No, I don't know, how about the progressive standard? You know how I would answer that? "Glenn says I'm a progressive? He's wrong. I do not in any way believe in big government". Then I would continue on with the rest of what he said. But Gingrich did not.
I'd bet every freeper would answer this in roughly the same way I would. I would be personally offended to be called a progressive, and while I wouldn't respond in an offended way, I would certainly categorically refute it instead of playing the word games that progressives always play.
This is aggravating to be talked down to like this from Newt. We know what progressivism is, and you sir are a progressive.
His accomplishments speak for themselves. Cutting taxes, cutting the deficit, balancing the budget, reducing unemployment, blocking socialist programs, etc, are all conservative accomplishments and are all things we desperately need to do today!
Oh come on - that was a loaded question - NOT denying something is NOT affirming the statement to be true. If he was a real “progressive”, the MSM would be pushing him.
Hard to do when he admitted he was a Teddy Roosevelt Progressive, he just haggled on which era of Teddy's presidency his philosophy rightly belonged in.
I was listening this morning when Beck called Newt a progressive and either shortly before or shortly after said that if he had to vote “TODAY” he’d vote for Romney.
Now how in the hell does THAT makes ANY sense?
I agree. It wasn’t until I actually researched Teddy Roosevelt, a progressive, that I realized how much I did not like the man’s politics. He is nearly as responsible as FDR and Woodrow Wilson for the mess we are in today. Republican ‘progressives’ are the doormen of the devil that is our modern left. They make possible what the left by itself could never accomplish on its own.
Newt’s reply was GREAT!
The tag of “progressive” has been hijacked by the left and ignores its true meaning:
“Promoting or favoring progress toward better conditions or new policies, ideas, or methods”
Progress is whatever the speaker wants it to be. Moving toward tradition values is progress to most of us here at FR.
And, Beck jumped the shark when he left Fox and became Romney’s surrogate.
We are in this together, folks....
Great, I can vote for the Progressive Obama or the Progressive Grinch.
Deck is fully stacked, have a happy voting day.
Progressives are traitors and should be run out of the country for the damage they have done. Anybody that likes the idea of a New World Order is a progressive traitor. Republican and Democrat mean pretty much nothing these days. One party is Marxist Mafia goons trying to destroy the Constitution, the other is Congressional Mafia goons trying to do the same.
What hubris! Newt taking credit for all of Reagan’s achievements.
The man is a megalomaniac.
You call Newt a “progressive” and what do you call the other Mass. flip-flopper running as a Republican????
Oh, and what do you call obama
What do you call Ron Paul
What do you call glen beck?????
If Gingrich really said this, then he is a liar. The budget hasn't been balanced in over 40 years.
Newt enjoys the verbal jujitsu. I’m happy to give him the same latitude given to those that have difficulty articulating their thoughts. It’s the completeness of the message that counts, and less so the delivery.
Gingrich says he is ‘Wilsonian’?
“...Wilson’s two terms in office provide the clearest historical window into the soul of progressivism. Wilson’s racism, his ideological rigidity, and his antipathy toward the Constitution were all products of the progressive worldview. And since “progressivism” is suddenly in vogue – today’s leading Democrats proudly wear the label – it’s worth actually reviewing what progressivism was and what actually happened under the last full-throated progressive president.
The record should give sober pause to anyone who’s mesmerized by the progressive promise.
Wilson, like the bulk of progressive intellectuals in fin-de-siècle America, was deeply influenced by three strands of thought: philosophical Pragmatism, Hegelianism, and Darwinism. This heady intellectual cocktail produced a drunken arrogance and the conviction that the old rules no longer applied.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2008/0205/p09s01-coop.html
The only ones who are supporting Newt right now are the people, including a majority of those who identify with the Tea Party. In 1980, we called them Reagan Democrats.
When Newt calls Obama a radical Alinskyite at his core, we get it. When Beck says the same thing, with all his charts, and arrows, it borders on neurosis.
I will go to war with Newt against what I consider the greatest threat to America's values in its rich history. But, right now we NEED government. Government is the ONLY hope, short of an armed revolution, to undo the damage of the past 4 years. We need somebody with a little brass , not a puppet of the Party Establishment. We needs somebody who is not afraid to speak what's on his mind and speak clearly and coherently to the people without a teleprompter on a wide range of issues, not only in 30 second sound bites.
It's a shame that a vigorous and outspoken Ronald Reagan is not around today to share his insight. 2012 is incredibly similar to 1980 in many ways. Newt understands this and is running a Reaganesque campaign...hitting the same broad themes upgraded for 21st century reality.
That said; by same standards of 'comments' one might imagine that Glenn Beck is a 'progressive' given his comments on Ron Paul - who himself; if one extrapolates his 'foreign policy and Military analysis; would put him 'further' Left; than the average Leftie. . .and so 'progressive'.
Words mean things; but depends on who is interpreting and from 'whatever 'data/context.
Deeds mean a great deal too; as does hindsight, for that matter. Of course and as well; is the the ability to recognize one's mistakes. . .and admit them. Learning from 'history' matters; and clearly Newt is not just a teacher; but a 'student' as well. All the better, IMHO; for being successful.
Certainly works better; than the 'status quo' MO, Romney and GOP are locked into. (Their latest mistake, imagining that it is better for Repubs to NOT be critical of - the one most deserving - Obama; lest we anger those who 'feel sorry' for him.
Now here is a great example of a group of people UNABLE to learn from past mistakes! And oh, how pathetic that is. . .the worst kind of Conservatism that has no imagination or ability to appreciate the best of a fresh and progressive mindset - progressive by it's best definition, of course.