Newtering the Right
You may recall Newt Gingrich snuggling up with Nancy Pelosi a few
years ago to undermine opposition to socialist industrial policy dressed up as environmental necessity. Earlier this year Newt, who Politico recently revealed was paid $312,500 in 2009 by Growth Energy to lobby for ethanol, was in Iowa doing just that, providing bipartisan cover for the disaster that is federally mandated food-to-fuel.
Today on Meet the Press, Newt was at it again, this time taking potshots at Paul Ryan's plan to save Medicare.
I don’t think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I think we need a national conversation to get to a better Medicare system with more choices for seniors. But there are specific things you can do . At the Center for Health Transformation , which I helped found, we published a book called " Stop Paying the Crooks ." We thought that was a clear enough, simple enough idea, even for Washington . We -- between Medicare and Medicaid , we pay between $70 billion and $120 billion a year to crooks. And IBM has agreed to help solve it, American Express has agreed to help solve it, Visa 's agreed to help solve it. You can't get anybody in this town to look at it. That's, that's almost $1 trillion over a decade. So there are things you can do to improve Medicare .
Newt's visionary solution for a program scheduled to go bankrupt in just 13 years is to go after waste, fraud and abuse.
Gingrich goes on to reveal a type of social engineering--Newt-wing?--he does favor:
I am for people, individuals -- exactly like automobile insurance -- individuals having health insurance and being required to have health insurance . And I am prepared to vote for a voucher system which will give individuals, on a sliding scale, a government subsidy so we insure that everyone as individuals have health insurance .
Let's recap: Newt Gingrich, Republican presidential candidate, believes the federal government has the authority to force individual citizens to enter into contracts with other private parties and should therefore compel each of us to purchase health insurance, opposes meaningful reform of Medicare, and supports the left's enviro-socialist agenda.
Do you think Organizing for America picked up Newt's ethanol contract after 2009?
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: Newtering the Right
Newt brings a whole new meaning to the term "money-grubbing, unprincipled opportunist".
He has zero chance of winning the primary - and, even if he did, zero chance of beating Obama.
Unfortunately, he lives in a bubble of sycophants like Sean Hannity, who feed his delusion.
Nov '10
Re: Newtering the Right
I think the final word on Gingrich is what Charles Kesler wrote about him. Essentially, Gingrich's problem is that he ascribes to economics far too much power as a determiner of politics, the temptation of many politicians of libertarian bent:
"Gingrich's [Third Wave Conservatism] was a striking form of progressivist conservatism; it was almost an inverted Marxism...Gingrich argued that the Right was now on the right side of history... he explained that politics is shaped decisively by technology and the prevailing means of production... [W]ith the advent of the personal computer and the information revolution, politics would be demassified, individuals empowered, and a new era of entrepreneurship would usher in smaller, more agile and efficient government.
It didn't work out that way, not because the economy didn't do its part but because politics always has a mind of its own, and thus a freedom from even the most up-to-date determinisms... Gingrich had overplayed his hand...by confusing the public's disdain for Big Government with a libertarian contempt for government as such. Recall that one effect of Reagan's successful presidency was to increase the public's trust in the federal government."
May '11
Re: Newtering the Right
The 1990's called, they want Mr. Newt back.....
Dec '10
Re: Newtering the Right
Medicare going bankrupt in 13 years is only a fantasy associated with Obamacare. Even Sebelius now admits that the bankruptcy could be achieved by 2016 and is only delayed to 2024 if we pretend that the "Doc Fix" reimbursements to hospitals are eliminated by Obamacare.
Of course, the only reason anyone could ever claim that all people should carry health insurance is that the government has already declared health care must be provided, without consideration for the recipient's ability to pay and without provisions for any reimbursement. Washington is seeking a solution on the backs of taxpayers, to a problem created by Washington.
Oct '10
Re: Newtering the Right
Not hugely on topic, but I'm reminded of this.
As for Newt - no, thanks. The last few years has seen a sharpening of the understanding of the distinction between freedom and government. Mitt Romney has gotten himself trapped on the wrong side. Newt lives there.
