Word: gingrichs
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WASHINGTON, D.C.: Newt Gingrich took just about everyone by surprise announcing on the House floor today that Bob Dole will loan him the $300,00 he needs to pay his ethics fine. Virtually every member of the House was surprised by the move, reports TIME's Jay Carney. Once they recovered, Democrats were quick to cry foul, charging that the loan was ethically questionable, coming as it did from someone who has just joined a high-powered Washington lobbying firm. Minority whip David Bonior claimed that Dole had passed Gingrich a "sweetheart deal" paid for by the tobacco lobby. "Dole...
While this may seem like just another case of same-old, same-old, even lukewarm art-lovers ought to be on their guard. For Gingrich takes aim not at the art-in-itself but at the lovers of art, and the press has precious little to say in their defense. And while there are grounds for public interest in the arts, they are by no means self-evident like the freedom of religion or the freedom of the press. With the odds so stacked against them, art-lovers must take every opportunity to articulate their interests and rehearse their arguments...
...York Times tells it, Gingrich decided to go after the arts in order to get in good with the Republican set. His opposition to the arts is just another ploy, a set piece, to rehabilitate his standing in the public eye after the ethics ruling. The Democratic White House seems to share this view. Indeed, White House spokesman Michael D. McMurry reduced Gingrich's attack to a "charm offensive." There is the tone throughout of "business as usual." Yet, there is something asymmetrical about the Times's coverage. While the piece seems slanted against Gingrich, it is Gingrich's arguments...
...defenders of the NEA are quoted poorly. There is no adequate defense of the arts, only rebuttal of Gingrich's attack. This is hardly fair. In this fashion the art-lovers are put on the defensive, and they end up sounding weak. One almost gets the sense that, while Gingrich may be a toad, he's right about art. On the contrary, art should be defended vigorously on its own terms. Otherwise, all we hear is that art is not pornography and it is not elitist...
There was no groundswell of opinion here. It was individuals, lovers of the arts and the humanities, who created the endowments for the arts and for the Humanities. Gingrich seems to be in the right. The art-lover is caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, he must speak softly or risk exposing the weakness of his support, while on the other hand, he must speak loudly enough to convince others that the arts are in the public interest. This is a tricky game to play...