I don’t deny that when Newt 1st began, he did the job. But that was then. A lot of water has went over that dam.
He also got himself ousted out of the Speaker role and has been drifting left on too many things in the past years.
I don’t think Newt’s problem is what he says now regarding policy, but it has a lot to do with his past behavior.
One you lose trust, it is harder to convince people.
He was ousted for virtually the same reason Sarah Palin was...constant attacks by left-wingers and the media draining the party’s resources and time. The party threw him under the bus as Speaker hoping to appease the left. It didn’t work. We got “Bush lied, people died” in return.
The Republicans didn’t have a clue how radical, unprincipled and uncompromising the left was becoming in the ‘90s and up to today. The media likes to go on and on about how we’re more polarized than ever. What they don’t tell you was that it’s all because the left decided to go scorched earth on conservatives in the ‘90s. We got control of talk radio, got FOX News, Drudge, the internet, etc. and finally had a fair, level playing field to play on. They knew they couldn’t win in a fair fight, so they started the war we’re still in now, and Newt was one of the first big targets.
Almost every quote or accusation about Newt “going left” is trumped up nonsense, no matter what time period they come from. He didn’t move to the right as fast as some did on climate change and the mandate, but he eventually got there. Those were positions the movement as a whole only arrived at in recent years. A conservative in the ‘80s would have never even heard about those issues.
Let’s demystify Newt’s ethic charges.
The accusation by innuendo and total fabrication is an outright a lie.
What is disturbing is the man leveling these accusations is presumed to be honorable and devoutly religious. Mitt is not a young man and may be this side of some stability issues mentally or is desperate enough that stacking the deck is the only thing up his sleeve.
Mitt is telling this big lie because it is the last resort of someone who cannot sustain their position for its lack of strength or total vacuousness. As in “There’s no there…there” in regards to ideas.
Mitt ain’t that nice guy persona everyone has been pushing and he is lying despite Gingrich having been exonerated…Totally and Completely on the myriad and volume of charges leveled at him over a four year period.
Mitt’s lying, Christie doesn’t care and pretends to have the facts at hand, which is strange given he is a former prosecutor and would have had enough facts/evidence gathered before attempting to prosecute and convict someone.
Makes me question the quality of his cases and perhaps they should be reviewed.
The whole affair was just a really bad movie:
The plot is concocted by someone not important enough to name here and in 1995 Gingrich is accused of violating rule 45 of his ethics obligations. A totally trumped up and baseless charge.
The 1st scene of this really bad movie started with David Bonior, the then powerful and outspoken Democratic whip in the House, who in 1996 uses the press as his microphone and blurts "Mr. Gingrich has engaged in a pattern of tax fraud, lies, and cover-ups in paving his road to the second highest office in the land…I would expect the Justice Department, the FBI, a grand jury, and other appropriate entities to investigate."
Newt was accused of:
Having no luck in convicting Newt on the 1st phony charge Bonior and his merry political henchmen continued fabricating circumstance and accusations for the next three years. Charge after charge would be leveled at Gingrich a total of 84.
Why were there so many charges with so little to show? It comes down to losers have a habit of losing and in this case there was collective cabal who excelled at losing and I’m not sure they didn’t actually feel some sense of empowerment for all their losses.
But they were and are still losers with no conscience. That’s the way of the world.
In the end it always about them and they will employ any self serving, win at all costs tactic to achieve their nirvana.
Too bad they really never got there otherwise they might feel even better about themselves
To cap off their outrageouse waste of taxpayer resources and monies on frivolous and unsubstantiated charges, Bill Clinton’s IRS was employed as weapon against Gingrich.
That concocted investigation, which by any standard was exhaustive, revealed only that Gingrich had, as stated in the 74 page report by the IRS:
“The taught principles from American civilization that could be used by each American in everyday life, whether the person is a welfare recipient, the head of a large corporation or a politician." It said: "The course was not biased toward particular politicians, or a particular party. The facts show the class was much more than a political platform."
That’s it? That’s all you got?
In the end, after pursuing a strategy of “If you look long enough, you can eventually find something wrong” strategy Gingrich was found guilty of “Engaging in conduct that did not reflect creditably on the House of Representatives." That’s it? You have got to be kidding?
In 1998 the House dropped the remaining charges (83 of 84)! Amazing! Right! I mean here is a guy accused of just “so many violations” and they can’t manage to convict him?
In 1999, the IRS concluded Newt Gingrich had conducted a very thoughtful course that was well balanced(favored neither Republican nor Democrats), highly educational and violated no rules or laws of ethics, funding or tax laws.
The bottom line:
“…The Subcommittee and the Special Counsel recommend that the appropriate sanction should be reprimand and a payment reimbursing the House for some of the costs of the investigation in the amount of $300,000”.
(Source: House Report 105 page 94 “para’s #2 and #6) (If you want to read the final House report you can find it here in PDF it’s only 137 pages
You couldn’t seriously charge him with anything serious enough to even get him Censured. What is a reprimand anyway? “Don’t do it again?”
So it ended after all those years or so we thought until some one with no ideas, who has never had any ideas decides the only way to win is scorched earth and a war of attrition?
Mitt you idiot, Gingrich has fought that battle before against an army of partisans. You are a mere hack and your political demise will be all too fitting for its pastel colors of flourish.
Here is a video of how CNN describes the end of this affair,.which opens as follows (2:26 mins and illuminating for its source):
It was legal after all. Newt Gingrich's oh-so-controversial college course that he started back in 1993, before he was speaker. (Hat tip: Greg Hengler Blogger, Townhall.com
Here Newt sits at a news conference and reminds them as of the date of this interview he has been exonerated on 10 charges which seemed to make page 1 of the newspapers but his exoneration couldn’t seem to be reported on.
Further, anything that might have been questioned from an ethical point was pre-cleared with the Ethics Committee
So in the end we have a bumper sticker for Gingrich’s opponents:
Got Newt…Nope..
Just this lousy T-shirt
Newt did not get himself ousted as speaker. He won the nomination and his election, but resigned out of disgust for the spineless GOP RINOS like Boehner, Lott and company.
The GOPE threw Newt under the bus when they failed to back him when the Senate voted not to impeach Clinton. This is why Newt resigned. Looks like you threw Newt under the bus, based in misinformation yourself.
Ok dforest. You just replied to a post of mine that you were going to vote for Newt until Florida and Bain. Now you are saying it is because of his past behavior, his role as speaker, blah, blah, blah. Did you just find out about his earlier career issues? Lol. Stop trying to be the devils advocate, you are outed.
Most of Newt’s critics hammer on Newt’s personal issues; the two weird ex wives who captured him, but were more peculiar themselves than Newt EVER was;his odd alliances OUT OF OFFICE, back when he was trying to fund his various think tanks.
IN OFFICE, his accomplishments are legion; the take over of Congress in ‘94 was historic;the bodies are buried because Newt buried them;RINOs dispise him (and us); Marxists FEAR him;the rest is lies. He was not found guilty of ANYTHING. ALL charges the Democrats manufactured (80 some, I believe) were dismissed by the Ethics Committee.
He paid a damn fine to the IRS that was later REVERSED!
Did anybody SAY so? Heck, no.
This makes him my man. His enemies are our enemies, in spades, and we can’t get a civil “thank you” for the man who orchestrated an implosion of the Democrat Party.
Dunces all, plain and simple, but hey whoever said we had a well informed citizenry? We don’t.