For someone who claimed the era of Reagan was over not long ago, Gingrich sure keeps bringing Reagan’s name up and trying to give the impression he is the new Reagan.
Sometimes Gingrich talks so much he talks himself in circles.
“For someone who claimed the era of Reagan was over not long ago,”
The era of Reagan is over. It ended when George Walker Herbert Bush became President. I think Newt wants to resurrect it to what degree he can. The RINOs are coming down hard on him for it.
Newt will do the same thing to America that the Turdminator did to CA's economy and it's statewide Republican Party. They're two peas out of the same pod!!! Not in the Reagan mold whatsoever!!!
That's because he is/was stating an objective, undeniable fact - the "era of Reagan" was over as soon as George H.W. Bush uttered and proceeded with his "kinder and gentler" era, followed up with CLinton's era of "I feel your pain", followed by George W. Bush and his era of "compassionate conservatism".
The only time when the U.S. came close to - or even exceeded the domestic policy results - the "era of Reagan policies" was when the same Newt Gingrich led the Gingrich / Second Republican Revolution in 1994. Four years later when he handed the reins over to Bob Livingston Danny Hastert, any similarity to the "era of Reagan policies" was over, even with GOP in power for full 6 years.
Reagan and Gingrich (Reagan's Ghost Writer?) - FR, 2011 November 19
Tony Blankley: Gingrich would be the most conservative president since Reagan - FR, 2011 November 26
Of the entire sorry Republican field, only Gingrich has policies achievements and fresh policies portfolio, and, yes, it reads like something that Reagan would be proud to endorse had he faced today's environment and today's challenges.
Newt was the only one who had the courage to state the obvious and objective truth ("the era of Reagan is over") and he is also the only one who adapted conservative policy portfolio to deal with the problems left by Republican and Democratic Presidents and Congresses and activist courts since both Reagan and he left the government.
Rush Limbaugh either didn't hear or didn't understand what Gingrich was talking about during that interview and went on absolutely embarrassing rant, not even letting Newt explain what he meant ("era of Reagan is over" but Reagan's fiscal and conservative tenets and policies are not), that Rush can't let go and admit to this day (after all, he is "certified" to be "factually" 99.9% right).
It's a strange and misleading spat, and Rush should either own up to it or, at least, stop bringing this up - this one is not to his credit.
GINGRICH: That's just objectively a fact. I think if Governor Reagan were here today, and he were looking at where America should go, he wouldn't be saying, "Let's go back to 1980." He'd be saying, "Here are the solutions, here are the policies, here's what will carry us into the future." And I think we've watched these guys run around saying, "I'm like Reagan. I'm like Reagan." Reagan was a unique one-time personality whose great achievement in eliminating the Soviet empire was historic. Now we have a different world with a different set of problems. I don't think it can be, "Here's how you go back 28 years to reinvent Reagan." It's gotta be, "Here's how you apply conservatism to solve America's problems today." RUSH: Wait a minute, Newt, how are you going to apply conservatism to today's problems when you just said it's dead? Reaganism is simply conservatism. That's all it is, and if the era of Reagan being over is objectively a fact, then conservatism's finished. Now, nobody's talking about going back to the 1980s and reliving the same set of policies. What we're talking about is applying principles, which is what Reagan did, to the existing problems of that era. ..... DOOCY: Some comments you made over the weekend I heard replayed on Rush Limbaugh yesterday. Is it true, sir, that you think that the Ronald Reagan era is over in America?
Where did Newt say that "conservatism is dead"? He said quite the opposite, how to apply conservatism / "Reaganism" ideals to today's problems.
They were saying almost the same thing; Gingrich was not talking about "Reaganism" or "conservatism" as the ideals being over, he was stating a fact of political life in the U.S. over the last 20+ years, which is bemoaned every day on FR and elsewhere.
Rush flew off the handle for no reason. It's sad that so many people keep repeating something completely misinterpreting its meaning.