Gingrich and WW III

Newt's been quoted recently as saying:

We're in the early stages of what I would describe as a Third World War, and frankly our bureaucracies are not responding fast enough, and we don't have the right attitude about this.

And he's written about it at Human Events Online:

I am now firmly convinced that the world confronts a situation that is frighteningly similar to a Third World War, one every bit as serious and dangerous as the two great conflicts of the 20th Century.

But he tells a different tale in Seattle. As the Ferengi saying goes, "War is good for business." And for Newt Gingrich "business" also means "politics."

From the Postman column in Seattle:

Gingrich said he is "very worried" about Republicans facing fall elections and says the party must have the "nerve" to nationalize the elections and make the 2006 campaigns about a liberal Democratic agenda rather than about President Bush's record.

And:

There is a public relations value, too. Gingrich said that public opinion can change "the minute you use the language" of World War III. The message then, he said, is "'OK, if we're in the third world war, which side do you think should win?"

The minute you use the language of World War III.