Gingrich Pleads for More Pragmatism, Less Dogmatism on Stalin/Gulags Issue

Newt Gingrich, the GOP Ideas Man™ is dissatisfied with polarised views on Stalin’s allegedly atrocious human rights abuses, and he fears that a failure to compromise is holding back progress for the USA.

And actually, he’s taken care (once more) to inform us of where we are all going wrong:

Ok, you know, so here we are…

Yes, one side says that Stalin was an appalling and brutal monster, one of the most wicked and most callous people in history….

Despicable and depraved through and through, yes.

I mean, utterly lacking in any positive human qualities that anyone could conceivably attribute to any political leader, or even any person of basically decent character…

Yeah, some kind of Democrat-on-crack, a hobnailed big government mass-murderer!

But the other side says that he was a hero, some kind of virtuous, pristine and thoroughly admirable demi-god, who is absolutely and entirely beyond any criticism whatsoever…

Yes, the International Proletariat made flesh, and having his tabernacle among us. The Almighty and Beneficent God of the workers, except with a Wally Walrus mustache instead of a Prophet’s beard.

So you see? We’ve got two very dogmatic positions, no hint of a compromise, it’s idealism over pragmatism.

But you know what? I’m an ideas man, I like taking a practical perspective, so that we don’t get bogged down in futile accusations and counter-accusations, and the politics of disagreement.

Yes… I mean, if we both stick dogmatically to these entrenched positions, it’s pretty difficult to see how we can move on and form a consensus.

For sure. So let’s be practical here; what about we say, OK granted, Stalin did some pretty unpleasant things, but on the other hand, he had a few achievements too, yeah? Right?

I mean, why don’t we just seek the middle ground, and quit just slinging mud at each other, purely because of our own rigid preconceptions and prejudices?

(Goddayum! TM broke!)

But not everyone is impressed with Gingrich’s “open-minded” approach:

“You know what?” says Professor Noam Chomsky, the Visiting Professor in (Kinda) Non-Marxist Dialectics and also Non-Hierarchical Vice-Turnip-Puller of the Massachussetts Socialist Commune Cadre Educative Studyhouse:

“This is old news. This is what Principled Left-wing Intellectuals™ (ah, TM fix!) have been saying for years.”

Prominent political analyst and commentator Ted Nugent is also unimpressed:

“If Newt “RINO” Gingrich wants to be a despicable apologist for those evil, ungodly Soviets, well why doesn’t he just go and live in the Soviet Union? Hell, I’ll buy him a plane ticket myself™!”

Well, nice to see Ted has been keeping up with the news in recent decades.