Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
Joshua Green of Bloomberg writes in the Boston Globe that if Newt succeeds, the Tea Party has failed, mostly because of Gingrich's work as a millionaire consultant making speeches and headlining meetings for all sorts of Washington insider groups and the like over the past decade. But also because of this:
And beyond lobbying, Gingrich has held many positions that are anathema to Tea Party conservatives. He once supported an individual mandate to buy health insurance - Mitt Romney’s inexpiable sin. He teamed up with Nancy Pelosi to urge action against global warming. Earlier this year, he criticized House Republicans’ budget plan as “right-wing social engineering,’’ only to change tack when criticized. In fact, Gingrich felt obliged to post to his campaign website rebuttals to 18 separate controversies and apostasies involving his positions and their evolution.
A few reactions to this: First, there's precious little comparison between Gingrich's entirely theoretical mandate proposal in the early 1990s -- which was never universal, was tied to income level, and had an opt-out -- with the much broader mandates of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, which stand not as theoretical policies but as the law of the land (in the latter's case, perhaps I should add "for the time being"). Green's statement of equivalency for what Gingrich proposed in 1993 and what Romney made law in 2006 is so sloppy and irresponsible that it betrays a marked ignorance of public policy history to a degree disturbing in a political reporter.
As for Gingrich's "right wing social engineering" criticism, here again Green is sloppy. Gingrich's criticism was not of the House Republican budget. He was asked a question about Medicare reform which posed the hypothetical: if they take power, should Republicans, as Democrats did, pass a major reform over the opposition of the public? Gingrich said no -- he was right then, and I'd argue after his more recent interviews, he still believes he's right now. How exactly did Gingrich "change tack" on the matter when his response this very week to a question on the topic is: "what I said was true"?
Of course Gingrich was a fool to sit on the couch with Pelosi. This Bloomberg report on what Gingrich was unwilling to say at the time provides insight on the moment. But - and this is the key contrast with Romney - Gingrich has been apologizing to the base for this move for years. Where Romney refuses to apologize for his rejection of conservative/libertarian principle, Gingrich acknowledges that he was "stupid" to ever do such a thing.
And that difference in reaction is notable. If Gingrich wins the nomination, he will owe a great deal to the "Teastablishment" nature of his approach. He couples nods toward the Republican establishment on immigration and the like with a confrontational tone and change-heavy reform proposals which appeal to Tea Party supporters fleeing Bachmann, Perry, and now Cain.
In moving to Gingrich as an abundance of polls have indicated, Tea Partiers are clearly not supporting their first choice. But they are supporting a candidate who has promised them a great deal when it comes to the sweeping reforms they favor, who has spent the past three years explicitly appealing to them and their leaders, and who is, in message and policy proposals, arguably more conservative now than he was in 1994.
Romney, in contrast, has moved back toward the moderate side of the party after running a more conservative campaign in 2008. As a nominee, he would owe the Tea Party nothing. And if he has promised the Tea Party more on policy than Gingrich in any single area, I'd like to hear about it. It's hard to call a movement a failure with a straight face if a candidate who has worked so hard to appeal to them outpaces a candidate who has done very little.
- Comment (25)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments :
Jun '10
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
Conditions change, people change, the World changes. Most people in the Tea Party are not the same people they were fifteen years ago, with the same priorities they had fifteen years ago. Events drive policy much more than policy drives events. Hopefully, Newt improved himself while America was busy going the other direction.
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
Thanks for this. I learned a thing or two from it.
Apr '11
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
Newt Gingrich supported the individual mandate as recently as 2007. It is not some relic from "the early 90's."
Feb '11
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
I'd say Newt's rise shows the failure of the GOP establishment, not the Tea Parties.
If the establishment had any credibility with the base there would be no Tea Parties and Romney would be cruising to the nomination.
Obviously that isn't happening. Maybe the establishment should spend more wondering why and less time condemning their base for not doing what they're told.
Jun '10
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
So did the Heritage Foundation at one time. If Hillarycare, or something like it, is the alternative, then lots of things start looking reasonable. But the ground has shifted. People understand (if they didn't before) that private solutions, designed by the private sector, would work much better. Why is car insurance relatively cheap? Because consumers have dozens if not hundreds of choices for source and coverage, and the money they save, they keep.
Sep '10
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
The Tea Party? Are you kidding me? It's a failure of the Space-Time Continuum! How else can you explain the fact that he's leading in the polls after every Republican who is worthy of being quoted in a newspaper has told us he sucks? The next thing you know, we'll have voting by people who don't listen to George Will. It's crazy!
Sep '10
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
Its definitely a tear in the space-time fabric when a cat laying on his side outfunnies me before I even get a chance to comment. Next thing you know I'll be fetching your slippers, cleaning the road tar off your wheel wells, writing your stump speeches.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
Sep '10
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
This election is the Angelo Codevilla election: the vexation of taxation and regulation without representation.
