Free Republic

If you need a last minute gift for that health-care policy wonk on your Christmas list, you cannot go wrong with Why ObamaCare Is Wrong for America by Grace-Marie Turner, James C. Capretta, Thomas P. Miller, and Robert E. Moffit. The book is written in such a lucid, down-to-earth style that it makes an excellent gift even for the person who is only marginally interested in health care. Turner, Capretta, Miller, and Moffit were vigorous participants in the debate over Obamacare, and had the powers that be listened to them we wouldn't be facing the burgeoning mess that we are....

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) won’t be returning to Congress on Friday to vote against a $1 trillion spending package that preserves funding for President Obama’s healthcare reform law, her office told The Hill. The presidential candidate is campaigning in Iowa on Friday, according to her campaign schedule. The omnibus is expected to sail through Congress after both parties signed off on it Thursday night. Still, Bachmann has made opposition to the healthcare law a focal point of her campaign and has taken to calling the two front-runners for the GOP nomination “Newt Romney” because of their past support for an...

Newt Gingrich’s rise to the top of the GOP polls is fueled, in part, by Republicans’ mistrust of Mitt Romney. Romney’s signature Massachusetts health-care law, the model for Obamacare, leads many to wonder whether Romney can challenge the president on this most important domestic issue. But any conservative who opposes Romney because of Romneycare should oppose Gingrich with thrice the intensity: Newt Gingrich is one of the principal abettors of the exploding health-care entitlement state we face today. Indeed, it’s not clear what would be worse for the cause of entitlement reform: Newt’s losing to Obama or Newt’s beating him.

Massachusetts residents who choose not to obtain health insurance would face tax penalties and even the garnishing of their wages under a proposal Governor Mitt Romney unveiled yesterday. Romney says the ''individual mandate" he is proposing, part of his broader plan to cover the roughly 500,000 people who are uninsured, would not cost the state any money.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) called for an immediate repeal of President Obama's healthcare law but would reinstate "a little over 10 percent" of it.He made the remarks on Thursday in Iowa, when he introduced a new version of his "Contract with America."Gingrich, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, listed "Repeal ObamaCare" as the first of his 10 part contract."The reason you have to repeal it is it's a 2,700-page document," Gingrich said. "You can't repeal part of it, because candidly you can't trust the staffs to tell you which part you ought to repeal."But the former Speaker...

Newt Gingrich's surge to the top of the Republican presidential field has some conservatives imagining the former House Speaker as the anti-Romney. Gingrich is encouraging such a view with his claim that he is "certainly more conservative" than the former Massachusetts governor. The Manchester (N.H.) Union-Leader's endorsement added to the perception of a growing "newt-mentum" to anoint Gingrich as the preferred conservative in the Republican presidential field. But there are substantial reasons why thoughtful conservatives should think very carefully before jumping on this bandwagon. There are, for example, gaping holes in Gingrich's conservative credentials. As the American Spectator's David Catron...

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich ... (Title only. See below.)

So now there's video of Newt explicitly recommending an individual mandate. Hard to see this enhancing Newt's appeal as the not-Romney. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcSjLvWLcxE&feature=player_embedded

Newt Gingrich is now suddenly the candidate to beat Mitt Romney. And conservatives are said to be "salivating" at the chance of watching him debate President Obama. But the truth is that a Newt Gingrich nomination would be a disaster for the Republican party: He cannot win. And it would be a major setback to conservative causes, because Newt Gingrich tarnishes the right's ideals with his obvious corruption. Let's take those two one at a time. He cannot win: The New Hampshire Union Leader credits Newt Gingrich with engineering the 1994 Republican Revolution when Republicans took their first majority in...

The malady is far more serious than a mere affinity for mandates. When I read that Donald Berwick had resigned from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), I nearly shouted for joy. The cheer died on my lips, however, when my eye caught the following headline among those retrieved when I sent my search engine after more information: "Gingrich-Endorsed Health Care Expert Don Berwick Forced to Resign." Surely, I thought, the gods cannot be this cruel. But they are, of course, as another search confirmed. Newt has indeed lauded Berwick as a pioneer in the quest to improve...

