip Stocks On Sale Worldwide
Art Pine Slow Productivity Growth a Blessing --- For Now
Sue Hubbard, M.D. : The Kid's Doctor: Are Kids Too Wired?
Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D: Foods that are good for your smile
Amy Paturel, M.S., M.P.H.: Eating Well: Foods that are good for your smile
The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Strawberry rhubarb parfaits are elegant yet simple to assemble
May 3, 2012
Michael Freund: Who's Afraid of the Messiah?
Clifford D. May: The Foggiest War
Susan B. Garland: Insurance to Cover Old Old Age
Steven Goldberg 6 Reasons to Bet on a Big Bull Market
Harvard Health Letters: Treating prostate cancer --- no rush to judgment
Larry Gordon: Harvard, MIT partner to offer free online courses
Naomi Nix : Man gets free trip to Chicago after postcard sent by mother in 1957 finally reaches him
The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Intensely Italian vegetable frittata is a seriously simple standby


Jewish World Review Dec. 13, 2011 / 17 Kislev, 5772

Return of the Newt

By Paul Greenberg


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | It's not his character flaws that make it hard to take Newt Gingrich seriously as a presidential candidate. The American electorate is notoriously, perhaps even admirably, forgiving of personal failings in a politician. The ability to forgive, even forget, is as mysterious as it is virtuous. I wish I were blessed with more of it. That's something else I'll need to work on.

Some cultures are blessed/cursed with a great national memory. The best thing Newt Gingrich has going for him in this presidential campaign is our great national forgettery. Who remembers now that at one point (the Clinton Years) he supported making every American buy health insurance?

Yes, that's the same individual mandate he now opposes (vociferously, as always). Whatever the merits of the idea, and it's got some, he's been both fir and agin it. That's Newt. He's consistently inconsistent.

He was once all for Nancy Pelosi's cap-and-trade-ism, too, though now he has no idea why. But there's a simple explanation for it: He loves to grandstand, to do the unexpected, to surprise us. He's a performer, and the show must go on.

Newt the Great loves the razzle-dazzle, the punch line, the showmanship of politics. Mitt Romney might be doing better by now if he did. Instead, he's Mr. Cautious, approaching every utterance as if it were a tightrope and he dares not put a foot wrong. And he seldom does. But he doesn't pirouette and somersault and mesmerize, either. Not his style. Which is no style.

Newt Gingrich isn't exactly a man for all seasons; he's a man for any season. He's the deciduous candidate, regularly shedding old positions for new but always with the same fervor. Call him an equal-opportunity enthusiast. He tends to debate rather than reason -- as if thinking things through would be unmanly. His changeability indicates a man given to impulse, just as his marital record does. Do we really want a president that impulsive, always flitting from idea to idea, policy to policy, mood to mood?

No wonder the Newt is attracted to sci-fi themes. He's got more imagination and less gravity than any American political figure this side of Dennis Kucinich, the congressman from Cleveland who believes UFOs are aliens spaceships -- and can sound as if he just stepped off one.

Ron Paul may be a little strange, too, but his is a familiar, predictable strangeness in the American gallery of eccentrics -- money crank, isolationist, conspiratorialist. He's all of a piece. It would not surprise if he believed Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare, either. It all fits together in a familiar pattern. He's a type.

Newt Gingrich just wanders. There's no telling what nostrum will attract him next. Whatever it is, he'll be very forceful about it.

It's not that he lacks thoughts; he's got a surplus of them, usually wild. He throws them out there in all directions, Which may be a fine way to entertain or even instruct college freshmen -- he used to teach history -- but it's no way to lead the country. As both historian and politician, he's a great popularizer, not so great a thinker.

When it comes to ideas, Newt the Magnificent has got a million of 'em. Abolish the Congressional Budget Office! Defund the National Labor Relations Board! Hire child janitors in the schools so the poor will learn how to work! He loves to provoke. Rather than lead. Nobody takes him seriously when he throws out such proposals, knowing they'll never get beyond the rhetorical stage. It's all in good fun.

He's also a heck of a name-caller. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, is "corrupt" (as if one can't be wrong without being crooked), and Paul Ryan's proposal to reform Medicare, his party's one serious attempt to save it, is nothing but "right-wing social engineering." (A comment he wisely retracted in time for the Republican primaries.)

By now it's scarcely necessary to rehearse the Newt's verbal excesses. Give him time and he'll commit so many, or such a blatant one, that he'll destroy his chances for the nomination without any help from his critics.

The newer the New Gingrich gets, the older he starts to seem. Much like that master of reinventing himself, the late not-so-great Richard Nixon, who was always pulling another New Nixon out of his hat. The most durable of American politicians seem to have that quality. Durable for a while, anyway. But a long while. Isn't Bill Clinton still around somewhere? In New York or Davos or wherever the next great international talkfest is to take place. The ideas broached there all seem so capital-I Important at the time, but who can remember them six weeks later? Or even six days later.

The first few times these perennial headliners rise and fall, then rise and fall again, they seem to have a protean quality, always able to shift the shape of their views to fit the needs and wants of the changing moment. There's a reason they tend to be called Comeback Kids. They have a genius for keeping up with the popular mood, even anticipating it. And for appearing to lead the crowd even as they follow it.

But after a time, though it may be a long time, people catch on. Or just grow bored. Then these stars of their own show no longer seem brilliant, flexible, full of ideas and all that, but only . . . nixonesque. Or clintonesque. How long before the adjective gingrichian enters the political vocabulary?

No wonder Bill Clinton had a good word for the Newt the other day. They're two of a kind, these Comeback Twins. Or as the former president said of the former speaker: "He thinks about this stuff all the time. He's articulate, and he tries to think of a conservative version of an idea that will solve a legitimate problem." Or at least sway voters.

The Clintons/Gingriches of the political world always seem in the market for the Next Big Idea, the one that'll give their audiences that much sought-after Aha! moment when realization dawns, or seems to, and eyes light up with interest. And admiration for the speaker. Then the moment passes, the idea is forgotten, the spotlight shifts, the dust settles, and people can't quite remember just what it was they once got so all-fired excited about.

But now is Newt's moment. Again. You might even call him the momentary candidate.

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