Kieth Olbermann but he is such a superior wordsmith to myself, his response to Newt calling for the elimination of free speech, at a celebration of free speech, in a state with the motto "live free or die" was something they should teach in school like the Gettysburg address.

"Like an arsonist speaking at a fireman's memorial"

Those who had no faith in freedom, no faith in this country, and, ultimately, no faith even in the strength of their own ideas, to stand up on their own legs, without having the playing-field tilted entirely to their benefit.
"It will lead us to learn," Gingrich continued, "how to close down every website that is dangerous, and it will lead us to a very severe approach to people who advocate the killing of Americans and advocate the use of nuclear and biological weapons."

That we have always had 'a very severe approach' to these people is insufficient for Mr. Gingrich's ends.

He wants to somehow ban the idea.

Even though everyone who has ever protested a movie or a piece of music or a book has learned the same lesson:

Try to suppress it, and you only validate it.

Make it illegal, and you make it the subject of curiosity.

Say it cannot be said - and it will instead be screamed.

...snip.....
And who among us can look to our collective history, and not see its turning points — like the Civil War, like Watergate, like the Revolution itself — in which the right idea defeated the wrong idea on the battlefield that is the marketplace of ideas?

But apparently there are some of us who cannot see, that the only future for America is one that cherishes the freedoms won in the past, one in which we vanquish bad ideas with better ones, and in which we fight for liberty by having more liberty, not less.
....snip.....
What a dark place your world must be, Mr. Gingrich, where the way to save America, is to destroy America.

I will awaken every day of my life thankful I am not with you in that dark place.
........

There is actually an identified pathology to it called Right Wing Authoritarian pathology. Very common on the political right, very rare on the political left, and those on the left very isolated by all, being the likes of Farrakhan, communists, Weathermen, etc.

There is a quick read here and a much longer read from the original source here. It was this research that John Dean was talking about in his book "Conservatives without Conscience" as well.

A Quick And Dirty Guide To Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA)

Table 1: Hostility & Fear Toward Outgroups

RWA’s are more likely to:

* Weaken constitutional guarantees of liberty, such as the Bill of Rights.
* Punish severely ‘common’ criminals in a role-playing situation.
* Admit they get personal pleasure from punishing such people.
* But go easy on authorities who commit crimes and people who attack minorities.
* Be prejudiced against many racial, ethnic, nationalistic, and linguistic minorities.
* Be hostile toward homosexuals.
* Support ‘gay-bashing.’
* Be hostile toward feminists.
* Volunteer to help the government persecute almost anyone.
* Be mean-spirited toward those who have made mistakes and suffered.
* Be fearful of a dangerous world.

Table 2: Not-So-Healthy Ingroup Cohesion

RWA’s are more likely to:

* Strongly believe in group cohesiveness and ‘loyalty.’
* Insist on traditional sex roles.
* Use religion to erase guilt over their acts and to maintain their self-righteousness.
* Be ‘fundamentalists’ and the most prejudiced members of whatever religion they belong to.
* Accept unfair and illegal abuses of power by government authorities.
* Trust leaders (such as G W Bush) who are untrustworthy.

Table 3: Faulty reasoning

RWA’s are more likely to:

* Make many incorrect inferences from evidence.
* Hold contradictory ideas leading them to ‘speak out of both sides of their mouths.’
* Uncritically accept that many problems are ‘our most serious problem.’
* Uncritically accept insufficient evidence that supports their beliefs.
* Uncritically trust people who tell them what they want to hear.
* Use many double standards in their thinking and judgements.

Table 4: Profound Character Flaws

RWA’s are more likely to:

* Be dogmatic.
* Be zealots.
* Be hypocrites.
* Be bullies when they have power over others.
* Help cause and inflame intergroup conflict.
* Seek dominance over others by being competitive and destructive in situations requiring cooperation.

Table 5: Blindness To Own Failings

RWA’s are more likely to:

* Believe they have no personal failings.
* Avoid learning about their personal failings.
* Be highly self-righteous.
* Use religion to erase guilt over their acts and to maintain their self-righteousness.
Table 6: RWA’s Political Tendencies

RWA’s are more likely to:

* Weaken constitutional guarantees of liberty, such as the Bill of Rights.
* Accept unfair and illegal abuses of power by government authorities.
* Trust leaders (such as G W Bush) who are untrustworthy.
* Sometimes join left-wing movements, where their hostility distinguishes them.
* But much more typically endorse right-wing political parties.
* Be conservative/Reform party (Canada) or Republican Party (United States) lawmakers who
1. have a conservative economic philosophy;
2. believe in social dominance;
3. are ethnocentric;
4. are highly nationalistic;
5. oppose abortion;
6. support capital punishment;
7. oppose gun-control legislation;
8. say they value freedom but actually want to undermine the Bill of Rights;
9. do not value equality very highly and oppose measures to increase it;
10. are not likely to rise in the Democratic party, but do so among Republicans.