By Chris Ingram

Newt the narcissist. Or, he’s no different than a 6 year old.

In his career Newt Gingrich has demonstrated brilliance, while at the same time frequent shades of immaturity, lack of self-awareness, and reality — among other traits. I came across some website (click here) that lists several personality disorders that are similar to Gingrich’s personality. I can’t tell who wrote this website or why they wrote it, or who they plan to vote for for president, but it’s on the Internet, so it must be true.

The site has several interesting links with the following titles: What is a personality disorder? | Narcissistic Personality Disorder How to recognize a narcissist | Traits discussed | (and best of all), “Now We Are Six.”

The “Now We Are Six” link is particularly relevant to Newt. In this article, the author (who somewhere in the disorganized website says he/she isn’t a doctor or therapist) lists several traits and characteristics of a six-year-old and how those are similar to an adult with a narcissitic personality disorder, or, are like Newt.

Note that I am not a doctor, and I never so much as even ever played one on TV, but watching Mr. Gingrich from afar, you have to wonder what’s going on inside the space in between his hairy ears. Just consider the traits and characteristics of a narcissist, and how similar they are to a 6 yr. old – or to Newt. Take them for what they are worth — they’re listed on some dubious website but they didn’t come with any anti-Newt liberal media bias as far as I can tell. That my friends comes from me. Well, all but the liberal part.

Here is the list as referenced from the book of the name Now we are six:

• Six can, oh so often, be expansive and out-of-bounds, contrary…hard…to live with. (p. 4)

• Your typical six-year-old is a paradoxical little person, and bipolarity is the name of the game. Whatever he does, he does the opposite just as readily. In fact, sometimes the choice of some certain object or course of action immediately triggers an overpowering need for its opposite. (p. 1, the first paragraph of the book)

• Six’s reversals are truly something to be reckoned with. (p. 2)

• “I love you” rapidly changes to “I hate you.” (p. 2, 6)

• Stubborn and can’t make up mind (p. 2)

• The child is now the center of his own universe. (p. 2, 15)

• Delighted by any silly thing that calls attention to himself; may do silly, show-offy things to call attention to himself when he feels neglected or shut out (pp. 71-72)

• Arrogant (p. 7)

• Self-important (“extremely aware of the importance of being Six”) (p. 22)

• Demands rather than asks (twice on p. 6, 16)

• Thinks own way is always right (p. 7)

• Once started, will stick to a course of bad behavior or bad judgment regardless of the inevitability of being punished for it (p. 7)

• Asks to be flattered and praised as “good,” even (“rather sadly and touchingly”) following his worst behavior (p. 6)

• Can’t accept criticism (p. 7)

• Feelings are hurt over very small criticisms, comments, failures (p. 6)

• Is so extremely anxious to do well, to be the best, to be loved and praised, that any failure is very hard for him. (p. 6)

• Wants to win every time (p. 4, 21, 45)

• Poor sport, can’t stand to lose (p. 7, 16) Irreverent View editorial note: see Newt’s pal Bill McCollum.

• Argumentative and quarrelsome (p. 21)

• Defiant, pert, fresh, snippy (p. 6, 17)

• Competitive, combative (p. 20)

• Belligerent, verbally aggressive (p. 21)

• Threatens, calls names (p. 21)

• Jealous, envious (p. 7, 21)

• To make sure of winning, will cheat or make up own rules (pp. 21-22, 45)

• Complains that others are cheating and not following the rules (p. 45)

• Does not always tell the truth (p. 16)

• Will not admit to wrongdoing (p. 41) [Note: A technique is given for getting the facts out of kids that also works with narcissists: instead of asking if they did it, ask how they did it.]  goodness means the things explicitly required or allowed by parents or other authority figures; badness means the things explicitly disapproved of or forbidden (p. 66)

• Little forgiveness (p. 22)

• Very critical of others’ conduct (p. 22)

• Expects friendships to be resumed immediately following tremendous complaint and conflict (p. 22)

• Wants to boss (p. 21)

• Highly undifferentiated — everything is everywhere (p. 7)

• Can’t always tell the difference between “yours” and “mine,” and so often steals (pp. 39-41)

• “Random and unconstructive expenditure of energy” (p. 31)

• More interested in merely handling or using tools than in what is accomplished with them (pp. 53-54)  Less interested in actual final products than in whatever he may be doing at the moment(p. 56)

• Sixes love to dress up and pretend they are somebody else…. (p. 49)

You decide. Maybe Newt’s not a narcissist. But he certainly acts like a 6 year old.

Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of Irreverent View. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, and National Review online. He is the Republican political analyst for Bay News 9, the only 24 hour all news channel in Florida’s largest media market, a contributing columnist to the Tampa Tribune, and host of “Chris Ingram’s Irreverent Views” on News Talk 1470 AM Tampa.  The opinions expressed here are those of author and do not represent the views of Bay News 9, the Tampa Tribune, or 1470 AM. E-mail Chris at: Chris@IrreverentView.com.

Please feel free to submit a comment on our blogs. By posting a comment you acknowledge reading and following the terms and conditions of posting found here.  You may also submit a comment by e-mail. If you e-mail a comment you consent to your comment and name being posted on the Irreverent View website. If you wish to remain completely anonymous, please state so in your e-mail.

By Chris Ingram

Just recently I made up my mind to vote for Mitt Romney for president. In assessing the rather weak field of GOP candidates, I believe Romney is the only one who has the experience, temperament, steady hand, and enough appeal to independents and swing voters to beat Barack Obama.

Newt Gingrich’s potential jackpot victory in Florida on Tuesday will only come at the behest of conservative Republican voters who don’t like Romney. Gingrich is betting they will leave their conscience at the door and forget about all the things they claim they value (morality, smaller government, no amnesty for illegals), roll the dice and vote for him. It’s an election strategy most Vegas odds-makers called a long-shot just weeks ago.

Newt Gingrich with Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson (left). Adelson and his wife have contributed over $10 million to a Super PAC benefitting Gingrich.

But Newt’s silver tongue, intellect, and remarkable recollection of history have served him well.

He’s wagering voters’ memories aren’t as remarkable as his own.

Gingrich would rather voters forget about the strangeness surrounding his marital affairs, and extramarital affairs. He hopes they will overlook his Kumbaya moment with Nancy Pelosi and global warming. He is crossing his fingers they won’t remember he once supported a government mandate for individuals to buy health insurance against their will. He is optimistic they won’t remember the historic reprimand and $300,000 fine he received for “intentional or . . . reckless” disregard of House rules while he was Speaker. And he is certain if they remember that he bounced 22 checks during the House banking scandal – one of which was for $9,463 to the IRS – they’ll buy his “blame the liberal media” excuse.

Gingrich is also betting voters will overlook that he is the best-paid history major to ever grace the planet earth. On this I have to admit I am jealous. My undergrad major was in history and I’ve never come close to getting a $1.6 million contract with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be the failed mortgage giants’ “historian.” But I’m polishing up my resume.

Gingrich voters don’t need to remember his mounds of baggage – Obama and the Democrats are chomping at the bit to do it for them.

Need proof? The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees union is currently running television ads in Florida that benefit Gingrich by attacking Romney. Interesting side note: the AFSCME is the fastest growing labor union in America today. No surprise there under President “big government.”

Romney of course isn’t perfect. Oh sure, he’s got perfect hair, and a perfect smile, and he won’t ever embarrass the nation; but he’s no Ronald Reagan.  Romney is as stiff as Al Gore but lacks Gore’s warmth and charm. Plus, he’s a successful businessman, which according to Gingrich makes him a modern-day robber baron.

In Gingrich’s campaign of class warfare it is considered a negative to accumulate wealth and “rich” is a four-letter word. Newt should be ashamed; his “us versus them” tactic comes right out of the Democrat Party playbook and suggests that when hard work, determination, and the free markets create success, you should apologize for it. Ronald Reagan must be rolling in his grave.

I guess in Newt’s world, Republican voters prefer ladder climbing, academic elites from the Washington political class. The type who have never managed anything in the private sector, much less created a single job that wasn’t subsidized by taxpayers or related to government.

