The issue here isn’t Newt’s Conservatism, but rather his leadership capability.
When the GOP retook the House after the 1994 election, it was pretty clear that Newt was the idea/vision guy ... but it was really Armey who was running the place on a day-to-day basis.
Newt’s the guy you want in the basement coming up with policy papers, and I have concerns that his deliberative and professorial decision and policy-making approach won’t be a good match to the demands of the Presidency.
If it comes down to Newt vs. Romney it’ll be a mirror image of the Dems in 2008 where Obama was the ideological visionary and Hillary! was the pragmatic leader.
Can someone, anyone, explain to me how Newt was elected Speaker of the House in 1995, by his fellow Republicans, if he was a loner and had no leadership ability?
Can anyone name a Speaker or Majority Leader since then who is more conservative or accomplished more to balance the budget and scale back government?