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If Gingrich is the answer, Tea Party has failed
Boston Globe ^ | 120111 | Joshua Green

Posted on 12/01/2011 7:57:27 AM PST by Fred

NEWT GINGRICH is the latest unlikely figure to vault to the top of Republican presidential polls, and unlike those who preceded him - Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain - he’s likely to stick around. That’s partly due to necessity. With just a month until the Iowa caucuses, conservatives don’t have time to anoint a new savior. It’s also because, despite his copious shortcomings, he seems immune to what felled the others. An able debater, he won’t flop like Perry and Cain. He’s not a full-on nut like Trump. And his legislative record eclipses Bachmann’s, which barely exists.

But his late emergence as the “true conservative’’ poised to challenge Mitt Romney is rich, and its broader significance underappreciated. For two years, the driving force in national politics has been the Tea Party, whose founding myth was that ordinary citizens were rising up in defiant objection to the hidebound, self-dealing ways of Washington. Greedy politicians, this view held, had bloated the government and lined their own pockets at taxpayers’ expense, while letting the country go to rot.

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


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: amnesty; gingrich; globeright2xday; mandate; newt; rino; stoppedclock; teaparty
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To: Fred

The “tea party” is essentially just the GOP rank and file.

They have always been out there, but as things get worse they are becoming more and more vocal. And the result is that there are a few conservatives in the race, and the others have to at least talk the talk.

We can’t go on autopilot. We have to push to get the best we can get from the humans who have put themselves out there as candidates, and then we have to keep on pushing. If Bachmann or Santorum would come out on top, we still would have to keep on pushing and hold their feet to the fire.

And whoever wins is going to be limited by the lack of support in congress... and only we can do anything about that, and only over time. They’ll be limited by the fact that the institutions and judgeships are riddled with frauds and anti-constitutionalists, and again that can only be solved over time.

There is no silver bullet. This is a generational fight and it will never be over.


81 posted on 12/01/2011 8:59:00 AM PST by marron
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To: MichaelCorleone

Those saying a conservative VP is good enough are likely Cain supporters who see he can’t win anymore, but think Romney or Gingrich might pick him as VP so long as he holds out.

We haven’t had a single vote yet, it’s way too early to give up and let Romney win.

Palin is going to help get conservatives elected.


82 posted on 12/01/2011 8:59:10 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: sand lake bar; duffee

Sorry! Was thinking Globe and typed “Herald”. Ouch@!


83 posted on 12/01/2011 8:59:24 AM PST by sand lake bar (You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.)
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To: Jim from C-Town

Plus remember America is center-right.


84 posted on 12/01/2011 9:00:31 AM PST by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!)
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To: Fred
Dead wrong! Perhaps one should follow what Newt contemplated and it follows exactly what the Tea Party needs are. Newt is not following a fictitious dream world but what a President can do to reverse our now almost complete communists nation ruled by King Obama. I cannot believe how many pure idiots believe that waving a wand will just turn everything around within seconds. It will take many years of constant reversal to ever get back to a Constitutional America.
85 posted on 12/01/2011 9:01:33 AM PST by Logical me
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To: Fred

If Gingrich is the Answer, then Congress and the Senate will be the other 2/3 of the Answer. Congress spends, Presidents sign.

And Hopefully this latest “immigration” scare that Newt has just experienced (again) will make him adopt some planks that Congress with Pass as laws, as the GOP takes over the other 2/3 rds.
And then we have the VP slot, which may be an Important Tea Party personna’....that just may be what Gingrich needs, and VP’s go on to be presidents in most instances...Joe Biden being a rare exception.


86 posted on 12/01/2011 9:01:41 AM PST by 4Speed
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To: Fred
As an early organizer and chronicler of the CT Tea Party movement, I'm offended at this conclusion.

Tea Party has won huge gains in state legislatures.

Tea Party has changed the discussion.

It's been less than three years since the movement started and about two years since it became directly involved in picking winners and losers.

If the new president is successful reigniting a robust economy, in four years everybody will proclaim themselves Tea Party patriots.

87 posted on 12/01/2011 9:02:15 AM PST by PALIN SMITH (In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.)
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To: cblue55
Obama has set this country so far left that we may never recover. We’d better see to it that Obama is NOT reelected because if he is, our children and grandchildren will never experience the greatness of America as we have known it. We must support whoever the nominee is, even with all their flaws. The luxury of having the perfect candidate is something we don’t have right now. That’s just a fact.

The future is hard to predict. The system is already poisoned. The re-election of Barack Hussein Obama could also be the dose of ipecac we need to finally put us on the road to a real recovery, and another round of RINO adminsitrations could let it fester until we're too weak to ever recover.