Jul '10
Re: Newtering the Right
"I think we need a national conversation... "
We had one.... on 11/02/10. The problem is either politicians lie or don't listen.
Apr '11
Re: Newtering the Right
George Savage:
·
Hang on a minute. He supports creating a voucher system for people to buy insurance. That's what the Ryan plan does for those on Medicare. So he basically supports taking the Ryan Medicare plan -- which he called "right-wing social engineering" -- and applying it to everybody, along with an individual mandate thrown in. If that's not "right-wing social engineering", I don't know what is.
Apr '11
Re: Newtering the Right
Take a look at this cartoon. Third one down on the page.
Edited on May 16, 2011 at 4:52amMar '11
Re: Newtering the Right
Dan IV
Hang on a minute. He supports creating a voucher system for people to buy insurance. That's what the Ryan plan does for those on Medicare. So he basically supports taking the Ryan Medicare plan -- which he called "right-wing social engineering" -- and applying it to everybody, along with an individual mandate thrown in. If that's not "right-wing social engineering", I don't know what is.
Ryan has explained that his plan is not a voucher system, but it is a fine point, I agree.
Newt has probably just shot himself in the foot, joining Romney, hopping around on the sidelines.
We are getting perilously short of candidates, especially small-government Conservatives. Twill be the last man (or woman) standing, who has not shot themselves in the foot. Otherwise Mr Obama wins by default - the way he likes to win.
Edited on May 16, 2011 at 5:18amOct '10
Re: Newtering the Right
Newt is doing his stupid politician qualification run. He is, after all, the elder statesman that the Republicans are due to nominate as the next John McCain or Bob Dole.
May '10
Re: Newtering the Right
I hope voters note this new proof of the link between a person's moral life and his trustworthiness and reliability as a politician.
Re: Newtering the Right
Newt Gingrich is, like Mitt Romney, a managerial conservative persuaded that our travails are merely a function of bad management. As a contender for the Republican Party's presidential nomination, he is Romney without money. He will not last long.
Jul '10
Re: Newtering the Right
I think this campaign is just Newt's way of making sure he retains his reputation between elections as an "idea man" and gets invited to news shows to pontificate and can draw reporters to news conferences. He has a brand and a platform to maintain. The crappy novels, the non-fiction, and the consultancy work don't sell themselves. The man has to hustle to put bread on the table. He'll throw in the towel after a few weeks or months. Nothing to see here. Let's move on.
Edited on May 16, 2011 at 6:36amRe: Newtering the Right
Gingrich has repeatedly praised and attacked the Ryan plan and done so with no consistency, as this article by John McCormack at The Weekly Standard shows. His interview was politically disgraceful and intellectually indefensible.
And odd, too. Unless he's trying to get primary voters to dislike him more, it's hard to see what he's doing.
Jul '10
Re: Newtering the Right
I can see his slogan now:
Newt Gingrich: A man with lots of ideas, but no principles.
Jan '11
Re: Newtering the Right
I never thought that Newt Gingrich had a shot at winning the nomination, but I welcomed his entry into the race. I anticipated that Gingrich would be an articulate and aggressive critic of Mr. Obama, which is the most important job that must be done at this time.
I did not foresee that Newt's personal needs would compel him to swing his rhetorical sickle as hard to the right against Paul Ryan as to the left against the president in order to clear a space for his own unique brilliance to shine.
Isn't there anyone available whom we can trust on every issue, who is aggressive, who can give a speech and who lives the values we admire?
Oh, wait...she is....
Oct '10
Re: Newtering the Right
Newt's just jealous of Paul Ryan's rock star status.
Oct '10
Re: Newtering the Right
Is there any presidential candidate willing to defend the Ryan plan?
Jul '10
Re: Newtering the Right
By the way, why do we bestow honorifics upon mere politicians? Newt has been out of office for 13 years, but fawning interviewers still address him as "Mr. Speaker".
Someone who retired from the Senate 30 years ago is still addressed as "Senator".
What's up with that? I thought we were supposed to eschew titles in the Republic.
Re: Newtering the Right
Some other Gingrich Flip-Flops: Libya, Dede Scozzafava, and Cap and Trade
Edited on May 16, 2011 at 7:12am