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Why a Newt Gingrich Candidacy Would Doom the Tea Party
The Altantic ^ | 120611 | Conor Friedersdorf

Posted on 12/06/2011 7:35:10 PM PST by Fred

Gallup finds that 82 percent of Tea Party affiliated voters deem Newt Gingrich an acceptable Republican presidential nominee in 2012. They don't seem to realize that if he wins the nod their movement is doomed, regardless of how the general election goes. The Tea Party cannot support Gingrich without betraying its core principles. But the movement also cannot disclaim him once he is the Republican nominee.

Tea Partiers with a better instinct for self-preservation would see that none of the Mitt Romney alternatives still running would be as corrosive to their cause as the former Speaker of the House.

Why?

The Tea Party wasn't just a reaction to President Obama or the financial industry bailouts. As Jonah Goldberg puts it, "a major motivating passion of the tea-party movement was a long-delayed backlash against George W. Bush and his big-government conservatism." Support for the War on Terrorism and the invasion of Iraq caused many conservatives to stay loyal to Bush. But that didn't mean they liked No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, the attempt at a guest worker program, TARP, or the Harriet Miers nomination. Especially after the defeat of John McCain, many on the right insisted they'd never again support Bush-Rove conservatism.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 0bamavsgingrich; 0romneypost; 0stealthmitt; biggovt; corporatewelfare; eyeofnewt; gingrich; influencepeddler; lobbyist; mandates; newtgingrich; teaparty
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To: montag813

I’m not a Republican. I’m a Tea Party conservative and I’ll be voting for Michelle Bachmann.


81 posted on 12/06/2011 8:29:32 PM PST by JohnBrownUSA (Don't Tread On America!)
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To: AlexW
"Newt is maybe the sharpest of all, but has a lot of baggage that he can not just throw away."

If Newt has baggage, 0bama has a luggage train.

82 posted on 12/06/2011 8:29:56 PM PST by NicknamedBob (I am as down-to-Earth as a baby duck, but my mind still roams the stars.)
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To: Prokopton

The point is many went along because of the urgency Paulson presented.......Backmann had info others did not and why she cried “wolf” about Paulson’s plea. Unfortunately she lacked the clout necessary to be heard.

I do like Bachmann...but she just doesn’t have the “it” needed to gather the momentum she needs to rise to the top...I wish she did.


83 posted on 12/06/2011 8:30:02 PM PST by caww
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To: Sun

A repentant sinner is as American as apple pie. Newt all the way.


84 posted on 12/06/2011 8:30:20 PM PST by Ge0ffrey
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To: caww

I was letting it pass and I will likely go back to that mode, because I’m usually too busy to bother with crap, but when I see the same posters repeating the same crap over and over and over and over again, I have to wonder whether they’re actually that damn dense, unwilling to budge, just plain liars or trolls?


85 posted on 12/06/2011 8:31:03 PM PST by onyx (PLEASE SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC:DONATE MONTHLY! Sarah's New Ping List - tell me if you want on it.)
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To: Fred

One term POTUS.


86 posted on 12/06/2011 8:31:31 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: caww

Yup. They are in full force lately on Free Republic, the Paulistinians.


87 posted on 12/06/2011 8:32:11 PM PST by TitansAFC (Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry are not your enemies, my fellow Freepers!)
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To: JohnBrownUSA

That’s fine...but lets hope your candidate rises to the top so your vote won’t go to the wind....and we end up with Obama again.


88 posted on 12/06/2011 8:32:14 PM PST by caww
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To: Fred

Grow a thick skin and a strong backbone bc the vermin critters will throw everything at us. And above all, ABOVE ALL, don’t get sucked into defensive mode as long as the radical alyskyite marxist community agitator and his gang of Occupeers are confronting us. Attack attack attack and throw everything including their audacious hypocrisy and the kitchen sink right back at them.


89 posted on 12/06/2011 8:32:39 PM PST by parisa
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To: JohnBrownUSA

Ditto.

I will never surrender to amnesty, or individual mandate.


90 posted on 12/06/2011 8:32:46 PM PST by heiss (heartless and inhumane (radical rightwinger))
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To: onyx
You’re really quite a liar.

Gingrich doesn’t not support obamacare or the unconstitutional mandate.

