People here so readily forget what he accomplished in ‘94 with the Contract With America.
Something that is NEVER brought up......Anybody born after 1965 (approximately), doesn’t remember any of that. I mean I was born in 1969 and remember it but was busy with getting my career at that time and although voted (always Republican) was not into politics like I am today. The problem with younger voters is, “What has he done recently?” 1994 is a lifetime ago. Some say 2 weeks is a lifetime ago. lol. Newt saying all this stuff that he did in the early 90’s when some voters were not even born is not enough. Newt needs to explain what he has done in 2011.
I'm older than you and I **DO** remember the 1994 election (to my deep regret, I had an out-of-state church commitment, didn't vote absentee, and can't say I helped the Republican takeover that year). I also remember the rise of C-Span as a force in educating the public, I remember when CompuServe first made a half-dozen newspapers available online in the early 1980s, and I'm fairly sure I remember hearing some of Newt Gingrich's late-night speeches on C-Span. I know I remember the uproar when the Democratic Speaker of the House (I think Tip O'Neill) had the cameras turned to show an empty chamber on C-Span.
But your point is well-taken. We live in a sound-bite world where people haven't been schooled on the importance of having a historical memory or thinking with sustained rational logic. That's even true for conservatives.
Newt Gingrich was a college professor. He's a very, very smart man. Maybe he can effectively reach the dumbed-down American electorate. If so, great, and I'll applaud that.
But I'm afraid the main thing people remember about him is not his victory in taking over the House of Representatives but rather his personal life. Same with Bill Clinton — his successes (from a Democrat perspective) have been overshadowed by his personal failings. Yeah, I know that one man lied under oath and the other didn't, but the general public who are neither lawyers nor college professors don't see the difference.
I really, really want to see President Barack Obama defeated. If Gingrich is the guy to do it, fine — but then we have some very hard work to do to get social conservative evangelicals to understand that the Reformation would not have happened without the help of people who make Newt Gingrich look like a choir boy, and for social conservative Roman Catholics to understand that if they believe what their church teaches, Gingrich's marriages have been **VERY** thoroughly investigated by the Catholic hierarchy, and they're convinced he's sincerely repentant.
I wish the people here who think that focusing on Christian values is somehow the kiss of death would understand that the opposite has been true for most of American history. From what I read of Newt Gingrich, he doesn't think that way. I wish more of Gingrich's supporters would realize their own candidate advocates views on some religious issues which are, if anything, farther right than Rick Santorum. Newt Gingrich believes America is in a cultural holy war with both secular liberalism and Islamofascism, and I agree with him, and that's part of why I can support him if he's the Republican nominee.
If we elect a President Santorum, we can expect a war on gay marriage and on abortion, and I'm fine with that. If we elect President Gingrich, I think we are going to find ourselves involved in a crusade against Islamofascist jihadists, and I'm also fine with that. Communism is dead, but secular liberalism and Islamofascism are the two key enemies conservative Christians need to fight today, and I think Gingrich and Santorum both “get it.”