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Gingrich Archives Show His Public Praise, Private Criticism of Reagan
Washington Post ^ | February 19, 2012 | Jerry Markon

Posted on 02/19/2012 9:56:45 PM PST by Steelfish

Gingrich Archives Show His Public Praise, Private Criticism of Reagan

By Jerry Markon February 19

CARROLLTON, Ga. — In an unnoticed 1992 speech, Newt Gingrich in a single utterance took aim not only at a beloved conservative icon but also at a core tenet of the conservative movement: that government must be limited.

Ronald Reagan’s “weakness,” Gingrich told the National Academy of Public Administration in Atlanta, was that “he didn’t think government mattered. The Reagan failure was to grossly undervalue the centrality of government as the organizing mechanism for reinforcing societal behavior.”

A review of thousands of documents detailing Gingrich’s career shows it wasn’t the first time he had criticized Reagan, whom he regularly invokes today in his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

When Gingrich was in the House, his chief of staff noted at a 1983 staff meeting that his boss frequently derided Reagan, along with then-White House Chief of Staff James A. Baker III and Robert H. Michel, the House Republican leader.

Gingrich “assumed that he’s the whole Republican Party,” said the Gingrich aide, Frank Gregorsky, according to a transcript of the meeting. “He knows more than the president, the president’s people, Michel, Baker. He calls them stupid all the time, and I think that’s going to get him into big trouble someday.”

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


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: anothersmear; bobmichel; communityorganizer; criticizingverboten; gingrich; jimbaker; newt; newtgingrich; reagan; refightingsmear; ronaldreagan; smear; stupidparty
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To: Steelfish
Rehash of already DEBUNKED crap (posting Elliot Abrams got this FReeper banned)

Reagan's Young Lieutenant. Gingrich a star on Reagan team ...

41 posted on 02/20/2012 2:23:36 PM PST by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: Fishtalk

I’m fed up of the crap of hitting two candidates who are better than Romney and I’,m sick of the crap from certain usual freepers who think they have to do the attacking.

Also the 2 of them have all been damaged especially Newt after the way the establishment went after him and he was on a role.

We have Sarah, Allen West , NM Gov etc and we have these 3 though Newt would have destroyed obama in a debate.

Only the establishment could have screwed this year up


42 posted on 02/20/2012 2:24:17 PM PST by manc (Marriage is between one man and one woman,It's not a conservative view but a true American view)
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To: Post5203

I don’t understand why he should be banned? The article he posted bashes gingrich, so what? Its from the washington post, but the point in the article is what Newt gingrich himself said, not the spin of the author. If you don’t like the content, then why don’t you argue in favor of gingrich instead of just name calling? I am of the opinion that none of the candidates will be strong enough to beat barack obama, which is a shame that we have this many weak candidates going up against someone who should be rather easy to beat. On a personal note, what really bothered me about gingrich was that he spouts all this nonsense about family values as if he has any.


43 posted on 02/20/2012 2:33:27 PM PST by hannibaal
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To: Steelfish
Gingrich Archives Show His Public Praise, Private Criticism of Reagan

A good trait of leadership! Criticize in private, praise in public.

44 posted on 02/20/2012 2:37:00 PM PST by upsdriver (We Tea Partiers need Sarah Palin for president.)
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To: parksstp

It’s not funny, nor did Levin invent the word.


45 posted on 02/20/2012 2:43:10 PM PST by Gene Eric (Newt/Sarah 2012)
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To: Steelfish
so newt gets caught cold lying...naw not our newt..but his “he has principals” and “he is forgiven” posses will overlook it
46 posted on 02/20/2012 4:22:22 PM PST by skaterboy (Hate=Love....Love=Hate)
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To: hannibaal
just the conspiracy newt nuts wanting to lash out...

lets see who is keeping newt down

mitt
the media
the establishment
ricky s..who is mitt's stalking horse
paul..who is mitt's stalking horse
the debate moderators who wont let newt talk...all 18 of em
the stupid voters who don't know how great and special newt is...

47 posted on 02/20/2012 4:31:09 PM PST by skaterboy (Hate=Love....Love=Hate)
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To: Post5203

Why?


48 posted on 02/20/2012 4:45:17 PM PST by paltz
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To: American Constitutionalist

Better to be social justice Rick or Mittens than to dismantle the Left’s social power structure in the US government as Newt was speaking of, and replace it with a constitutional doctrine and structure.

Reagan and many libertarian conservatives did not quite get that Liberals (social marxists) are embedded in the government and need to be evacuated (defunded and replaced) because they have total power over society’s institutions which always leads back to socialism and denies the public knowledge and institutions of constitutional freedom. No vacume will be left unfilled. Defunding the left and not replacing it with a constitutional, individual liberity social doctrine is stupid because nothingness will not maintain space.


49 posted on 02/20/2012 6:10:06 PM PST by SaraJohnson
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To: Pinkbell

Yes, I know. That’s a demonstration of how politically astute some of these folks are.


50 posted on 02/20/2012 6:21:55 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Abortion? No. Gov't heath care? No. Gore on warming? No. McCain on immigration? No.)
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To: Steelfish
Strange. This reads much like the completely debunked Elliot Abrams hit piece.

Oh dear. The establishment is worried about Newt Gingrich again.

