To me, he shows a lack of self-restraint, which is toxic in a Washington culture that continually breaks the constraints of the Constitution - and Newt has also shown he could care less about such when it gets in the way of his pet agendas, such as when he stood with Hillary and pushed for a federal program for electronic medical records.
Yeah, Newt is knowledgeable and can debate better than the other candidates. So we have to ask - would he be able to overcome his baggage to win the general, and would he take actions as president to truly curtail the growth of the federal behemoth.
For all of his recent talk of federal restraint, his past actions since leaving the House call into question his sincerity of such.
With Perry, at least I get the sense that when he talks of the 10th Amendment, he means it. Doesn't mean Perry wouldn't go all native if he went to DC, but at least that aspect of his current belief system is consistent with his record as governor.
We conservatives can see that Rick Perry, or Herman Cain, or Newt Gingrich, or even Michelle Bachmann or Rick Santorum can do a better cnservative job than the current commie-in-chief. and electability is a looming problem, especially with we conservatives doing the dirty work of assassinating the character of each f our own candidates. I have just chosen to set aside the category of personal marital problems because I see Newt as havign the only actually written down for all to contemplate plan to resotre American exceptionalism and perhaps crush the three enemies of We The People America: economic indenture; military fecklessness, and secular humanist rot.
How can conservatives trust him to be good to them after the way he treated multiple wives?...I am talking about the affairs. This will all come out when the media starts really focusing on him, and I don't think it will be pretty.
Also, when he is not under the pressure of an election, he has shown to go way left. He has been talking fiscal conservatism, but the way he gave energy to the left by trashing the Ryan economic plan is quite revealing. Not to mention the endorsement of Scozzafava in an election where conservatives (tea party) were trying to send a message, was a sucker punch to conservatives.
His believe system in regards to Islam is a national security threat IMO. You cannot enable, invite and cater to the muslim community as he has and does without recognizing it goes hand and hand with their agenda to populate and that with the idea of the Islamification of America...which is surely in Texas and growing leap and bounds...no thanks to Perry's work to bring them there.