Posted on 11/10/2006 6:59:08 AM PST by Pokey78
After having watched the majority he engineered in 1994 crumble in this week's elections, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich laid into President Bush and congressional Republicans in an Atlanta appearance Thursday.
Taking questions after a medical forum, the former GOP congressman from Cobb County said four c's — an absence of competence in Republican performance, an absence of candor, corruption and the bad advice of consultants — led to Tuesday's defeat.
But Gingrich saved his strongest words for President Bush's performance at the Wednesday press conference announcing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's resignation. Bush told reporters that he had planned to replace Rumsfeld since before the election, despite praising the unpopular defense secretary a week ago and saying he would remain for the duration of his presidency.
"If the president had decided to replace Secretary Rumsfeld he should have told us two weeks ago," Gingrich said. "I think that we would today control the Senate and probably have 10 to15 more House seats. And I found it very disturbing yesterday in the press conference, the explanation that the President gave.
"We need candor, we need directness," said Gingrich, a potential 2008 presidential candidate."We need to understand the threats we faced with are so frightening and so real, the danger that we'll lose two to three American cities so great, that we cannot play games with each other, cannot manipulate each other, we have to have an open and honest dialogue, and I found yesterday's staments at the press conference frankly very disturbing."
He condemned Bush's admission that in making last week's statement about Rumsfeld, he had known he was being misleading.
"It's inappropriate to cleverly come out the day after an election to do something we were told before the election would not be done," Gingrich said. "I think the timing was exactly backwards and I hope the President will rethink how he engages the American people and how he communicates with candor."
He contrasted the euphoria of 1994, when his Contract with America agenda helped ended decades of Democratic rule in the House, with the bitterness of Tuesday night's Democratic sweep.
"I remember what it felt like the night we were at the Cobb Galleria and for the first time in 40 years we won control of the House and (there was) the Contract with America and people were very exicted about welfare reform and cutting taxes and balancing the budget and all those things, and I have to say 12 years later that I'm very disappointed, but if you look at what I've said all year, I'm not surprised."
As for whatRepublicans should do now, he said, "I believe the House and Senate Republicans and the White House need to take a deep breath and think very seriously about this election result, because I think we're at a very important turning point this is either a temporary interruption of what has been a gradually consolidating center-right majority, or this is a breakdown of that center-right majority leading to a significant effort to establish a center-left government majority."
The Republican Revolution basically ended in 1998. It has been running on nothing more than momentum -- along with some big-time Democrat incompetence -- for the last 8 years.
Quite true. And Bush's arrogance and the incompetence of Rumsfeld and his Pentagon pussies cost us the Congress. The pathetic P.C. "war" they waged in Iraq was a disgrace. The Joint Chiefs and all the top brass should be canned as well. They couldn't wipe MacArthur's ass.
I am willing to forgive Bush's mistakes, though I see them as far bigger and more numerious. But I am also willing to be critical of a policy that is simply wrong. Amnesty being front and center once the new Congress is seated. Newt made tactical mistakes in pursue of conservative goals. Bush has made stratgic mistakes in pursuit of some fuzzy globalist thing that is in direct conflict with (my brand of ) conservativism. So he get to hear more complaints from me then Newt does.
I'm waiting to hear the Demcrats' great new ideas.......Has the Mexican border problem been fixed yet? What about the millions of illegal aliens? Has Kim been removed yet? Have the terrorists surrendered yet? Has unemployment fallen to 3.1%? Have we stopped importing oil from hostile countries? Is there a cure for AIDS (surely they know how to fix this)? Has a cure for Alzheimer's been found? For cancer? What about New Orleans? What are the Democrats waiting for? I thought they won........get with it, Demagogues.
Why do you care what the Democrats would have thought of a Rumsfield resignation in August or September?
Do you think that they really were planning to vote Republican and that the resignation would jeopardize that?
You have to motivate those who actually might vote your way, not those who never will.
And having Rumsfield resign 5-6 months ago would have motivated those more concerned with the WOT.
Newt was at his best when he was leading the opposition -- not when he was leading the governing party.
