Posted on 05/31/2007 8:53:31 AM PDT by kellynla
Karl Rove’s political strategy for President Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign was "maniacally dumb,” declares Newt Gingrich – who says the right can’t retain power if it alienates the center.
In an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg for The New Yorker magazine, the former House Speaker said Rove left Bush with "no political capital.”
Gingrich observed: "All he proved was that the anti-Kerry vote was bigger than the anti-Bush vote.”
The Bush campaign failed to wage a campaign based on ideology, said Gingrich, and instead of suggesting that Kerry was "to the left of Ted Kennedy,” it focused on attacking Kerry’s war record.
Gingrich has gotten heat of late from some conservatives for reaching out to center-right voters, Goldberg notes. But Gingrich said he wants to bring the center into a coalition with the right "because I want to give the right power. The right can have power only by being allied with the center.”
Failure to recognize that was Rove’s mistake in 2004, according to Gingrich, who feels Republicans risk alienating "America’s natural majority.”
The GOP’s only hope of holding on to the White House in 2008 is to nominate a candidate who runs against Bush, just as Nicolas Sarkozy won France’s presidency by "making his own president, Jacques Chirac, his virtual opponent,” said Gingrich.
Goldberg writes that Gingrich "says the Bush administration has become a Republican version of the Jimmy Carter presidency, when nothing seemed to go right.”
Gingrich also warned: "When you have the collapse of the Republican Party, you have an immediate turn toward the Democrats, not because the Democrats are offering anything better, but on a ‘not them’ basis. And if you end up in a 2008 campaign between ‘them’ and ‘not them,’ ‘not them’ is going to win.”
Uh, okay. :::rolls eyes:::
Too weird, your reply to me didn’t show up in the my posts page; must have been too many. I just came back to this thread and saw it.
What I think of Rove has nothing to do with Newt; it started the day after Nancy Pelosi became next in line for the prez after Cheney. I never thought that could or would happen. While Newt was brilliant in 1994, his personal life is slightly better than bubba’s.
Yeah, Reagan put illegals on ice, didn’t he? Gave them straight across amnesty with no border enforcement.
Good tactician executing a flawed or wrong strategy can do more harm than bad tactician executing good strategy. Think 2006 "all politics is local" GOP campaign which only played into Schumer-Emanuel hands, as they "out-conservatived" conservatives.
Newt is a strategist, so is Condi, in a true sense of the word. Maybe it's because they are historians.
How could I go against someone named, "CutePuppy"? Oh, I remember, I prefer cats.
I don't care whatever term you want to use for Rove, he failed miserably. I also think Bush is to blame as well for seemingly relying on Rove's flawed advice.
I don't know whether Newt or Condi are great Strategerists but I do like Condi although I think she will never be able to drain the cesspool in the State Dep.
Newt has his good points but everyone that says character matters in regards to Rudy has to be able to apply that to everyone and that includes Newt. I don't expect people to be perfect (well one man) but I don't like hypocrites and Newt is a big one.
Well, we agree on Rove, Bush, Condi, and cats (I like them too, and most of them are cute, though I prefer the company of other puppies).
And we mostly agree on Newt... though I am probably giving him more slack - for trying, and by comparing him to most of current GOP or conservative “leaders”.
Fair enough. We'll disagree on this point, and Newt (and I) may be wrong on this as a winning strategy. I just wanted to correct the impression that Newt wants the party to move to the "center", when he is really trying to move the conservatives from the "center" back to the party and increase/recreate conservative majority in the party.
Regards.
Sorry, no time to explain any more obvious facts of life to an idiot.
Sorry I’m a jerk. Have been sleep deprived. But I know that isn’t a good excuse.
Uh, okay. :::rolls eyes:::
Might want to get your eyes checked. Something seems to be amiss.
Yeah, they tend to roll when someone posts something ridiculous to me.
No, it is probably medical. One of two possibilities:
-Epilepsy
-You’re a teenager
I’m guessing both.
Nah, it’s just a reaction when someone posts silliness (like you just did) :::eye roll:::
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