Don’t get me wrong; there’s a place for people like Newt Gingrich. His place is giving speeches at state GOP conventions, writing books, being a “histobbyist” for special interests, or as a pundit on Fox News. Heck, with his knack for the ladies, he could even take over Hugh Hefner’s job someday. But President Newt Gingrich isn’t in the cards. He’s just got too much baggage, too much hypocrisy, and is too much of a lightning rod to be successful in November. Never mind the fact that he will be a huge drain on every competitive down ballot Republican candidate in the country.

If the old saying “history repeats itself” is true, it’s only a matter of time before the inner-Gingrich escapes and implodes.  I hope it happens before the GOP picks its nominee. Because Mitt Romney is the only candidate who has a chance of beating Obama; the pragmatic members of the party know it, Obama knows it, and Newt knows it. Even Gingrich’s former pal Nancy Pelosi realizes it when she said, “[Newt’s] not going to be president of the United States. That’s not going to happen.”

Pelosi of course was playing an orchestrated card to further help Gingrich by allowing him to vilify her. The red meat of the GOP just loves that stuff but is too short-sighted to realize they’re being played. But the bottom line is Newt can’t win.

You can bet on that.

Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of Irreverent View. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, and National Review online. He is the Republican political analyst for Bay News 9, the only 24 hour all news channel in Florida’s largest media market, a contributing columnist to the Tampa Tribune, and host of “Chris Ingram’s Irreverent Views” on News Talk 1470 AM Tampa.  The opinions expressed here are those of author and do not represent the views of Bay News 9, the Tampa Tribune, or 1470 AM. E-mail Chris at: Chris@IrreverentView.com.

Please feel free to submit a comment on our blogs. By posting a comment you acknowledge reading and following the terms and conditions of posting found here.  You may also submit a comment by e-mail. If you e-mail a comment you consent to your comment and name being posted on the Irreverent View website. If you wish to remain completely anonymous, please state so in your e-mail.

The Tampa Tribune

Published January 22, 2012

Ask most Americans about “illegal immigration” and they are likely to conjure an image of someone of Hispanic origin swimming across the Rio Grande or evading border patrolmen in the desert. The reality is that just who is “illegal,” how they got here and their impact on our society is much more complex than the visual impression we get from television news.

Farmers say that if they were restricted to hiring only domestic workers, crops wouldn't get picked.

The Department of Homeland Security estimates that between 27 and 57 percent of the country’s 12 million to 14 million “illegals” are visa overstays — people who arrived legally with temporary, non-immigrant status and didn’t leave the country when their visas expired. Government policies perpetuate the problem because those who overstay their visa, once they leave, can’t ever come back legally due to their overstay violation.

The bumper sticker solution

I’m generally a law-and-order type, and I used to believe that if the first thing you do when you come to this country is break the law by entering it illegally, you ought to be rounded up and sent home.

But I’ve evolved. Illegal immigration is far too complicated an issue, with wide-ranging social, economic and emotional considerations; we shouldn’t expect a solution to be found on a bumper sticker.

So far, the federal government has yet to get the solution right. This is due in part to splintered factions of labor unions, business and agricultural groups, and “human rights” activists with divergent interests. As a result of federal inaction, several states have attempted to solve the illegal immigration problem within their borders with quick-fixes that are long on rhetoric, short on solutions and with devastating economic impacts — particularly on the farm economy, which relies heavily on immigrant labor.

The Georgia model

Last year Georgia enacted a tough law to rid the state of illegal immigrants, including a provision for employers to use the federal E-Verify program to check workers’ citizenship. It worked; and the result was Georgia farmers lost an estimated $150 million due to crops that sat in the field unpicked because the labor pool fled the state, according to the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.

Click here to read the full column in today’s Tampa Tribune.

Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of Irreverent View. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, and National Review online. He is the Republican political analyst for Bay News 9, the only 24 hour all news channel in Florida’s largest media market. The opinions expressed here are those of author and do not represent the views of Bay News 9. E-mail him at: Chris@IrreverentView.com.

Please feel free to submit a comment on our blogs. By posting a comment you acknowledge reading and following the terms and conditions of posting found here.  You may also submit a comment by e-mail. If you e-mail a comment you consent to your comment and name being posted on the Irreverent View website. If you wish to remain completely anonymous, please state so in your e-mail.

