Posted on 12/09/2011 1:31:59 PM PST by Jim Robinson
I posted the below in response to a FReeper who asked me what we should do in regards to progressives Newt and Romney. And he asked me what would George Washington do? So I got to thinking about why I've been gravitating towards Newt. In fact it kept me up for half the night.
Here is my reply:
Well, I’ll tell you, after Palin declined to run I really didn’t have a dog in this race. I liked Bachmann and Cain a lot, even Perry, but not as much as I liked Palin. Bachmann and Cain are both conservative enough, but neither have really been tested in higher office, nor do they have much experience in world affairs.
I also had high hopes for Perry because it looks like he’s done a great job in Texas, but his positions on the border issues turned off a lot of people. And his “heartless” statement didn’t win him much opportunity to turn that around.
I guess Santorum is conservative enough and possibly Huntsman, but neither engender much enthusiasm or excitement. Seems they’re just going through the motions. Don’t know if they have the real world experience to be CINC anyway.
Bachmann seems to be trying really hard but don’t know if she’s really qualified for the top spot either. Even so, had Bachmann really lit a fuse on the trail, I probably would have stood by and supported her, but she flopped and is unlikely to recover.
I thought early on that if Perry got into the race (without Palin) that he’d suck all the air out of it and would dominate. But he flopped. And then Cain took off like a rocket and he flopped.
Now Cain didn’t have elective experience, but he looked like a great conservative so we were all hoping and pulling for him. Well, that didn’t turn out well.
Mind you, that abortionist, lib progressive bastard Mitt Romney is just sitting there smiling through all this and he, Rove and the GOP elite think they’ve got it in the bag. Just gotta hang in there, not say anything rash, not rock the boat, no mistakes, just play defense as one by one the upstart tea party conservative candidates burn themselves out.
In my mind, we must defeat Romney AND Obama. I don’t think George Washington is going to be smiling down on us if we had this great tea party opportunity to knock off the progressives and we let Rove, Romney and the corrupt good old boys club bushwhack us. We’re supposed to be the bushwhackers.
So like a whole lot of conservative Republicans and tea party folks, we’re bouncing candidate to candidate looking for the one to knock off Romney so we can take the tea party battle directly to Obama. Romney is no tea party person. He and Rove, et al, sneer at us. No way in hell are they going to do anything we’re interested in doing even if they do get elected. It’ll be government as usual. Big. They hate us worse than they hate the democrats because we’re a direct threat to their power base.
So in comes Gingrich. Didn’t much care for him at first, mainly because of his well known baggage, and his perceived RINO plumage, but he began making a lot of sense and scoring a lot of points in the debates. Turns out his depth of knowledge and experience in government affairs both domestic and foreign and his experience with Ronald Reagan, the Reagan Revolution and the Republican Revolution of the 90’s are quite extensive and quite impressive if you look.
He’s been through the mill and that’s what a lot of our younger less experienced, less traveled candidates are missing. In the debates he comes off as a wiser, more experienced, more knowledgeable, level-headed senior statesman. And it appeared to me that the other candidates acknowledged and respected that.
So I start thinking back about his history as a congressman and speaker, and lo and behold, it appears to me he’s not such a RINO after all. He was a genuine Reagan protege. And he learned well from the master communicator. He eventually set a goal for himself to build a Republican majority and to take the speakership, and he determinately accomplished that goal.
And he had some great conservative accomplishments as congressman and speaker. He passed the contract with America. He cut taxes. Cut the deficit. Reformed welfare. Blocked HillaryCare. Became a thorn in President Clinton’s side, blocked much of his liberal agenda and ultimately allowed impeachment to proceed. Then of course, he resigned due to his own infidelity scandal. But, unlike Clinton, he didn’t deny it, didn’t lie about it, and he did the right thing by resigning.
Bottom line though, through his years with the Reagan Revolution and the Republican majority much conservative good was accomplished. The Wall came down, the Soviet Union collapsed and our great Reagan economy flourished for two decades.
