Posted on 11/23/2006 6:36:57 PM PST by no dems
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is telling associates that hes launching a major new grass-roots movement to recapture the soul of the Republican Party, and quite possibly the White House.
Gingrich says that the effort will be much larger than his founding of GOPAC and his creation of the Contract with America.
The Georgia Republican is spearheading a program called "American Solutions for Winning the Future in an effort to revitalize the GOP with Ronald Reagan conservatism.
This is the third time Gingrich has led a drive to steer the Republican Party toward traditional conservative values. In 1986, Gingrich took the chair of the Republican political action committee GOPAC and transformed it into an effective tool for electing conservative candidates. The stated theme of GOPAC was "a conservative opportunity society replacing the liberal welfare state.
GOPAC was a key element in Gingrichs rise to the leadership of the Republican caucus in Congress.
Then in 1994, as House Minority Leader, Gingrich was a co-author of the Contract with America, a conservative political platform that helped the GOP gain 54 seats in the House and end 40 years of Democratic majorities there.
Gingrichs new program echoes the title of his 2005 book, "Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America.
Sources close to the former speaker say Gingrich believes the Republican Party has once again lost its way, and needs to refocus its agenda with an eye toward regaining Congress in 2008.
Stepping back into the political spotlight could help Gingrichs presidential aspirations as well.
He recently told an interviewer that he wont decide whether to seek the White House in 2008 until September of 2007.
But insiders predict Gingrich could throw his hat into the ring if a true Reagan conservative doesnt emerge as a likely GOP candidate.
For the time being, hes playing his cards close to the vest. "I am not running for president, I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen, he tells Fortune magazine.
Gingrich said he plans to build grass-roots support for the health care, national security, and energy independence ideas he has been promoting for the past six years.
I'd love to see a polling for him in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Both of whom are great Congressmen (IMO) but do they have the resume' that will allow them to win over someone like Newt?
Me too. If I were president, Newt would be my Karl Rove.
Speak softly, and carry a big stick.
Comments from the country clubbers and the lib disrupters notwithstanding, I think this is a good idea.
Nah. If you read the counrty clubbers on this forum, its all the fault of those who decided that the GOP was no longer representing the principles which sent the GOP to Washington in the first place.
See my post at #166.
Then you will have your memory refreshed that most of these bills died in the Senate. And there it ended.
It's not about divorce. Reagan was divorce. It's a question of Newt being able to control his sexual urges. Why do you suppose he left the Congress?
Best laugh I have had all day.
It's not about being holy. It's about have the personal qualifications to hold the highest office in the land. I like what Newt has to say. But if a man can't govern his own sexual passions, how does that qualify him to govern the passions of a nation?
Very observant.
I must point out that the Contract With America was made by the newly elected Republican majority in the House of Representatives with the People of America. (No Senator was party to the document; ...it was wholly a promise of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.)
The CWA consisted of two parts.
1) "On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:
FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting."
They did so.
2) "Thereafter, within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny.
They did this, also.
In other words, you are correct; the ten bills brought to the floor of the House did not all pass the Senate.
And I must ask you: are you saying that the new Republican majority of the House of Representatives in 1994 should have proposed to make their contract binding upon the Senate!@?
In any event, that was never proposed.
For the good of the House and to preserve the Republican majority.
Also, see 176.
That's the stupidest thing I've ever seen posted on this website.
Agree.
That's probably why the last time a CONGRESSMAN was elected President was Garfield.
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