Posted on 05/16/2011 7:03:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Newt Gingrich had plenty of people on the Right scratching their heads after his attack on Paul Ryan’s budget plan as conservative “social engineering,” but Republicans weren’t the only ones mystified. The attack also puzzled Jay Newton-Small at Time. Two weeks ago, Gingrich told her that he would have voted for the plan offered by the “brave” Republican Representative:
The former speaker sang Ryan’s praises for being a “brave” “man of ideas,” like Gingrich himself.
“But would you have voted for Ryan’s plan?” I pressed.
“Sure,” Gingrich replied.
“Do you think it would actually save the health care system?”
“No, I think it’s the first step,” Gingrich said. “You need an entirely new set of solutions.”
Compare this to how Gingrich described the Ryan plan yesterday:
MR. GREGORY: But not what Paul Ryan is suggesting, which is completely changing Medicare.
REP. GINGRICH: I, I think that, I think, I think that that is too big a jump. I think what you want to have is a system where people voluntarily migrate to better outcomes, better solutions, better options, not one where you suddenly impose upon the–I don’t want to–I’m against Obamacare, which is imposing radical change, and I would be against a conservative imposing radical change.
So one day it’s a good first step, and 14 days later, it’s several steps too far? There are only a couple of plausible explanations for this change, and none of them complimentary to Gingrich. The first is that he told Newton-Small that he’d have voted for the Ryan plan as a “first step” without bothering to read it first in order to ingratiate himself with the conservative base. The second is that he read it, but it took him two weeks to understand it. And the third is that Gingrich decided that most of his 2012 competition would back the Ryan plan and that he could get political space for himself by being a contrarian. The fourth option is that Newton-Small is simply making up the story, which seems unlikely although not impossible.
Gingrich isn’t stupid by any stretch of the imagination, so I tend to doubt that it’s option 2. If Newton-Small didn’t make up the exchange out of whole cloth, it’s either option 1 or 3, and both of them paint a picture of a politician operating from something other than principle.
What part of “Go away and don’t come back” is Newt not getting?
Pls keep your mutt on a shorter leash!
This is a good case against Newt, sticking his finger in the wind. This reminds me of McCain in 2008 on TARP.
This one nails Newt much better than some of the others posts, Newt following the polls as they change daily.
Newt wasnt smart enough to know the Ryan plan would run into rough waters (a hurricane yet) and initially supported it, then flipped 180 when public opinion turned on it and now he says it is radical. Loser!
Does anyone want this guy as president?
You have to return to what Newt has said in writing in a venue he controls.
Else, you play into the hands of the Leftwingtards who want to destroy America.
The fifth option is that Gingrich did tell the reporter he backed the Ryan plan, but he later saw polling data that looked unfavorable and, absent of principle, he flip-flopped.
RE: but he later saw polling data that looked unfavorable and, absent of principle, he flip-flopped.
Well if that is so, then he’s after the youth vote at the expense of the senior vote. Polls have shown that seniors overwhelmingly favor Paul Ryan’s plan and it is the UNDER 30 who are opposed to Ryan’s plan.
See here:
http://www.redstate.com/nickottens/2011/04/28/american-seniors-favor-ryan-plan/
“What part of “Go away and don’t come back” is Newt not getting?”
Newt is well over a decade past his being elected for any office date.
He is like milk, meat and bread past their sell/use by date.
Newt is...shall we say...mercurial.
As Speaker, he was famous for calling in his lieutenants on Monday and announcing his latest good idea, then sending them off to implement it.
But, by Tuesday, Newt had a better idea...and his minions were instructed to change direction.
Then, of coure, came Wednesday...
I don't know that Newt is so much a "finger in the wind" guy as he is simply a diletante. Which is to say, he "dabbles" a lot.
But, in either event, Newt isn't executive material. And he's probably not really a committed conservative, either.
Two weeks ago, Gingrich told her that he would have voted for the plan offered by the "brave" Republican Representative...Newt helped engineer the flipping of the Congress in the 1994 election -- then stabbed all of us in the back. He's a pathologically self-centered creep.
I've been saying so for years.
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