Your post is right on. You are asking EXACTLY the right questions.
Will conservatives have any leverage over a President Gingrich? I don't know and that's not a good thing.
Look. His "reaching out to Democrats" goes back a long way. But his two most colorful examples happened recently, after the Tea Party movement was already the conservative zeitgeist, and likely after Gingrich had already decided to run for President: the global warming thing with Pelosi in 2008 and the "Education Tour" with Sharpton in 2009.
What conservative in his right mind, or even an "intellectual conservative" who is smart enough to know he "must" pander to the conservative movement, tries to gain street-cred with Dems by doing those things?
Sure, Newt has said the couch thing with Pelosi was "dumb."
Many conservatives just accept that at face value.
My question is, since Newt is so smart and politically savvy, how come he didn't realize that was "dumb" until conservatives punished him for it? Same with calling Ryan's plan "right-wing social engineering," etc.
Just last Monday, Gingrich told voters in Iowa that his first act as President would be to reach out to Democrats.
Is this a politically benign phrase when Newt says it?
And for everyone who is supporting Newt because they are ga-ga over his debate performances, the fact is that Attack Newt won't be able to live at the White House. He'll have to have his Press Secretary try to do that.
Moreover, When Newt says “reach out to the Dems,” we all know that he knows what we know, that is, that the Dems INCLUDE THE MSM. Um, so where does that leave those who voted for Newt because he whupped up on Maria Bartiromo?
But,that does not always translate into doing the right thing as many have proved beyond a doubt on this thread.
When it comes to trust I really don't trust any of the current candidates to do the right thing all the time.They just don't have what it takes like others here would. I trust those of us in the New Media in the blogosphere more than I trust any of those running for office.
At that point the challenge is to get our guys to do the right thing which is always a challenge.
Hopefully, if we get both houses and the Presidency they will be out of excuses for not doing the right thing and will think in terms of what is good for the country instead of what is good for getting re-elected.
Either way we have to be their guides. We have to be the conscience of those in office. They definitely need our guidance.
It's up to us to be on target every time since they never will.Newt remains 80/20 probably as good as we will get. So he's as good as any running and brighter than most. Not a rousing Marco Rubio/Sarah Palin endorsement from me but the best I can muster.