Posted on 02/23/2007 6:56:57 AM PST by B Knotts
I know it seems I'm too taken with the subject of Newt Gingrich. And yet, this development bears closer scrutiny: Several weeks ago, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a column by Peter Brown of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. Brown wrote that two past political stars, former Vice President Al Gore and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, are essentially "dead on arrival" in the race for the White House.
I offered a counteranalysis, which the newspaper declined to provide its readers. So I'll share it with the rest of the country.
I agree that Gingrich and Gore might appear unelectable right now. But remember that pollster John Zogby declared early in the 2004 race that John Kerry would defeat George W. Bush.
Remember, too, in 1980 when Ronald Reagan had high polling unfavorables nationwide and was not the choice of most of the "Republican elite" in critical primary states.
Also recall that just a year before Richard Nixon suddenly jumped into the 1968 race, he was thought to be GOP political baggage.
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
Nobody should ever underestimate Newt Gingrich's politcal intelligence.
Newt can pull this off. I am still hoping he does just that.
Besides the affair thing, what other baggage is he carrying?
I'll second the question. My memory fails me on the whole Newt baggage thing.
Baggage:
1) let the national debt increase on his watch
2) left the borders open on his watch
Time for new blood. Next!
Although Newt never actually ran for President before, I see a lot of parallels between him and Nixon - both were powerful and fell from grace, and then resurged 8-plus years later.
The budget was more balanced under him than ever before...and yeah, he was weak on borders, but let's face it, it wasn't a major issue back then.
1) The national debt only went up under his watch. The yearly debt did decrease, but no major cuts that required guts.
2) The border issue has been brewing since at least the late 80's. Only now that there are 30+ million illegals, and they are being marketed to since they are 10%+ of the population, is it a front-burner issue.
The national debt? What are you talking about? Trade imbalance or government spending? The government was running a surplus for many of those years.
And on the borders...the laws were in place to enforce the border. It was the Clinton administration who failed to properly enforce those laws. Although, they still did a better job in that particular area than the Bush administration. Just look at the numbers of illegals coming in and deportations.
Two comments that I made was that Newt will enter the race, and that Newt is indeed the elephant in the room. The author did not acknowledge or respond to either comment.
Mostly marital issues. There was also the trumped-up ethics charges.
Mostly though, it's just his negative image, thanks to the media. He did bring some of it on himself, but had he been a Dem, the MSM would have said he was being "targeted" instead of targeting him themselves.
The ethics surrounded some sort of book deal if memory serves correctly.
Thanks for the memory jog.
The book thing was pretty much MSM payback for Newt taking down Jim Wright from the speakership over his book deal. There is an important difference. No one was ever going to read Jim Wright's book, so the advance was basically a payoff. Newt's advance was legitimate, since people actually read his books, but he was nevertheless hounded until he gave it back.
So you would probably go along with the idea from the media that Clinton gets credit for anything good that happens and Newt gets blamed for anything bad.
You must be part of the MSM.
Just remember: lemmings also follow the conventional wisdom... and look where they end up.
"The Gingrich that Stole Christmas." Remember that one? "He's heartless."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.