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?
Way to go with the awfulizing.
Believe it or not, when it comes to political office, especially, many people do not evaluate a person's character and maturity based on a checklist. They actually think about the times, the culture, the individual conduct and its circumstances, as well as the person's station in life, the standard of conduct expected of him and the standard he claims to uphold or live by.
Just because one might conclude that Benjamin Franklin's personal life did not indicate a deeply flawed character does not mean that one might not reasonably conclude otherwise about someone else.
No. He hasn’t. You can either use the link and read info or.....not. On the Issues is an excellent resource for info.
The Platform being promoted on his website is very good, not perfect but very good.
We know from his RECORD that if he commits to a course of action he will follow through, see the Contract with America.
There is not and there has never been any perfect candidate, even R Reagan. IMO people need to realize that. Palin was my favorite but she was not perfect either.
Gingrich hasn’t been trashing his fellow republicans and focusing his attacks on Obama where they belong.
Gingrich has been very good at confronting the MSM and has a HISTORY of confronting dems and not backing down.
His willingness to confront dems cost him when Clinton shut down the government and the congressional caucus caved in. Contrast that with the gutless behavior we saw from the republican caucus this year.
He has been man enough to admit mistakes both personal and policy wise (ie sitting on the couch w Pelosi) this is not something that a politician will usually do especially one as supposedly egocentric as Gingrich.
The elites on both sides of the aisle are terrified of him, as they were of Palin BTW, this is a very good thing. The Tea Party needs to seize control of the republican party from the elites.
We need a fighter who can take down first Romney and the republican insiders, then take down Obama, Gingrich is the only one in the race who will stand up effectively to the Billion dollar Obama campaign and their media lackeys.
I don’t understand the Gingrich derangement syndrome I am seeing here on FR.
Just an anecdote, my Brother in Law is an administrator at a NE University and has always voted for dems, the sort who would mock people like Palin as stupid typical condescending lib IOW, his wife is a college prof also. They has seen the damage that Obama has done and are disillusioned with him. They have been impressed by Gingrich in the debates and will vote for him if he is the nominee. My wife and I were shocked by this, don’t dismiss his ability to win independents, and even some dems.
The power of the Presidency is not unlimited. With Control of the House and Senate by the right people he can be held in check.
Unfortunately the Dems did great damage when they controlled all 3.
I am not a Newt fan, but would vote for him before I went 3rd party. The Republican Establishment knows this.
But with Mitt as the candidate, I might be forced to 3rd it.
Very very bad.
Well, I don’t know about reinventing. Looks like he had pretty much the same mindset it the eighties and nineties as he has today. You know, like when he was a big time Reagan ally, when he set out to retake the majority from the Democrats who had held it for 40 years and actually did it., When he sought and attained the speakership, when he passed the Contract with America, when he cut the deficit, cut the taxes, balanced the budget, reformed welfare, blocked a socialist healthcare program (HillaryCare), gave a Democrat president (Bill Clinton) hell and actually impeached the bastard!
I can say that Gingrich’s direct experience and record of actually demolishing socialist democrats and enacting conservative legislation at the federal level, is vastly superior to any other candidate in the field. If you’re looking for someone firmly committed to and experienced enough and battle tested to actually take out Obama and his socialist/Marxist programs, Newt is the one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DdrMBSI5Xk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnE28R84l-c&feature=youtu.be
He did reinvent himself as a faithful loving husband, father, and grandfather, though. And a recommitted pro-life Christian. Praise God.
Jim, thanks for the clarification on Gingrich and I heartedly agree with your assessment.
From the grousing and whinery I read further down in the replies to your posting I am convinced there are many here that aren’t old enough to remember the Speaker’s accomplishments and a time when the USA was proud again after the debacle that was Carter. And there are some that are hanging-out on this website to simply stir up shit in the mistaken hope that their candidate has a chance to take the Republican nomination.
