Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Saturday said Republicans should try to oust Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius because she was acting “in the spirit of the Soviet tyranny” and represents “left-wing thought police.” 
 
 Gingrich, speaking at the Values Voter summit in Washington, told an audience of social conservatives that Sebelius’s letter instructing insurers not to blame premium hikes on the new health care law was so egregious she deserved to be forced out. 
 
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 “When Secretary Sebelius said the other day she would punish insurance companies who told the truth about Obamacare, she was behaving exactly in the spirit of the Soviet tyranny,” he said. “If she is going to represent left-wing thought police about Obamacare, she should be forced to resign by the new Congress.” 
 
 “This idea that we the people have to tolerate some bureaucrat being paid with our taxes to dictate free speech to us, should end in January by the Republican Congress zeroing out her office and saying they’ll be glad to pay for it when there’s somebody there who recognizes the rights of the American people,” he said. 
 
 Gingrich also attacked the establishment in his own party, and he credited Sarah Palin and Sen. Jim DeMint for tea party darling Christine O’Donnell’s upset win in Delaware earlier this week over Rep. Mike Castle. 
 
 “Sen. Jim DeMint and Gov. Palin deserve enormous credit,” Gingrich said. “I’ll let you decide whether this is the DeMint-Palin inspired movement or the Palin-DeMint inspired movement.” 
 
 Gingrich said the GOP establishment — which he once helped lead as House speaker in the 1990s — is in “a state of shock,” and he urged party leaders to embrace O’Donnell and reject the write-in candidacy of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who lost her GOP primary last month. 
 
 “I would say that Sen. Murkowski is fundamentally cheating. If she wanted to run as an independent, she should have,” he said. “And I would beg Mike Castle to endorse Christine O’Donnell because she won fair and square.” 
 
 Gingrich also warned of the influence of sharia, the Islamic legal code, and what he called “radical Islamists” in the United States. 
 
 “I am totally opposed to any effort to impose sharia on the United States,” he said. “And we should make clear to Justice [Stephen] Breyer and Justice [Elena] Kagen who both seem confused on this topic that no judge will remain in office who tries to use sharia law to interpret the American Constitution,” he said. ||||| CHARLOTTE, N.C. -The chairman of the California delegation to the Democrats' convention was criticized by both parties for comparing Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan to the Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels. 
 
 In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday, John Burton said, "They lie and they don't care if people think they lie. Joseph Goebbels . It's the big lie, you keep repeating it." Goebbels was the minister of propaganda during Hitler's Nazi regime. 
 
 Burton was referring specifically to Ryan, whose speech at the Republican convention in Tampa last week has been criticized by Democrats for inaccuracies. 
 
 "How can a senior citizen believe him when he says I'm going to save your Medicare or that my budget balances," said Burton reacting to Ryan's remarks. 
 
 Burton expanded on his comments with ABC Affiliate KGO, saying, "If you're not telling the truth, you're lying. Joseph Goebbels' concept was the big lie. If you tell it enough, people will think it's the truth." 
 
 President Obama's campaign rejected Burton's comments just hours before their convention kicked off. 
 
 "That obviously doesn't reflect the views of the campaign," said Obama for America National Press Secretary Ben LaBolt. "That doesn't have any place in the political discourse here in Charlotte." 
 
 The Republican Jewish Coalition also condemned Burton's remarks. "John Burton ought to know better than to bring the Nazis and their victims into our current political debates, but apparently the offense such remarks cause to Holocaust survivors and their families are of less concern to him than the prospect of partisan gain," the coalition said. 
 
 Burton's comments come one day after two California delegates were involved in a drunken incident at their Charlotte hotel. The police were called to the Blake Hotel and one of the delegates ended up in the hospital. The other delegate was sent home.
– At least he didn't invoke Hitler: Newt Gingrich today accused health secretary Kathleen Sebelius of "Soviet tyranny" and said she embodies the "left-wing thought police" because of Obamacare, reports Politico. His money quote at the Values Voter summit in DC: “When Secretary Sebelius said the other day she would punish insurance companies who told the truth about Obamacare, she was behaving exactly in the spirit of the Soviet tyranny. If she is going to represent left-wing thought police about Obamacare, she should be forced to resign by the new Congress.” Gingrich was referring to this letter sent by Sebelius to insurers warning them to stop "falsely blaming premium increases" on the new health legislation. She said there would be "zero tolerance" of it. Elsewhere in his speech, Gingrich lavished praise on Sarah Palin and Jim DeMint for the Tea Party's successes. To catch up on his recent charged comments about President Obama's "Kenyan" world view, click here.