Posted on 07/16/2016 10:44:19 AM PDT by Jim W N
Long before former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich found himself in the final running for Donald Trump’s VP pick, he spoke about the presumptive nominee in a rather interesting way. And by “interesting,” I mean “not entirely positive,” as the recently suspended Fox News contributor‘s private remarks this past February reveal. What’s more, according to what Gingrich told the Republican State Leadership Committee during their meeting in Washington, D.C., it seems he was praising and insulting the New York real-estate mogul. So much for that running-mate gig, Newt.
Per Pro Publica, it all started when Gingrich broached whether Trump’s successful campaigning would ever translate to governing. At the time, the press was all over studies dissecting the businessman’s penchant for speaking at a sixth-grade level. Hence why, when the topic of Trump’s ability (or lack thereof) to dialogue with the public came up, Gingrich wasn’t sure if it’d translate to actual politics:
“How we make the transition from, you know, language for fourth-graders to real policy, I don’t know.” Yes, Gingrich equated Trump’s speeches to the “language of fourth graders” — a full two grades lower than the science cited by the Washington Post and other outlets. Yet his description of the popular Republican candidate’s words wasn’t meant as a full-blown insult, per se. Turns out Gingrich was actually lauding Trump for his simple word choices, and even gave some off-the-cuff analysis to support its use:
“This is not a guy who’s shallow or simple, but he is a guy who knows an immense amount about marketing, which is why he talks at a fourth-grade level. He talks at the lowest level of any candidate in either party, not because he’s stupid. He does it because he knows if you talk at a fourth-grade level everybody can understand you.” Combined with his recent comments about race relations in the United States and past criticism of Trump’s questionable attacks against a federal judge, maybe “fourth-grade level-gate” will help Gingrich’s VP chances. Then again, considering the increasingly strong likelihood that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has the job, it probably doesn’t matter anymore.
He speaks at a 4th grade level to attract democrats
The thing I focus on re Trump: He has been talking about running for years but he never pushed all of his chips to the center of the table until last year...and he’s done nothing but win since then. This may tell you all you need to know about Trump and his judgment.
And the fancier the language the less the writer knows of the subject.
What Gingrich is saying is the simple truth.
Approximately half the population has a two-digit IQ score.
You don’t think Newt’s intelligence is superior to that of a good number of Americans?
When being educated I was trained to use 16,000 words to describe a statue.
In real life, my VP told me put everything on the first page. “I don’t read past page 1.”
Sometimes in order to bag a fox, you need your own fox.
I do door-to-door for the campaign. For the most part, lofty ideas and deep, nuancy thoughts are a waste of breath and counterproductive. We have 20 seconds to work with. Short words and get to the point, pronto.
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Newt may be an intelligent man, but he probably should have read "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. He's just not very appealing at times.
Probably, but that’s kind of beside the point here. The “Ruling Elite” mentality which has been around since Fabian socialism in the the late 1800’s, dominates D.C. and justifies their tyranny in their own mind. The fact is politicians, most of whom do not have Newt’s level of intelligence, are not endowed from on high with the anointing of ruling your life and mine. Intelligence does not justify tyranny.
And the fact is you and I are smarter and better at running our own lives with much happier outcomes, than any distant bureaucrat or politician in D.C. be it Newt or anyone else. That is the point here, and it is the battle we the people and the states now face against the $4 trillion most unconstitutional mostly despotic central government in D.C. To the degree Newt aligns with ruling elitism, to that degree he is part of the problem.
The “Ruling Elite” mentality which has been around since Fabian socialism in the the late 1800’s, dominates D.C. and justifies their tyranny in their own mind. The fact is politicians, most of whom do not have Newt’s level of intelligence, are not endowed from on high with the anointing of ruling your life and mine. Intelligence does not justify tyranny.
And the fact is you and I are smarter and better at running our own lives with much happier outcomes, than any distant bureaucrat or politician in D.C. be it Newt or anyone else. That is the point here, and it is the battle we the people and the states now face against the $4 trillion most unconstitutional mostly despotic central government in D.C. To the degree Newt aligns with ruling elitism, to that degree he is part of the problem.
I think your point is lost by trying to force falsehoods.
Whether or not we are individually better at running our own lives, it is our God-given right to do so—until, of course, we start traipsing on someone else’s rights.
Yes, that is the point, but the fact is we are also better at it than some distant self-appoint bureaucrat no matter how intelligent he thinks he is.
Not sure what "forced falsehoods" you're talking about.
Most ads that we are bombarded with are sophomoric if not insultingly stupid. Yet they work or they wouldn’t run them. So there’s no risk in dumbing down messages targeted at the general populace. Advertisers have proven that.
The risk would be just the opposite: trying to present a fact filled, coherent argument would get you nowhere. lol
Your apparent demand that Newt pretend that nobody is any more intelligent than anyone else.
No, that wasn’t my point although I can see how it could get lost in the shuffle here because several things are going on. My point was that regardless of intelligence, no one has the right to run someone else’s life. The ruling elite argue that because they, the politicians and Fabian Socialists, are more intelligent than the rest of us, they know better how to run our lives. I didn’t like the tone of Newt’s “forth-grade” remarks because IMO it smacked of elitism especially coming from a D.C. politician.
What I’m saying is 1) they do not have the right to run our lives regardless of intelligence, 2) most are in fact NOT more intelligent than the rest of us, and 3) regardless of comparative intelligence, each individual is better equipped to run his own life than some distant bureaucrat.
Sure, those are good points. But you tried to pin them on Newt’s comments. Newt’s comments were based on actually measure of the presidential candidates’ speaking levels—by which Trump came in significantly below his competitors in the grade level of the language used.
He could have used terms like “simple explanations” or “boiled down for clear understanding”. “Forth grade” coming from a D.C. politician smacks of elitism and Newt should know that.
This is what he was referring to:
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a39031/trump-fourth-grade-level/
If you really like him, listen to him often enough and he'll give you reasons to not...And he's too stupid to know he does it.
If Trump would have picked Newt, Newt would have been the poison pill that killed Trump...once again too stupid to know it simply because he likes to hear himself pretending to be smart.
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