Jeffrey Lord:
• Abrams quotes Newt for saying in this speech that Reagan's policies towards the Soviets are "inadequate and will ultimately fail." This is shameful. Why? Here's what Newt said -- in full and in context:
And I simply don't agree that there's a huge, much less "shameful" substantive difference between:
Reagan's policies towards the Soviets are "inadequate and will ultimately fail," and
"President Reagan's . . . weak policies [toward the Soviets] . . . are inadequate and will ultimately fail."
Please tell me how there is a "shameful" substantive difference between those two statements, and how, in your view, the first is a "lie" and the second is true.
And are you claiming that since, at the time Gingrich points out that he agrees with George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Irving Kristol, and Jeane Kirkpatrick on their critique of the administration's policies, that Gingrich didn't say what he said? That he didn't actually, himself, say that President Reagan's policies on the Soviet Union were "inadequate and will ultimately fail?"
Sorry, but Gingrich said it. And he was a GOP Congressman when he said it (not a pundit, for example), and he said in an official speech on the floor of this nation's Congress, about a President who was the leader of his own party. That's a little different than George Will or Charles Krauthammer shooting off his mouth, don't you think?
I have already told you repeatedly that if you think Gingrich's criticism was done in an appropriate and/or necessary way, make that argument!
But continuing to claim that Gingrich didn't say what he said, and that he was "shamefully" misquoted or taken out of context, is just embarrassing.
As I have said this is all about electability, which is why I was happy to see a new article today that Gingrich is staking his campaign on electability.
As I explained in detail, applying that to this single point means showing how these statements, that Gingrich did make, don't harm his chances against Obama, or maybe even enhance his chances against Obama!
Man, have you wasted a lot of time and brain cells over trying to show that there's a difference between Reagan's policies towards the Soviets are "inadequate and will ultimately fail," and "President Reagan's . . . weak policies [toward the Soviets] . . . are inadequate and will ultimately fail."
But at least Gingrich finally gets it, that he has to keep bringing everything back to electability rather than what some of his supporters are doing, which is simply whining about how awful the attacks against him are.