Posted on 12/28/2011 12:27:14 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
.... take a moment to remember what happened the last time Obama squared off against a smart and eloquent, but bombastic, pompous and egomaniacal Republican.
....."Moreover, [his] self-assuredness disabled in him the instincts for self-censorship that allow most people to navigate the world without getting into constant fistfights. [He] said whatever popped into his mind, and with dogged logic would follow over a cliff just about any idea that came to him."
These words describe almost perfectly the intellectual and rhetorical bearing and style of Newt Gingrich. Only they weren't written about Gingrich. They are Barack Obama's words -- from The Audacity of Hope -- about former Ambassador Alan Keyes, Obama's Republican opponent in the 2004 election for Illinois' open Senate seat.
I was struck by two things as I recently watched old footage of the 2004 Obama-Keyes debates. First, Keyes comes across as a better debater than Obama. He seems more polished, smarter, and more confident than Obama. Keyes' verbal fluency makes Obama's use of verbal fillers and stutters, his repeated words and incomplete and restarted sentences, all the more noticeable.
The second thing I noticed were the striking similarities between Keyes and Gingrich. Keyes is more theatrical than Gingrich, while Gingrich is more overtly egoistic and self-reverential. (He has at various moments called himself "the most serious, systematic revolutionary of modern times" and a "definer of civilization.")
But the two share many characteristics. For one thing, they both hold Ph.D.s (Keyes in government, Gingrich in history). Perhaps this helps explain why both Keyes and Gingrich have a tendency to talk down to opponents and debate moderators. Keyes was antagonistic toward the Illinois journalists who moderated the Senate debates, cutting off questioners and reacting harshly when moderators told him his time was up.”…..
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Something to think about but, Newton ain’t no late comer and tbere is a certain imperative with greater motivation in this race.
Something to think about but, Newton ain’t no late comer and tbere is a certain imperative with greater motivation in this race.
You are correct. Newton has a long and well documented life, and legislative and business history.
C’mon, man!
Keyes knew the 411 when he got in. He said anything he wanted because he could. He used the IL-Senate race to get conservative principles some air time.
Keyes did the conservatives a favor by stepping in knowing his was a losing race.
I would hope that Alan is asked to contribute to the the nominees campaign...he is a true Constitutional conservative and deserves to participate.
BTW: I’m looking at Perry a bit more seriously, lately.
Keyes was unfortunately viewed as a carpet bagger, and he had a few odd views. Gingrich is a red blooded, no funny business American.
Alan Keyes was strongly supported by FR.
Unless I’m mistaken, I see Rick Perry’s position on Personhood lines up with Keyes.
The remark -- and the condescension with which it was delivered -- may have pleased conservatives. But it probably didn't play well to moderates in Peoria.
Keyes was the underdog anyway, but the author makes a VERY good point. I believe as a nation we are in much more dangerous waters now, but a "talking down" like this even to Hussein may not play well in middle America.
I am not saying he doesn't DESERVE a talking down...it just has to be done CORRECTLY to keep and win people who aren't paying as close attention to the issues as those of us who "live" here on Free Republic. :)
Newt, with all his self-esteem, would not be a good contrast. I agree with you.
Anybody who runs for President has an ego through the roof. I don’t care about egos.
I am more concerned with who will nominate the next three Supreme Court justices than anything else.
I agree about the Supreme Court Justices.
Activist judges overrule voters and their elected officials constantly.
Imagine an Obama Supreme Court. It would be curtains for our freedom.
Perry would raffle the naming rights off to his select Krewe of Rich Perry Supporters. Distribute them as door prizes at the RickRally Perrybot Annual Dinner.
He also has a history of naming weak, RiNO-y, and Chicano judges to the Texas Supreme Court; and when the People corrected one of his choices at the ballot box, he got vindictive with the successful challenger and made sure that man lost re-election, because he wasn't Perry's boy, but the People's.
But of course, Perry would.
Not.
But let Sarah Palin walk out there with her real-man husband on that stage, and you'll see Obama lose his water right then and there, and puddle the stage in front of a national audience. Sarah has Bozo's number, and he knows it.
We're all afraid of a repeat of 1996, when the sitting Democrat president appeared weak, but we nominated a weak candidate who couldn't compete.My "Draft Palin" tagline is approaching its two-year anniversary next month. Having her for the nominee is now obviously a long shot, but I still haven't seen the contender who would do better.Whoever is nominated, I would wonder about a ticket with Gingrich as second billing. Because let's face it, the role of the VP candidate is a lot more significant than that of the sitting vice president. The correct role of the VP nominee is to be the attack dog of the ticket. The painful role Jack Kemp played as Dole's VP nominee back in '96 illustrates why that is so.
There are legitimate questions about Gingrich as POTUS candidate and as sitting POTUS, but those questions about him would be less pointed in a VP candidate. And I doubt whether anyone thinks Gingrich cannot, or will not, attack.
It was worse than that.
Bozo had blackguarded the GOP candidate using the Chicagoland toilet-seat-wrappers to publicize the guy's sealed divorce papers. Axelrod got them from a tool at the courthouse and dumped them on the ink-stained accomplices.
The Illinois GOP rolled over and played dead. They exhibited in spades all the useless, spineless mushiness that we've all come to associate with RiNO doormats -- "Please don't beat me, Mr. SlimeRat JournoLiar, I am but a humble, gutless functionary of the Stupid Party!"
They were worse than pathetic, they gave up their right to live, in the face of lowdown, provable thuggery by a guy with a shadowed past full of Communist bomb-throwers and hate-filled pseudopreachers -- and an Indonesian passport or two. The Illinois GOP had plenty of stuff to work with if they were willing to fight these scumrats, but they played dead instead. The Illinois GOP WAS dead.
Very-good-point bump. Any DA can indict a ham sandwich if he wants, the saying goes ..... but Gingrich could probably get the conviction.
Good observation. I've always thought he was wasted as Speaker. He needed to be the GOP's pugilist, and he couldn't do that as Speaker. Plus, he lacked Speakerly skills, and let Clinton poison him with impunity.
And Keyes jumped into this race only a few years after criticizing Hillary Clinton for running for Senator from New York as a carpet-bagger.
So, Alan Keyes was a hypocrite as well.
It’s obvious that the D.C. Swamp needs an outsider like Rick Perry to drain it.
That is what it has become today but always remember that Washington was offered a KINGSHIP... he refused... he didn’t even want to be President. That is what we need today... sadly the republicrat party and the media destroy these types of candidates.
LLS
One correction:
The Illinois GOP IS dead.
: )
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