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Gingrich and Reagan (Newt's repeated personal insults of Reagan and his successful policies)
National Review ^ | January 25, 2012 4:00 A.M. | Elliot Abrams

Posted on 01/25/2012 9:52:02 AM PST by T. Jefferson

In the increasingly rough Republican campaign, no candidate has wrapped himself in the mantle of Ronald Reagan more often than Newt Gingrich. “I worked with President Reagan to change things in Washington,” “we helped defeat the Soviet empire,” and “I helped lead the effort to defeat Communism in the Congress” are typical claims by the former speaker of the House.

The claims are misleading at best. In the Reagan years I was an assistant secretary of state — Mr. Gingrich voted with the president regularly, but equally often spewed insulting rhetoric at Reagan, his top aides, and his policies to defeat Communism. Gingrich was voluble and certain in predicting that Reagan’s policies would fail, and in all of this he was dead wrong.

President Reagan is clearly failing.” Why? This was due partly to “his administration’s weak policies, which are inadequate and will ultimately fail”; partly to CIA, State, and Defense, which “have no strategies to defeat the empire.” “The burden of this failure frankly must be placed first on President Reagan.” Our efforts against the Communists in the Third World were “pathetically incompetent.”

Gingrich’s called Reagan’s meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev “the most dangerous summit for the West since Adolf Hitler met with Neville Chamberlain in Munich.”

Far from becoming a reliable voice for Reagan policy and the struggle against the Soviets, Gingrich took on Reagan and his administration. It appears to be a habit: He did the same to George W. Bush when Bush was making the toughest and most controversial decision of his presidency — the surge in Iraq. Here again Gingrich provided no support for his party’s embattled president, testifying as a private citizen in 2007 that the strategy was “inadequate,” contained “breathtaking” gaps, lacked “synergism” (whatever that means), and was “very disappointing.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Cheese, Moose, Sister
KEYWORDS: gingrich; reagan; sovietunion; surge; zot
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To: T. Jefferson

So the NRO thinks the base is going to be upset that Gingrich was taking stances to the right of Reagan himself? LOL! Alrighty then.


21 posted on 01/25/2012 10:20:59 AM PST by Blackyce (President Jacques Chirac: "As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure.")
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To: WOBBLY BOB

I smell ozone.


22 posted on 01/25/2012 10:21:44 AM PST by Yankee (ANNOY THE RNC AND THE MEDIA: NOMINATE NEWT GINGRICH!)
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To: T. Jefferson

National review LOL

Yea the establishment rag, maybe you forgot the sarc tag


23 posted on 01/25/2012 10:22:36 AM PST by manc (Marriage is between one man and one woman.Trolls get a life, I HATE OUR BIASED LIBERAL MEDIA.)
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To: T. Jefferson

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/post?id=2837668%2C1

please read and you’ll see the National review is a RINO rag and full of lies to help their elitist establishment pal Romney


24 posted on 01/25/2012 10:26:32 AM PST by manc (Marriage is between one man and one woman.Trolls get a life, I HATE OUR BIASED LIBERAL MEDIA.)
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To: T. Jefferson
Gingrich’s called Reagan’s meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev “the most dangerous summit for the West since Adolf Hitler met with Neville Chamberlain in Munich.”

Gingrich was 180-degrees wrong. It was a master stroke and huge victory for Reagan.

25 posted on 01/25/2012 10:27:02 AM PST by montag813
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To: txrefugee

Yes, my thought as well. I wonder what role Elliot Abrams had in the 76 Reagan Campaign?


26 posted on 01/25/2012 10:27:31 AM PST by MSF BU
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To: T. Jefferson

Elliott Abrams might have worked in two republican administrations but he’s a democrat through and through. One those warmongering democrats who never saw a war he didn’t like, or a country he didn’t want to attack. Most democrats like Willard the liberal, he’s one of them.


27 posted on 01/25/2012 10:27:36 AM PST by NKP_Vet (creep.)
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To: MSF BU

Don’t you mean Abrams role in the 1976 Jimmy Carter campaign?

Here is some of Abrams pedigree-—
Abrams worked as an assistant counsel on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in 1975, then worked as a staffer on Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson’s brief campaign for the 1976 Democratic Party presidential nomination. From 1977 through 1979, he served as special counsel and ultimately as chief of staff for the then-new senator Daniel Moynihan.

Through Senator Moynihan, Abrams was introduced to Rachel Decter, the stepdaughter of Moynihan’s friend Norman Podhoretz, editor of Commentary. They were married in 1980. The couple has three children: Jacob, Sarah, and Joseph.[10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Abrams
Has East Coast HACK written ALL over HIM!


