Gingrich Warns of Conservative 3rd Party in 2012

Newsmax ^ | April 3, 2009 | Newt Gingrich

[John Leland 1789]

Gingrich Warns of Conservative 3rd Party in 2012

Friday, April 3, 2009 8:53 AM

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich warns that conservatives could leave the GOP and form a third party in 2012 if Republicans don’t do more to rein in government spending.

“If the Republicans can’t break out of being the right wing party of big government, then I think you would see a third party movement in 2012, Gingrich said during an address to students at the College of the Ozarks in Missouri.

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/gingrich_third_party/2009/04/03/199346.html?s=al&promo_code=7D64-1

[John Leland 1789]

Right now, if a Democrat wins, you have have a Democrat in office. If a Republican wins, you still have a Democrat in office under the name of Republican.

How many true Republicans can we name who will run for the presidency in 2012?

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Goodness, it might actually COST them something!

This is the problem in a nutshell!

[Cyber Ninja]

Nope, Palin/Jindal 2020

Jindal/??? 2028

Long term, baby, long term.

[El Gato]

Unless you want to loose to the Democrats.

If they don't get their stuff together, the Republicans will lose and go the way of the Whigs anyway. Remember, the Democrat Party was designed for winning elections. They take on whatever ideology seems appropriate, although to some extent they are split as well, the left over hippies and the machine pols. They make good partners, one has ideas, bad ones of course, but ideas, the other just wants to win.

Obummer is a hybrid of the two.

[johnthebaptistmoore]

Conservatism is screwed, no matter which option is seriously tried! If the conservatives truly leave the GOP, then leftists win most political offices by even larger numbers than before, because when the choices are: Democrats, “A Non-Conservative” GOP, and Conservatives, the non-conservatives have a 2-to-1 political advantage over conservatives! If the conservatives decide to continue to stay in the GOP, then all of the non-conservatives in the GOP will still, more often than not, continue to not practice conservatism and greatly dilute the conservative wing of the GOP! There’s no easy, short-term way out of this, at least for the next several years! There will still be pockets of conservatism that do well in parts of the U.S., but, at the same time, everything that leftists throughout the entire U.S. are still doing to gain even more power for the long-term is also successfully being put into place. Leftists worldwide are successfully continuing to: “dumb down” the general public on all of the issues, while also continuing with their political bias in the worldwide MSM and political bias in the worldwide entertainment industry; and practice political indoctrination in schools at every level worldwide. All of this is a ongoing worldwide problem, and not just a U.S. problem! Until conservatives, at the worldwide level, can seriously and successfully come together to the point where a majority of worldwide conservatives really are on the same, exact pages about what to do to successfully become a political majority throughout the entire world, worldwide leftist politics will remain a dominant political force for awhile, if not forever!

[TBP]

It’s called Ameria’s Independent Party http://www.selfgovernment.us/ and http://www.aipnews.com

[El Gato]

Newt, you created a conservative second party in 1994. What did you do with it?

I guess you missed the ceaseless attacks on Newt, both political and personal. The Personal Stuff would have been inconsequential if he'd been, say, Bill Clinton. But he was a Republican.

They demonized Newt just as much as George W. Bush was demonized, but Newt had no 9-11 performance to save his a$$.

[TBP]

Your Republibot scare tactics aren’t working aqnymore.

[SoCalPol]

If you don’t care to support the only Conservative who can beat Obama, Gov. Sarah Palin, enjoy your Obama

[LifeComesFirst]

Suits me, so long as it’s pro-life.

[John Leland 1789]

Obviously to myself, but allow me to add . . .

Right now in the Indiana 9th CongDist there are two young men planning runs to throw Baron Hill out, and obviously he needs being thrown out!

One is Todd Young, the other Travis Hankins. The GOP will probably back Todd Young (I’m guessing at this point), but I smell compromise all over him.

The GOP will probably shun Travis Hankins even though here is the true old-fashioned conservative. He’s just too clear about what he is, what he believes, and how he became a conservative. Hankins is the much more clear heir of Ronald Reagan.

It appears that Todd Young has worked for and is working for the power elite in Orange County and the 9th CongDist. But we need no more of that. We need people of a much simpler nature with truest of ideals.

Some here have mentioned their work in the GOP in their CongDists. That is what is needed, as well as simply knocking on doors in our own neighborhoods (before ACORN does!).

But when we see candidates backed in our districts just because they are beloved of the power-elite, we’ve got to jump on the box and tell them that we see what is happening. We’ve got to quit sending to Washington the people who are just going to get along and so compromise.

[TBP]

A Conservative third party would never win the presidency, and practically guarantee the Democrats wining every time by splitting the center right vote between the GOP candidate and the Third Party candidate.

Isn't that funny? That's exactly what was siad about the new Republican Party about 150 years ago.

[SoCalPol]

So you plan to leave the U.S. when Obama has a 2nd term
or do you plan to stay and enjoy your fruits of stupidity

[TBP]

Read the platform of America’s Independent Party.