And
"Thank you! After reading FR for these last few days I was wondering if any Reaganites were left besides me.
As someone else has commented, Reagan was an expert communicator and knew how to state a policy preference, different from another Republican's while trying avoid attacking the person.
For exampple, in one instance, I think Newt could have simply said: "I think if Rummy was going to leave, it might have been a better idea to have told that to everyone before the election".. and left it at that, with no embellishment.
I dont care about his lapses. But the media will crucify
and take him off message.
If it was not big deal, why did he leave in the middle of
the repub revolution.
Peace
The truth is, this Election Day repudiation of the Bush administration really should have taken place in 2004 by all measures. If the Democratic Party hadn't put up a guy who may well have been the worst presidential candidate south of Walter Mondale, it probably would have.
Best time would have been to take Foley off of the front page. Or Macaca for that matter.
"Now the liberal agenda moves forward"
Much of it was moving forward with Bush, also. Maybe those that stayed home just figured at least if it were democrats doing it, then it's to be expected. Can't blame the lib agenda coming our way on me. As I said, I did my part. Just putting the blame where it belongs. With the republicans.
Welfare reform was a "capitulation" to Clinton???
It's been one of the most major, most conservative and most successful reforms in "social" policies since the 1940s.
The balanced budget process was a capitulation?
How about the failure of "Hillarycare", that was a capitulation? How about the impeachment? That was a capitulation? How about the DOM, that was a capitulation?
What was the capitulation for which you totally discount everything else.
Newt was certainly not given a fair shake by the MSM when he became speaker. However, he did not leave because of them. He was not a good spokesman or leader. He was and probably still is a visionary. He can serve best in a think tank coming up with good ideas, not getting on TV and bashing our Republican president.
Every person supposedly on the Republican side who has publicly snisped at President Bush owns part of this election loss. I doubt if many of them meant their harsh words to end up with a sweep of both houses, but their negativity added up.
Well, I don't think they stole it. We gave it away.
If you read my post you will see that I support Newt.
He has the best political mind of the era. He is gone because he is feared.
In the overall scheme of things his transgression are minimal. When compared to the corruption that permeates the left and the political machines of the urban areas Newt is a saint. No man is free of transgressions if there is a desire to bring him down.
Newt is a historian and thinks in chunks of a decade and larger. He layed out the plan, secured the power and the Republicans threw it away.
Yes! When you disagree with someone do it with a smile on your face.
The fact of the matter is that we will never find Ronald Reagan again. We as a country have left our first home and love for freedom and now have voted for a false security, and will be accorded neither. Have you heard anything Newt Gingrich has said? It sounds to me like he is taking a realistic, unvarnished view of what just happened on Tuesday. But some want to say , yes, we have cancer, but give me the tylenol and I will be just fine. First make the accurate diagnosis and the remedy will be self eveident. Self delusion is etherial and wrong headed. We got our asses whipped because the Republicans left home, became complacent, didn't do their jobs, and abandoned first principles of conservatism. The battle was lost before Nov. 7, 2006. The dems have won and offer an illusion of safty, prosperity, temporal enthusiasm, and grave danger to a nation which now have leaders who do not have an understanding of the times to know what must be done. We are a ship, rudderless. A confounded people who have abandoned the honorable who said they would stand in the gap and not let the terrorist kill our children. Now, we must be brave enough to tell ourselves the truth and honest enough to act on it, or this nation will be perilously close to falling. Open borders...one well placed WMD (pick your poison, chemical, biological, nuclear) and then what. WE will stand up strong and proud. We got a birds-eye-view of burning people jumping from 90 stories up, and have already forgotten the lession. That was 5 short years ago. So, Phoenix is wiped off of the face of earth. Well we only lost 500.000. Will we be moved by that and it hold our attention? Our silly history of recent tells me that we will not.
15,000 'earmarks' (personal add-ons from individual representatives), for local projects, and not individually voted on, worth $10 billion added to last years spending bills in the House
a 1,000% reversal from the 1994 GOP campaign that complained about 1,500 such earmarks
to the GOP base, that said a lot
Yeah, that's about right.
:-(
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