Posted on 11/18/2011 1:32:48 AM PST by federal__reserve
And there is Gingrich the liberal. “The liberal revulsion toward him obscured how unorthodox — occasionally, how liberal — his conservatism was. The books then and now are full of heresy. He showed a willingness to criticize other Republicans, even Reagan at the height of his popularity. He advocated a health tax on alcohol to discourage drinking — social engineering, it’s called — and imagined government-issued credit cards that would allow citizens to order goods and services directly from the feds. He thought the government should run nutritional programs at grocery stores and give away some foodstuffs free. He was pushing cuts in the defense budget in 1984 and a prototype of President Obama’s cash-for-clunkers program in 1995.”What is noteworthy is not only how liberal are his prescriptions, but how mundanely statist they are.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
This is all crazy. Gingrich has made it fairly clear that he was a “futurist conservative.” What futurists do is spout ideas of what “could” be.
Just because I have an idea does not mean I am advocating it. It means I’m throwing it out there for discussion.
It’s almost like brainstorming. The neat thing about throwing every idea out for discussion is that the process of analysis might actually lead to a derivative idea that will really work.
I don’t know if its apocryphal, but I think I remember that Edison had over a 1000 iterations of the light bulb before he hit the right combination.
What if he’d stopped on idea #1 and said that it doesn’t work?
Here’s an idea about abortion: classify all abortions as homicides. Then allow the facts of the case to determine if it was justifiable, accidental, negligent, intentional, etc. Then charge accordingly.
What will actually happen in the future? I think the forces of life are beginning to turn the corner with more Americans rejecting abortion except for extremity. With the liberal party using abortion as a type of population/race control, they will push hard to head off this turn in American public sentiment. Additionally, our population is not keeping pace due to a low birth rate.
What if we incentivize birth rates by giving college credits to each new live birth born to a married couple?
It promotes life, education, and marriage.
Is it liberal or conservative?
And have I just advocated it, or have I done no more than toss an idea into the ring?
I’m prepared to vote for Newt Gingrich. He is the smartest guy in the room and is a true visionary like Churchill. Yes I know his negatives. . . Even Churchill was turned out of power shortly after he saved Britain in WWII. As an evangelical Christian, I am much more comfortable with Rick Perry. But I don’t want to listen to 4 years of the leftist media shred him Like they did W. My niece worked for Newt at the Enterprise Institute and says that Newt is the best choice to alter the course of this socialist ship of state.
Au contraire. He’s dismissed. Believing Gingrich will prevail as Pubbie pres. candidate requires pretending most of the man is something other than he is.
Gingrich is a loose cannon, but he is very much a big government elitist politician. This is the only conclusion one can come to after examining what the man actually done over the years. Words are cheap. But that Pelosi/Gingrich pic is worth a thousand words.
His “inexplicable” explanation for sharing a love seat with Pelosi should have been the man’s death knell. Yet there are people here on FR who have no problem with that. Well I have a problem with it.
I will not vote for Gingrich under any circumstance. Might as well vote for a demrat and be done with it. Ditto for Perry and Romney. All differtent sides of the same RINO coin.
Why should his stay here be short? Am I missing something?
Good post.
As for Newt’s consulting enterprises: Advising a third party is not advocating! Big difference.
If health care providers and insurance carriers were asking for his advice - it was very likely related to onerous Federal regulations and the potential for Obamacare.
You don’t hire an electrician to design slip covers or an interior designer to fix your plumbing. Newt’s clients got their money’s worth and Newt got an education in private enterprise.
If it replaces guaranteed limitless student loans and federal grants just because your skin is a certain color, then yeah...well, you got me thinking.
That's Newt's way. Get people thinking about and discussing something.
Whats disputable about this? Why would conservatives want to nominate a loose cannon with no fixed principles who is also a serial adulterer ? Why in the world why?
Face it everyone...Mitt is the choice of the RINO and Dem Establishment. He is the ONE they want to face Obama. Every other candidate that even gets close to getting the nomination will be vetted in a way that neither Mitt or President Obama will ever be vetted. They were able to smear Cain with accusations, but enough that he has lost a significan part of women.
If we want an alternative candidate we have work cut out for us. The mud will be coming thick and heavy for any other candidate. Huntsman would be another “darling” of the establishment but he has no way of getting any traction at this point.
I think Gingrich is obviously a conservative, and obviously an intellectual. However, he is not a consummate conservative, and he is not, as of yet, in complete control of his intellect or his zipper. He wouldn’t be my first choice, but as a replacement for the country killer Obama, he would be a blessing.
Newt got his education on the taxpayers dime and a hefty retirement plan to boot.
His consulting firm only exists because he spent a lifetime in the halls of Congress and was Speaker of the House.
I have a problem with selling governmental insider intellectual information to advance the goal of how to get my tax dollar. From what I can discern, most of his clients are Lobbyist.
Newt’s claim not to be a Lobbyist, reminds me of Bill Clinton tell us “I didn’t have sex with that woman” fame.
Then, that’s just my opinion.
I will vote for Newt if he is the nominee (NEVER ROMNEY), but he is a big-government guy, make no mistake.
There is no question in my mind that money is important to this guy. He's a rabid fundraiser and he gets people to open up those wallets. Fish gotta swim. Birds gotta fly. Politicians raise money.
Full disclosure: As a registered Independant, I can't vote for anyone in the PA primary. If I could and had to vote today, it would be for Newt.
They each personally killed a cow to sit on that couch but Gingrich might as well have eaten it live, figuratively speaking.
The big picture is that all private companies; big and small, need advice - because the government controls every move they make with punative taxes and regulations.
From NLRB, FDA, HIPPA, EPA, HHs, SSec and Medicare - the government takes the money in one form or another.
Newt pursued a ‘career’ in politics and decided to ‘get out’ following specious ethics complaints (all but one charge dismissed) and having made enemies on both sides of the aisle.
He could have continued to earn a living with his consulting entities - but chooses instead to run for election again.
Can you fault him for wanting to stop socialism? He has seen the future and believes he can make a difference.
Have you done as much? Put yourself in the media’s meat grinder?
The stench of hypocrisy wafting off the Newt team is getting too potent to ignore.
LOVE the way they all race around here posting fraudulent childish personal attacks at all the other candidates then whine like pitiful children the second anything factual that is critical of Newt is pointed out.
I’m hoping after we’ve destroyed all our candidates we’ll be able to hold out for the white knight...yeah, that’s the plan..the white knight will destroy Romney, right?
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