Needs to be pulled for failure to have a barf alert notice.
LOL! Newt is far more Neville Chamberlain than Churchill. Under pressure he folds like origami.
Newt? Not exactly.
“the man Republicans keep saying they would like to see on the debate stage with Barack Obama.”
Really?
Watch Newt capitulate to John Kerry on the debate stage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19dCkabVBbY
Some people seem to have a death wish.
No. Churchill was a back bench voice against the number one existential threat to his country for a couple of decades.
Gingrich has been playing footsie with the forces of American national destruction for a couple of decades.
Churchill?
Gingrich is definitely a legend in his own mind.
Interesting article.
There are indeed significant similarities between the two men, but then there are also big differences.
Similarities:
As the article says, Newt has a real grasp of where we are heading as a society. I first read some of his books back in the 70s (I think) when nobody had heard of him, and was very impressed.
NOBODY is going to successfully pull the old “Palin/Cain/Bush/Perry is an idiot” trick on Newt. Just won’t work, anymore than it would have on Winston. He knows his stuff. Would demolish Obama in debate, as he’s never really been challenged in his entire life.
I agree Newt’s “colorful” private life has been exaggerated, but then Winston had a pretty colorful early life himself. He got assignments to all over the Empire, as the article says, from his mother’s friends, but this is a euphemism. She had about half the British political establishment of the time as lovers, and she pulled their strings for her boy.
Differences:
Winston showed “principles of iron.” I’ve never seen that solid base of principle in Newt. We can hope it’s there.
During the 30s the world was headed for disaster. Winston saw it and warned of it constantly, in stark contrast to the pols of his time who kept kicking the can down the road while the danger grew and got closer.
Over the last 15 to 20 years the world has been equally heading for disaster, this time as an economic debt crisis. I’m not aware of Newt being a lone voice prophesying in the wilderness in opposition. He seems more of a can-kicker in this regard.
But I’ll take him over Romney.
I am a Newt fan, but this is ridiculous.
Newt is Clement Atlee.
I’ve been making this comparison for a few weeks now.
Gingrich is America’s Churchill.
Anyone who knows Churchill’s history of rejection by the Brits, and finally an acceptance of him as the man for that time, knows that the comparison is apt.
This is an outstanding article.
Gingrich is Churchill.
This is a time of crisis, and Gingrich, with all his warts, is the want for this time.
His competition pales in comparison to his ability, experience, and knowledge.
I’ve been making this comparison for a few weeks now.
Gingrich is America’s Churchill.
Anyone who knows Churchill’s history of rejection by the Brits, and finally an acceptance of him as the man for that time, knows that the comparison is apt.
This is an outstanding article.
Gingrich is Churchill.
This is a time of crisis, and Gingrich, with all his warts, is the man for this time.
His competition pales in comparison to his ability, experience, and knowledge.
One should read it through (4 web pages) before rolling one’s eyes. In my circles I’m considered an authority on Churchill. I would say this comparison is not easily dismissed. There was iron and clay in Churchill.
Just read it, and it wouldn’t hurt to read up on Churchill either. Numerous excellent works on the subject...
Could be. Churchill got his head handed to him in an election against Socialists too.
The famous myth of the first Gingrich divorce is discussed here by Gingrich's daughter Jackie Gingrich Cushman, who was present at the time. Surprise, surprise -- fact, says Ms. Cushman, is different than left-wing fiction. The first Mrs. Gingrich, a private person, is very much still alive, present and accounted for and not deceased as in the tale.The story runs roughly that the dastardly Newt took divorce papers to his dying wife's bedside when she had no idea a divorce was in the offing, shocking her as she lay dying. In fact Mrs. Gingrich, says her daughter, had herself requested the divorce long before Gingrich entered her hospital room. The story, says Cushman, is fiction from start to finish.
Gingrich's political mistake was not understanding that such a personal moment would be distorted and used by liberal opponents. Out of such a moment perhaps comes the Newtonian understanding of the need for a political rapid response team whose sole purpose is to flag political untruths on the spot. Be that as it may, this tale shows the endurance of a political Bigfoot tale, the political equivalent of the fictional monster repeatedly spotted but mysteriously never actually captured because, of course, in fact it doesn't exist.
