A whole lot of the animosity towards Newt goes back to him virulently opposing the tax hikes by Bush, Sr. They blame Newt for costing Bush, Sr. the 1992 election. Sununu is part of this, he’s the guy who advised Bush, Sr. to raise taxes and he’s now one of the top Romney spokespeople. Some pundits were discussing this on TV at some point, basically saying it’s probably hard for anyone to understand just how deep a rift this event caused between Newt and his opponents in the party.
This article is a good one that explains what happened when Newt was taken into the “smoky backroom” and refused to cut a deal.
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20111227/NEWS0605/712279989&source=RSS
On the eve of a deal, the clear implication was that Gingrich was going to support it.
Gingrich had been warned about this moment. He said that a group of senior Republicans who had served in previous administrations told him he would have to cave in when a deal was struck.
“They all said, ‘Well, (the White House and the congressional Democrats) will in the end cut a deal and they will in the end call you in a room and they will tell you, you have to agree.’ And I said, ‘Boys, there’s not a chance in hell I’m going to agree . . .’ And they all said, ‘Yes, you will, you just don’t understand, yes, you will.’ ”
Gingrich said that on Sept. 29, he was told that an agreement had been reached. “They told me the deal they’d cut. I called my daughter, and my wife talked to her mother. Both my daughter and mother-in-law thought it was nuts.”
Weber said that Bush later said that it was Gingrich’s revolt, and not the deal itself, that cost him. Without the high-profile rebellion, Bush concluded, “he would have paid no political price for it.”
Sounds plausible. The key factor is they can’t control Gingrich and it scares the bejeebers out of them.
I do believe very perilous times are ahead. When Newt answered last night that the greatest challenge will be breaking those allied against change, he knew what he was saying.
As someone said earlier, many wonder what Newt will do when he finally catches the car. At this point I’m thinking it’s something we have to find out if we’re going to have any chance of real change in this country.