“Newt has a record, and it isn’t conservative. You can bury your head in the sand and pretend that he is a conservative.”
1998 was the last year that Gingrich, Paul and Santorum were all in Congress. Gingrich’s annual and lifetime ACU ratings were better than both of the others:
(100% = perfect conservative voting record)
100% - Gingrich: Annual 1998 ACU Rating (90% Lifetime Rating as of 1998)
88% - Paul: Annual 1998 ACU Rating (88% Lifetime Rating as of 1998)
84% - Santorum: Annual 1998 ACU Rating (83% Lifetime Rating as of 1998)
Source: http://www.conservative.org/ratings/ratingsarchive/1998/98houseratings.htm
1998 isn’t the issue. It’s what’s happened to Gingrich since then.
I would have crawled over broken glass to vote for the Newt Gingrich of 1998. Yet as numerous posters have pointed out, he’s gone quite squishy since then.
We had better choices for consistent conservatism that has been more recently displayed, but we chased them all away.