The interesting irony of what is shaping up as political reality in the 2012 Republican campaign is that those who may well be troubled by Gingrich's personal life are more troubled by Romney's flip-flopping political life and apparent dedication to management over principle.
Undiplomatically put, if front-runner Romney is a man without personal blemish and all manner of political warts, conservatives may prefer the man with the consistent political life and the long-known once thoroughly inconsistent personal life. A personal life that now in fact seems what it is, that of a securely married 68-year old grandfather. Indeed, this story from the Washington Times says this Romney/Gingrich personal versus political phenomenon is already in play in Iowa, with evangelicals tilting to Gingrich for just this reason
Add to this that Newt was a 16 year old minor when his 1st wife, his high school geometry teacher began an affair with him. That same act just put a woman in prison for 4 years in our town of Mason, here in the greater Cincinnati area.
FREEREPUBLIC NEEDS TO POST THE NEAREST BARF BAG LOCATIONS FOR MEMBERS ALONG WITH SUCH POSTS.
The famous myth of the first Gingrich divorce is discussed here by Gingrich's daughter Jackie Gingrich Cushman, who was present at the time. Surprise, surprise -- fact, says Ms. Cushman, is different than left-wing fiction. The first Mrs. Gingrich, a private person, is very much still alive, present and accounted for and not deceased as in the tale.The story runs roughly that the dastardly Newt took divorce papers to his dying wife's bedside when she had no idea a divorce was in the offing, shocking her as she lay dying. In fact Mrs. Gingrich, says her daughter, had herself requested the divorce long before Gingrich entered her hospital room. The story, says Cushman, is fiction from start to finish.
Gingrich's political mistake was not understanding that such a personal moment would be distorted and used by liberal opponents. Out of such a moment perhaps comes the Newtonian understanding of the need for a political rapid response team whose sole purpose is to flag political untruths on the spot. Be that as it may, this tale shows the endurance of a political Bigfoot tale, the political equivalent of the fictional monster repeatedly spotted but mysteriously never actually captured because, of course, in fact it doesn't exist.
The interesting irony of what is shaping up as political reality in the 2012 Republican campaign is that those who may well be troubled by Gingrich's personal life are more troubled by Romney's flip-flopping political life and apparent dedication to management over principle.
Undiplomatically put, if front-runner Romney is a man without personal blemish and all manner of political warts, conservatives may prefer the man with the consistent political life and the long-known once thoroughly inconsistent personal life. A personal life that now in fact seems what it is, that of a securely married 68-year old grandfather. Indeed, this story from the Washington Times says this Romney/Gingrich personal versus political phenomenon is already in play in Iowa, with evangelicals tilting to Gingrich for just this reason
Add to this that Newt was a 16 year old minor when his 1st wife, his high school geometry teacher, began an affair with him. That same act just put a woman in prison for 4 years in our town of Mason, here in the greater Cincinnati area.
The Newt vs. Winston comparison is, right now anyway, way over the top. Despite the relatively easy comparisons between the two in their earlier years, the era that Churchill lived in provided an opportunity for his character to surface. Character that was not always evident in his younger days.
But if the struggles of an era reveal the bedrock character of a man thrust into leadership for the time, I would certainly prefer to place my bet on someone who has failed and admitted it and had the courage to get back in the arena rather than someone who has failed and refuses to admit it (Obama) or someone who appears to have never “failed” and whose biggest struggle seems to have been to stand up to withering media scrutiny over letting his dog ride on the roof of his car (Romney).
Whoever said that the American electorate can be very forgiving certainly has not met the anti-Newt contingent at Free Republic. How they could prefer four more years of Obama to casting a vote for Gingrich (or even Romney for that matter) strikes me as a childish temper tantrum, a matter of arrested development. As Rumsfeld noted, you go to war with the army you have. And right now, Gingrich is, perhaps, the most powerful part of that army. If he gains the nomination and Republicans and conservatives choose not to rally around him (or yes, even Mitt if that should be the unfortunate case), they will most certainly wind up with the government they deserve.
Does someone need to put down the crack pipe?
No. Churchill could keep his pants zipped.