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Seriously. I'm not kidding. These people are losing it.

Newt Gingrich believes we need to rewrite the First Amendment to protect ourselves from terrorism. I'm not making this up. Take a look:

Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a "different set of rules" may be needed to reduce terrorists' ability to use the Internet and free speech to recruit and get out their message.

"We need to get ahead of the curve before we actually lose a city, which I think could happen in the next decade," said Gingrich, a Republican who helped engineer the GOP's takeover of Congress in 1994.

Gingrich spoke to about 400 state and local power brokers last night at the annual Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment award dinner, which fetes people and organizations that stand up for freedom of speech.

Gingrich sharply criticized campaign finance laws he charged were reducing free speech and doing little to fight attack advertising. He also said court rulings over separation of church and state have hurt citizens' ability to express themselves and their faith.

Last night's event, held at the Radisson Hotel-Center of New Hampshire, honored a Lakes Region newspaper and a former speaker of the House for work in favor of free expression.

You got that? It was an awards banquet honoring people who had both protected and exercised their right to free speech. And he used it to attack the First Amendment.

I really don't understand what is wrong with these people. I really don't understand why they seem to hate the things they are supposedly trying so hard to defend. They claim they love this country, but to save it they want to destroy the things that makes it most unique.

We survived the Cold War with our rights in tact. You know, the war that was "cold" because for it to turn "hot" would have meant the destruction of not just one city but all of them. And by all, I literally mean all.

Now why, pray tell, did we run that risk? What was it that was so precious that we were willing to risk everything to protect it? Was it, oh... I don't know... maybe freedom that we were all willing to die to defend? You know, like the freedom to, oh, I don't know... speak your mind?

I'm sick of this. I'm sick of having to listen to these morons. I'm sick of them being taken seriously by people. I'm sick of having to listen to them, and I'm sick of them being listened to.

But you know what? I would be willing to fight and perhaps even die to defend their right to make utter buffoons out of themselves.

The man was the Speaker of the House. And now he wants to limit your right to speak in your house.

You couldn't make this stuff up. It's all just far too absurd.

UPDATE: It's also worth nothing where this event took place, and where it was reported. "Live Free Or Die" New Hampshire was the place. And the "Live Free Or Die" Manchester Union-Leader did the reporting. But nary a peep from their famously conservative editorial page. No no. Rather than worry about the former Speaker suggesting we curtail our freedom, here's what they are worried about:

Editorials

Taxes and schools: More does not mean better
THE EVER-INCREASING cost of public education is sending property taxes through the roof. Residents are near revolt. Towns are beginning to demand a repeal of the statewide property tax.

Rangel's insult: Getting Kerried away
THIS TIME it was not a botched joke.

John Edwards' folly: A book signing gone wrong
Former Sen. John Edwards is to spend an hour at the Manchester Barnes & Noble tonight promoting his new book. We find his choice of venue very interesting.

That silly John Edwards! The Wal-Mart is just so much more convenient. How dare he hold a book signing in the book store right around the corner. What a communist! What an America Hater!

And Charles Rangle? How dare he suggest that people in his community - you know, Harlem? - might have joined the military more out of need that want. How dare he insult our troops like that. He must hate America! And Freedom!

And taxes and schools? Those communists in Vermont want to import their nutty ideas about school funding into the glorious granite state. Sound the alarm! To the trenches, men! Freedom must be protected! Grab your keyboards! To the trenches!

I'm sorry if this is impolite, but fuck these people. They don't have a clue what freedom means anymore. The Speaker of the House comes into their state and suggests rewriting the Bill of Rights, and they are exercise about John Edward's choice of venue for a book signing?

The right really has become a bad parody of itself. It's like watching a bad game of telephone. What they're saying and doing is vaguely related to where all this started, but only vaguely.