[org.whodat]

How many true Republicans can we name who will run for the presidency in 2012?

LOL, good question??

[org.whodat]

When in doubt sell grass!!!

[Cyber Ninja]

High?

[Big Horn]

The US as we know and love it will be long gone before a third party can do anything other than hurt the GOP and help the rats.I would like to see the rats out of power.

[nathanbedford]

Gingrich predicted that “fed up” Americans will instigate a “nationwide rebellion at the polls,” and said the increased government spending under Obama is “literally irrational.”

Gingrich syndrome is causing many Freepers to misunderstand what Newt is saying. It is not fair to criticize him for attempting to break up the Republican Party so he can lead a third-party into the presidency. That is not what he is saying here. He's pointing the way to a potential Republican victory: abandon moderation for fiscal discipline. In other words, opose Obama. He warns, and quite rightly so, that if this warning is not heeded the likely result is the breakup of the party. One need only read through these posts to understand that there is a significant block of Republicans who are ready to bolt the party on this issue. Even though I have often posted that it is only prudent to exploit the party resources rather than to junk it, there comes a time when principle must prevail over pragmatism. Many, many conservatives crossed that line somewhere around 2006.

I have often posted that the only lesson we learned from the election disaster of 2008 is that we learn nothing from the election of 2006. Gingrich is telling us what the lesson is. If we fail to heed this manifestly true analysis, the breakup of the party is inevitable.

I am not going to criticize Gingrich for what he is not reported to have said in this article. But mere fiscal discipline alone is only one leg of the party stool. Social conservatives and defense minded conservatives make up the other two legs without which the stool crashes. I do not know from this article where Gingrich stands on supporting social conservatism. From his other remarks in which he has identified many issues which he has polled to be socially conservative "winners," I have confidence that it will be satisfactory to that wing of the party, of which I count myself a member.

Gingrich has been implicitly criticized by posters on this thread for ambition. They ask, for what purpose does Gingrich seek to lead a third-party into the White House? That is a question every national candidate must answer and the true answer is that it is because he thinks his ideas are better. Ask yourself, for what reason did George W. Bush seek the presidency? I have often posted on this subject and the most charitable that I can be toward Bush is that he sought the office out of a sense of noblisse oblige and Christian service. He did not seek it to advance conservative principles. Those of us who thought otherwise were harshly disillusioned. Many disillusionments came with the appointment of Harriet Miers. Knowing what I know of Gingrich's bona fides as a conservative, I would rather have him in power than any other plausible Republican I can think of, including Sarah Palin whom I adore.

I have been touting Gingrich to become the chairman of the Republican National Committee since before the election of Michael Steele who, as I predicted, has become a walking disaster. I have often said that Newt Gingrich, because of problems in his biography which have been greatly overblown, is probably personally disqualified to be the candidate of the Republican Party for president. That would not be the case in the Democrat party and might not be the case in a third-party. But he would make a great chairman of the Republican Party.

Consider the way he has put his finger on the beating heart of American politics right now. Consider how he has articulated the matter:“It is just literally irrational.” Obama's spending is "irrational." You won't forget that, it says it all. Gingrich is the only man in the Republican Party today who can identify issues and articulate a convincing conservative message. I say again, the only man publicly known who can do those two functions without which we fail again in 2010 and in 2012.

If conservatism fails, it means more than that Obama wins, it means the nation is bankrupted, our democracy is compromised and perhaps even destroyed, it means that your children will inherit a shabby, dreary existence with nothing to feed upon spiritually or intellectually but a diet of political correctness, and an utter forfeiture of their American Birthright.

Those who object to Gingrich have an obligation to put forward the name of a better candidate either for chairman of the party or for president. I think those names should be advanced only if the supporter can show that in a time of acute national and party crisis their candidate can seize the moment at a time of utter peril, akin to Churchill in 1940, re-organize a party, generate hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions, identify the message, and "hurl the English language into battle" against Obama.

[raffish]

Gingrich’s third parties already exist, but he wants an even more special third party that will finally unite the right into a reconquering force. Well, of course he does. By sheer coincidence, my friend’s daughter wants a pony.

If our voting system were based on an instant runoff, or approval voting, or Condorcet, or anything other than what it actually is based on, Gingrich might have a point. But it’s not, and the Republicans won’t let that happen any more than the Democrats will.

The right’s only chance in the medium term is to reach out to those of us of a more libertarian persuasion. We are not out of reach, but we’ve been pushed aside for too long in favor of social conservatism and fundamentalist fervor. No matter how much we might support limited government, we haven’t been offered anything like it recently by the Republican Party. On top of that, we’ve been forced to accept attacks on our gay friends and neighbors, an endlessly invasive drug war that has done at least as much damage to the Bill of Rights as anything the second-amendment defenders have been forced to endure, and just to add comedy to injury, Governor Palin.

This should be fun. State your platform, Mr. Gingrich, and let’s see if that dog will hunt.