The Washington Independent » Stephen Douglas http://washingtonindependent.com National News in Context Thu, 10 May 2012 20:13:22 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Newt at Large http://washingtonindependent.com/46106/newt-at-large http://washingtonindependent.com/46106/newt-at-large#comments Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:11:49 +0000 David Weigel http://washingtonindependent.com/?p=46106 When President Obama gave his “Muslim speech” in Cairo, the Drudge Report headlined it “6,000 words.” When former Vice President Cheney responded to the president’s speech on Guantanamo Bay and torture, he opened with a joke about how long it was (“In the House, we have the five minute rule.”) More...

]]> When President Obama gave his “Muslim speech” in Cairo, the Drudge Report headlined it “6,000 words.” When former Vice President Cheney responded to the president’s speech on Guantanamo Bay and torture, he opened with a joke about how long it was (“In the House, we have the five minute rule.”)

The first speech was 55 minutes long. The second speech was 39 minutes long.

Newt Gingrich’s speech to the National Republican Congressional Committee and Senatorial Committee? Fifty-six minutes long.

It’s a fascinating performance, a formless ramble that veers from fear of European socialism to capsule reviews of education documentaries to the accusation that Obama is an orator “in the [Stephen] Douglas tradition,” which is a nice little dig considering that Douglas ended his career by supporting the Dred Scott decision and trying to open the territories to slavery. Would the party have been better off booking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin after all?

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