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?
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I'm a woman. I plan to vote for him if he's our nominee.
I'm also an independent.
GO GINGRICH!
You’re an independent trisham, because you live in a state where you can be shot for admitting that you’re conservative. LOL!
Who’s Newt Gingrich? :-)
Thanks for the ping!
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LOL!
Now that you mention it...:)
It’s the safe bet and when you go in the voting booth, no one is the wiser. LOL!
He is?
Cap-and-trade has no impact on global temperatures.
Gingrich signed the Contract From America The Contract from America, clause 2. Reject Cap & Trade: Stop costly new regulations that would increase unemployment, raise consumer prices, and weaken the nation's global competitiveness with virtually no impact on global temperatures.
Source: The Contract From America 10-CFA02 on Jul 8, 2010
He's been married to Calista for several years! His first wife asked for the divorce. You're the one out of touch, dear. Women, (I am one) already know Calista is his third wife.
Gingrich exudes confidence and leadership. We're in very tough and serious times. Iran in possession with one of our high tech drones and looking to get nukes. An economy with over 15 million Americans out of work.
Oh, and I meant to add:
The louder others proclaim that they “don’t give a damn” about anything that Newt has done, whether in his personal or professional life, the more values voters tend to say, “Wait a minute. I *do* care about a man’s character and conduct. Yes, I’m pragmatic and I’m going to vote against Obama no matter what. But I’m not going to join in this wholesale throwing overboard of our traditional standards, not if I can find someone else who can win the nomination and *doesn’t* have to be given a pass on his moral failings.”
This is what I’m hearing. Whether it’s a viewpoint that’s widespread enough to make a difference, I don’t know.
There’s a difference between supporting a candidate and giving him a pass. That’s been my major concern about the Gingrich surge: I can see supporting him, but I would have rather seen the conservative base support him while riding herd on him all the way.
When a man such as Gingrich is not only supported, but given a pass (what I mean by that is not at the same time held accountable for certain things), the latter is what risks turning values voters away.
When the campaign started, Newt was not my first choice, my second choice or any choice for that matter. However, the window is rapidly closing on any new candidates and I'm going to have to leave Linus alone in the pumpkin patch because it looks like the Great Palin is not coming around this year.
So unless something drastic happens between now and the Massachusetts primary, I will be pulling the lever for Newt in the primary and if he gets the nomination, your very well thought out essay above makes me feel a lot better about him becoming president. I just hope he doesn't screw the pooch and that he does us proud once he gets in. It's all we can hope for at this point because it's becoming apparent that we won't have any other palatable option.
Nobody ever suggested Ben Franklin for President. Though a great admirer of his, I think he did much more for the country as a free agent.
I lived in Newt’s district the entire time he was in congress.
Newt’s greatest strength (and weakness) is that he is action oriented. He wants to actually solve problems, not just talk about sovlving them. Sometimes he jumps off the deep end without thinking things through, but the point is he jumps—he’s willing to stick his neck out; take a risk; and take action.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the three most reviled politicians by the press are Reagan, Gingrich, & Palin. All three are action oriented—people that don’t want to just talk about conservative principles & ideas, but actually wanted to implement them.
Am I thrilled about Gingrich? No, he’s not a perfect candidate by any measure—he has spent too long in the halls of power, and flirted too often with big government solutions. But, I also remember Newt of the 1980’s and 1990’s, who was a conservative dream to behold.
Which Newt are we getting now? I’m not sure, but I am sure he will DO something; he will make a legitimate and conserted effort to SOLVE our problems. He will not be satisfied to let our country continue to drift towards disaster.
Thanks Jim, you helped me a whole lot here.
I was a Cain man and was once again wandering, I think you have just convinced me.
Thanks my FRiend!
I don't see blanket amnesty.
What if the elites hate Newt because, many of them knowing him personally and having worked for him, they think he’s a jerk, a poor leader, or unstable?
Just sayin’.
Just because someone hates someone, I don’t see how you can assume that means something positive about your guy.
There are many Dem elites who hate Barack Obama — for completely appropriate reasons! He is killing their party and he is a jerk and a poor leader.
Well stated.
I’m not looking for perfect, because there is no such thing as a perfect human being.
But I would like “trustworthy”. If a man cannot be trusted in his personal life, how can he be trusted with the great responsibility of leading our country?
The Tea Party won't even be able to extract concessions from President Gingrich.
“Yes, Romney and Rove hate him, the Republican establishment elite ruling class hates him, the liberals hate him, the democrats hate him...”
Huh. Same people who suffer PDS to this day. What a coincidence. If Newt was one of them, why aren’t they lining up behind him? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
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