Posted on 05/19/2011 10:10:34 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
By the time they're done with him, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich will look like a leading Democratic spokesman as the party moves quickly to harness his attacks on Republican plans to change Medicare. According to party sources, they plan to use Gingrich's assault on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's plan in a bid to knock down every Republican who voted for it.
"By calling Paul Ryan's budget 'radical' and 'right-wing social engineering,' Newt merely echoed criticisms millions of Americans across the political spectrum have voiced at house Republicans' budget for weeks now," says Ryan Rudominer, a Democratic consultant and former spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "So while Gingrich may now have as good a chance as me of winning the Republican nomination, those of us on the left can at least be thankful that he made Paul Ryan's 'radical' budget to gut Medicare and provide billions in tax breaks for big oil companies the new litmus test in the Republican Party," adds Rudominer.
Groups like DCCC, the Democratic National Committee and the House Majority PAC are looking at ways to use ads and Internet campaigns to warn voters that the Ryan plan the GOP favors is so bad that even conservative Gingrich, the former House speaker, hates it.
The DNC, for example, has put a video on YouTube that suggests he backed away from his attack on Ryan's plan because supporting Ryan's Medicare reform is a GOP "litmus test."
Others are looking to use his words against Republican House members.
The House Majority PAC, for example, ran ads during Easter Recess assailing lawmakers who voted for the Ryan budget, charging that they would "essentially end Medicare." The ads were effective, but many Democrats were struggling to find a new way to hit the GOP when Gingrich's comments landed in their lap.
Said a Democratic strategist: "Democrats have already been painting Republicans as a bunch of extremists hell bent on killing Medicare. The only challenge now for Democratic ad makers is figuring out whether to be more thankful for Speaker Gingrich's rare moment of candor in which he slammed Paul Ryan's budget and defended Medicare or the resulting outrage and pile-on from the right for his doing so."
Not so fast, say Republicans. They say they are ready for a debate on Medicare, claiming that the Democrats would do nothing to fix the program and that it would die from a lack of funds.
Paul Lindsay, communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said, "The only former speaker who will have an impact on 2012 House races is Nancy Pelosi, who continues to spearhead her party's plan to bankrupt Medicare and empower unelected bureaucrats to threaten seniors' access to treatment."
The NRCC has their own ad campaign that charges Democrats like President Obama would effectively gut Medicare. Said a party leadership official, "This is debate we can bring to a tie."
I met him at CPAC a few years ago and we conversed for a few minutes. He is / was a bright guy, but the more he tries to “fix” his gaffes, the more idiotic he looks.
Did you hear Sarah on Greta say Newt warned her in January to “think before she spoke?”
He is a big government Republican who believes that being conservative means getting the government to do the job more effectively.
Those aren’t ‘gaffes’ they are leaks.
That's true, but Gingrich is just too juicy a target for them to ignore. I think he's mentally unstable.
Memo to Daniels followers: What we fear is that he’ll too have his “right wing social engineering” moment and give the Dems soundbyte gold.
This is the problem with Republicans who try and split the difference and find a niche that is “reasonable.”
It’s official. Newt is tone deaf.
And to hear him backpedal on his anti-Ryan comments is sickening. His comments were perfectly clear and any attempt to say that they were somehow miscast is ludicrous. When he tried this a few days ago on Bill Bennett’s radio show, Bennett pinned him to the wall.
I understand he has tried on several TV and radio shows since then to reshape his stupid comments, but he is gaining no traction. His original comments have ruined his campaign chances and have given the Democrats soundbite ammunition for their campaign to keep spending irresponsibly.
Newt’s toast. He was toast when he sat on that park bench with Nasty Pelosi, whining about the myth of glow-bull warming. He just didn’t know it yet.
There is NO ROOM FOR COMPROMISE WITH THE ENEMY, and THE EHEMY IS THE DEMOCRAT PARTY!
Yes, that picture of Newt with Nancy, promoting cap and tax, will be forever engraved on my mind. Since then, whenever Newt’s pollsters and promoters have called me (and that’s been at least half a dozen times), I just hang up.
Who doesn’t think Gingrich is a joke? What sort of moron thinks using him in their ads will be effective?
Newt’s organization push polled me a couple of weeks ago and tried to get me to donate $2,500 to Newt’s presidential campaign. I refused to donate one penny.
Newt used to be one of my favorites. I heard him speak one time and told him I would donate and support his campaign if he ever ran for president. This was even before he ever went public with his “Contract with America.”
I’d still like him if he would just spend his effort helping other good conservatives get elected. Unfortunately for Newt, he is not a viable candidate because of his personal life.
Gingrich has this annoying habit of saying the right thing in the wrong way.
In 1994 he said something along the lines of replacing Social Security with private investments that would grow and be more beneficial to people, and then SS would no longer be attractive alternative and so it would “with on the vine” ...and the idiot liberal press lost their monds.
all you heard was “Gincrich wants SS to ‘wither on the vine’”
So he spent 90% of his time defending what he DIDNT say, instead of implementing what he DID say.
And he does this over and over and over.
He is brilliant (granted, with some huge mistakes - scuzzyfava) but he is radioactive when he is out in front.
>> You actually likes someone who thinks committing adultery makes him more patriotic than those who risk their lives serving the country in the military?
WTF are you talking about? I don’t #ing question my respect for the Military!
You really pissed me off with that stupid comment.
WTF are you talking about? And don’t #ing question my respect for the Military!
His current health care idea is intrinsically flawed by virtue of the general insurance fund managed and taxed by the govt. Yes, he’s definitely liberal on health care.
LLS
Did you read my comment? I asked why you would consider someone who has no respect for the military and thinks that cheating on his wife makes him more patriotic than those who serve out country.
In the past I've donated to his PAC for that purpose, but there's no way I'd support him for president or vice-president.
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