Now, if a progressive RINO had been in charge of the congress during this period, who knows what would have happened. I’m sure the history would have been a lot different. Remember, before Gingrich and his Republican Majority, we conservatives had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years!! And our country was on life support after Jimmy Carter nearly killed it. And the democrats were saying at the time that there was nothing we could do about it. We were going to be stuck with the cold war. Stuck with the Soviet Union, stuck with Iran. Stuck with high oil prices, gas lines and rationing. Stuck with recession, high interest rates, high inflation and high unemployment from that point forward. They could not be fixed. Jimmy Carter and the democrats had given up on America and surrendered the USA to our fate as a failed nation.
In walk Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich and reestablish that great shining city on the hill! Thank God! It’s not the end of the world after all. Iran returns the hostages immediately. Reagan takes the Soviet Union head on! Reagan takes the democrats head on and doesn’t take no for an answer. Takes his ideas to the people. It was a struggle but eventually the economy began turning. Reagan’s central theme domestically was that the government was too big, too intrusive, taxes too high, too much spending, too many regulations, too many restrictions on business and industry and they all must be cut. And he took that battle over the heads of the democrat congress to the tax payers and they loved it. Sound familiar?
And in 1994, Newt Gingrich leads the charge against the democrats who had been in power for 40 years and the Republicans take the majority and Gingrich becomes Speaker. He dreams up the contract with America which was designed as an extension of the Reagan Revolution and and included items attempting to balance the budget, reform welfare, tort reform, term limits, line item veto, etc. Some of it was successfully implemented, some not. But under Gingrich they did cut the deficit and balance the budget four years running. Sound desirable? Sound progressive?
How many times in our history have you seen a liberal progressive, cut taxes, cut regulations, cut spending, cut welfare, balance the budget, block big government programs like HillaryCare, impeach a sitting president, etc?
Never! In other words, all this to say Newt is NO RINO!! He’s a pro-life, pro-small government, pro-national security, Reagan conservative!! In short, we’re desperate, and he’s exactly what we’re looking for, and he’s running head and shoulders over the rest of the field, so what the hell are we squabbling about?
Yes, Romney and Rove hate him, the Republican establishment elite ruling class hates him, the liberals hate him, the democrats hate him and they hate him for the same reasons the taxpayers will support him, the lovers of liberty will support him, the defenders of life will support him, the defenders of national security will support him, the lovers of the Reagan Revolution will support him, and we the tea party should support him!! He’s a tax cutting, budget balancing, strong defense, small government, pro-life Reagan CONSERVATIVE!!
After reviewing Newt vs Romney, George Washington would say, go, NEWT!!
I’ll take a chance with Newt. Over Romney? You betcha!!
What say you?
Newt reinvents himself at will. Who will he end up being?Only Newt knows.
I can say that if Obama is not stopped ths time. It is over.
Jim Thompson couldn’t have said it any better!
I won’t go into the degrees of puzzlement and frustration I have felt with those accusing Newt of being a RINO. He scored between 90 and 100% when in office according to the ACU, and you’ve listed the extensive conservative accomplishments that, at the time. nobody else could have accomplished.
Then I realized the key passage in your text:
“Now, if a progressive RINO had been in charge of the congress during this period, who knows what would have happened. I’m sure the history would have been a lot different. Remember, before Gingrich and his Republican Majority, we conservatives had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years!! And our country was on life support after Jimmy Carter nearly killed it. And the democrats were saying at the time that there was nothing we could do about it. We were going to be stuck with the cold war. Stuck with the Soviet Union, stuck with Iran. Stuck with high oil prices, gas lines and rationing. Stuck with recession, high interest rates, high inflation and high unemployment from that point forward. They could not be fixed. Jimmy Carter and the democrats had given up on America and surrendered the USA to our fate as a failed nation.”
Jim, we remember this. We lived through it. We see the exact same thing happening now that was happening from the mid 70’s until the Reagan Revolution. But, many of our fellow FReepers weren’t born or weren’t old enough to remember the times or who the players were that got us out of that mess....Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich.
Just like Reagan was much more than a conservative, he was a warrior...a revolutionary, that is the type of leader we need now. And that is Newt. He will bring the fight to them. He will go over their heads directly to the American people and lay waste to the progtards.
Newt is the man to defeat Barrack O’Romney and lead the revolution.
LOL.
