Run, Newt, Run! (he’s back, and he’s doing the kicking)

NRO ^ | July 21, 2006, | Rich Lowry

[IrishMike]

The casual TV viewer has probably noticed two things during the past few days — there’s a war in the Middle East, and Newt Gingrich is commenting on it. Gingrich has been a ubiquitous analyst on the war — ubiquity being one of the tireless, outsized former House speaker’s favorite qualities. In between appearances in his role as a commentator for the Fox News Channel, Gingrich announced on Meet the Press that we are in the midst of World War III. A few days later, Hezbollah declared that it welcomed World War III, nicely capturing the moment: Simultaneous with its shooting war with Israel, Hezbollah is in a war of words with Newt Gingrich.

The old conventional wisdom about Gingrich was that we wouldn’t have him to kick around anymore. The new conventional wisdom is that he’s back, and he’s doing the kicking. Ousted by his own party after its losses in the 1998 midterm elections, Gingrich has reestablished himself as a party leader through sheer intellectual energy. He has had something intelligent to say about literally every issue of the hour, from health care to Katrina to the war on terror. “He has helped himself immensely — he’s all over the place,” says former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie.

[hosepipe]

[ He is a Conservative Bill Clinton. A glib speaker with no core principals other then the desire for power. ]

You mean the guy that almost singlely handly caused the republican majority(himself)?.. That guy?..

Where others dripped mealy mouthed bi-partisan platitudes(at the time) Newt spoke plainly with gusto... You must've still been a democrat then and missed it.. maybe still are, in spirit..

Sure the boy has a problem keeping his tallywacker in check... but politically he is dynamite.. Guliani and Mclaim are cross dressed democrats.. Only Richard Simmons is funnier..

[napscoordinator]

People in the Mid-South knew all about Bill and tried to tell the nation, but they refused to listen!!!!


That is a shame. I know some good people out there genuinely tried to get the word out, but it was ignored or found unbelievable. The interesting thing that I see happening right now is that some people are saying that we should have Newt because we had President Clinton.....but we didn't have President Clinton (the dems did, we respected the office but certainly not the person). Anyway, I don't want to use him for our gage when picking a Republican Conservative candidate. I am almost agast to be honest with you that some here want to lower our standards of values, morals because we already lowered them with President Clinton. I feel like I am in the twilight zone....

[I'm ALL Right!]

I'd vote for Newt before I'd vote for Hillary!

[Common Tator]

Wasn't bill clinton elected to the Presidency, twice(!)?

Did Bill Clinton make His wife sign divorce papers preventing her from talking about what Bill did to cause the divorce?

Bill Clinton is not stupid. He never told a one of the gals that it was about anything except sex. Top that with his wife knew what he was doing and didn't care. There are women who want to have men in powerful positions. They don't expect to be his wife.. they don't expect anything except a quick roll in the hay. And with Men like Clinton that is exactly what they get.

Newt is stupid. He tells them he loves them. He promises to be true. He tell them he is really in love for the first time. That he will never cheat on them. When they find out he is a liar they hate his guts. They want to get even.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Clinton doesn't scorn women.. Newt does. Newt will pay.

[napscoordinator]

Not true. He has a daughter, Kathy Lubbers, from his first marriage.

I stand corrected on that.

[muleskinner]

Do you think he could ever get elected to anything again?Maybe he should find a position at a conservative think-tank, or get a cabinet position appointment from President Giuliani.

[Miss Marple]

The practicality of Newt running is as you have described. Regardless of my personal opinion on his private life, the media will bring up all of that stuff over and over again.

Here is a question I have for you: do you really think that the Contract With America was why Republicans took the Congress? As much as I pay attention to this stuff, I never even SAW that contract in TV Guide. I voted Republican (as usual) because I was so darned mad at Clinton. I think a lot of other people did, too.

The Contract didn't come out until some time in September. I often have wondered if Newt was pretty sure there would be a Republican sweep and the contract was put out as something that the Republicans could claim later was a list of things for which they had a mandate. In other words, it didn't have much to do with the Republicans taking the House.

Or not...I was just wondering what you thought.

[brazzaville]

Good morning.
"Clinton doesn't scorn women.."

I nominate that as the most ridiculous thing any FReeper has written this year. Combine that with your comment about Newt being stupid and you may make it into the running for the most ridiculous statement of the 21st Century.

