Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told a group of conservative bloggers today that World War III is upon us and it will take bold leadership from the United States to save America from terrorists bent on destroying our country.

Gingrich spoke at the bloggers’ meeting -- co-hosted by HUMAN EVENTS’ Rob Bluey and the Heritage Foundation’s Tim Chapman -- after making a splash last weekend on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Gingrich’s book, “Winning the Future,” was just released in paperback yesterday, and his weekly e-newsletter column was linked yesterday on the Drudge Report.

This week’s meeting marked the 10th for the group of conservative bloggers. Tim Chapman, Mary Katharine Ham of Townhall.com and John Hawkins of Right Wing News have all weighed in on Newt’s visit.

Below are some of my favorite quotes from Newt.

On Kim Jong-il’s Fourth of July Missiles:

“The level of contempt we’re being held in right now is breathtaking. The Administration says there will be profound consequences if the North Koreans fire a missile. So they fire seven missiles on our Fourth of July. You think this is an accident? You think this is a sign that they lack elegant planning, that they didn’t realize they’d be offending us? No. This is Kim Jong Il saying to us, “you guys are cowardly, weak and timid [and] there’s nothing you’re going to do about it and I’m going to do whatever I want.”

On China’s involvement:

“Instead of siding with our ally for 50 years (the Japanese), who are the most threatened, we’re siding with the Chinese who are using the North Koreans to irritate us in order to have something to trade Taiwan for.”

“The Chinese have zero interest in controlling North Korea because if they wanted to control North Korea they could cut off the electricity tomorrow morning. They could stop North Korea in an hour.”

On the conflict in the Middle East:

“This is a real war.”

“The correct answer to Hezbollah today is: destroy it. Don’t negotiate.”

“The Israelis should stand down the minute all 13,000 missiles and every Iranian are out of Lebanon and not what minute before. Anything less than that is a defeat.”

“What I can’t understand is here are two regional powers of extroardinaryly limited capacity, I mean, the truth is in any kind of conventional fight neither Iran or Syria is a real power…We treat them as thought they are equals.”

On working with Lebanon:

“The United States with air power and the Lebanese regular army would defeat Hezbollah – and end this problem -- on behalf of a democracy. And would allow the Lebanese democracy to assert control of the whole country.”

“So when people start getting into this ‘bogged down’ thing. It’s simply not true. We are the most power nation on the planet.”

“This takes a level of subtly and a level of determination, which is not characteristic of our state department.”

“In the first place, everybody on the planet watches us and watches our domestic politics and remembers Vietnam and wonders which morning we’re going to cut and run. The degree to which we undermine our own power by our political weakness is greatly underrated by Americans.

“Because the Kerry resolution, and the Murtha statements and the Howard Dean shrill cries of “leave now” -- all of those things are echoed throughout the Arab world. So if you’re the current leader in Lebanon, you’re a little cautious about how much you trust the Americans to keep their word and do it.

“But, if we were prepared to say, ‘No end to the fighting until the missiles are gone and the Iranians are gone, period,’ … I think you’d suddenly find a Lebanese government that leaned forward – ‘And, by the way, we’re prepared to say to the Syrians and the Iranians we will not tolerate any interference.”

“I think it would be tragic and a defeat if the Iranians and the missiles are still in south Lebanon when this is over. I don’t think anybody should be confused about that.”

“We’re up against real enemies who are going to be clever, ruthless, unbelievably vicious, and do everything they can to kill us. And we have to be prepared to outlast them -- across the planet.”

On World War III:

“This is a world war. I can show you the map.”

“We can win this campaign but we have to understand it’s a campaign. We have to organize it as a campaign and we have to be prepared to do it.”

On the mainstream media:

“Everything we reveal about our systems trains people how to get around our systems. Every time the New York Times cheerfully helps our enemies, they’re in fact making it harder for us to know what’s going on.”

“I think it is a scandal how far to the left -- and how far to [they’ve gone to] denigrate America, denigrate our allies, failure to tell the truth -- the media has gotten.”

On convincing America of the reality of war:

“I’m prepared to go to the country and say, “What part of what you’re seeing on TV doesn’t convince you this is real and you sure don’t want it to happen in your neighborhood? You have one or two risks: You can be for a very militant America that does everything it can to protect itself. Or, you can be for a very understanding, appeasement-oriented America and hope that your enemies aren’t really enemies. Decide which risk you want to live because they’re both risks.’ This is one of the reason I study Lincoln: There’s no easy path.”

“We need to have a national debate – is it global, is it a war and are we still Americans?”