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Newt and the Last Conservative Revolution
American Thinker ^ | January 15, 2012 | Kevin Tharp

Posted on 01/15/2012 3:25:48 PM PST by billys kid

In her book Slander, conservative commentator and pundit Ann Coulter called Newt Gingrich one of the most consequential politicians in the last century. Why would she make such a claim? What did he do that had such consequence? In 1993, the Republican Party was the minority party. It had been in the minority since 1955. Even President Reagan had to deal with a Democrat Congress in the 80s and was limited in his ability to change Washington as a result. Newt Gingrich had seen this up close and personal. He had tried to help Reagan with the Conservative Opportunity Society. By 1993 he had become the Republican whip in the house. With his leadership the Republicans crafted a proposal called the Contract With America (CWA). It was designed so that Republican candidates could campaign on conservative principles in order to win their congressional seats and then govern in a conservative manner. The electorate responded. It handed the House and Senate over to the Republicans. This was a revolution unheard of in the times they occurred. Gingrich became the Speaker of the House as a result. The CWA was a conservative proposition. It held that the electorate could hold their representatives responsible and could remove them if they didn't perform. The representatives would be responsible to their constituents. But it also implied that they should perform like they would under a business contract. Did Gingrich write the contract himself? No. But he led the effort for congressional candidates to sign up. And most did. He led educational efforts for those potential conservative congressmen to help them campaign. Since then Gingrich has lead other congressional education efforts. He has been a constant source of education for congressional representatives. What did the Contract propose to do? There were two parts to the CWA.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: newt
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To: VanDeKoik; CowboyJay
"Well Reagan didnt win the House. It was still firmly in Democrat hands, and was assumed to always be that way, until Newt led the way to winning it Clinton's vast over-reach in '93 turned it over to the GOP.

Newt almost foiled it though, with his clownish "contract." The GOP lead started downward when he brought it out, and we barely made it to the election.

21 posted on 01/15/2012 6:43:50 PM PST by editor-surveyor (No Federal Sales Tax - No Way!)
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To: untwist
Newt Gingrich has served our courntry very well during his time in governance

Newt was a giant in his term as Speaker. What disturbs me is that so much effort has been to destroy his chances as President by ignorant people. Washington now is corrupt beyond belief and that corruption has worked hard to destroy him. Sometimes I feel like millions of Americans want to destroy the very system that feeds them.

I feel if we lose this chance to endorse Newt we will have finished our great nation. None of the candidates have the knowledge and would never be able to overcome the communists machine that has America in its grip. If we do not get the Senate and retain the House we certainly are finished.

22 posted on 01/15/2012 6:44:47 PM PST by Logical me
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To: swampfox101; CowboyJay

>> “Reagan was a big NAFTA supporter and believer.” <<

No, Reagan was only a supporter of a guest worker program for agriculture.


23 posted on 01/15/2012 6:48:30 PM PST by editor-surveyor (No Federal Sales Tax - No Way!)
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To: org.whodat
"It is amazing to me that a few nuts thinks one little individual in congress had a larger impact on this country than the thousands that died on 9/11. Some of you people fell off of a tree."

Sorry, buddy...but the meme is correct. Gingrich "did" have a larger impact on this country. And I would hazard a guess that if Bush the First had adhered to Gingrich/conservative ideals, and not booted every Reaganite in the administration out onto the street, that 9/11 probably wouldn't have happened.

24 posted on 01/15/2012 6:53:32 PM PST by Wonder Warthog
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To: Logical me

I think what happens if Obama is reelected is that our country is to be pushed to secession by one and then more than one state. My first bet is Texas. I think even with a strong result in the congressional elections, Obama will continue his disregard for separation of powers and do as he wants. The recent recess appointments while the senate was in session went by with barely a yawn. Any efforts to stop profligate spending will be blocked by a majority of democrats and republican moderates.

A big concern I have is for the five most important Americans: Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Roberts and Alito. The loss of any one of those five under an Obama second term would be an immeasurable, irreversible catastrophe for our constitution.

I totally agree that Gingrich is one of the giants of the conservative cause and we never would have gained what we did in this past generation without him. We conservatives need to realize that our biggest opponents now are not the liberals, it’s the moderates. Newt’s efforts to expose Romney’s activities at Bain plus Romney’s weak single term as governor of Mass., reveals the truth as a player, not a conservative leader. Romney is a player in the same way that the Clinton’s, the Kennedy’s, the Bush’s, McCain’s, Dole’s, are players. Not good for our future if Romney wins.


25 posted on 01/15/2012 8:12:21 PM PST by untwist
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To: billys kid
Gingrich-Santorum
 
or
 
Santorum-Gingrich

26 posted on 01/15/2012 8:27:04 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation

That person was Ronald Reagan, not NAFTA Newt whose main contribution to today’s political landscape was to bawlderize national political discourse to the level of the Springer Show

Newt forgot the first rule of politics...being likeable...and he really turned me off with his bain capital attacks, trying to be a populist when he turned out to be just as corrupt. He shoots himself in the mouth by not watching what he says.

And of course, nobody is his campaign is saying, “you know what, I better stop taking my self too seriously. That’s how Reagan got elected.”

BTW-reagan won the Senate...along with GWB.


27 posted on 01/15/2012 9:00:50 PM PST by gman992 ("I'm a conservative. I'm just a happy conservative.")
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To: Wonder Warthog

Delusional : http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusion


28 posted on 01/16/2012 1:32:28 AM PST by org.whodat (What is the difference in Newt's, Perry's and Willard's positions on Amnesty.)
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To: org.whodat
"Delusional"

I agree, you certainly are.

29 posted on 01/16/2012 3:57:40 AM PST by Wonder Warthog
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To: editor-surveyor
"Clinton's vast over-reach in '93 turned it over to the GOP."

Exactly. That and nostalgia for Reagan. Too much revisionist history on FR surrounding Newt. He rode dissatisfaction with Clinton, and a public who missed Reagan to the speakership. He then managed to squander that healthy pile of political capital and limelight borrowed from Reagan's legacy in fairly short order. In the process of his own self-destruction, he managed to drag US political discourse down to absolute gutter-level partisan sniping. And he led - led - the legislative charge to deindustrialize the country through poorly thought-out (treasonous, really) trade policy.

He's a dried-up hack with no real prospects for ever being elected as POTUS. McCain v. 2.0, but probably not even popular enough in GOP circles to get past Romney's country-club mafia in the primaries. Although it is somewhat entertaining in a perverse way watching a died-in-the-wool reverse class warrior like Gingrich try to take a populist tack in an effort to get some traction against Mitt by trying to paint him as the bigger snake.
30 posted on 01/16/2012 3:05:37 PM PST by CowboyJay (Lowest Common Denominator 2012 - because liberty and prosperity were overrated)
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To: CowboyJay

>> “ Too much revisionist history on FR surrounding Newt.” <<

.
You can blame Limbaugh for most of it.

He invented Newt’s “conservatism,” and the “conservatism” of the Free Traders, who are really globalists at heart.


31 posted on 01/16/2012 4:48:06 PM PST by editor-surveyor (No Federal Sales Tax - No Way!)
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