88 posted on 12/01/2011 9:03:19 AM PST by tacticalogic
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To: kidd

It’s a stupid premise because the alternative is Romney, so complaining about the tea party “failure” to nominate a true conservative is ridiculous.


89 posted on 12/01/2011 9:04:18 AM PST by Williams (Honey Badger Don't Care)
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To: Westbrook
"Gingrich is NOT a Tea Party conservative. I believe he disdains the Tea Party as well as anybody who adheres to its principal tenets."

I doubt you ever attended a Tea Party!

You are incorrect in your assessment!

Newt Gingrich has met with the top Tea Party activists in many states.

I attended a meeting in 2010.

Newt was strongly in favor of the revolution.

I believe his new Cabinet would reflect Tea Party principles.

90 posted on 12/01/2011 9:06:25 AM PST by PALIN SMITH (In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.)
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To: saganite

Michelle Bachmann

the most Conservative record

no baggage

first to oppose obama care in the house


91 posted on 12/01/2011 9:06:25 AM PST by RaceBannon (Ron Paul is to the Constitution what Fred Phelps is to the Bible.)
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To: pieceofthepuzzle
I don’t agree. Every single GOP candidate running this time around has been influenced by the clout of the Tea Party. We need to remember that unfortunately politicians of all stripes often are driven more by their desire to be elected than by firmly held convictions. That said, clearly most if not all of the GOP contenders have thought long and hard about what the Tea Party stands for and how they can fashion their message and campaigns to tap into Tea Party support. Maybe at their core they are not ideal Tea Party candidates, but the Tea Party has affected them, and American politics in general. They have not failed, despite what the media wishes for.

Well said. Megadittoes, my FRiend.

92 posted on 12/01/2011 9:07:31 AM PST by Sans-Culotte ( Pray for Obama- Psalm 109:8)
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To: Fred

The Boston Globe aka TNYT is ready to have another tea party but can’t admit what is going to be thrown over the edge is their commie master. Conservatives aren’t eating their sour grapes they are serving with their pablum propaganda.


93 posted on 12/01/2011 9:07:31 AM PST by presently no screen name (If it's not in God's Word, don't pass it off as truth! That's satan's job)
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To: mulligan

Yeah, but he’s our piece of trash.....and a better piece of trash than Obama.


94 posted on 12/01/2011 9:07:39 AM PST by St. Louis Conservative
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To: Fred
As I just posted on another thread, I would put the Country at about 15% conservative, 15% liberal, and 70% who will vote, pretty much without ideological principles, for whoever's personality/looks they like best or who they think will get them the most.

The Tea Party "revolution" appears to have been vastly overrated.

95 posted on 12/01/2011 9:07:57 AM PST by Prokopton
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To: tacticalogic

Think about Supreme Court nominees we would get if Obama is re-elected. Obama is poison and we can’t wait 4 more years to administer the antidote.


96 posted on 12/01/2011 9:09:18 AM PST by cblue55 (It's either America, or Obama. It cannot be both!)
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To: Huck

In his last year in the House Newt had a lifetime 90+% rating from the American Conservative Union. Is the ACU also a RINO organization?

Some people here drive me nuts. You look at the candidates you have backed and it is list of some of the most unelectable insignificant people in recent American politics. If you can’t win it doesn’t make any difference how principled you are. If Newt or Mitt is the nominee I will gladly vote for them because we simply cannot survive another 4 years of OBama. Surround them with a solidly conservative legislature,and hope for the best. If you want to fall on your sword for the sake of principle and hand OBama 4 more years, then don’t come back here and complain as the Country swirls down the toilet.


97 posted on 12/01/2011 9:10:20 AM PST by redangus
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To: PALIN SMITH; Westbrook
Newt was strongly in favor of the revolution.

Yeah, because the Individual Mandate, Limited Amnesty, TARP, Cap-n-Trade, Global Warming, et all are all principles shared by the Tea-Party!
98 posted on 12/01/2011 9:11:01 AM PST by SoConPubbie
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To: Westbrook
I vow on my sacred honor that I will NEVER vote for romney or newt... I have given my last vote to those that hate me and want to destroy me. newt and romney are no different than obama... they just play different characters for power and fortune.

LLS

99 posted on 12/01/2011 9:11:07 AM PST by LibLieSlayer ("Americans are hungry to feel once again a sense of mission and greatness." Ronaldo Magnus)
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To: Fred

The Tea Party has barely gotten started. There are a lot of failure-minded people at FR, that’s all.


100 posted on 12/01/2011 9:11:07 AM PST by SaxxonWoods (....The days are long, but the years are short.....)
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