Ex-Speaker Leaving Congress

Well 'spit it out,' retorts Newt

(NEWSER) - Nancy Pelosi is again dropping cryptic hints about some apparent dirt she has on Newt Gingrich. Asked by CNN's John King yesterday about the prospect of him becoming president, she said flatly: "He's not going to be president of the United States. That's not going to happen. Let me just make my prediction and stand by it. It isn't going to happen." Why so sure? "There is something I know," she said, according to the Huffington Post . "The Republicans, if they choose to nominate him, that's their prerogative. I don't even think that's going to happen." More»

Federal meddling will only lead to higher prices and crappy care

(NEWSER) - The states have a handle on health care reform, write Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, and the federal government urgently needs to take a lesson from them. “Texas, for example, has adopted approaches to controlling health-care costs while improving choice, advancing quality of care and expanding coverage” write the former US House speaker and current Texas governor. But they see a federal initiative failing. More»

Despite low score, the Hammer vows to dance on injured foot 'till it breaks'

(NEWSER) - Former House majority leader Tom DeLay showed off a dignified tango last night on Dancing With the Stars, performing the dance faithfully, if a bit robotically—until the end, when he dipped partner Cheryl Burke, stumbled, and almost dropped her. Though he scored an 18, tying for last with Kathy Ireland, Delay seems determined, the Wall Street Journal reports. He was in obvious pain from a pre-stress fracture in his foot, but he vowed backstage to “dance till it breaks.” More»

Parallels with 1994 are exaggerated

(NEWSER) - Hopeful Republicans are starting to play up the similarities between 1994 and 2010 but any talk of a second Republican Revolution is probably just wishful thinking, writes Ed Kilgore in the New Republic. The Republican capture of the House in '94 was made possible by retiring Democrats—some 22 of the 54 seats they picked up that year were open, while just four Democrat-held House seats will be open in "even vaguely competitive territory" next year, Kilgore writes. More»

(NEWSER) - America’s health care system is riddled with so much fraud that eliminating it would pay for universal coverage, but Congress doesn’t seem to care, writes Newt Gingrich in the Washington Examiner. He singles out as his particular villain Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Waxman, he charges, hasn’t held a single hearing to look into Medicaid fraud, even though the GAO says $32.7 billion worth of Medicaid payments were improper in 2007. More»