Newt Wins–For Now

Newt was commanding, showing his decades of engagement with these issues. He seemed less irritable than usual and at ease with his place of new prominence in the race. No one can match his combination of substance and pungent expression. He doesn’t just throw out red meat, though. He gave a sense tonight of the complexity of the issues, for instance on Iran and especially on immigration. He’s right about the human costs of mass deportation but he’s going to spend a lot of time talking about immigration over the next 48 hours.

We’ll get a test of whether it was Perry’s maladroit handling of the issue that cost of him or simply the fact that he departed from the restrictionist line; I suspect Gingrich is going to have a very hard time defending the idea of creating a permanent class of second-class citizens, which is what the “red card” proposal sounds like.

Romney was fine, although he wasn’t quite as fluid as usual and faded into the background more than in other debates. He won the exchanges with Huntsman on Afghanistan and Paul on defense spending, although not in a slam-dunk fashion. Overall, he didn’t hurt himself.

Bachmann had her best night in a while. She schooled Rick Perry on Pakistan and opened up the line of attack on Gingrich on immigration. Give her credit for taking the time to make sure that’s she’s conversant with these issues, which is more than you can say about some of the other candidates–bringing us to Perry and Cain.

Perry couldn’t defend his proposal for a no-fly-zone over Syria. He went out of his away to keep fighting with Romney. He’s gotten better on foreign policy, but only by a small increment. Cain simply...

It’s so boring, this campaign. The candidates, except perhaps the one nutcase, spill out nothing but banal boiler plate bromides, buzzwords, clichés, generalities, plans impossible to execute at best (how the heck do you go about rounding up 12 million illegals and export them to Meheeko?) and posters on this site get excited, go into childish tantrums about some trivial things like someone forgetting a word, or another suggesting an idea, as if that idea in our system of paralytic government by design could be implemented like a-ringing a bell the moment this candidate is sworn in. Take it easy, y’all, chill! Homer Simpson would know better.

If you want to balance the budget and elect someone bullheaded enough to do it then Newt’s the person to do it.

Newt was always to the right of the Reagan administration on balancing the budget in the 1980s when people like David Stockman and Jim Baker engaged in what Freepers would have called RINO activities back then.

Here are a few old news clips from 1983.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iZskAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1jQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6788,822987&dq=gingrich+freeze&hl=en
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aIJQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ORIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6952,1182382&dq=gingrich+freeze&hl=en

When Reagan went with the tax hikes, Newt said, “Hell no.”

He’s far from perfect, but he is shoulders above the other players on the stage at the moment.

...plans impossible to execute at best (how the heck do you go about rounding up 12 million illegals and export them to Meheeko?

I don't know any candidate or official who has ever proposed such a thing. Everyone who brings it up is essentially dishonest and needs to be evaluated for motive in misleading America. Straw man, anyone?

Newt has a plan which begins with border control and ends with control of the alien population. Read it. Learn something.

“If you want to balance the budget and elect someone bullheaded enough to do it then Newt’s the person to do it.”

Thanks for this post. Agree completely.

The idea that we’re going to deport 10 million people is preposterous. Newt’s facing the issue honestly. The sanctimonious screeds here today critical of Newt’s position are completely unrealistic. Mass deportation won’t happen. Mitt is lying about his position, Bachman and Santorium are looking to demagogue the issue to get their campaigns off life support. Newt’s taking heat and probably losing support. But he’s right on the issue. Glad to see he won’t pander. Makes him look stronger in my view.

Is Newt really a conservative??

1. Card-Carrying member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a globalist think tank
2. “Distinguished member” of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (neocon, pro-interventionism group)
3. Voted for NAFTA
4. Continually supported increased federal spending.
5. Supported the National Endowment for the Arts;
6. Voted for the creation of the Federal Dept. of Education in 1979 under Jimmy Carter.
7. He helped push through Federally-funded loan guarantees to Communist China.
8. Urged the House to repeal the War Powers Act and give the Presidency more power.
9 Supported Clinton’s welfare programs, education programs, labor programs, and environmental programs, as well as most of his foreign affairs programs.
10. Pushed for a School Prayer Amendment
11. Bailed out savings and loan institutions in 1991. $40B Bank bailout
12. He cosponsored the 1987 Fairness Doctrine (anti 1st Amendment legislation)
13. 11/27/1994 – He supported the GATT Treaty giving sovereignty to the U.N.
14. 04/10/1995 – He supported Federal taxdollars being spent on abortions.
15. 06/1995 – He wrote the foreword to a book about tearing down the U.S. Constitution and implementing a Fascist World Government.
16. 06/01/1996 – He helped a Democrat switch parties in an attempt to defeat constitutionalist Ron Paul in the 1996 election.
17. 02/15/2007 – He supported Bush’s proposal for mandatory carbon caps.
18. 12/02/2010 – He advocates a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens.
19. 03/15/2011 – Says that NAFTA worked because it created jobs in Mexico.
20. 03/23/2011 – He completely flip-flopped on Libyan intervention in 16 days.
21. 04/25/2011 – He’s a paid lobbyist for Federal ethanol subsidies.
22. 05/15/2011 – He backed Obama’s individual mandate; “All of us have a responsibility to help pay for health care.”
23. He plans to sign as many as 200 executive orders on his first day as president.

and on and on.

Newt is an establishment Republican and just represents more of what we have come to distrust the GOP for.

I don’t think he’ll create a flood of new illegals if he offers amnesty for those who have been here 10-15 years or more.

Besides, Hispanics will be the majority within 50 years. By holding this strident position, the GOP will relegate itself to irrelevancy.

Newt’s being realistic. He sounds an awful lot like Grover Norquist on this question.

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