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Is Newt Gingrich Too Smart to be President?
CFP ^ | May 17, 2005 | Alan Caruba

Posted on 05/17/2005 1:01:31 PM PDT by MikeEdwards

Say what you will about the former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, demonized by the Democrats when Clinton was in office, the man’s intellectual powers are impressive. It was, of course, Gingrich, along with former Rep. Dick Armey, who wrote the Contract with America that put the Republican Party in control of Congress in 1994.

The Contract, which virtually all of the then-GOP candidates signed, proposed some concrete solutions to problems. With Republicans in the majority, the welfare system was reformed, balanced budgets followed, and so did the first tax cuts in memory. There were rule changes in the way Congress conducted business. In sum, it was a dramatic response to the lethargy that characterized what forty years of Democrat control had produced.

Today, there is a major debate over the Democrat-inspired program, Social Security, with the realists telling us that this pay-as-you-go program will be bankrupt in the years ahead and calling for a revision that will allow workers to retain more of their own money for their retirement years. Gingrich says personal accounts will plow money back into the financial marketplace giving it a needed boost while insuring a higher retirement payoff.

In January, Gingrich’s new book, "Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract With America" ($27.95, Regnery) was published. It’s the kind of book that policy wonks and political junkies like to read. It’s also the kind of book that anyone entering the workplace, raising a family with kids in school, or concerned about the nation’s moral decline should read. . . . .

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


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: america; caruba; dumb; electionpresident; president; rino; states; united; usa
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To: zarf

He had stones, but they are now placed firmly on Hillary about 3 inches from where his lips are.


41 posted on 05/17/2005 1:48:23 PM PDT by RockinRight (Conservatism is common sense, liberalism is just senseless.)
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To: MikeEdwards; Gipper08

Mike Pence is a MUCH better choice. Kinda the same way that a Lexus is a better choice than a Yugo.


42 posted on 05/17/2005 1:49:32 PM PDT by RockinRight (Conservatism is common sense, liberalism is just senseless.)
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To: gregwest
You're looking at Bill Clinton being in the White House again. Only worse, he'll have the most dishonest, Machiavellian, shrew who ever held public office in the driver's seat. So, given your pick you're going to stand on ceremony? Nice sentiment but this is war. Go with the general who has the most fire in his gun.
43 posted on 05/17/2005 1:51:20 PM PDT by N. Beaujon (http://www.nbeaujon.com)
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To: fish hawk

Advisor, fine. He's got some good ideas (and a few that scream of big government) and would be an excellent policy advisor. But keep him away from the camera.


44 posted on 05/17/2005 1:51:39 PM PDT by RockinRight (Conservatism is common sense, liberalism is just senseless.)
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To: RockinRight

Um, he might be operating under the principle of "keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer."


45 posted on 05/17/2005 1:52:49 PM PDT by N. Beaujon (http://www.nbeaujon.com)
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To: thoughtomator

Buying the Democrat line, are you?

Gingrich's divorse was finalized while his wife was dying, true, but only because it had been put into motion before hand. He didn't 'divorce her while on her deathbed' by any reasonable standard.


46 posted on 05/17/2005 1:54:56 PM PDT by zbigreddogz
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To: MikeEdwards

He is a pompous windbag who cannot honorably manage his personal affairs. Of course, the same thing could be said of his supposed nemesis in the White House.


47 posted on 05/17/2005 1:59:49 PM PDT by Biblebelter
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To: zbigreddogz

I didn't realize that Newton's first wife had died. I knew that he was much younger than she. The only one I can recall by name is "Mary Ann," No. 2.


48 posted on 05/17/2005 2:07:54 PM PDT by Theodore R. (Cowardice is forever!)
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To: ckilmer
You're right, Newt is brilliant. Unfortunately, he's a poor leader, he's a weak, small, selfish man, someone who loses focus when criticized. He's disloyal, and incapable of admitting his mistakes or his shortcomings. Success spoiled him, made him think he was invincible, made him commit foolish blunders.

Newt is a born professor, but woe be unto us all if he ever assumed office higher than what he's already achieved, and lost, through his own disturbing behavior.

49 posted on 05/17/2005 2:10:17 PM PDT by YaYa123 (@I Live In Newt's former district.com)
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To: MikeEdwards

Way too much political and personal baggage. If he wanted to be President, he should have never traded in his wife.


50 posted on 05/17/2005 2:12:16 PM PDT by Busywhiskers (If you are not fishin you're just fritterin away your life.)
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Comment #51 Removed by Moderator

To: YaYa123

I agree with you completely. When Clinton was in office, Newt acted like a giddy little kid around him and Hillary. There are people who are super intelligent, but lack common sense, and I believe Newt is one of those.


