As we sit around the dinner table Thursday, let's not forget to give thanks that political ads have ceased to flood our television sets and the 2012 election is finally over. The Cycle hosts called out their favorite political fumbles of the election season. Let's dig in.
Steve's thankful that for two weeks this election cycle, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was—improbably—a serious, viable presidential candidate. After all, this is the man who blasted Republican Primary Debate moderator John King for opening with a question about his allegedly seeking an open marriage from an ex-wife, sparking one of the best debate retorts in history:
King: "She says you asked her, Sir, to enter into an open marriage. Would you like to take some time to respond to that?"Gingrich: "No. But I will."
And it only gets better. Watch here.
Krystal's thankful for "the most fundamentally dramatic press release of all time" from Gingrich campaign adviser Rick Tyler. He's talking about the media's response to Gingrich comparing Paul Ryan's Medicare plan to "right wing social engineering:"
The literati sent out their minions to do their bidding. Washington cannot tolerate threats from outsiders who might disrupt their comfortable world. The firefight started when the cowardly sensed weakness. They fired timidly at first, then the sheep not wanting to be dropped from the establishment’s cocktail party invite list unloaded their entire clip, firing without taking aim their distortions and falsehoods. Now they are left exposed by their bylines and handles. But surely they had killed him off. This is the way it always worked. A lesser person could not have survived the first few minutes of the onslaught. But out of the billowing smoke and dust of tweets and trivia emerged Gingrich, once again ready to lead those who won’t be intimated by the political elite and are ready to take on the challenges America faces.
S.E.'s taking on former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm for her Tina Turner-inspired speech at the Democratic Convention.
And Toure's chanting "Four more years."
"Two things that could happen that would put us over the moon: If [Obama] could replace Scalia and change the face of the Supreme Court, [and]... try to fix the Middle East. That's a dream, but that's the sort of thing a guy who's reaching for the history books would want to do."