If Saul Alinsky weren?t already dead, he?d die to get a piece of Newt Gingrich. The one kind of man Alinsky had no use for was a bully.
The Dough Boy of GOP reaction has apparently decided he can win it all by making Alinsky the central figure of the 2012 campaign. Every time Gingrich opens his mouth, out comes pronunciamenti like ?the centerpiece of this campaign?is American exceptionalism versus the radicalism of Saul Alinsky.? (Fox Nation 1/21/12) or ?Saul Alinsky radicalism is at the heart of Obama.? (CNN 1/22/12)
Continue ReadingIf this were not silly enough, harken to Rudy Giuliani on the TV upbraiding Gingrich for acting like Alinsky: ?What the hell are you doing, Newt? I expect this from Saul Alinsky. This is what Saul Alinsky taught Barack Obama.?
Since President Barack Obama was 11 years old when Alinsky died, what, if anything, he learned from Alinsky, the inventor of community organizing, is not known. Given some moves the president has made in office, it?s not immediately apparent that Alinsky?s political genius rubbed off on him.
Were he around today, Alinsky, the old street fighter who died in 1972, would be delighted with all this. He was at his best when the empty suits and stuffed shirts trained their guns on him. I say that having known Alinsky for almost 20 years, worked for him for 10 of them and watched him in action countless times.
On a debate stage he would take the former speaker with ease because you could not bully Alinsky into the embarrassed mumbling to which Gingrich?s GOP rivals have been reduced. It would be no contest ? for Alinsky was a witty man who could have easily ridiculed Mr. Roly-Poly?s claims of being the all-knowing historian.
Alinsky called himself a radical not because he was a devotee of an economic or political doctrine. He didn?t use the abstract terms that Gingrich uses, like capitalism, free market or socialism. Radical to Alinsky meant tough, smart, practical, persevering, fearless.
He contrasted that to the non-radicals, the softies, the pushovers, the liberals and the conservatives. None of whom you could count on in a knife fight.
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