52 posted on 05/17/2005 2:50:35 PM PDT by PeskyOne
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

He sure did let us all down and because of that I wouldn't support him for any position. While he was yapping at Clinton and his impeachment, he was cheating on his wife. Will never forget it and his trying to run for office again is stupid -- does he think we don't remember.


53 posted on 05/17/2005 2:54:07 PM PDT by PhiKapMom (AOII Mom -- J.C. for Oklahoma Governor -- Run J.C. Run; Allen in 2008)
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To: MikeEdwards

If he is so smart, how come he let the other side define him so easily?


54 posted on 05/17/2005 2:55:06 PM PDT by HitmanLV
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To: fish hawk
It's almost pathetic to see all the Newt bashing here. He is probably the smartest Politician ever to be in Congress (in this generation). So he had a few problems in the past that screwed himself up. No matter, he could never match the crap the Klintoons pulled. Their party still believes in them. I would say that whoever the nest Republican president is, he would be smart to keep Newt as his number one adviser.

Newt was the right man at the right time in the right place. He tapped in to a culture that was ready to embrace change (or at least continue with Reagan's philosophies) and I think he was the best man to lead that charge.

However, eleven years is a long time, and people's memories are pretty short. A politician cannot continually ride on his former glories; he must remain glorious while still prominent.

Newt is in serious need of an attitude overhaul of late.

APf

55 posted on 05/17/2005 2:59:23 PM PDT by APFel (This space for sale or rent)
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To: APFel

I agree on "attitude" but his new book shows that he is still the genius.


56 posted on 05/17/2005 3:06:16 PM PDT by fish hawk (I am only one, but I am not the only one.)
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To: PhiKapMom

And who ever heard of a "Man Without A Count(r)y" running for president? Hellsbells, Hillary's got 3! Illinois, Arkansas, and New York!

To my knowledge, Newt has never been back to his district here in metro Atlanta, and I can't imagine him even thinking people here would support him again, much less work for him! So what's he going to do...return to PA where he grew up, and call that his home?


57 posted on 05/17/2005 4:02:03 PM PDT by YaYa123 (@Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton = Two Unworthy Scoundrels Seeking Redemption.com)
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To: YaYa123

You're right, Newt is brilliant. Unfortunately, he's a poor leader, he's a weak, small, selfish man, someone who loses focus when criticized. He's disloyal, and incapable of admitting his mistakes or his shortcomings. Success spoiled him, made him think he was invincible, made him commit foolish blunders.
Newt is a born professor, but woe be unto us all if he ever assumed office higher than what he's already achieved, and lost, through his own disturbing behavior.
/////////////////
However, Newt did the things he said he would do in his first contract and the people paid him upfront by deliverying the house to him.

What he's proposing in his new contract would take incredible leadership to perform; what the contract does as well is to serve as a script to keep him on message--as was was the case during the first contract. that is, once he did the stuff he said he would do in the first contract he wandered afield.

the new contract that newt has put out is not only his program but his way of compensating for his own defects of character. The book would serve as his script.


58 posted on 05/18/2005 6:28:23 AM PDT by ckilmer
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To: ckilmer
I really appreciate the information, and your perspective, on Newt.

Respectfully,

59 posted on 05/18/2005 6:47:13 AM PDT by YaYa123 (I'm @ Home.com)
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To: MikeEdwards

I used to be a big Newt fan. I'm not as much a fan, nowadays.

He is brilliant, no doubt about it. But he is also opportunistic, and this flap about his unholy alliance with Hitlery! violates Rush's dictum to not try to make FRiends with LIEberals.

FRiends with LIEberals is kinda like trying to teach a pig to sing: It wastes your time and annoys the pig!

I am very much concerned that Newt has been in WDC too long, has been seduced by the power and the glory that WDC epitomizes and has gone over to the Big Government side of the aisle.

That is a damn shame. When Newt first was elected to Congress, he set about deconstructing the federal government: remember all the agencies the Republicans were going to eliminate?

As many before him have been seduced by WDC, and quit representing We the People in favor of shilling for more big governemnt, so has Newt. I thought he was a better man than that, and then his ego and skinny wallet got the best of him.

The question is, who will rise to take his place as a prominent conservative thinker/doer in the Congress and resist the all-too-powerful lure of the sex/money/powers sirens?


60 posted on 05/18/2005 6:51:55 AM PDT by Taxman (So that the beautiful pressure does not diminish!)
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