Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
I think it's his time. He's the smartest. He's the fiercest. Negatives? Sure, but I think the media target on Palin's back runs interference for Newt. How many times can the enemies rely on the "kook" word?At some point it wears very thin. Palin, Angle, O'Donnell, and that guy running against Cuomo make Newt more electable each day. And there is something very redemptive in being a Catholic convert. Never underestimate a convert. They breath fire.
I used to lament the fact that Newt could never be president but now I feel he can rally the Tea Partiers and the Republicans and win. I'm for getting behind this man, weathering the storm, and coming out on the other side with one of history's great presidents. Nothing worth doing is ever easy. There is no white knight. Reagan had two wives and signed the law allowing abortions in California. I'll take three wives and Newt's record any day over that.
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Oct '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
Because he did such a fantastic job as Speaker of the House?
Jun '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
So we now favor folks because they sound smart on TV? I am sorry, lets find someone who has done something in the last 15 years other than talk.
May '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
Yeah but... He thinks we need to solve AGW! How can any conservative support a candidate that even believes it exists?
Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of his ideas, but I also like him for the same single reason I like Palin. He angers the heck out of liberals.
May '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
Putting aside the fact that that Lego man is more Ted Kennedy than Newt, I'm on board. And yes, Publius, partly because he was an effective Speaker, one who managed to drag a lefty president to welfare reform and a balanced budget. Speaker is generally a no-win job, but I can't recall a better one in my lifetime.
Though that campaign would certainly be nerve-racking.
Edited on Oct 23, 2010 at 4:16pmMay '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
I can't get on board with this one. His problem is not that he has baggage. His problem is that his baggage suggests little or no executive experience or aptitude. Don't get me wrong - Newt needs to have an important, visible role. 2012 nominee is not that role.
Oct '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
Joe Escalante
I think it's his time. He's the smartest. He's the fiercest. Negatives? Sure, but I think the media target on Palin's back runs interference for Newt. How many times can the enemies rely on the "kook" word?At some point it wears very thin. Palin, Angle, O'Donnell, and that guy running against Cuomo make Newt more electable each day. And there is something very redemptive in being a Catholic convert. Never underestimate a convert. They breath fire.
I used to lament the fact that Newt could never be president but now I feel he can rally the Tea Partiers and the Republicans and win. I'm for getting behind this man, weathering the storm, and coming out on the other side with one of history's great presidents. Nothing worth doing is ever easy. There is no white knight. Reagan had two wives and signed the law allowing abortions in California. I'll take three wives and Newt's record any day over that. ·
Say it ain't so, Joe! You must be putting out some bait here, but I'm not biting. Anyone else hungry?
Jul '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
Newt's a good sort, and was, on the whole, a good speaker. But I (like Matthew) want an executive for a nominee. Legislators can win, but which types actually have recently? Golden boys (Kennedy and Obama), and Barry was running against another Senator. Does anyone really think Newt fits that model?
That said, I'd love to see the man as a running mate for a Daniels or Pawlenty. As Frozen Chosen rightly noted on another thread, the world is a serious place, experience matters.
Edited on Oct 23, 2010 at 4:55pmOct '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
Gingrich strikes me as the classic revolutionary who is good at getting into power, but then isn't able to govern effectively. Given how the unpopular the Republican establishment is these days, selecting an establishment blast from the past like Gingrich strikes me as a terrible idea. What next? Delay in 2012? Dole in 2012? Remember what PJ O'Rourke wrote back in 1997 about these guys.
It's also important to remember that if the Republicans do take the White House and are serious about acting differently than the 1990s era Republican party that whoever is in the White House needs to have a good working relationship with the Congressional leadership. Given the events the led to Gingrich's resignation, having a President Gingrich trying to work with a Speaker Boehner would be more than a little awkward.
Jul '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
It ain't "his time." His time has passed. He's been out of the general public eye for some time. No amount of marketing could get him elected.
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
There is no white knight. Last time it was George Bush. These are the easily electable types. If you disagree, who do you have?
May '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
Put me down as a "no". He's a good speaker and a clever strategist, but I don't trust him.
May '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
Jun '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
Mitch "Green Eyeshades" Daniels, explaining in great detail how the balance between services and revenues works as we back carefully away from the abyss. I love Newt's ideas but we don't need a Futurist-in-Chief, we need a Budget-Director-in-Chief
Edited on Oct 23, 2010 at 5:21pmMay '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
Who do we have? Whoever can most successfully suck up to the Iowa corn farmers and New Hampshireites.
But Newt? There are some really serious character (those marriage issues) and policy problems (remember the tete-a-tete with Pelosi commercial on the environment) with Gingrich, and his optics are truly grating. It's hard for me to watch him for more than a minute even when I'm agreeing with him.
We have to get away from party wheelhorses whose "turn it is." Chris Christie maybe. I'm hoping the 2010 class of new Republican governors will provide some Oval Office-ready leaders.
Jul '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
Joe Escalante
Never underestimate a convert. They breath fire.
True enough but who can forget the man's conversion to the church of AGW and his appearance, along with Nancy Pelosi, in an al-Gore ad, urging action on climate change, or his 2007 apology for GOP inaction on curtailing greenhouse gases? And let's not even bring up his special kinship or whatever it was he "felt" for a young polar bear named Knut.
On the other hand, now that the public no longer buys the scary global warming stories, Mr Gingrich may be over his Contract with the Earth phase, ready to substitute economic growth for the old tales of Biblical disasters. If so, bully for him and all that but he has lost my vote. Incidentally, I met him this past May and found him smart and charming but, sorry, that's not good enough.
We have Daniels, Jindal, Rubio, Christie, Pawlenty, Barbour.
Edited on Oct 23, 2010 at 5:48pmOct '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
No one. It's too early to get a clear and full picture of who is seriously interested in running until after this election cycle concludes. I suspect we'll get all sorts of retreads from past races including some from the miserable cast of characters who ran for the nomination last time around. What I'm hoping is that we'll get at least a couple candidates who aren't from the traditional Washington Republican establishment, but who do have a track record of getting things done from an executive standpoint.
We know what happens when we treat the White House as an entry level executive job...
Jun '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
My favorites are always changing, but this is my current favorite (draft) candidate for President:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1cpjcV70ug
May '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
Its an indictment of the American people that they are as concerned with a candidate's love life as they are with his/her politics. Their sexual conduct won't determine the integrity of the economy, their convictions will.
Jul '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
I have a feeling that Newt gives women the creeps. Heck, he gives me the creeps.
There's just something about dumping your wife while she's in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery that feels, well....not right.
And there's something about dumping your second wife because she "...doesn't look like a President's wife" that's um, distasteful.
But beyond that, it's just that women intuit something about Newt. He just seems like the one guy in your office that's gonna hit up on you. Or the pretty new intern. Or your daughter. He's the guy who tries to grope you in the copy room during the Christmas party.
Contrast that to Mitch Daniels: His wife ran off with a doctor, leaving him to raise their four daughters by himself. When she realized her error three years later, he forgave and re-married her. Now there's a story to warm the cockles of female voters' hearts.
And those are hearts Republicans need to win.
And I think I've already written a good campaign slogan here:
"Mitch. He's not Creepy"
Jul '10
Re: Newton Leroy Gingrich in 2012
Is that the same "convictions" when they swear allegiance to their spouse before God and betray it? That "sexual conduct[?]"