Newt Has Jumped The Shark

Just a sampling of what can be found here:

THE PLATFORM OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

AMERICAN VALUES AND AMERICAN SOLUTIONS

Government should offer intensive English language instruction to all who need it, including stipends to help immigrants attend the programs. (83 to 15) [Paid for by whom, pray tell?]

When applying for a temporary worker visa each worker should take an oath to obey American law and be deported if they commit a crime while in the United States. (93 to 8) [Like much of the rest of the content of this 'platform', this is mostly a 'duh!' plank, but that oath bit? Please!]

The American people want to increase the number of visas for highly-educated immigrants or those with special skills, the so-called H1B and H2B visas. (63 to 29) [Not me, pal-I'd rather see American kids get highly-educated so that they can do those jobs.]

Illegal immigrants who commit felonies should be deported. (88 to 10) [Substitute 'aliens' for the part in bold, and you got it.]

There should be heavy monetary fines against employers and businesses who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. (78 to 20) [They're not immigrants, you Newt-wit; they're intruders. As for fines, sure-on top of a mandatory five-year prison sentence.]

We want to encourage businesses to voluntarily cut pollution and give them financial incentives to do this but, if necessary, we will require them to do so. (66 to 25) [Unfunded mandate. So much for the Republican revolution of '94-it's dead.]

Climate change and global warming are probably happening. (82 to 13) [Says your opinion poll. Some respectable climatologists aren't so sure of that-much less that it's anthropogenic or that humankind could do a bloody thing to stop it if so.]

We should hold city governments to the same standards for cleaning waste water as are applied to private industry. (91 to 5) [To paraphrase Fred: so much for states' rights; so much for federalism.]

We are prepared to use public funds to preserve green space and parks to protect natural areas from development but especially with public and private partnerships. (81 to 15) [Public funds=taxpayer dollars; why not just say it? Let the government take the measures necessary to preserve land it already owns, using a common-sense approach. That goes for land management as well, including woodland.]

Taxpayers should be given the option of a single income tax rate of 17%. Taxpayers would still have the option of filing their taxes in the current system if they choose to do so. (61 to 32) [A 'Fonzi scheme', if you'll pardon the pun...seems cool, but too Italian-and not very bright.]

All emphases mine, as are [these].

Oh, and those numbers in parentheses? Poll numbers. Newt's gone native in the Beltway, and it's a sad thing for me; at one time he was second only to Ronald Reagan as the ideal conservative, despite his personal faults. Sad.

Update (7:05 EST): I just noticed the polling result on that second item (93-8). Wonder if that extra one percent was comprised of dead people, illegal aliens, or both. They sure as hell weren't conservatives.