Posted on 01/26/2012 2:05:25 PM PST by JerseyHighlander
Politico’s homepage top headline is The right drops a bomb on Newt featuring photos of Ann Coulter, Tom DeLay, Elliot Abrams and Matt Drudge.
Just like in December, the rise of Newt has caused panic in Republican circles.
In December the charge was led by National Review, and now it’s being led by Matt Drudge, as reflected in this image from Marooned in Marin:
For several days Drudge has been running almost around-the-clock negative banners against Newt, hyping negatives and burying news which contradicts the Romney campaign narrative that Newt was anti-Reagan.
Against the anti-Newt crusade stands a wealth of counter-viewpoints of people who were in a position to know and who share very differenct recollections of Newt and Reagan, via Josh Painter in the comments:
Reagan Nat’l Security Advisor Bud McFarlane: http://bit.ly/zd9eAF
Reagan Economist Art Laffer: http://bit.ly/xEDETi
Reagan WH political director Jeffrey Lord: http://bit.ly/zw2ZMb
Reagan Policy Analyst Peter Ferrara http://bit.ly/zq1QxI
Reagan media consultant Richard Quinn: http://on.msnbc.com/y2sPM2
Reagan’s Speechwriting Dir. Bently Elliott: http://thedc.com/xOkDvA
Reagan’s older son Michael Reagan: http://bit.ly/yYVy7L
Reagan’s beloved wife Nancy: http://bit.ly/zrWvAw
I’ll add to that Peter Robinson, former Reagan speechwriter, who wrote the historic Berlin Wall address in which President Reagan urged Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!”:
Newt shared the frustrations of many conservatives, including, from time to time, me, that the President permitted the bureaucracy to prove persistently feckless, undermining his program–as you’ll recall if you’re of a certain age, conservatives were always insisting that the President’s staff should “let Reagan be Reagan.” If Newt mouthed off, giving vent to these frustrations, so be it. He was in Congress. That was, in a sense, his job. And at one time or another, every conservative of any standing felt exasperated or worried–and urged the President not to go soft either on Communism or on our own bureaucracy. Newt’s comments here place him in the company of William F. Buckley, Jr.–WFB vented his frustrations more artfully, but he vented them–and I’d have thought that for our friends at NR that would be quite good enough.
Drudge has 30 million visits a day on his side. We have history on our side. Make it known.
Update: David Kenner of Foreign Policy magazine:
I am so angry that this RINO party will not receive a dime from me anymore. I am done with them.
I will not vote for the nominee unless it is Newt.
Drudge not, lest ye be drudged.
Rebellion is ON!!
We are the resistance!!
Go, Newt!!
Live free or die!!
Drudge must have lost his latest boytoy....he is an angry little gay-RINO.
Looks like Drudge has been hiding who he really is for a long time...
http://gawker.com/5200009/drudge-i-do-not-love-sex-with-men
Drudge: ‘I Do Not Love Sex With Men’
4/6/2009
Drudge has never been said to particularly relish his homosexuality or embrace it; in fact his gay romantic/sexual side has been described (when alleged) as conflicted and awkward.
David Brock, the former right-wing writer, wrote in his memoir Blinded by the Right about a “scary” date in which Drudge, after bringing Brock flowers and navigating the Santa Monica gay strip “like a pro,” stepped on a competing suitor’s foot “really hard” (in Drudge’s purported words) in a nightclub to scare him away from Brock.
Alec Baldwin stated that Drudge made an advance on him in an ABC Studios hallway, a proposition that had “kind of a creepy quality to it.”
Drudge denied he was gay to the Miami New Times in 2001, even as he launched into a disquisition on (as the New Times put it) “the reigning DJ king of gay circuit parties” and summarized his nightlife thusly: “I go to straight bars, I go to gay bars.”
Not one of his critics has ventured a motive for Newt seeking the GOP nomination for POTUS.
They cannot make the case that he has been in pursuit of this office for decades (like Romney) - or that he has maintained a cadre of dedicated power brokers (he has more critics in the GOP establishment than BO)- or that he is a manic idealogue (he listens to all points of view before decisions) - or that he has a cult following pushing his ego (even his supporters don’t adore him).
What was the epiphany and that moment when Newt realized his duty to the Nation was to run for this office?
At first I thought that the charges against Drudge were pretty dubious. He had pretty much treated all the candidates fairly, and didn’t strike me as having any obvious bias.
Until now.
No question, since the South Carolina primary results, he has been going all out to sink Newt. As has National Review, Ann Coulter, and just about everybody else.
I have my own reservations about Newt. Most recently, the Dede Scozzafava fiasco. That led me to think that Newt was willing to compromise his principles in order to get back in good with the RNC and the Establishment.
But whatever he thought back then, it now seems clear that the Establishment does not want Newt. I’ve never seen them so teed off. Maybe it’s because they were right on the point of losing Mitt, their only current horse in the race. But, it seems clear that the Establishment is determined to sink Newt, and I would think that if he managed to win he would not be too pleased with them in return. Maybe he would work for the people, and not for the Establishment which is kicking him in the teeth.
I’m disappointed in Drudge. I wonder why on earth he is doing this.
But its not for lack of trying...
Just tweeted this site to everyone I could..also, emailed Rush and Fox News. Will see if they make any corrections BEFORE the Fla. election. WOOT! WOOT! GO NEWT!
Well, Drudge can go the way of the dinosaur media too, FAIC.
Everyone should swear off Drudge, now, so he knows why. FR is faster with the news anyway.
Clinton’s smear artists accused Drudge of gay shennanigans back when he broke the Lewinsky affair. Drudge’s reply was to the effect of, “Sure. So what?” That shut the attacks down nicely.
I think Drudge may well be gay. But I have NEVER found him to be a gay activist. So it really doesn’t matter to me. He reports on gay activist stories in a neutral, objective fashion. Frankly, I don’t care if he is gay or not as long as it doesn’t effect his reporting. The only real question is if he is a gay activist, who wants to push the agenda on others. I have never seen a single indication of that.
No question that he has gone off the rails against Newt in the past couple of days. I’ve never seen anything like it before. But I doubt very much that this is the explanation. He has some other reason for doing this.
Jeffrey Lord? That "Reagan's Young Lieutenant" article wasn't very good and "Is Newt Gingrich America's Churchill?" is even worse.
But still, a lot of us didn't know that many of Reagan's team have endorsed Gingrich, so thanks for the info.
NEGATIVE CAMPAIGNING WORKS
Problem is the election has been going on since Saturday (earlier in some precincts) due to early voting. That’s why Romney did not wait until the last day to bring out his smears. As long as he stays ahead in the polls he is probably banking a lead in votes every day. Now I suppose if half the people wait until the last day to vote and Newt is 10 points ahead in the polls by then, he’ll win. But the deck is stacked against us. If we’re only tied in the polls on election day, then we’ll lose due to Romney’s early lead.
I didn’t know that Drudge might be gay.
Your comment of Druck Fudge may or may/not be a reference to that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.