Posted on 06/13/2011 4:36:17 AM PDT by Kaslin
Exit Newt Gingrich. Well, not quite yet, officially. On his Facebook page, Gingrich says he will endure "the rigors of campaigning for public office" and "will carry the message of American renewal to every part of this great land, whatever it takes."
Without, however, the assistance of his 16 top campaign aides, some of whom had been with him for years, who resigned en masse last Thursday. They wanted him to spend more time on personal campaigning. He and his wife, Callista, figured they could do a lot of their campaigning and fundraising over the Internet.
This is not the first time that political allies have turned on Gingrich. Most of his fellow House Republican leaders tried to mount a coup to overthrow him in July 1997, in his third year as speaker of the House; he survived, but not for long. Thus, he has twice shown that he can inspire ties of great loyalty -- and can do things that make those ties snap and recoil against him.
Gingrich may keep campaigning -- at the Republican Jewish Coalition on Sunday and at a debate in New Hampshire on Monday night -- but his campaign is effectively over, just a month after he declared he was running.
In 30 days, he careened from one disaster to another, denouncing House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's Medicare plan as "right-wing social engineering" on the Sunday after announcing, later taking a two-week vacation on a cruise in Greece and Turkey.
There is plenty being written about Gingrich's flaws. His personal life has not been entirely admirable, to say the least. He is prone to hyperbole, to making outrageous statements he cannot defend, to shifting positions without informing allies. He spreads himself too thin, writing counterfactual histories of the Civil War and World War II, making documentaries on subjects such as Pope John Paul II's 1979 visit to Poland, setting up one organization after another.
But in the long run, the most interesting things about Newt Gingrich are not his flaws, but his strengths. What enabled this Army brat with no real hometown to become a major political figure who did much to shape American public policy?
It certainly was not connections to any particular political group. Gingrich graduated from good universities, but he is essentially an autodidact, a self-educated loner. He has long been credited with having new ideas, but looking back on his nearly 40-year political career -- he first ran for Congress in Georgia in 1974 -- I think his keenest insights were not about public policy, but about political possibilities.
He foresaw that Republicans could win congressional races in the small-town South and worked hard to prove it, losing first in the Watergate year and then in 1976, when Jimmy Carter swept Georgia, before he beat a conservative Democrat in 1978.
I remember that starting in 1984, he was predicting that Republicans could win a majority in the House. He was wrong then, but he was right in 1994 and he was right about the reasons all along. He saw that Republicans would win most Southern seats and that talented young Democrats elected in the Vietnam/Watergate years would in time retire or be defeated.
He coached politically clueless Republican candidates with the high tech of the day -- hours of Newt on audiotape -- and bucked the Bush 41 White House and House Republican leader in opposing a tax increase in 1990.
As speaker, Gingrich had more policy successes than his current detractors recall. He held federal spending essentially static for a year, setting the budget on a path to surpluses; passed a landmark welfare reform act; and set in motion a Medicare reform commission that recommended premium support, the main feature of Ryan's proposal.
Through all this, Gingrich always was searching for ideas that commanded 70 percent support. He understood that dovish Democrats' disdain for American exceptionalism was a grave political liability and sought to exploit it. But after his first moments in the spotlight as speaker, he turned off voters. I think he reminded them of the high-school nerd/egghead whom all the other kids disliked.
Gingrich turns 68 next week; this was obviously the last year he could run for president. His chances were never great and now seem nonexistent. But we shouldn't forget what this man, with his unusual gifts and despite glaring flaws, managed to accomplish against great odds.
correct
Unfortunately for him, he's going out on a sour note because that period from 1994-98 ended more than 12 years ago and was the peak of his career.
I read that he spent $500K on personal jets to fly home every night. At that moment I knew it was over. Never really liked Newt. He reminded me of Chuckie Schumer “do you know who I AM?” kind of guy. This race is not for grifters.
The WaPo’s article about the staff’s escape mentioned money problems so severe that they were unable to cover the $25,000 filing fee.
The odd ball surprise Dem candidate Alvin Greene managed to find the money.
What does that say about Knut’s executive acumen? Too brilliant to find the bus fare.
Indeed it is
That sums up my own reservations against him, I had a lot of respect for him around '93-'94, he had truly innovative ideas- but then he sat on that couch with Pelosi.
His sitting down with Pelosi is my reason why he will not get my vote
Newt of all trades, master of none.
Leni
He’s whipped. Karma for the first wife.
Very interesting. The truth is that most of these characters — including Newt Gingrich — aren’t serious candidates for the White House at all. This is simply a game they play so they can spend 12-18 months living at the expense of campaign donors rather than going out and getting a “real” job, in the hopes of later negotiating their exit from the race in exchange for a top position in the administration of the eventual nominee.
Through all this, Gingrich always was searching for ideas that commanded 70 percent support. He understood that dovish Democrats' disdain for American exceptionalism was a grave political liability and sought to exploit it. But after his first moments in the spotlight as speaker, he turned off voters. I think he reminded them of the high-school nerd/egghead whom all the other kids disliked.
Barone, a usually very good writer, either doesn't get it or is covering for Newt. Newt's downfall began in 1995 when the Clintons learned about his vile, illicit affair with Callista Bisec, plus, quite possibly, IMHO, other sleazy things that haven't been disclosed, and blackmailed him into dropping much of the pubbie program and not resisting their attacks.
The effects never wore off. Since hen he's done a great job of talking the conservative line but, when it comes to walking the walk, every time when it's been most important, he's pulled the rug out from under us, stabbed us in the back, and allied himself with our enemies and this country's enemies.
This really doesn't make much sense. Most of the items in Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America" were signed into law -- by Bill Clinton himself!
Bye, bye Newt.
He reached for the recognition but was poorly employed as Speaker. The job and Gingrich didn't go together well -- he had a completely different skill set and should have been instead something like whip or policy-committee chair (the late Jennifer Dunn's job when she died), which iirc is the No. 4 spot in the House hierarchy, with whip as No. 3 when the GOP have the majority. The jobs of majority leader and Speaker of the House require too much hobnobbiness and collegiality and other leadership skills which Gingrich never had, and the responsibilities and statesmanship required muzzled him and took away his best tools.
Gingrich should have been the GOP's congressional equivalent of Lee Atwater, defining issues and throwing grenades at Dims who needed fragging -- people like Weinerboy and Freezercash Jefferson and Nancy Pelosi. I'd like to have seen Pelosi pull that "we've got to pass it before we can find out what's in it" b.s. with Gingrich in the House with a lit flamethrower in his hand -- he'd have incinerated her skinny ass. But where was he? Running around organizing seminars with Dims.
I keep waiting for him to go home to Georgia and run for a seat in Congress where he belongs, but I think DC types have ensorcelled him with visions of b.s. "leadership" gigs that will never come to pass.
At this point, all I see when I look at his picture is his resemblence to baby Chuckie of horror pic fame.
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