Version #1
Host intro: House speaker Newt Gingrich has been re-elected to his post by the 105th Congress. That suits commentator Pete du Pont of the National Center for Policy Analysis just fine.
Version #2
Host intro: By all accounts, Newt Gingrich will retain his post as House Speaker in the 105th Congress. That suits commentator Pete du Pont just fine.
If you're puzzled by newt Gingrich's "ethics" trouble — I've put ethics in quotation marks — it's because his "crime" — that's in quotation marks too — is so technical and obscure that even the New York Times, hardly a Gingrich cheering section, said it wouldn't even merit a wrist slap from the IRS.
The joke is that while conservatives are/were wringing their hands over Gingrich's "guilt" — more quotation marks — liberals have/had to leave the room so their raucous laughter couldn't be heard. They, after all, backed an administration that's been a magnet for the ethics impaired.
So I'm glad Newt's back. Anybody remember the Republican revolution? 1994? The big swing right that swept even Bill Clinton before it? Gingrich was the guiding spirit. You're judged by your enemies, and Gingrich has legions. Liberals all over the country, from Senate to dogcatcher didn't run against Bob Dole; they ran against Newt. Liberals fear him because they know what he has in mind for big government and the belief that Washington knows best. They'd like nothing better than to see the last of him. The only remarkable thing is/was that some conservatives are/were willing to help him out the door.
It didn't work. Welcome back, Mr. Speaker. Now, go get 'em.
Those are my ideas, and at the ncpa we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont, and I'll see you tomorrow.
Host outro: Tomorrow, Pete du Pont gives a thumbs down to ebonics.