Good Newt, Bad Newt
I attended the Newt Gingrich speech that James Pinkerton writes about below, and had a slightly different reaction. I thought Gingrich's presentation and bearing clearly signaled he intends to run for president. (He could always get cold feet before next spring, though.) He was serious, he was clear, and he had his wife introduce him to the audience in what seems to have been a way to raise her (appealing) profile. Watching Gingrich, there was no question in my mind that he takes ideas seriously and would be a formidable contestant in any debate. That's the good Newt.
The bad Newt shows up when we discuss his style. Gingrich's rhetoric is tart, sarcastic, and occasionally pedantic. He has a tendency to ramble -- the speech went on for more than an hour. You'd be forgiven for having the impression that Gingrich likes to hear the sound of his own voice.
On substance, there are similar problems. Gingrich has clearly adopted the most-right-wing critique of radical Islam, framing the debate in terms of the threat sharia law poses to the United States. I'm sorry, but I see no danger of sharia coming to America anytime soon (things are different in Europe). The larger threat continues to be the possibility that Islamic terrorists gain access to weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, some of Gingrich's tropes -- the idea that American conservatives are somehow in the same position as Solidarity activists in 1980s Poland, for instance -- are a little far-out.
And while the speech gave Gingrich the opportunity to expand on and explain his stance on the Ground Zero Mosque, his talk also made me realize that the people expected to run for the Republican nomination in 2012 do not differ much on substance at all. And if that is the case, then wouldn't primary voters go for the candidate who appeals to them personally, whose personality is sunnier and less acerbic, and who does not -- because she cannot -- make continual reference to her phD in European history?
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Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
I know he's planning to run from his Twitter feed. He's been Tweeting like I'm 911 and he's on fire.
Jun '10
Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
Some of his new energy might be the zeal of the convert. He's a recent convert to Catholicism. He's the type that jumps into everything with both feet.
May '10
Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
As I've often said before, Newt's greatest strength--being one of the very few people in American political life who's actually interested in ideas--is also his greatest weakness, because he lacks any significant ability to tell good ideas from bad ones.
Jul '10
Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
I'll absolutely vote for him if he's the nominee, but I think he would better serve the party at the bottom of the ticket, backing up Palin or Daniels the way Biden was supposed to back up Obama. I think what the party will need to win will be a youthful, fresh perspective at the top...but his elder statesmanship continues to appeal to me in these uncertain times, and I doubt I'm alone. At the primary level though, the only major differences I'm seeing between most of the candidates who that not all of them will be able to effectively claim an "outsider" mantle and that may be crucial.
Jul '10
Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
Mr. Steyn, phone call on line one.
May '10
Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
I don't think he should run because he cannot win. Someone needs to do one of the quadrant things with the four boxes. One of the axes is Electability; the other is, what academic-ness. Newt and Palin are in different boxes, but towards the same electability extreme; a pity, perhaps, in both cases.
Also, where is Newt on the climate change hoax? His couch session with Pelosi is practically a deal-breaker for me; even more to than Mitt and healthcare.
May '10
Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
I still have a hard time removing the mental image of him on top of the desk with Calista (while married to #2), the episode that led to his resigning the Speakership. Then back farther, the tantrum he threw for reporters when Clinton made him ride in the back of the plane.
Whe doing an actual university lecture, or elucidating public policy ideas and their rationale, he is hard to resist (though his claims that "prevention" investments will somehow reduce out-of-pocket healthcare budgets is hocum).
Some people are great public intellectuals and public figures, and still, or maybe even consequently, unelectable. Newt fits that category.
Jul '10
Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
I wish Chris Christie was going to be in a position to run as he's really impressing me, but I'm worried that supporting him for national office would put me in the same category as the people who felt Obama's time in the Senate had qualified him for the Presidency. Of course, John Thune is a slightly different matter and is also starting to really get my attention...
Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
Tell me what you like about Thune, Jonathan. Right now he seems to me like the prototype they used to build Mitt Romney. Romney's many reboots suggest it may be time to return to the prototype, but if you put a gun to my head and ordered me to tell you something about Thune, I'd start sweating. I'd like to be able to muster a better response than that!
May '10
Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
Thune is a good guy, but not really the naturally warm, man of the people type. He comes off as a bit calculating; perhaps not a fair image, but we have to face the fact that retail politics is an inescapeable aspect of electoral politics.
Of course, the only reason I say that is that I am a Pawlentry enthusiast- he is Mitch Daniels with height and a made-to-order political wife for the 21st century (mom, funny, good talker, drug rehab activist Christian, former state judge):
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/07/026878.php
Jul '10
Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
James Poulos, Ed.
Tell me what you like about Thune, Jonathan. Right now he seems to me like the prototype they used to build Mitt Romney. Romney's many reboots suggest it may be time to return to the prototype, but if you put a gun to my head and ordered me to tell you something about Thune, I'd start sweating. I'd like to be able to muster a better response than that! · Jul 30 at 4:46pm
My problem with Thune is that he has never really worked outside the public sector and that he has exploited his dreamboat looks and evangelical beliefs in order to further his career.
Jul '10
Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
I believe it Newt could resist his inner demons, he would be the most effective President among the current GOP field. He's knowledgeable, experienced, energetic - even visionary.
But he's also vain and, at inconvenient times, petulant.
And then there's the wife thing. A guy who will cheat on his wife won't hesitate to lie or cheat in other circumstances. Character counts.
I also worry that Newt, like Palin, is so polarizing that his nomination could cost the GOP the election in 2012.
So far, I'm not warming up to anyone but Mitch Daniels and Paul Ryan.
Jul '10
Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
Kenneth:
And then there's the wife thing. A guy who will cheat on his wife won't hesitate to lie or cheat in other circumstances. Character counts.
. · Jul 30 at 9:59pm
I think that's unfair. I think a candidate's personal life is irrelevant. Being a lousy husband does not disqualify someone in my eyes. There's plenty of faithful, loving husbands who are grossly incompetent and horrible politicians.
I'm a Daniels man myself, but at least we're finally hearing a politician like Gingrich call a spade a spade when it comes to Islamism. Creeping Sharia is more of a threat than most people would like to admit. (Ready Andy McCarthy's new book as well as Stealth Jihad, and of course Mr. Steyn's America Alone)
It's so refreshing to hear a candid speaker on the subject than the usual Reset crowd.
Jul '10
Re: Good Newt, Bad Newt
It's really hard to put my finger on, but I think respect is part of it. I don't share a lot of his personal beliefs but I feel like he'd treat me with respect all the same and that's incredibly rare. He's competent in office (how sad that now that's all I need), charming, friendly, and seems very...authentic; genuine. I'm a little worried some of his railroad industry connections could open him up to accusations of impropriety but other than that he's nearly spotless and he certainly hasn't gone back and forth on practically every issue the way Romney has. What I like most about Palin is how genuine she seems, and he has that without the other baggage. I spent a lot of time in Indiana, like Mitch Daniels quite a bit, and would definitely vote for him in the general, but...the man's utterly boring. Thune at least has the boy-next-door charm, and we're fooling ourselves if we think the GOP can beat Obama without some star power on the ticket.