Posted on 02/21/2012 3:44:56 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
The day before that meeting, Gingrich should meet with Netanyahu in Jerusalem, accompanied by all the fanfare of a state visit. Rats did that kind of thing prior to the last election. What goes around, comes around, etc.
silverleaf: ... however, where was he in 2008, when Uriah Heep McCain the putative head of the GOP was sniveling and groveling to the press because he thought they liked him ...
Gingrich on McCain, on May 12, 2008:
He said "McCain is out of touch with reality" regarding his [yesterday's] pronouncement about Global Warming as a fact and his "government solutions" to combat it instead of using "green" / clean and efficient energy production technologies including coal, gas, nuclear and clean drilling, using ingenuity and efficiency of competition in private sector. He called it a "green-green future", i.e. everybody gets what everybody wants - cleaner energy, more diverse and much more of it (but not the inefficient and impractical ones, like wind and solar). His highest praise for McCain (in response to direct question about elections in post-speech Q&A) was "McCain is less of a threat to the country". Agree or disagree with that assessment, it's about as "complimentary" as telling John Kerry that his Global Warming "science" book The Moment on Earth was "very interesting read" and only about 60 percent of it was right - a high praise, indeed, you can do much better with real science fiction book. He also slammed Bush for not taking the "opportunity" to fire a bunch of people for $1.3 billion (and counting) 2010 Census fiasco... Newt said that within 4 months of Reagan's signing of oil and energy deregulation bill prices started crashing. One of the interesting insights he shared was from the recent book The Education of Ronald Reagan: The General Electric Years and the Untold Story of his Conversion to Conservatism (by Thomas Evans, 2006) - he learned that it's very important to "[re]define where the center of the debate is - on the right or on the left".
From The Politicians' Energy Crisis -- And Its Cure ( Newt Gingrich ) - FR, posts #23, #24, 2008 May 13
Also: Drill Here, Drill Now - FR, post #72, 2008 May 30
Why he decided against it in 2008:
Newt: $30M needed for presidential race - Search results, 2008 September 28-30
"Gingrich said he would run for president if he could raise $30 million"
"Gingrich says if supporters pledge $30 million he'll enter presidential race"
"Newt Gingrich is trying to raise $30 million in order to consider a presidential bid for 2008"
He was laughed at, at the time, simply for recognizing that it would take a lot of money to even begin a decent run. He also pointed out that McCain-Feingold was a major hindrance to raising money.
From Why I Decided Not to Run For President(Newt Gingrich) - FR, Newt Gingrich, 2007 October 01, (must read all)
..... I have said all along that the agent of change was not the presidency but the more than 513,000 elected officials and millions of citizen activists. ..... < snip > ..... On Saturday morning, Callista and I fully expected to see Randy hold a press conference on Monday to announce the website and explain why we had established $30 million in pledges as the threshold for running. I will tell you that like most middle-class Americans, I cannot afford to match someone like former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's ability to write a $100 million personal check, which is permissible under the law to support his campaign. ..... < snip > ..... As American Solutions emerged on September 27 and 29, our legal advisers fully assessed the McCain-Feingold censorship law on the simultaneous activities of the newly conceived candidacy assessment and my desire to continue leading American Solutions ..... < snip > ..... Every aspect of American Solutions and how it operates is well within the law -- even though I disagree strongly with the law. ..... < snip > ..... Under the McCain-Feingold Censorship Law, We Could Raise Money or Raise Ideas -- Not Both. ..... < snip > ..... I became all too familiar with political attempts to censure citizens when I taught a class called Renewing American Civilization at Kennesaw College in Georgia when I was Speaker of the House. Even though I had been a college teacher for eight years and had a Ph.D. in Modern European History, some did not like the fact that I was teaching a course on a college campus. A full-scale attack was launched on me and ethics charges in the House soon followed. Ultimately, the bipartisan ethics committee, a federal judge and the IRS reached the same conclusion that should have be obvious all along: There is nothing unethical or unlawful about a former college teacher with a Ph.D. teaching a non-partisan class to college students. That was more than a decade ago, and McCain-Feingold has only made it worse by what I can only describe as criminalizing citizenship participation in civic affairs and the right to free speech. ..... < snip > ..... under McCain Feingold, it would have been illegal. Moreover, I would have put American Solutions at risk for politically motivated attacks and endless investigations not based upon facts but based upon the desired political outcomes of those who seek to protect the status quo from citizen activists who desire real change. ..... < snip > ..... We Need Three or Four Years to Develop a New Generation of Solutions. ..... < snip > ..... A Final Note on McCain-Feingold. You've heard me say it before: The McCain-Feingold censorship law should be repealed. It has actually made politics more focused on money. One presidential candidate told me Saturday that I was right about the focus on money and that he had done 68 fundraisers in the last month. And the very idea of limiting free speech is not only unconstitutional, it's un-American. ..... < snip > ..... This cycle's presidential campaign is a year longer than it should be because of the terrible burdens on fund raising created by McCain-Feingold. ..... < snip > Your friend, Newt Gingrich < snip > ..... That left us with a choice on how best to serve: Move forward with assessing a Gingrich candidacy for President of the United States with its uncertain outcome; or remain the citizen leader of American Solutions for Winning the Future ..... < snip > ..... The fact is -- because of the current, misguided and destructive campaign finance laws, as well as the willingness of some to make misguided allegations without knowing all the facts -- if I had decided to explore being a candidate, it would have become necessary to sever my relationship with American Solutions to protect it from false allegations of being used as a devise to promote the feasibility of my candidacy, which is not permissible under the law. Moreover, under those same destructive campaign finance laws, I would have had to absolutely sever all ties with American Solutions to guard against allegations that I was "coordinating" with the group I had help found. This would have left American Solutions which is less than a year old, without a leader and, therefore, extremely vulnerable to failure. ..... < snip >
He did deliver on this 2007 promise: Gingrich's Secret Weapon: Newt Inc. - FR, 2012 January 25 / WSJ, by Neil King Jr. and Patrick O'Connor, 2011 May 09
While he spen 4 years developing and helping conservative grass-roots movement and organizations, what were Romney, Santorum and Paul doing during that time, if not just running or getting ready to run in 2012?
The level of oppression/repression/suppression (not to mention killing) that Christians are receiving in some parts of the globe are truly shocking. It is a truly sobering and shocking occurrence that a section of the media simply refuses to look at.
Erick Erickson does a nice post on the shift going on in religious institutions.
Thank you for the post and the Links. I did “(must read all)” read that piece in full.
After reading who some of the participants where in that group, I am happy to know Newt has tasked Gov. Perry with the 10th Amendment platform/bill, as he too has been working on solutions and is a governor who well knows the problems and remedies. And Rick Perry’s ideas of shrinking government, energy independence and returning education to the people, fit nicely with (will certainly strengthen) what Newt is talking about.
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