Posted on 12/09/2011 3:59:33 AM PST by Carolyn826
I had a friend once who amused herself thinking up bumper stickers for states. The one she made up for California was brilliant. "California: It's All True." It is so vast and sprawling a place, so rich and various, that whatever you've heard about its wildness, weirdness and wonders, it's true.
That's the problem with Newt Gingrich: It's all true. It's part of the reason so many of those who know him are anxious about the thought of his becoming president. It's also why people are looking at him, thinking about him, considering him as president.
Ethically dubious? True. Intelligent and accomplished? True. Has he known breathtaking success and contributed to real reforms in government? Yes. Presided over disasters? Absolutely. Can he lead? Yes. Is he erratic and unreliable as a leader? Yes. Egomaniacal? True. Original and focused, harebrained and impulsive—all true.
Do you want evidence he's a Burkean conservative? Start with welfare reform in 1996. A sober, standard Republican? Go to the balanced budgets of the Clinton era. Is he a Tea Partier? Sure, he speaks the slashing lingo with relish. Is he moderate? Yes, that can be proved. Michele Bachmann this week called him a "frugal socialist," and there's plenty of evidence of that, too.
One way to view this is that he is so rich and varied as a character, as geniuses often are, that he contains worlds, multitudes. One senses that would be his way of looking at it. Another way to look at it: In a long career, one will shift views, adapt to circumstances, tack this way and that. Another way: He's philosophically unanchored, an unstable element. There are too many storms within him, and he seeks out external storms in order to equalize his own atmosphere.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
hannity is nothing but a weak sister.
LLS
Yeah!!!
Bulls-Eye!!
LLS
Maybe it’s better to be feared than loved.
You mean everybody loves Obama Peggy? I don’t get the impression the republicans can stand the guy. I certainly think they can deal better with Gingrich.
I’ll see your one newt quote and raise you another 723 hits on Google as to his SUPPORTING AN INDIVIDUAL MANDATE.. WITH VIDEO AND LINKS TO GLENN BECK AND RUSH LIMBAUGH TIRADES ON IT!
http://nation.foxnews.com/newt-gingrich/2011/11/29/2005-flashback-video-newt-backs-individual-mandate
2005 newt said this... Rush Limbaugh said yesterday that newt reaffirmed this yesterday morning. Go to Rush’s archives and see for yourself or call Rush today and ask him. If Rush said it... and he did... and he did it and it is on his site for 24/7 members... you can see it for yourself. When Rush says it... it cannot be disputed... he accuracy is far above any other media source.
Here you go... I did some research for you:
In the past Gingrich has repeatedly supported an individual mandate, a point he reconfirmed this morning on Meet The Press. See the exchange below, provided by Red State:
GINGRICH: well, i agree that all of us have a responsibility to help pay for health care. and i think there are ways to do it that make most libertarians relatively happy. i have said consistently we ought to have some requirement that you either have health insurance or you post a bond, or in some way, you indicate you’re going to be held accountable.
GREGORY: but that is the individual mandate, is it not?
GINGRICH: it’s a variation on it.
GREGORY: so you won’t use that issue against Mitt Romney?
GINGRICH: no
Gingrich also used the occasion to trash Representative Paul Ryan’s Medicaid plan calling it radical right-wing social engineering. In other words, let the big government stand as it is.
Essentially then, Gingrich and Romney have removed the lynchpin of the conservative argument. It is OK for the federal government to force individuals to purchase a private product. So then what is next? Carbon offsets? Forced higher education spending? Electric cars? Housing? Insulation? Where do we go from here?
Glenn Beck Questions Newt Gingrich On His Record
http://roaringrepublican.com/blog/2011/12/06/glenn-beck-questions-newt-gingrich-on-record/
Limbaugh Blasts Newt’s Tirade as “Inexplicable”
Posted on May 16, 2011 by admin
http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/rushlimbaugh-newtgingrich/2011/05/16/id/396556?s=al&promo_code=C460-1
Just google “newt reaffirms individual mandate”... there is at least 3 days of reading on the subject.
LLS
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In doing so, you offered support to a Romney supporter. Obamacare is based on Romney care.
I don't listen to pundits. Like the press, they have an agenda and tell me what THEY want me to hear.
I watched the video (http://nation.foxnews.com/newt-gingrich/2011/11/29/2005-flashback-video-newt-backs-individual-mandate); he said:
“If I see somebody who’s earning over $50,000 a year, who has made the calculated decision not to buy health insurance, I’m looking at somebody who is absolutely as irresponsible as anyone who was ever on welfare. Because what they’ve said is, A, I’m gambling that I won’t get sick, and B, I’m gambling that if I do get sick, I can cheat all my neighbors. Now, when you talk to hospitals, a very significant part of their non-collectibles are people who have money, but have calculated it’s not worth the cost to pay. And so I’m actually in favor of finding a way to say, whatever the appropriate level of income is, you ought to have either health insurance, or you ought to post a bond. But we have no right in this society to have a free rider approach, if we’re well off economically, to cheat our neighbors.”
That was back in 2005—AFAIK, he hasn’t walked that position back. This isn’t the same individual mandate per Obama/Romneycare.
He’s obviously right to say that there is a free rider problem here, and it isn’t easy to resolve. Now, you could say, “well, hospitals should have the right to refuse care.” Sure, that sounds easy enough—but it unleashes a pandora’s box of all kinds of litigious possibilities. So, what then?
Well, I’ll tell you, after Palin declined to run I really didn’t have a dog in this race. I liked Bachmann and Cain a lot, even Perry, but not as much as I liked Palin. Bachmann and Cain are both conservative enough, but neither have really been tested in higher office, nor do they have much experience in world affairs.
NEWT GINGRICH ENDORSES INDIVIDUAL MANDATE
um ... No. Even back last May, in the infamous Gregory interview, Newt's primary point was:
The entire concept of "variation of it" is solely in order to pass constitutional muster which Newt clearly has indicated DOES NOT INCLUDE AN INDIVIDUAL MANDATE since he has already rejected that.
The whole mess is due to Government Healthcare via Medicare/Medicaid, and these aren't going away any time soon. He's only attempting to suggest practical interim solutions to a thorny problem already in existance.
LLS
I left a link to an article that links to a March 2011 statement.
LLS
LLS
WooHoo! We must win!
Like some other noteworthy FReeper "you people" posters on the thread, I feel very comfortable in my belief in the tenants of Conservatism.
Desperate times call for 'desperate' measures. You have to take Normandy Beach before you can take Berlin.
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When you thank a pro-Romney supporter for posting against one of Romney's opponents, you embolden and enable that person. Then what becomes of us?
It may seem like a small thing to you, but many people read these threads, and at least some are influenced by them.
bttt
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