Posted on 11/15/2011 10:33:39 AM PST by presidio9
Yes, Newt Gingrich has spiked in the polls. No, he’s not going to be the nominee. I’ve been trying to duck this one because it feels like laying out the obvious, but, briefly, three reasons:
1. The baggage he’s always had — the marital difficulties, the ethics troubles, a whole bunch of deviations from conservative orthodoxy over the years (such as that ad he shot with Nancy Pelosi: “Our country must take action to address climate change”) — just isn’t going to go away. Republican voters don’t have those things in mind at the moment, but no candidate is more vulnerable to attack ads than the former Speaker.
2. Message discipline, lack thereof. It’s impossible to imagine Newt not saying something that hurts him if there’s a microphone in front of his face for a three-week stretch, which is what wouldgoing to happen if the press decides he actually has a chance at winning this thing. We have a couple decades of evidence, including earlier this year, showing that he’s just not able to do it. For whatever it’s worth, I’d add that as I read the polling over the years, Newt’s basic act is unlikely to wear well with voters after extended exposure. People just don’t like the guy.
3. Both of those might be overcome, but this one won’t: it’s highly unlikely that anyone who worked with Newt Gingrich when he was Speaker would want him anywhere near the White House. As detailed in many places, but perhaps most memorably by David Maraniss and Michael Weisskopf in their
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“probably because this guy would destroy obama in the debates”
Like he destroyed John Kerry by conceding that urgent action is needed to stop global warming?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19dCkabVBbY
Fail.
Because Republicans should let the liberal Washington Post - the same rag that conspired to put Obama in the White House -convince them what a horrible president Newt would be.
Stupid party, indeed.
X2
And who gives a d@mn what anyone in Congress thinks?
Newt Gingrich endorses Dede Scozzafava in NY-23 House race
Gingrich Explains Scozzafava Endorsement, Slams Right-Wing Critics
Memo to Gingrich: Get Lost. Now
Gingrich Backs Obamacare's Individual Mandate Requiring Health Insurance
Gingrich donors dropping like flies
Bill Bennett to Gingrich: You’re Shooting at [Paul Ryan] From Behind! (Testy Radio Interview)
Mark Levin grills Newt Gingrich on his comments about Paul Ryan’s plan
Gingrich Calls GOP Medicare Plan 'Right-Wing Social Engineering' (supports individual mandate)
Gingrich Backs Obamacare's Individual Mandate Requiring Health Insurance (Newt praises Romneycare)
Gingrich Backs Obamacare's Individual Mandate
Gingrich Apologizes to Paul Ryan for 'Right-Wing Social Engineering' Criticism
Gingrich: ‘Strategic Blunder’ for Palin to Mock Obama as ‘Community Organizer’
Newt Gingrich Acknowledges ‘Contradictions’ On His Libya Views, ‘I Was Trying To Follow Obama’
Gingrich: My Ad on Global Warming with Pelosi was a "Debate," I will "Not Apologize"
Neither will McCain.
Great quote. I'll add it to my list of stupid things FReepers say.
When people on this website throw that word around the way liberals abuse "racist" and "nazi," it ceases to have its full meaning. You may disagree with Newt Gingrich on several points, but he remains one of the giants of modern conservativism, and the left rightly despises him because of it.
Wow, and I was just coming around to the idea that newt could win. OK, who do you support?
I don't know if Newt is the answer, but holy crap: why are we listening to some left-wing wanker from the Washington Post?
The Department of Education was set up by, you guessed it, Newt.
Newt believes that cuts to social programs, necessary to get things under control, are simply “Right-wing social engineering”.
Newt is in favor of ethanol.
He has teamed up with Nancy Pelosi and with Al Sharpton to push the liberal agenda.
No thanks.
Gingrich would wreck what’s left of the economy in his crusade to stop global warming. The man is clearly unstable. Who in their right mind marries their high school geometry teacher? McCain looks sane compared to ol’Newt.
Excellent way to put that.
Agreed!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This article does nothing to sway me.
Newt is now my first choice.
Cain is second.
There are no others, as far as I’m concerned.
It’s pretty much down now to anybody but Romney or Huntsman.
I would add Paul, but it would be worth it for the entertainment value, if nothing else.
Or, as Andrew Sullivan said:
Gingrich is definitionally what conservatism, properly speaking, opposes. Conservatism was born in the eighteenth century against the grand pronouncements of the French philosophes; it roots itself in practice not theory; it distrusts massive, profound reorganization of anything. In all of this, Gingrich is, in fact, conservatism’s nemesis: an autodidact megalomaniac, contemptuous of existing institutions, and bent on dragging an entire culture, country and, yes, civilization into a fantastic pocket of his own small mind.
“No RINOs, no Newt, no thanks.”
That’s the money quote.
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.