51 posted on 02/20/2012 7:56:09 PM PST by GVnana (Newt 2012 - He Speaks for Us)
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To: goat granny

I’m sorry, but while he was a relatively decent leader, Eisenhower was overrated. He was at the right place at the right time. The United States had a competitive advantage during the Eisenhower era it never had before or since. He did very little to scale back the New Deal and kept the marginal tax rates quite high. He was a pretty good President, but not at Reagan’s level and Reagan faced much greater challenges. Why didn’t you respect Reagan at first? He successfully governed the largest state in the union.


52 posted on 02/20/2012 9:08:40 PM PST by conservativebuckeye
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To: Steelfish; lilycicero; MaryLou1; glock rocks; JPG; Graewoulf; VinceASA; Monkey Face; RIghtwardHo; ..

Look at their accomplishments. Newt allied himself with Ronald Reagan to build the Reagan Coalition, the Religious Right, and the Republican majority (together the Reagan Revolution) which directly led the downfall of the Soviet Union, the Contract with America, government reforms, less government, tax cuts, a balanced budget, and the great, long-standing Reagan economy.

Romney, on the other hand, vehemently denied Ronald Reagan and aligned himself with Ted Kennedy and the left. Romney accomplished installing liberal big government programs, defended and promoted Roe v Wade and legalized abortion as “settled law,” advocated and implemented RomneyCare with its liberty killing government mandates against formerly free citizens and its taxpayer funded or subsidized and mandated abortion procedures. He ran and governed to the left of Ted Kennedy on the “gay agenda” resulting in gay marriage in Massachusetts. He appointed liberal judges and liberal appointees throughout his government. Under his “leadership” conservatism and the Republican party was all but destroyed in Massachusetts.

Romney is one evil liberal progressive. No way in hell will MittBots be allowed to support this abortionist, big government, socialist scumbag on FR!

Guess my message isn’t clear enough. I have to keep repeating it and zotting would be MittBots.

79 posted on Sat Dec 03 2011 19:59:37 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time) by Jim Robinson


53 posted on 02/20/2012 9:21:00 PM PST by narses
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To: Steelfish
Hmmm... Right before the Florida primary, I thought you were a Romney troll. You kept posting thread after thread of how Newt was behind in polls... at one time about three or four threads together. Now this story that has already been debunked.
54 posted on 02/20/2012 10:36:16 PM PST by Moorings
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To: Moorings

You are either a nut or simply delusional? What threads are you referring to? The WaPo article may be rebutted but it did mention archival sources.


55 posted on 02/20/2012 10:42:54 PM PST by Steelfish (ui)
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To: Steelfish

I said before the Florida primary... go look for them on your own. You are a jackass pretending ignorance?


56 posted on 02/20/2012 11:00:28 PM PST by Moorings
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Comment #57 Removed by Moderator

To: conservativebuckeye
Eisenhower and Reagan were different presidents at different times, your right on that....I have heard people say Eisenhower was a do nothing president that just played golf all the time, but at his time as president, the government was not it everybodys business as they are today...He knew how to lead and delegate and for his times, the interstate was thought to be impossible...but he got it started and we can travel across this country in relative ease....I was a kid during the 40's and vacations were a trip from hell in some cases, just getting to the destination....The whole country has benefited by that alone..My other memories of his presidency are nil but the government didn't start being a many tentacled monster under him....

As much as I hate democrats in control, most of the alphabet soup departments were given to us by republican presidents...

The Marxist democrats today are evil, and the republicans are stupid...

In the 80's when Reagan was elected, it was a landslide because of Carter and my not being from California, he was just an actor/governor from that state...He turned the Carter economy around, it took time but with a large government, like a large ship, it takes time to turn things around. I watched the interest rates go from 16-18% down to 8% in 3 years due to his policies, he did good, and interest rates continued to drop.. I didn't dislike him, he had a lot on his plate when he came in and did good, but your question on who was the best (I was looking way back) and am thankful for our systems of cross country roads...that happen to be the first thing that popped into my head....GG

58 posted on 02/21/2012 4:01:21 AM PST by goat granny
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To: narses
” ... Newt allied himself with Ronald Reagan to build the Reagan Coalition, the Religious Right, and the Republican majority (together the Reagan Revolution) which directly led the downfall of the Soviet Union, ...”

I give credit to Newt for supporting Reagan's domestic policy initiatives. However, Newt was clueless about the nature, strength, and wisdom of Reagan's multi-faceted attack on the Soviet Union. At the same time that Newt was calling Reagan's foreign policies “pathetic” and an abysmal failure,” we were arming the mujaheddin in Afghanistan, orchestrating an increase in oil production to lower prices, and luring the Soviets into an unwinnable arms race. I'd say that worked out pretty well for our side, despite Newt's nay saying at the time.

59 posted on 02/21/2012 7:03:36 AM PST by riverdawg
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To: Steelfish

So Newt criticized Reagan. So what? Reagan wasn’t divine; he was a human being, and as such, not above criticism. Are you trying to imply that Newt is unfit because every word he spoke about Reagan was less than glowing praise?

Get real.


60 posted on 02/21/2012 7:43:11 AM PST by CatherineofAragon (I can haz Romney's defeat?)
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