Posted on 11/14/2011 10:08:40 PM PST by Fred
Has it really come to this? Newt Gingrich as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney? That's what many in the punditocracy have proclaimed as the former speaker of the House has surged recently in the polls.
Yet a look at his record reveals that Newt is hardly the "anti-Mitt" -- he's Mitt Romney with more baggage and bolder hand gestures.
Every Gingrich profile proclaims that he's a dazzling "ideas man," a "one-man think tank." It seems that, if you clamor long enough about "big ideas," people become convinced you actually have them.
But most of Gingrich's policy ideas over the last decade have been tepidly conventional and consistent with the Big Government, Beltway Consensus.
Gingrich's campaign nearly imploded this summer when he dismissed Rep. Paul Ryan's, R-Wis., Medicare reform plan as "right-wing social engineering." But that gaffe was a window into Gingrich's irresponsible approach toward entitlements.
In 2003, Gingrich stumped hard for President George W. Bush's prescription drug bill, which has added about $17 trillion to Medicare's unfunded liabilities. "Every conservative member of Congress should vote for this Medicare bill," Newt urged.
And in his 2008 book "Real Change," he endorsed an individual mandate for health insurance.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
I noticed that your “Great Find” was in Sept. 2008....before any action was taken.
A stimulus is not a bad idea (G.W. Bush’s one early in his first term worked)
It is when it devolves into the crony capitalism that rewards friends and punishes enemies and is targeted to UAW, SEIU etc. that it is no longer a stimulus but a corrupt gravy train.
Why don’t you post something about Newt’s opinion on what he thought of the stimulus’ final plan and its execution?
Check out Ron Paul’s record, too. Like him or not, he’d be real change, and not the kind the global elites want. We aren’t talking about Foreign Policy here, don’t want to fight about that. We know that Ron Paul’s only priority is to make the Federal Government much smaller, to do much less, in all respects. Cuts everywhere he can. And he’s the only one I truly trust won’t get distracted by something else. It’s extremely rare to find someone who wants cuts, and will try to do it.
Where is Sarah Palin now that we really need her?
No one is safe, so I will stick to the one that supports the issues I support.
Which is part of Newt's strength.
He has had Larry Flynt and every Clinton operative digging in his life since day one. I'll bet he is the most vetted candidate to have ever run for office.
If he is still standing after the primaries, then it comes down to ideas.
And (as seen by Newt's meteoric rise on nothing but people liking what they heard during in the debates) if it comes down to clarity of ideas, Obama will be reaching for his "breathalyzer",
And it if weren't for his Foreign Policy positions, I would be a big Paul supporter.
Unfortunately, it is too important and he is oh so wrong on that front.
That doesn’t mean he’ll overcome it. Sarah Palin sure didn’t. You have a couple of generations (liberal & conservative) who only have a vague idea about what these issues are if they’re aware at all. If you expect them to go easier on Newt because he was “vetted” you’re fooling yourself. If they see him as a threat to Romney/0bama they’re going to be just as vicious to him as they were to Palin/Perry/Cain/Bachmann, etc., etc., etc.
cindie
Newt rise was due to the simultanous collapse of Cain and Perry. You could also see that Cain was passing the torch to Newt at the “just us 2” debate. So, with those 3 simultaneous forces, and Newts argument “no one left but me”, Newt has drifted up in the polls.
He is a good debater, but I’m getting tired of Newt complaining about having a debate with rules. Newt, you knew the rules going in. Don’t complain about them now.
Go ahead Newt complaing about the rules for your whole scheduled time, and then talk another minute or 2 answering the question.
The “Everyone is scum but Herman Cain” assault continues.
Agreed, they are being childish. If Gingrich is the nominee, it will be interesting to hear from the "Never Newt" cultists. Perhaps they'll switch parties and vote for Obama.
No, we know all we need to know about Huntsman. He’s been on the stage too long. Even more RINO than Romney. Obama Administration official. Been in every debate, sometimes gets a lot of questions, a lot of time. Usually polls at about 1%. We’ve seen enough of Huntsman. I think they should put Huntsman in debate rotation with Roemer and Johnson. We’ve seen enough of Huntsman (ex Utah Gov) and not enough of the ex New Mexico Governor or the ex Louisiana Governor. Why is Utah Governor worth debate time and New Mexico Governor not?
For some reason, the media prefers the 1% Huntsman and not the other 2.
Rx drug liability is now over $20 trillion dollars. Compare that to the Social Security unfunded liability of just over $15 trillion dollars or the Medicare unfunded liability of over $80 trillion dollars.
Actually, becoming more tired of those that side with liberal moderators and liberal media. It is very revealing.
Doh! You already posted a link to the debt clock. (slaps forehead)
Did it occur to you that many at this site may not even be familiar with the basic numbers this government has to deal with? I’ll leave it go at that based on your previous good postings.
then you would agree that the only person running right now that can beat obama is Newt Gingrich?.. right?..
btw Newt Gingrich is more of a Conservative than Ronald Reagan was when he ran for President in 1980... I was there big time.. Gingrich is much more pro life than Reagan ever was when Reagan was running..
Ronald Reagan’s total foreign policy stance was “we win they lose”.. that’s about it.. and he landslided Carter..
and look what he did.. amazing for a guy who NEVER had an exact foreign poilicy stance
I think he can. Sarah was brand new and they hit her with (patently false) broadside after broadside and there was no time to recover.
By 2020 that will all be either discredited or dismissed as old news.
Newt is already with his old news response and has shown he will take no guff off of the 'gotcha' media hounds.
He has a great story of redemption (his return to religion) and a new found maturity that should go a long way to soothing his detractors from the right.
His detractors from the left and the media and are a given. No change there.
I’m sorry I didn’t give you a more explicit apology for repeating your link. As far as what I think most people here are familiar with I get the feeling things ought to be written in crayon for them. I don’t get your criticism anyway since I posted the same thing you did ... the basic numbers this government has to deal with.
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.