Your point that you don't like Newt is taken. I'm still undecided as to who I want to be the Republican candidate so who would you recommend. I'm thinking Haley Barbour(SP?)?

Not that I'm saying you are, but you know you sound like a woman scorned yourself, FRiend.

Michael Frazier

[phillyfanatic]

The Past will not allow him to be a candidate because the DNC will bring up the entire mess, make him the Poster Boy of so-called Rightist non-compassion. Still, if Rudy wins the nomination, Newt might be a nice VP addition to campaign down South with Rudy. A balanced ticket is still useable in today's political scenario. Jeb, Condi, Allen would not be choices unless they are looking for jobs in 2008.

[Titan Magroyne]

Per our convo last night, thought you might find this an interesting read. Have a great weekend, FRiend.

[HawaiianGecko]

"So your point was quite invalid."

No, my point is quite valid! Divorcing your wife isn't as likely to cause death or injury as driving while intoxicated. I was questioning your definition of morality. We are all sinners right?  Half of our presidents had girlfriends and around twenty percent of them owned slaves. Were they all immoral? Many philosophers and biologists believe that morality is a "blanket" hiding psychological egoism, ethical egoism and amorality, while others believe it is evolutionary. Certainly Thomas Jefferson didn't think of himself as amoral.

"Why do you want an immoral President?"

I didn't say I  wanted an immoral President. Nice attempt at putting words in my mouth,  you're not qualified. Your assumption that divorcing someone makes one immoral is laughable in all but the Catholic church. You nor I for that matter, don't know that Gingrich's wife didn't tell him to get papers to her as soon as possible.  Is serving papers to one's spouse in a hospital less moral than if she was sitting at a conference table in an attorney's office? Even so, he didn't serve her papers in the hospital. He showed up with a yellow legal pad and worked out the terms of a divorce, and it wasn't much of a surprise. They separated in the spring of 1980 and in the autumn of the same year was when the "hospital" event happened.

I personally have never seen actual quotes from his or her mouth mentioning the cause of the divorce, but PBS's Frontline did a story on him saying she was seven years his senior and his high school math teacher. Makes you wonder who is the immoral person doesn't it?  The same Frontline article claims marriage counseling receipts over a period of years and that friends knew for years that divorce was in the future.

I will agree that many Gingrich's action and words designed to harm Democrats were very hypocritical in retrospect with his own skeletons, but being a hypocrite is far from being immoral.

"Newt never had children either...doesn't that make you wonder too?"
I may be mistaken, but I believe Newt and his first wife had a girl in 1960.

All this said, I'm not campaigning for Newt Gingrich. I can't say who I'll be voting for in the primaries two years from now. I am saying that I believe Newt Gingrich would be a strong leader for this country. However, I personally believe he knows how large the perception is of himself whether it's true or not, and I seriously doubt that he will throw his hat into the ring when the time comes. He just wants to insure that the rest of us concentrate on the correct issues that face the country.

 

 

[Common Tator]

The Contract didn't come out until some time in September.

It was in 1965 when Ray Bliss was made head of the RNC. He devised a plan to take back the house from Democrats.

It was a plan that was designed to take 25 years. Over the next two decades and a half, Bliss proposed that top flight candidates be recruited to run for local offices such as County Commissioners and City Council. They were to be trained in professional politics so they could win the first time out. In the 60s the Democrats held a majority of local offices.

The best of the those recruited were then urged to run for state legislatures and state senate races. The best of the best were to run for Governor. This accomplished two things. It greatly reduced the Democrat farm team. Democrats would not have lots of qualified candidates to run for the federal congress if Republicans held most of the local and state offices. As Republicans took control of state governments they could Gerrymander the house districts.

Starting in 1940 Democrats had Gerrymandered House seats so Republicans did not stand a chance. Even a big wins like Ike's in 56 or Nixon's in 72, or Reagan's in 84 were not enough to win the House for Republicans. There were many years where Republicans got more total votes for house races than Democrats did... But the Gerrymandering allowed the Democrats to hold the House.

But by 1990 the 25 years of hard work were set to bear fruit. As you know Republican Gerrymandering puts large numbers of Democrats into a few house seats. I'll use Ohio as an example. Ohio is an evenly divided state. But in 2000 the Republicans held the state government. So they drew 6 districts where 70 percent of the voters voted Democratic. Then they drew 12 districts where 54 percent of the voters were Republican and 46 percent Democrats. In a normal year Republican should win 12 seats to the Democrats 6.

