Then how did he train Santorum and a whole generation of up-and-coming conservatives through GOPAC? How did he engineer the takeover of the House in 1994 after 4 decades out of power? How did he as a back-bencher get the Republican platform pushed to the right under Reagan? How did he work with a Democrat Bill Clinton and help create 11 million jobs, pass welfare reform, balance the budget, create a surplus, get tax cuts, etc.? Have those guys you mentioned achieved more in Congress since Newt left in 1999 than Newt did when he led?
It’s already been shown how most of those “dissing” Newt have been on record praising him just a couple years ago. What’s going on now is all political, it isn’t truth. Everyone should know you don’t look to any politicians for truth and honesty, ever. Not when backroom deals and payoffs are the name of the game, and Romney is proven to have done countless ones. All we can look to is their records. Their actions speak louder than their words. And that’s where Newt outclasses the whole lot of them six ways from Sunday. We should be looking back to what Newt did for us and the country, not for his buddies in Congress.
>> Have those guys you mentioned achieved more in Congress since Newt left in 1999 than Newt did when he led? <<
Maybe not. But it’s altogether beside the point as far as I’m concerned. No bearing on the logic of the matter. Not apposite, as they say in the courtroom.
The bottom line for me is is that those GOP leaders and former leaders are smarter than me, and they know Newt “up close and personal” — which is the kind of knowledge I could never have. So when somebody with the stature and experience of a Tom Coburn says he can’t support Newt, then I probably shouldn’t need a lot of additional info.