Posted on 01/26/2012 10:12:01 AM PST by Windy City Conservative
The Romney campaign sends along a statement by Bob Dole pasted below. Relations between Dole — an establishment figure in the party — and Gingrich were well known to be tense during the 1990s. Here it is:
I have not been critical of Newt Gingrich but it is now time to take a stand before it is too late. If Gingrich is the nominee it will have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state, and federal offices. Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has endorsed him and that fact speaks for itself. He was a one-man-band who rarely took advice. It was his way or the highway.
Gingrich served as Speaker from 1995 to 1999 and had trouble within his own party. Already in 1997 a number of House members wanted to throw him out as Speaker. But he hung on until after the 1998 elections when the writing was on the wall. His mounting ethics problems caused him to resign in early 1999. I know whereof I speak as I helped establish a line of credit of $150,000 to help Newt pay off the fine for his ethics violations. In the end, he paid the fine with money from other sources.
Gingrich had a new idea every minute and most of them were off the wall. He loved picking a fight with Bill Clinton because he knew this would get the attention of the press. This and a myriad of other specifics helped to topple Gingrich in 1998.
In my run for the presidency in 1996 the Democrats greeted me with a number of negative TV ads and in every one of them Newt was in the ad. He was very unpopular and I am not only certain that this did not help me, but that it also cost House seats that year. Newt would show up at the campaign headquarters with an empty ice-bucket in his hand — that was a symbol of some sort for him — and I never did know what he was doing or why he was doing it.
In my opinion if we want to avoid an Obama landslide in November, Republicans should nominate Governor Romney as our standard bearer. He has the requisite experience in the public and private sectors. He would be a president we could have confidence in.
Newt is done
You can’t fight the democrats and the MSM and the Rinos when they bombard the airways and papers with known lies and the only way Newt can get the truth out is with ads or Debates where is is again biased against
Nominating Mitt won't get that done.
Lol, What else would you expect the world's biggest RINO to say about Newt Gingrich?
In 1776 guys like Dole were called Tories and you can bet they said exactly the same thing about Paul Revere -- "Tsk, tsk, why is that idiot galloping around on his horse in the middle of the night yelling his fool head off? Never could figure him out. Boy's touched." -- Pay them no mind.
Well after the GOP kills Newt, if they kill Newt, they are going to have to kill Paul too. I’ve said more then a few times that Newt and Paul are natural allies in this battle with the GOPE. Paul is going to be a bit harder to smear then Newt, since Paul does not have as many warts and has a history of consistency. So the GOPE might want to rethink their game plan about Newt with Paul waiting in the wings. Or put another way if the GOPE does not like Newt (on issues) they are going to hate Paul.
I am not pushing Paul at Newt expense here. I am simply pointing out that Paul is the most Newt like candidate on issues and if the GOPE kills Newt they run a give risk of a resurgent Paul. If management wishes me to stop this line of defense for Newt I will do so. I'm just calling it as I see it. We've seen things swing very quickly this cycle the electorate is pissed, there really is no telling whats gonna happen.
Me Either
I don't like all these orchestrated attacks on Newt either, but you make a good point. As scummy and unsavory as those launching the attacks might be, the attacks wouldn't be sticking if they didn't have some substance behind them. I truly think most of those launching the attacks believe honestly that Newt is so flawed that he can't win.
The problem, of course, is that those same elites are wrong about Romney as well. Newt may have dug himself some pretty good holes, but he has at least shown an ability to climb his way out of them. Romney, though, is reverse-Teflon. Any attack on him sticks permanently because he can't fend them off effectively.
And Santorum....no guy whose permanent facial expression looks like he just smelled a bad fart is going to win. He is both dogmatic in substance, and rigid in demeanor. He'll wildly enthuse part of the base, but crash and burn in the general.
I don't think any of the three can win, and I am/was supporting Newt. But Rush was playing the audio of Gingrich bad-mouthing Reagan, and that will stick. So will some of this other stuff.
I think that normally, it would be impossible for a nominee to win without the support of at least part of the establishment. Reagan was the non-establishment nominee in 1980, and he did it. But there wasn't anything close to this level of vitriol, and frankly Reagan didn't have nearly as much dirt on him as Gingrich does. I don't think Gingrich has the charm of Reagan necessary to go "over the heads" of the chattering class, and make a successful appeal to all those swing votes we need to win. I hope I'm wrong.
I'm rapidly becoming convinced that the best hope right now is a deadlock on the first ballot, and an alternative stepping forth and getting the nomination as a compromise.
Eh, who am I kidding. That's not going to happen either.
Prepare for four more years, fellow Freepers.
LOL
I bet you don't either.
Are you working for Mitt? Sounds like it.
John McLame
Milt Romney
Newt, don't you know it's his turn?
This is a propaganda piece.
The GOP is dead, so very very dead.
Just last night I received a money call from the RNC. It actually felt good to tell them to KMA, while demanding them to remove me from their call list.
The GOP has committed suicide by trying to destroy Gingrich and shove Romney down our throats.
THE GOP IS DEAD!!
Bob f’n Dole? Lolz...
Why today, and not after the debate? That’s the part I can’t figure out. Maybe they think it will be too late.
Thank you, both of you, for the information and links.
One thing though...Mitt’s dad, George Romney, was a Republican but a very, very liberal one.
Right. But he ain't a conservative.
That's who Romney was running against ~ a sort of milquitoast sociopathic personality against a very real criminally sociopathic personality disorder (Kennedy)
Short of assassinating his opponent I doubt Romney had a chance ~ so he lied his head off about everything.
Now he pays for his lies.
Gingrich would surround himself with conservatives as his mentor, Reagan, did.
One of Newts' best lines ever!
I’m with you manc. Just tweeted and also posted the video of Romney (the liberal). I will not vote for Mitt..ever. Tell me why Drudge, Fox, the msm are all digging up old history on Newt and ignoring Romney? surely they realized the Romney’s record is far from conservative! compare the actual record of Newt vs Romney and it is clear that Newt has done so many good things for the conservative party..crystal clear. Check this out..it should be given fair and balanced time on Fox. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1fThdWagJ4
And we can all turn to Bob Dole as an example of what it takes to win a national election. /s
I had Drudge as my homepage one of of my broswers, FR on the other. I removed Drudge, he can KMA.
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