Ohio if it were not Gerrymandered should elect about 9 Democrats and 9 Republican house members. But since 2000 we have had 12 Republicans and 6 Democrats.

The Republicans expected to take the House in 1992. But the Ross Perot situation allowed the Democrats to win enough seats to hold the house.

But in 1994 there was no Ross Perot on the ballot and the Gerrymandering paid off. Clinton was reelected in 1996 and the Republicans held the house. In 1998 it was the same, Republicans held the house.

In 2000 with the presidential race very very close the Republicans did not come close to losing the house. The same was true in 2002 and 2004.

In fact the reason Nancy Pelosi got the minority leaders position is Richard Gephardt came to the conclusion he could not be Speaker until at least 2012. And even that did not look like a good bet. So he left the house minority leaders position.

Newt Gingrich as head of CPAC knew all about the plan put in place by Ray Bliss 29 years earlier.

Newt invented the Contract with America knowing full well that he could play it as the reason the Republicans won in 1994. Of course all the members of congress recruited and trained under the Bliss plan knew the truth. Newt was not that well liked by his fellow House Republicans. He had trouble getting all the house members on the Capital steps to announce the Contract with America.

Newt was a lousy speaker and worse political player. He was way too busy tooting his own horn to see what Hillary was setting him up for. What is really interesting is the Clinton's, both Hillary and Bill, can play Newt like a cheap violin. Hillary did it not 2 months ago. Newt just can't stop kissing Clinton rump.

[Miss Marple]

Thank you. I find it ironic that the democrats think that if only they produce some sort of contract, they will win.

I am quite content to let them go on that wild goose chase.

[GOPJ]

Newt would be a great "war" President.

When the war is over, a sweet, pious, and gentle person can be elected. For now, best to have someone tough who will outthink the enemy -- and that's Newt.

[Rex Anderson]

You first Rex.

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to that.
I had to get some work done. :-)

[PDR]

har har har har har har har

[BILL_C]

"I am almost agast to be honest with you that some here want to lower our standards of values, morals because we already lowered them with President Clinton. I feel like I am in the twilight zone...."

I also feel like we're in the twilight zone with the candidates we have in office. But there are other reasons we're in the twilight zone and a substantial piece of that is the media control of our collective thinking. Clinton probably slipped by as some things just weren't out on the table.

But Newt is out on the table. I like the guy EXCEPT for the moral issue. Given the choices......

[Common Tator]

I am saying that I believe Newt Gingrich would be a strong leader for this country.

What is your definition of a strong leader? Does that definition include followers?

If that includes followers in the House and Senate, Newt has next to none.

Why do they dislike Newt? Because the only way to avoid the total hypocrisy of Republicans attacking Clinton for the same thing NEWT had done, was for every Republican Senator to vote NOT TO EXAMINE ANY EVIDENCE AGAINST BILL CLINTON. Republican House and Senate members will never forgive him for that.

If you think Newt Gingrich could get support from Republicans in the house and senate you haven't a clue. They despise him.

If Newt did get elected he has best not have a vice president, for if he did Newt could get impeached and convicted for jay walking. That is if the Republicans were in control of the the House and Senate.

If the Democrats were in control they would put a girl toy in front of Newt and then charge him with molestation.

Bet the farm that the senate would vote 100 to zip to convict.

[napscoordinator]

I am Catholic and follow the teachings. I guess in some ways we are going to have to agree to disagree on Newt because it is a no win situation. The reason I say this is because you mention about his Math teacher being seven years older and I say that he was old enough to know right from wrong. If we go back and forth between scenarios than we will never resolve this. What I will tell you is that I will not vote for him in the Primary, but if he happens to be our republican candidate than I will vote for him for President because I could not see myself ever voting Democratic Party because I REALLY don't agree with them on any issues.

[Common Tator]

When the war is over, a sweet, pious, and gentle person can be elected. For now, best to have someone tough who will out think the enemy -- and that's Newt.

CONSIDER THIS. Bill Clinton gets caught having sex with an under age intern in the oval office.. and the result is NEWT GINGRICH LOSES HIS JOB!!!