We’ll be back next Saturday from 1-4 p.m. on News Talk 1470 AM and streeming live on the internet at www.NewsTalkFlorida.com with more guests including state Senator Jack Latvalla and my thoughts about why Newt can’t beat Obama.

Thanks for listening!

Chris Ingram

Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of Irreverent View. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, and National Review online. He is the Republican political analyst for Bay News 9, the only 24 hour all news channel in Florida’s largest media market. The opinions expressed here are those of author and do not represent the views of Bay News 9. E-mail him at: Chris@IrreverentView.com.

Please feel free to submit a comment on our blogs. By posting a comment you acknowledge reading and following the terms and conditions of posting found here.  You may also submit a comment by e-mail. If you e-mail a comment you consent to your comment and name being posted on the Irreverent View website. If you wish to remain completely anonymous, please state so in your e-mail.

Listen to “Chris Ingram’s Irreverent View” radio show live tomorrow (Saturday) January 21 from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. with special guests: Republican Party of Florida chairman, Lenny Curry; Neal Freeman, a veteran journalist who is covering the presidential campaign for National Review and The American Spectator; William March, Tampa Tribune senior political reporter; and Bob Dardenne, chair of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of South Florida.

The show is broadcast live and can be heard on your PC or on your I-Pad, Android phone or tablet. If listening on your mobile/notebook/portable device, you must first load the app on your phone/notebook/portable to listen — see directions below or at http://www.rhinoonair.com.

Topics for today’s show include the upcoming South Carolina GOP presidential preference primary, the RNC penalties on the Fla. GOP conventioneers, and we’ll have Florida political consultant Kevin Keogh,  who is the former three-term chairman of the Maine Republican Party as our special guest . The listener call-in number is 727-388-4777.

To listen on your PC just click on the “Listen Live” button on the homepage of RhinoOnAir.com.

To listen on your phone or tablet go to the  IphoneApp Store or Android Market and click download/install to load the app to your phone. Then go to RhinoOnAir.com and click on “listen live.”

The Tampa Tribune

Published January 17, 2012

Ask any Republican — from the rank-and-file grassroots to party leadership — what their No. 1 goal for 2012 is and the answer is always, “Send Obama an eviction notice.”

Yet somehow the Republican National Committee, most of its members and its national chairman, Reince Priebus, are hellbent on airing the party’s dirty laundry by taking Florida to the woodshed for violating the RNC’s “rules” about election dates.

I have what I think is a great idea to solve this “problem.” But first, it’s important to understand the facts. They are:

The RNC has the right to do whatever it wants regarding the management of its convention, which will be in Tampa in August. This includes everything from the seating of delegates, to assigning hotel rooms for state delegations, to designating seating for delegates on the convention floor, to how many stupid hats, pins and buttons a delegate should be required to wear before plopping themselves in front of a TV camera to make total fools of themselves on national television.

Florida is a sovereign state with the legal right, power, will and authority to schedule its presidential primary election date whenever it chooses.

For years the RNC has recognized the Iowa/New Hampshire “first in the nation” election calendar is flawed and needs to be changed. The committee has failed to… (Click here to read the full column in The Tampa Tribune.)

Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of Irreverent View. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, and National Review online. He is the Republican political analyst for Bay News 9, the only 24 hour all news channel in Florida’s largest media market. The opinions expressed here are those of author and do not represent the views of Bay News 9. E-mail him at: Chris@IrreverentView.com.

Please feel free to submit a comment on our blogs. By posting a comment you acknowledge reading and following the terms and conditions of posting found here.  You may also submit a comment by e-mail. If you e-mail a comment you consent to your comment and name being posted on the Irreverent View website. If you wish to remain completely anonymous, please state so in your e-mail.

The Tampa Tribune

Published January 10, 2012

Call in the kids, lock your doors, and cover your eyes and ears, the “Flori-duh” Legislature convenes today to conduct its annual business.

Last year’s embarrassing session saw Senate President Mike Haridopolous outmaneuvered by the House. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering this is the same guy who wrote a book with finger paint and got paid $150,000 to do so by some Podunk community college. The book sold about 100 copies.