Gingriches own words in his own column:

"In order to make coverage more accessible, Congress must do more, including passing legislation to: establish a national health insurance marketplace by giving individuals the freedom to shop for insurance plans across state lines; provide low-income families with $1,000 in direct contributions to a health savings account, along with a $2,000 advanced tax credit to purchase an HSA-eligible high-deductible health plan; make premiums for these plans tax deductible; provide tax rebates to small businesses that contribute to their employees’ HSAs; extend and expand grant funding to high-risk pools across the country; and require anyone who earns more than $50,000 a year to purchase health insurance or post a bond."

91 posted on 12/06/2011 8:33:25 PM PST by Prokopton
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To: RockinRight
I think what Newt lacks can be somewhat tempered by a good VP, preferably with executive experience (Bob McDonnell of VA comes to mind), and a conservative GOP majority in both the House and the Senate.

It's hard to imagine a President who needs "tempering" by a VP or a Congress, when it's the President's job to lead the country, the VP and, especially, the Congress.

92 posted on 12/06/2011 8:33:48 PM PST by okie01 (THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Ignorance On Parade)
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To: make no mistake

I will not, I repeat, I will not vote for Mitt. Otherwise, all options are open. Much can happen between now and election day.


93 posted on 12/06/2011 8:33:51 PM PST by doc1019 (Romney will never get my vote)
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To: Sun
"While Newt isn’t the worst, he’s not the most conservative either, and it’s hard for me to believe that many Tea Partiers support him."

We want someone to clearly articulate common sense.

No other Republican since Ronald Reagan had that talent!!!

94 posted on 12/06/2011 8:34:20 PM PST by PALIN SMITH (In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.)
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To: onyx

Doesn’t Newt have his own version of Mitt/Hillary/Obama ‘care’?


95 posted on 12/06/2011 8:34:37 PM PST by Carthego delenda est
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To: PALIN SMITH

Obama called them, “bitter clingers,” Newt called them, “right wing social engineers.” Neither likes them.


96 posted on 12/06/2011 8:36:27 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: Fred
Goody, another concern troll.

I think we are all well aware of Gingrich's "baggage". We also know he engineered the GOP takeover of the House, forced Clinton to govern as a center-right President instead of center-left as Clinton would have preferred, leaving a welfare reform, which represented the sole retreat of the welfare state since the New Deal as the main legislative accomplishment of the period, and giving us budget surpluses instead of deficits. Meaning, he's the only candidate who ever actually walked-the-walk of shrinking government in a meaningful way. He's also a fighter. I think he may be the only candidate in the pack who will go for the jugular if Obama as expected makes the general campaign a mud-slinging festival.

I'm not sure I'll back him in the Kansas caucuses if the nomination is still in doubt at that point, but I'm jolly well not going to let some leftist writing in The Atlantic with faux concern for the good of the Tea Party decide the matter.

97 posted on 12/06/2011 8:37:40 PM PST by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know. . .)
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To: grey_whiskers

I’m a full-on Freeper and even wear the eagle t-shirt. I didn’t sign on for ulterior motives.

I post here regularly.

My problem is with what it will take to win New England. And even though I admre him, Newt will have a tough road in the northeast, especailly among women.

Call me a fool, but don’t call me a phoney.


98 posted on 12/06/2011 8:41:15 PM PST by BillyBonebrake
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To: caww

In 2008, GOP nominee McCain was a RINO-lite.

In 2012, GOP possible nominee Gingrich is a RINO-lite.

Didn’t you all learn your lesson in 2008 when Obama beat a RINO-lite?

Did you all forget about the Tea Party victories in November of 2010?

C’mon, seriously!


99 posted on 12/06/2011 8:44:23 PM PST by JohnBrownUSA (Don't Tread On America!)
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To: JohnBrownUSA

From another ard core Tea Party Conservative....:

“I am convinced that Newt can make the changes and lead the Country back to our Christian, Constitional, Conservitive roots. .....But he can’t do this without the help of the “conservative majority” people supporting him.

This is a time for the uniting of the people for the sake of “Freedom”. We must put aside Newt’s past personal problems and see that he is the best person for the job..... Newt asked God for forgivness and he has repented for his sins…he did it on national TV…what more can we ask of a person!

Newt is a ‘Ronald Reagan Christian Conservative’ whose time has come…let’s unite behind this man for our Country’s sake…for our children and grandchildren’s sake…for our own sake. Can’t you just invision a debate between Newt and Obama! “GOD BLESS AMERICA”


100 posted on 12/06/2011 8:44:37 PM PST by caww
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