Dick Cheney: Don't "Underestimate" Newt Gingrich

Rea Clear Politics ^ | December 12,2011

[Hojczyk]

Erin Burnett, CNN: In your book, you talk about -- you knew Newt Gingrich, know Newt Gingrich.

Dick Cheney: He's an old friend.

Burnett: Alright, so he your guy? Does he have your vote?

Cheney: I have not endorsed anybody. I've stayed religiously out of the fray on our side this year. I've been trying to sell books. And that's where my effort's been focused.

Burnett: There's a conventional wisdom, though, that Newt Gingrich will cut his own legs off at some point, and that while he may sweep through the primary season, Mitt Romney's the guy you have that's actually electable versus Barack Obama. Is that a load of -- something, manure?

Cheney: I have not endorsed anybody on either side. The thing I remember about Newt, we came to Congress together at the same time, '78.

Burnett: Right.

Cheney: When Newt showed up he said, we can become the majority, we can take back the House of Representatives. We hadn't had the House since the 1940s. And initially, none of us believed it. But he was persistent, he was tenacious. He kept it up, kept it up, and kept it up. Finally by '94 he's the newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives with a Republican majority. So I wouldn't underestimate him.

[af_vet_rr]

Ya know, your tagline got me thinking. If Newt is indeed the nominee, I think his chance of beating Obama is far better than conventional wisdom.

I'm one of those skeptics who was still shocked by Gingrich leading the Republicans to victory in Congress in 1994 like he did. Not necessarily my favorite candidate, but I see now why so many FReepers say we need a guy who is as battle-tested in taking on the Democrats at a national level and leading Republicans to victory as Gingrich is.

I have no problem getting behind Gingrich. He's making Willard sweat in Willard's "safe" states, there is no baggage that has not already been unearthed by the Democrats in years past, and I get a sense in the debates that he is spoiling for a fight with Obama and the Democrats while most of the other candidates are just going through the motions or looking for quick little soundbites that play well on Youtubes and that were rehearsed hours in advance of the debates.

[vox_freedom]

[hinckley buzzard]

Amid all the toxic waste around here it is refreshing to hear about Newt from someone who was actually there, and who actually knows WTF he is talking about.

Having said that, I'm sure we will soon be seeing "Cheney's a RINO!!" scrawled across the wall.

[hinckley buzzard]

Nicely done.

[Yaelle]

Hmm. So where does newt want to take the presidency? Where is his win this time? I am a Cheney fan.

[hinckley buzzard]

Don't be misled. The "unelectable" card is only played on Newt by liberal trolls who want to see Obama re-elected. We have an unprecedented number of them infesting the site these days. But you are on the right track so, no worries!

[Yaelle]

Excellent post.

[hinckley buzzard]

Fact, the EPA and the dollar were fine under Reagan, they only have been degraded under subsequent administrations, including George Bush, unfortunately.

[kenavi]

One part Nixon, one part Clinton, one part Reagan...

[CowboyJay]

"Fact, the EPA and the dollar were fine under Reagan, they only have been degraded under subsequent administrations, including George Bush, unfortunately."

Thus the problem with creating things like the EPA, and debasing the dollar in the first place. Reagan is the exception. The Obamas, Carters, and Nixons are the norm. No tool or responsibility should ever be put in the hands of the government that can't be entrusted to the Hillary Clintons of the world - FACT.

[no dems]

Dick Cheney: Don’t “Underestimate” Newt Gingrich
______________________________________________________________

Damn straight!!!

[no dems]

Let’s just hope there isn’t a Watergate in Newt’s future if it happens!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Watergate was a Kindergarten picnic compared to the “Fast and Furious” scandal.

[adc]

“but the current times might just need his type of personality”

Seriously???? At the risk of being branded a libtard, a troll or any of the other insulting names which may be attributed to me here on FB, Newt’s personality IS the problem. No appeal at all to the general public. The polls are doing a great job skewing the public perception once again. We’ll lose again to O with Newt.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Wrong again, Newt’s personality IS exactly why he is in the lead, vary stable and is resonating very strongly with Independents, Tea Party members, Conservatives and even moderate Democrats. Get it? EXACTLY the way Reagan did.

And all of that in light of his past history. It’s definite proof that American can forgive and go on, especially when the stakes are so high. It will take a man like Newt to fix this mess and even better yet, the voters understand that this time around.

[RipSawyer]

“A lame duck Obama could be the worst thing this nation has ever seen.”
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Not only could be but WOULD BE, at least with a certainty of 99.9 percent. As crazy as he is now when he is supposedly trying for reelection there is no limit to the insanity he would bring us as a newly reelected, lame duck, Muslim, Manchurian president. Electing Obama was, for this nation, the equivalent of killing the goose that laid golden eggs. It was the triumph of hope and change over sanity. To think that I used to wonder how the Germans ever allowed the crazy corporal with the funny mustache to take over.

[RipSawyer]

Besides all that anyone who is concerned about Newt’s indiscretions in the past needs to learn the truth about the current occupant of the oval office who is almost certainly bisexual if not exclusively homosexual. Then there is the matter of the man from Hope. He makes Newt look like a rank amateur at the womanizing game and the nation gave him two terms. John Kennedy also made Newt and maybe even Slick Willy look like amateurs at the womanizing game but it was covered up until long after his assassination. LBJ had his mistress on the side also but we never heard about it until she came forward after his death and she had about a thousand times more credibility than any of those who were involved in torpedoing Herman Cain.

[adc]

Most voters don’t understand much about policy. If anything, in this economy they are voting their pocketbooks. Newt is a Washington insider from day one. He won’t ever get past that in this election cycle. Not to mention he sounds like a boring college professor at times. A mean one at that. He’ll never get the uninformed vote, the young vote, the moderate vote. Too strident. Too highbrow. Too duplicitous. Too polarizing.