A new poll shows that most voters want the Supreme Court to overturn President Obama’s health care law, with opposition and support falling largely along party lines. Overall, voters oppose the law by 48%-40%, according to the Quinnipiac University survey. Democrats support the Obama health care effort by 70%-19%, while Republicans oppose it by 86%-8%. Full Story: Poll: Voters want court to kill Obama health care law Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/11/23/poll-voters-want-court-to-kill-obama-health-care-law/#ixzz1eaFfSnr0

The Center for Health Transformation, founded by Newt Gingrich, released a statement Monday outlining some of the think tank’s activities, its membership fees and the money it has generated. The disclosure from the center, which Mr. Gingrich left earlier this year, comes amid a flurry of inquiries about the former House speaker’s financial ties. A number of news stories last week listed clients such as the American Hospital Association and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, the main trade association for pharmaceutical houses. The Washington Post reported that Mr. Gingrich’s center had collected $37 million over the...

When Newt Gingrich says he never lobbied, he's not telling the truth. When he was a paid consultant for the drug-industry's lobby group, Gingrich worked hard to persuade Republican congressmen to vote for the Medicare drug subsidy that the industry favored. To deny Gingrich was a lobbyist requires an Obama-like word parsing over who is and who isn't a lobbyist. Gingrich stated last week on Fox News, "I do no lobbying of any kind. I never have. A very important point to make. I have never done lobbying of any kind." But the facts contradict that claim. First of all,...

As Newt Gingrich takes his turn as the GOP flavor of the week, all that baggage he carries is beginning to be opened, unpacked and examined like a tourist going through customs on a slow day at the airport. The past few days have shined a light on Newt’s relationship with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the quasi-governmental agencies that Gingrich has been hammering for their role in the nation’s mortgage meltdown. Yet, it turns out that Gingrich’s consulting firm accepted a sum well in excess of one million dollars from these same agencies to push their agenda with his...

Three marriages. Two divorces. Add up the numbers, and Newt Gingrich is an improbable candidate to win over the influential social-conservative bloc in the GOP. But in this unconventional cycle, both national and early-primary-state evangelical and social-conservative leaders are signaling that Gingrich’s personal history is no insurmountable obstacle, although some would like to see him further address his past decisions. “In general, I think people who have experienced the ultimate form of forgiveness themselves are willing to extend mercy and extend forgiveness to others,” says Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. “In Newt’s case, he’s...

AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- As Newt Gingrich attempts to shrug off his political baggage, the former House speaker is under new scrutiny for having close ties to health care giants and flip-flopping on his statements on health care. The Center for Health Transformation, which Gingrich founded, raked in millions of dollars from heavy hitters like GE Healthcare and Wellpoint, as first reported by the Washington Post. The group says it does not lobby, but on its website, it touts its ability to build bridges between the federal government and private sector. Among its strengths, the think tank lists its unparalleled “network...

Richard Land, director of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, is more skeptical, saying that Gingrich’s candidacy will be a “hard sell” for many voters. Land has been doing informal focus groups among Southern Baptists for the past two years on Gingrich’s candidacy, as he expected Gingrich to run and be a serious contender. He found that women are especially wary of Gingrich. “He’s got a gender problem,” Land says. “His toughest audience is going to be evangelical women. Evangelical men, depending on what Newt does and says, are more likely to give him the benefit of...

A think tank founded by GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich collected at least $37 million over the past eight years from major health-care companies and industry groups, offering special access to the former House speaker and other perks, according to records and interviews. The Center for Health Transformation, which opened in 2003, brought in dues of as much as $200,000 per year from insurers and other health-care firms, offering some of them “access to Newt Gingrich” and “direct Newt interaction,” according to promotional materials. The biggest funders, including firms such as AstraZeneca, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Novo Nordisk, were...

Gregory asked Abramoff - who finished a jail stint over a year ago on influence-peddling charges and has been promoting his recently-published book - about the strategic counseling fee of over $1 million that was paid to Newt Gingrich by housing giant Freddie Mac. "What do you make of all that?" Gregory asked. Abramoff replied, "This is exactly what I'm talking about. People who come to Washington who have public service and they cash in on it. And they use their public service and their access to make money, and unfortunatley Newt Gingrich is one of them who have done...

Results from new poll of GOP primary voters from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling: Newt Gingrich (28 percent), Herman Cain (25 percent), Mitt Romney (18 percent), Rick Perry (6 percent), Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul (5 percent), Jon Huntsman (3 percent), Rick Santorum and Gary Johnson (1 percent). One particularly interesting note from PPP: “There’s reason to think that if Cain continues to fade, Gingrich will continue to gain. Among Cain’s supporters 73 percent have a favorable opinion of Gingrich to only 21 percent with a negative one.”