28 posted on 01/25/2012 10:30:14 AM PST by Presbyterian Reporter
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To: MNJohnnie

“In his 2nd term Reagan did a bunch of stuff that pissed off Conservatives. Tax hikes, Spending increases, Amnesty etc. What Gingrich was saying about him was mild compared to what most on the Right were saying about him in 1986-89.”.
You want to know WHY “In his 2nd term Reagan did a bunch of stuff that pissed off Conservatives”? I think that President Reagan knew he was starting to have to initial phases of Alzheimer’s Disease and he was starting to “let” VP George HW Bush have more and more day to day control of things. Alot of the BS that President Reagan “approved” in his 2nd term have GHWB RINO fingerprints ALL OVER THEM.


29 posted on 01/25/2012 10:30:26 AM PST by US Navy Vet (Go Packers! Go Rockies! Go Boston Bruins! See, I'm "Diverse"!)
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30 posted on 01/25/2012 10:33:58 AM PST by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: MNJohnnie

“I would love to see what NRO’s editorial board was writing about Reagan in 1986-1987-1988.

I am betting it a lot harsher then anything Newt ever said about Reagan.”

That would be interesting to see. That would be a worthwhile project that probably wouldn’t take too long.

Any takers?


31 posted on 01/25/2012 10:34:57 AM PST by publius321
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To: T. Jefferson
What's your point? Romney or Santorum good, Newt bad?

This is one of the poorest written articles I have read in ages. Why you find the need to soil this forum with this kind of demagoguery is beyond me.

Newt was one of Reagan's best advocates during both of his terms. AND YOU KNOW IT!

So, if the hair starts to stand up on the back of your neck any time soon, find shelter immediately. It is usually the first sign that a bolt of lighetning is headed your way.

32 posted on 01/25/2012 10:35:22 AM PST by PSYCHO-FREEP (If you come to a fork in the road, take it........)
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To: T. Jefferson
What's your point? Romney or Santorum good, Newt bad?

This is one of the poorest written articles I have read in ages. Why you find the need to soil this forum with this kind of demagoguery is beyond me.

Newt was one of Reagan's best advocates during both of his terms. AND YOU KNOW IT!

So, if the hair starts to stand up on the back of your neck any time soon, find shelter immediately. It is usually the first sign that a bolt of lightening is headed your way.

33 posted on 01/25/2012 10:35:36 AM PST by PSYCHO-FREEP (If you come to a fork in the road, take it........)
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To: US Navy Vet

You know, that really makes a lot of sense. Parts of the 2nd Reagan term sure do look like GB the 1st one term from 1989-1993.


34 posted on 01/25/2012 10:36:17 AM PST by MNJohnnie (Giving more money to DC to fix the Debt is like giving free drugs to addicts think it will cure them)
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To: PSYCHO-FREEP

His point seems to be that Newt needs to be watched closely because his judgement is somtimes questionable, other times wrong and sometimes visioary. He was wrong to attack Reagan many years ago on the Soviet union and he was wrong today on univision pandering to illegals. But follow blindly if you must.


35 posted on 01/25/2012 10:40:03 AM PST by jwalsh07
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To: T. Jefferson

Gingrich was the Congressional Reagan.

Mitt Romney whose famous political family are the Mormon Bushes of the Republican party, despised Reagan and the right so much that he left the Republican party.

Romney only came went back into the GOP when he was ready to start the process of taking over the party.


36 posted on 01/25/2012 10:41:02 AM PST by ansel12 (Romney is unquestionably the weakest party front-runner in contemporary political history.)
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To: MNJohnnie

I never thought we’d start allowing people to attack Reagan to defend a less conservative candidate here.

Personally, I don’t mind people expressing opinions, even wrong ones, but this place does zot people for attacking conservative icons. And apparently, Gingrich.


37 posted on 01/25/2012 10:42:22 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: MNJohnnie

The President Reagan of 1981-1985 would NEVER have APPOVED a BS “Scheme” like “Iran-Contra”. CIA Director Casey would have NEVER gone along w/ it either.


38 posted on 01/25/2012 10:42:32 AM PST by US Navy Vet (Go Packers! Go Rockies! Go Boston Bruins! See, I'm "Diverse"!)
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To: MNJohnnie

Gee, it wasn’t that long ago that YOU were posting articles attacking Gingrich. Now that you have switched candidates, you are going to attack Reagan and claim he ceded his presidency to Bush, just to defend Gingrich?


39 posted on 01/25/2012 10:46:42 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: T. Jefferson

Military leaders and even Margret Thatcher thought Reagan was not taking a hard enough line with the Soviets

He had to fight borh ends —those in the Left that wanted him to make concessions and those on the right that wanted a tougher stance


40 posted on 01/25/2012 10:49:35 AM PST by uncbob
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