Sep '10
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
Pseudodionysius
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. · Dec 4 at 2:52pm
I love you, man.
:-)
Jun '10
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
Earth to Cynics: You only get to choose between the people that are actually running. Could the field be much improved? Absolutely. But that was a battle better fought about three months ago.
Sep '10
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
Seriously, what is Joshua Green's problem? Has he read the Constitution? Has he taken a look at the Federal budget deficit by year? Has he compared this to who was Speaker of the House at the time?
Newt's Congress balanced the freaking budget. The budget. He balanced it. Even had a surplus. A surplus is where you bring in more money than you spend and you can pay down some debt and return some to the taxpayers.
No, really. That's what a surplus is. Newt's Congress did that. And it was their job! It's in the Constitution and everything.
So go talk to some Tea Partiers. Ask them what they would think of a balanced budget or even, and this is crazy to think about, a surplus.
Newt winning means the Tea Party loses? Huh?
Edited on Dec 4, 2011 at 3:34pmJul '10
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
Pseudodionysius
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. · Dec 4 at 2:52pm
Too much catnip.
Jun '11
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
Sorry, but I'm not buying the Newt story:
Finally, this idea that Newt is reliable because he "owes" the Tea Party is dubious. How long did he hold it together for the "Contract for America" folks?
Dec '10
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
K T Cat: Seriously, what is Joshua Green's problem? Has he read the Constitution? Has he taken a look at the Federal budget deficit by year? Has he compared this to who was Speaker of the House at the time?
Newt's Congress balanced the freaking budget. The budget. He balanced it. Even had a surplus. A surplus is where you bring in more money than you spend and you can pay down some debt and return some to the taxpayers.
No, really. That's what a surplus is. Newt's Congress did that. And it was their job! It's in the Constitution and everything.
So go talk to some Tea Partiers. Ask them what they would think of a balanced budget or even, and this is crazy to think about, a surplus.
Newt winning means the Tea Party loses? Huh? · Dec 4 at 3:05pm
Newt also led the first ever roll back of the welfare state - enacting major reform of welfare. The Republican congress under Gingrich was so successful that Clinton was forced to say "the era of Big Government is over".
Cain said he would announce an endorsement "soon", most likely he will endorse Newt.
Apr '11
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
etoiledunord
So did the Heritage Foundation at one time. If Hillarycare, or something like it, is the alternative, then lots of things start looking reasonable. But the ground has shifted. People understand (if they didn't before) that private solutions, designed by the private sector, would work much better.
Just four years ago, Newt supported using the power of the state to compel private citizens to purchase health insurance. I am told often at this site that such a policy is "tyrannical." It seems a bit much to go from supporting tyranny to supporting freedom in four years, but then Newt is known for his intellectual attention deficit disorder.
Given the public's fanatical resistance to any attempts to reform Medicare or Social Security, I see little sign that people do believe in "private solutions designed by the private sector." Americans love their guvment support, and there is no evidence whatsoever of any change. As John Derbyshire wisely says, "We Are Doomed."
Jan '11
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
I've been surprised by the bashing conservative writers have been giving him. I'm aware of Newt's baggage but also recall the acheivments that were made while he was House Speaker. The previous poster was correct - none of us are the same people (and Think Tanks) we were then. Should we dismiss the Heritage Foundation from now on as they backed an individual mandate?
It seems as if some of the conservative pundits have an interest in seeing their predictions and analysis borne out because they've been stating that Romney's the candidate so long that any other outcome makes them appear less 'plugged in' or makes them less valuable as 'experts'.
I was speaking to a liberal friend of mine yesterday, he's down on Obama but actually seems open to some classical liberal arguments. While asking me my preferences, I was surprised that he felt Romney was the less trustworthy/more phoney of the two. I'm not too sure about all that Independent Voter appeal of Romney's that we keep hearing about.
Dec '10
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
Thanks for documenting the counter arguments regarding Newt's record of squishiness. I like Newt and always have and am sending him a little cash now and then. I think there is a better than reasonable chance that he would be willing to brave the slings and arrows and make the case to the American people for real change.
Sep '11
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
The debates between Newt and Obama would be the highest form of political entertainment. But alas, Newt is always simply about Newt and crowd approval and little else.
May '10
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
I'll say it again.
No Child Left Behind.
The Harriet Miers nomination.
Medicare Part D.
Comprehensive immigration reform.
Newt Gingrich supported them all. Even as he was trading on his time in Congress to earn $1.6 million from Freddie Mac. And opposing The Surge, which is fine by me, but anathema to most conservatives.
If he wins the GOP nomination the Tea Party will indeed be a failure.
Dec '10
Re: Is Newt Gingrich's Rise a Tea Party Failure?
And if Romney wins the nomination? I can't find any way to say that is a Tea Party win either.
Edited on Dec 5, 2011 at 5:23am