I digress; that’s old news. But the players haven’t changed much, and I’m not optimistic that the same knuckleheads in Tallahassee, who in the midst of an economic recession last year spent four days talking about abortion and just one day talking about jobs, will get their priorities in order.

Instead of just complaining about what a bunch of out-of-touch do-nothings they are, I’ve made a list of a few things the Legislature ought to consider. They are:

∙ Act on Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign slogan of “jobs, jobs, jobs.” What can government do to create jobs? Easy; leave more money in the people’s pockets. Providing tax relief and cutting costly, burdensome and unnecessary regulations will spark economic growth.

∙ Ban texting and talking on a mobile phone without a hands-free device while driving. Thirty-five states ban texting, and nine states ban phone usage without a hand-free device. Texting is a huge problem, and it gets worse every day. Nearly every slow driver I see in the left lane is doing so because they’re more focused on their phone than the road. This is obviously a major safety issue as well as being an annoyance.

Click here to read the full column in The Tampa Tribune.

Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of Irreverent View. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, and National Review online. He is the Republican political analyst for Bay News 9, the only 24 hour all news channel in Florida’s largest media market. The opinions expressed here are those of author and do not represent the views of Bay News 9. E-mail him at: Chris@IrreverentView.com.

Please feel free to submit a comment on our blogs. By posting a comment you acknowledge reading and following the terms and conditions of posting found here.  You may also submit a comment by e-mail. If you e-mail a comment you consent to your comment and name being posted on the Irreverent View website. If you wish to remain completely anonymous, please state so in your e-mail.

By Chris Ingram

The Islamic terrorist who targeted Tampa with his hate hailed from the Baltics where radical factions aren’t all that radical — rather they are the norm. I’ve done consulting work in the region, and I can tell you the culture is a divisive breeding ground for extremists.

Mug shot of Sami Osmakac

According to the criminal complaint filed by the FBI (click here to read), accused terrorist Sami Osmakac said, among other things, that he wanted to “pay back” for wrongs done to Muslims. “We all have to die, why not die the Islamic way?”  “…they can take me in 5 million pieces.” The accused planned to take hostages, targeted Ybor city bars, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office operations center, and bridges between Tampa and St. Pete. At one point he told an FBI informant, “I know a lot of places where it gets real crowded.”

This guy is seriously messed up in the head and could have inflicted serious harm on a lot of innocent people — just because they don’t worship Allah. Congratulations and ‘thank you’ to the FBI and other lawn enforcement for catching this him.

Now it’s time for out elected officials to get serious about securing our borders and doing what is most effective and least expensive to prevent terrorism — profiling. Last time I checked, there haven’t been any incidents of terrorist attacks or planned plots of such attacks from 83 year-old grandmas, or five year-old kids — but that doesn’t stop the TSA from strip-searching them at the airport.

Read more about the suspect in The Tampa Tribune by clicking here.

Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of Irreverent View. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, and National Review online. He is the Republican political analyst for Bay News 9, the only 24 hour all news channel in Florida’s largest media market. The opinions expressed here are those of author and do not represent the views of Bay News 9. E-mail him at: Chris@IrreverentView.com.

Please feel free to submit a comment on our blogs. By posting a comment you acknowledge reading and following the terms and conditions of posting found here.  You may also submit a comment by e-mail. If you e-mail a comment you consent to your comment and name being posted on the Irreverent View website. If you wish to remain completely anonymous, please state so in your e-mail.

The biker jumped into the cage and hit the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch. Whimpering from the pain, the lion jumped back, letting go of the girl, and the biker brought her to her terrified parents, who thanked him endlessly.

A reporter from the The New York Times was at the zoo, and he had watched the whole event and approached the biker.

The reporter said, “Sir, this was the most brave and gallant thing I saw a man do in my whole life.”

The biker replied, “Why, it was nothing, really, the lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger, and I just acted instinctively.”

The reporter said, “Well, I’m a journalist from The New York Times, and tomorrow’s paper will have this story on the front page… Among the many questions he asked the biker, he asked, ”What do you do for a living and what political party do you most identify with?”

The biker replied, “I’m a U.S. Marine and I am a Republican.”

The following morning the biker bought The New York Times to see if it indeed brought news of his actions, and reads, on the front page: U.S. MARINE ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH!