Newt was obviously ticked off at being thrown on the defensive, and comes across very poorly.
Can't undo seppuku. He's toast.
Awesome.
BUMP for great freeping.
gingrich cannot be trusted.
he’s unpredictable.
I don’t like Ryan’s budget plan either. It doesn’t cut enough and takes too long to complete. But then again our problems really aren’t necessarily realted to the quantity of money government spends, but that the majority of it is spent on things it has no constitutional authourity to be involved with.
Newt apparently lost a fair amount of his mind while sitting on the couch with Pelosi.
Just another reason to be disgusted with him. He can be lead by the nose from a wimp in an interview. Never liked him, there is something about that man that my gut says....do not trust him. Along with not really likable..
Newtie was on Hannity’s radio show and came off pretty poorly there, too.
Now Newt was never in the Senate, but it was done to him anyway.
Newt mostly agreed with Levin about Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposal and ended up conceding that he shouldn’t have allowed Gregory to frame the question the way he did.
The problem is that Newt changed his argument. When he earlier called Ryan’s proposal “right wing social engineering” he was objecting (or seemed to be objecting) to the substance of the proposal. Then he comes on Levin’s show and claims he was just making a process argument — i.e. that his concern was just that Ryan’s proposal wouldn’t be fully debated and that the public wouldn’t be “fully engaged”.
It came across as a very lame attempt to weasel out of what he said before. I thought Levin nailed him pretty good on it — Newt definitely seemed uncomfortable — though I wish he had been clearer in pointing out that New had switched arguments.
BTW, I kind of got a chuckle out of how Levin just kind of skipped over the opening pleasantries and immediately got to work cornering Newt. Newt started off with some chit chat about what he’d been up to in Iowa; Levin listened to that for about 5 seconds then basically said “yeah, whatever, now let’s get down to business...”
I saw Newt yesterday on Meet the Depressed and my lying ears heard what they heard. I could not believe what he said....it wasn’t pretty.
“Right wing social engineering”? And like so many have pointed out, from now till 2012 election day all Republican candidates will hear “Even your former Speaker of the House calls Ryan’s plan social engineering” from their Democratic opponents.
What a horrible thing, horrible horrible thing. I believe this will be the death knell for Newt cause what the hell can he say that will change those awful words?
That being said, I don’t listen to Mark Levin till around 11pm or so and now I’m looking forward to hearing his take on this.
All day, ALL DAY, it’s been the stuff of talk shows. Rush led off his show with the exclamation that he didn’t know what Newt was thinking. Krauthammer and Hume of the Fox All Stars declared Newt’s candidacy dead. Even Mara Liason said Newt was probably toast.
This is not to mention his stand on forced health insurance...which he called posting a bond, guy must think we were all born at night, LAST night.
Hannity danced around the issue as Newt’s one of his buddies.
I think Newt ought to try and negotiate a deal with Fox for a pundit job cause in the history of politics that had to be the dumbest thing a candidate’s done since Dukasis put on that awful helmet.
Oncit I considered Newt fluid in the language but to disdain as RIGHT WING social engineering that which almost all of the House of Representative Repubs voted for will go down in history as the dumbest statement of them all.
If there’s any explanation at all for such a stupid move it’s that, I dunno, maybe Newt’s hoping to reap some kind of DEMOCRATIC nomination?
Newt suffers from a failing a lot of academics do. The only thing he loves more than listening to himself talk is watching the effect of what he says has on others.
The whole reason for Newt’s blunder is that he decided up front, as part of his campaign strategy, that he was NOT going to let the rats once again nail him with a “wither on the vine” moment. Fifteen years ago the lying scumbag rats took a Newt soundbite completely out of context and turned it into an effective campaign ad. (It was effective primarily due to the GOP’s incompetence in responding to the lying ad, but that’s now beside the point.) Newt wasn’t going to be painted as an “extremist” on Medicare again, nosiree Bob.
So what happens? Right out of the gate Newt gets hit with a Medicare question and he immediately - - instinctively - - goes on the defensive and sticks his foot, ankle, and knee straight into his mouth and down his throat and refers to Paul Ryan’s plan as “right wing social engineering”. Newt is reasonable, centrist, and moderate when it comes to Medicare. See?
Good grief. It was a pathetic performance and is as indicative as anything that Newt is simply not presidential timber.
Buh-bye, Newt.
Newt is always at the deep end of the think tank and often has a near-drowning experience.
If Newt is somehow the GOP pick in 2012......nightmares.....
I'll bet 9 of 10 people associate this historical happening with Newt. Actually, he didn't author the plan which actually came from a Ronald Reagan State of the Union address in the mid 80's, but he was up front and got in front of the parade. He was minority whip before the election and became Speaker as the result of his opportunistic effort.
At the time I admired his spunk because I believe heroes are born of opportunity. However, I also thought that becoming speaker and rolling with the momentum voters had given him was a role he should have played out. A role he was obligated to play out because of the trust we bestowed upon him along with that of his congressional colleagues. Instead, his giant self absorbed head took over and he jumped into the race for President while Bill Clinton was still strong in the polls and playing the independent middle like a dime store kazoo.
If Newt was as smart as he wants us all to think he is, he would have done his duty, made himself a memorable speaker and waited to run for a higher office until he had created a record of service that would trump his poor domestic image. Instead he squandered a great opportunity - I'd say his duty to complete the mission.
Now he is back with a history of having done nothing saying, "Vote for me because I'm smarter than them ...AND YOU!"
Well, Newtster - I ain't buyin'.
What hour was this in VM? Having trouble getting this to pull up. TIA
Mark Levin took Newt to school with his interview. It showed Newt on the defensive and not in command of the subject like he should be as a candidate for president. Newt should have put forth some ideas on how to improve Paul Ryan’s plan. Instead, he showed he does not have a real handle on what to do. Not a good start as a candidate.