The insanity that passes for “now we’re going to have Obama II if Gingrich (or Romney)is the nominee” is pathetic, non-sensical, and shallow. Look at Obama’s favorability, look at his economic record, observe the silence, the lack of large crowds at his appearances (lest they be union ticketed backers) and watch as Dem after Dem peels away from running another term in the Congress. If you can’t see what is coming for Obama & Co. perhaps you should give more than two seconds to regurgitating lefty boilerplate and do some actual reading and research.
I am convinced that the American people understand what is going on and they will respond accordingly come next November. You want perfect, you’re a loon. You want leadership and a combative style? There is only one candidate at this time that can fill those shoes. Warts and all it is Newt Gingrich.
Precisely.
The Marxist cannot be permitted to replace Justice Kennedy who's already said he's retiring after Election 2012!
GO GINGRICH!
Jesus forgave a whore named Mary, but you are so pure that the reason that you can't forgive a man, that has converted to Jesus Christ's Catholic religion, is because he sinned.
It must be nice to be perfect.
Hypocrite.
For example, welfare reform -- the famous "welfare to work" legislation.
The first time that was enacted, President Clinton vetoed it.
Then what happened?
Well, Gingrich and the GOP caved. They added into the bill billions and billions in NEW entitlement spending, including federally funded childcare, new Medicaid eligibility, job subsidies, etc.
THEN President Clinton was very happy to sign the "improved" bill into law.
This would be completely unacceptable today and, to those paying close attention at the time, it was unacceptable then.
The point is it's a myth that Gingrich somehow "forced" welfare reform through or any other such legislative heroics. The GOP bought the "victory" they wanted so badly -- again, with BILLIONS and BILLIONS in NEW entitlement spending.
Had Gingrich not caved, Clinton would have continued to grind his face in it. As it was, Clinton went out and crowed and crowed about all the billions he got into that bill.
THAT... is a real leader and a strong fighter.
Go Newt.....
“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.”
Right between the eyes. Good shot.
Have a nice evening.
I can’t stand the thought of voting for a man who, siding with the Democrats, actively opposed George Bush’s 2005 efforts to strengthen regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddic Mac — an effort that, if successful, might have prevented the full force of the housing market and economic crash — all the while he was taking millions of taxpayer dollars from Freddic Mac in consulting fees.
WHAT.
“If Obama gets reelected we are done!”
That is so true. It is up to us, ALL of us to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Go Newt......
I sure do, Cajun!
Plus, after I read and gave a lot of thought to Jim's magnificent essay, I came to the conlusion that Gingrich will truly want to try to govern like his hero, President Reagan and that the historian Gingrich, will want history to show him in that very view.
Of course, it'll be up to us to do our level best to give him a TEA Party US Senate and House, and for that matter give whomever we find sitting in the White House the same, be it for back-up or barrier.
I’ve never believed you were some sort of omnipotent “oracle” as some on FR believe.
That being said, I agree with what you have to say about 85% of the time and when you’re on, you’re dead on!
You absolutely nailed it. Bottom line, it’s a race between Mittens and Newt. Anybody who can’t make a monumental distinction between the conservatism (or lack thereof) of the two needs to crawl back under their rock.
I started out as a Palin supporter then a Cain supporter. I will not vote for Mitt. And..I don’t know what it would take for me to pull the lever for Newt.
People act like he can bury Obama when it comes to the vote. I don’t think he can. I don’t think he can get the young voters, the black, the hispanic and a lot of women may not vote for him.
In this day and age..even Newt’s looks are straight out of the cartoons dealing with priviledged, rich, white guys. I don’t say that to be mean..I say it because it’s true..Mitt fits that perception too.
Newt, though a great debater, takes 750 words to give a one sentence answer. That turns off some people and makes him look arrogant.
Perception. Maybe it shouldn’t matter, but it does.
I live in Iowa..and I still don’t know who I’m voting for. And guess what? I’m not the only one.
I say Welcome aboard, Mr. Robinson.
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