BTW her full name is Jacqueline "Jackie" Sue Gingrich Cushman: Born in 1966. and Newt's first wife was Jackie Battley whom he married on June 19, 1962. Their oldest daughter Kathy was born in 1963 and Jackie is their second daughter
Posted on 11/04/2010 7:07:50 AM PDT by Kaslin
My first election memory is from 1974, when I was 7 years old. President Nixon had recently resigned, succeeded by Gerald Ford. The Democratic Party picked up 49 seats in the House for a total of 291. In the Senate, the Democrats picked up four seats for 61 total. But for me, my memories are more personal. My father, Newt Gingrich, lost his first run for the 6th Congressional district in Georgia.
While victory was not to come that night, or the next election night two years later, it did four years later. In 1978, Dad won the election and went on to serve the 6th district of Georgia for 20 years.
Twenty years after his 1974 loss, he led the Republicans push to take control of the House of Representatives.
When thinking through who might be able to provide a historic perspective of the 2010 election, the retaking of the House of Representative by the Republican Party, the leader of the Contract With America tops the list for anyone, including for me, his daughter.
Following are my questions and the answers he e-mailed me the morning after the 2010 election.
Based on your experience in taking over the House in 1994 and becoming vilified by the press, what advice would you give the next speaker, Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio?
"Boehner has four big advantages over our 1994 experience.
"1) He is a calmer, more managerial team leader and less of an out-front, combative, ideological spokesman than I was.
"2) Barack Obama is much more polarizing than Bill Clinton and likely to remain much noisier and more dominant in public activities.
"3) FOX News has created an alternative communications channel of enormous power, which dominates Boehner's base.
"4) The Democrats are now used to losing and will accept the authenticity of Boehner's majority. When we won in 1994, it was the first time in 40 years and the Democrats and the liberal media believed we were illegitimate and had somehow cheated to become a majority."
In retrospect, should you have handled in a different manner the government shutdown that occurred while you were serving as speaker?
"The government shutdown was a key to our survival. No Republican House had been re-elected in 68 years, since 1928. The shutdown convinced our voters we were serious and convinced Clinton he had to deal with us."
Should Boehner force a government shutdown if the Republicans cannot reach a budget agreement with President Barack Obama?
"No. Boehner should force showdowns not shutdowns. If Obama wants to force a shutdown, Boehner should not flinch -- but he shouldn't seek it."
What does it mean that Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., was re-elected and Jerry Brown won the California governor's race?
"California and New York remain bastions of liberalism despite the economic decay brought about by bad government and high taxes. Learning to win in those two states is one of the greatest challenges facing Republicans."
If you were an advisor to President Obama, what would you recommend he do in the next two years?
"He should focus on job creation and use the Eisenhower style of co-opting the opposition. He should appear reasonable and share the stage with Boehner and (Mitch) McConnell so they come to share the responsibility." (McConnell is the Republican Senate minority leader from Kentucky.)
Does this election result make it more or less likely that you will run in 2012?
"This election proves there is a potential to repudiate the left, but now we have to think through how to replace it with a center-right governing majority. The challenge of thinking through, explaining and implementing a replacement strategy as national policy is very intriguing."
What is the tipping point that would make your running in 2012 inevitable?
"Support so widespread and enthusiastic that we could not reject it and remain good citizens."
A few words and phrases in his answers struck me as particularly interesting and illuminating.
His note that "Boehner today" is a more managerial leader than Speaker Gingrich was 16 years ago.
Reinforcement that there was no alternative to the government shutdown during his speakership, as it "convinced our voters we were serious and convinced Clinton he had to deal with us."
His comment that "the challenge of thinking through, explaining, and implementing a replacement strategy as national policy is very intriguing."
I can almost see the gleam in his eye.
As for running in 2012, we'll have to wait to see if the tipping point for his potential candidacy is reached.
Somehow, I can't see Boehner sharing a loveseat with Newt.
Newt would do the GOP, and the country, a great service if he immediately announced that he has no intention of running in 2012. There’s now ay he wins the nomination, but what he could do, as a respected voice in the party, is help to start thinning out the herd of pretenders and wannabees...
Newtie will always be suspect as long as he maintains membership in the exclusive CFR club along with Hitlery and All-bright, et al.
NEWT WAS TO BUSY BANGING HIS ADMIN ASSISTANT. He betrayed the Republican revolution and the freshman class of 1994. Hillary had his FBI file and new about his little piece on the side. Newt needs to go away. He had his chance and betrayed us for a slice of love pie.
Go away newt.
They’re all in it—and it’s probably better that they’re there to keep tabs on what the opposition is up to.
But I don’t want to see Newt run either.
Newt is a RINO like ROve.
In your dreams Newt. (He WILL, however, get "enthusiastic" support from the MSM)
Get this: A RINO is someone in the House or the Senate who votes most the the time with the rats, and since Gingrich or Karl Rove are holding a political office it’s absurd of you to accuse them of being RINOs
Hillary will announce her candidacy in Feburary 2012.
If he wants to run, he can. No one can tell him he can’t. This is after all a free country. It’s up to the voters if they want to elect him or not
Hitting the bottle early? A RINO is a Repub in name only. It does not matter if they are in office.
You are correct though - Newt and Rove are even bigger POS - they are really DIABLOs like McCain.
Oh Newt’s son wrote this. Was he Newt’s son from wife #3 or wife #5? I lose track. Is Callista wife #6?
I think he was essentially doing just that. He knows perfectly well there will never be a “groundswell of support,” but I don’t see that it would be doing any service to himself or whoever will be the candidate by flat-out denying that he will run (because everybody knows a candidate-type of person is lying when he says this anyway).
That said, it was a question pressed by the interviewer, not something he brought up, and the rest of his comments were interesting.
I thought Gingrinch’s bigggest problem all those years ago, however, was not that he was too combative or even that he was having an affair (nobody knew about that then, and in any case, compared to the doings of the then President, it was pretty tame).
What the Dems “got him” on was an advance on a book he had written. There was nothing illegal about it and not even anything underhanded or unusual; IIRC, they were actually originally trying to deflect from something illegal involving a book contract that had been done by one of their own members.
However, as usual, the GOP didn’t support its own. I think a lot of the GOP at that time regarded Gingrich practically the way they now look at Tea Partiers. I know it’s hard to imagine, but RINOism was even more entrenched and much less examined then, and I don’t think they particularly liked his style or his objectives. So they dumped him immediately, which then became a pattern for the GOP - that is, their ideal in either a leader or a candidate was somebody of whom the Dems would approve. That’s how we ended up with John McCain as our Dem lite candidate in the last election.
Of course it’s a free country. But some things are good for the Party or cause, others not so much.
I can't, either....Boehner's assistant, maybe...
Totally agree with your comments..but he has said many times that he’ll “look at running” after the election..which is why he shoudl take himself out of it now..take a senior statesman role..loos, we have 10-15 possible nominees...that’s got to be thinned out and soon..
The best way for an editor to make sure a story doesn’t get read is to have “Newt Gingrich” in the headline.
BTW her full name is Jacqueline "Jackie" Sue Gingrich Cushman: Born in 1966. and Newt's first wife was Jackie Battley whom he married on June 19, 1962. Their oldest daughter Kathy was born in 1963 and Jackie is their second daughter
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.