Newt Gingrich Wants to Party Like It’s 1995

WASHINGTON — Progress in talks in avoid a fiscal crisis appeared to stall on Wednesday as President Barack Obama accused Republicans of digging in their heels due to a personal grudge against him, while a Republican leader called the president “irrational.” Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, have been negotiating a deal to avert harsh tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled for January that could trigger a recession, and Obama said he was puzzled over what was holding up the talks.

Conventional wisdom in Washington DC is that the “government shutdown” prompted by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich’s hardball tactics was a political fiasco for congressional Republicans. And today conventional wisdom is split between a camp that thinks conservatives have “learned the lesson” of this fight and won’t do it again, and those who think that Tea-fueled House backbenchers will force a shutdown.

Steve Benen observes that these days Newt Gingrich is everywhere you look:

WASHINGTON — Republicans proposed steep spending cuts on Monday but gave no ground on President Barack Obama’s call to raise taxes on the wealthiest in their first formal proposal to avert a “fiscal cliff” that could push the U.S. economy into recession. After days of stalemate, the Republican offer shows deep differences with President Barack Obama as the two sides work to head off across-the-board spending cuts and tax increases due to take effect in January.

Herman Cain has "Suspends Presidential Campaign" which is a polite way of saying "I Quit". Republican Herman Cain suspended his campaign Saturday, saying that allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace and an extramarital affair have “sidetracked and distracted” a run for the White House. The accusations of personal misconduct, which he repeatedly denied, “had a tremendous painful price on my family,” he said.