They hate him because he’s their opposite and something they can never and will never be. He’s a genuine, pro-life, deficit cutting, tax cutting, budget balancing, small government, big defense, democrat whomping, Reagan conservative!
Newt has my vote no matter what. I’m so disappointed in Bachman refusing to attend Trumps debate. He would be tough and obviously Newt and Santorum are the only ones with balls and can handle the office of President. The others to me can go to hell.
You betcha!
Calling some of our Team.
Yes.
It's too bad this more sober estimation of Gingrich is not what presently characterizes the support he is getting from conservatives.
I am amazed and dismayed at the fawning treatment this man is receiving.
The elites and other Republican “insiders” hate Newt because Newt is from the Reagan wing of the party, while they are all from the HW Bush wing of the party, which has held sway since Reagan left office.
If Newt wins... THEY LOSE, they lose their power over the Republican party, conservatives... real reagan conservatives will have finally retaken back the leadership of the Republican party from the RINO Bush family that nearly destroyed it and the country.
God Bless Newt Gingrich !
I meant to update my tag line
RE: They voted for Clinton in droves. He made his wife a fool and an accomplice in his infidelity.
I’m all for Newt and think he will crush Barrack O’Romney in a relative landslide, but women voted for Clinton, as they always do for the “swoon” candidate, because of the orgasm factor. Newt would not be the recipient of the orgasm factor even if he was the pillar of virtue.
Do not think anyone was talking about blankets. But newt supports amnesty, always has.
SCOTUS! Just look at Elena Kagan!!!
Your post is excellent and it should be helpful to many.
For the good of our country, we simply must come together and get behind Newt.
I have long been convinced that Newt is the one candidate that can beat Romney and go on to stop Obama’s War on America. I am equally convinced that if Obama and the democrats were to remain in power, our country will be lost.
I can’t thank you enough for that very thoughtful and persuasive post.
We ALL love our country and we ALL need to work together to save her.
Go Newt Go......
He was for GW (global warming), as well as cap & trade.
I'm sure not seeing any of that here.
Market competition yields more health choice at lower prices. (Dec 2006)
Market dynamics can save healthcare, not government control. (Sep 2003)
Ongoing battle against liberals nationalizing healthcare. (Jul 1998)
Too much reform puts 1/7 of US economy at risk. (Jun 1995)
Defund, repeal, & replace federal care with free market. (Jul 2010)
Cap-and-trade has no impact on global temperatures. (Jul 2010)
Stop scare tactics about drilling in Alaska. (Dec 2006)
2008 book: Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less. (Dec 2007)
Newt was my choice from the beginning. I’m old enough to remember the accomplishments he made as speaker. I also heard him speak through the years after he was speaker. I kept up with his ideas for resolving problems as the nation faced them. He never went away - he was always there.
I gave Perry a chance since he’s my governor, but know him and thought he would have trouble getting the right words out, and he did. He doesn’t have the capability, knowledge, of Newt and that’s just the way it is.
If we don’t have Newt instead of Obama, I am sure in my mind that America will perish.
Newt ain't the best hand we could play, you know what I mean by that, but he's a good enough hand to win with and help start turning things around.
Anybody, even Ron Paul, is better than Romney.
Until I've seen the actual election day results from Iowa, South Carolina and Florida, I will continue to support Gov. Perry. After that I'll assess the situation.
I have two goals: defeating Romney and Obama. I think Perry can do it, but if it turns out to be Newt instead, that's fine by me.
Newt used his own money and bought his wife jewelry, unlike your guy, mittens.
Newt is beating romney by 20%+ in FL, PA and OH, three states that we need and as an Sarah guy, then a Hermanator, I'm starting to come around to Newt.
One thing I know for sure about Newt, no one can intimidate him and since his "baggage" is all out there, the media can dump on him, but he won't run and hide.
Yep! IAC, if the "rock" doesn't get used, obamao is assured of not just a 2nd term. A 3rd and 4th will be easily within reach by the time his 2nd term has run its course.
However, IMHO, it IS over-the-cliff the Nation going to go, eventually. Even if (and that is a big "if") we get the rock under the wheel, the need to prepare for the chaos ahead continues unabated.
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