Posted on 04/17/2007 5:40:35 AM PDT by shortstop
Forget Newt Gingrich.
Before you can be a good president, you have to be a good man, and Newt Gingrich is not that. In fact, Newt Gingrich is a snake, a man without honor or ability.
And that’s hard for me to say.
For years, I was a big Newt supporter. I had a copy of the Contract With America and a picture of all the folks pledging themselves to it on the steps of the Capitol. The Republican Revolution of 1994 was a great thing.
But at the end of the day, you’ve got to do more than just agree with my philosophy, you have to be a worthy and worthwhile person. And experience has shown that Newt Gingrich, while a brilliant conservative, was fundamentally lacking in the traits necessary to be a political or moral leader.
Let’s start with his girlfriend.
While Bill Clinton was doing the Texas two-step trying to avoid responsibility for playing the flugelhorn with Harmonica Lewinsky, Newt Gingrich was raking him over the coals for having semi-sex with a subordinate. Newt told us over and over again just how morally bankrupt Clinton was.
With Newt it wasn’t just the lying under oath, it was the almost doing of the deed. He vigorously condemned Clinton for the sex.
Which is interesting, because at the exact same time Newt was boffing his own subordinate. Only it wasn’t part way and it wasn’t just once or twice. It was ongoing for months and months, running into years. While she was on the government payroll under him.
Which makes Newt Gingrich the biggest kind of hypocrite. Now, none of us is sin free, and during that episode most of us tried to focus on the lying under oath and leave the sex alone, but Newt was all about the sex – even though he was doing the same thing only 10 times worse.
That’s strike one.
Strike two was Newt’s inability to run the Republican caucus when he was Speaker of the House. Though he was good at articulating a philosophy and enthusing supporters, when push came to shove he didn’t know how to manage the couple hundred Republicans who made him speaker. He really muffed it, and you’ve got to figure that a guy who can’t keep 200 people happy is not going to do well running the administration, much less the free world.
So poorly did he lead the caucus that unrest began almost immediately. New members believed that he blew them off, older members exploited his idiosyncrasies in a back-stabbing effort to curry favor with him and increase their personal power.
Chief among his idiosyncrasies was his arrogance and its twin brother – his insecurity. When he ran the House it was Newt’s way or the highway, and that was very galling to the Republican congressmen whose votes gave Newt his position. Most noteworthy about Newt’s temperament and ability as a leader is the fact that almost all of those who served under him detest him.
And ticking people off is not a good trait for a president.
Neither is disloyalty.
And that’s strike three. Specifically, one spectacular act of disloyalty.
Remember this name: Bill Paxon. Bill Paxon was my congressman. He was the nuts-and-bolts guy behind the Republican Revolution. While Newt gave talks, Bill Paxon ran the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee and funded and directed the various elections around the country that gave the Republicans the House majority.
Bill Paxon was a golden boy. Only he was for real. He was an honest, decent, moral man. A Boy Scout type who did things because they were right and he believed in them. Also, he was young and dynamic and it wasn’t a stretch to see him as speaker himself one day and, in a couple of decades, president of the United States. He was a noble and patriotic man.
And Newt gutted him.
See, upset with Newt’s incompetence as a leader was so great that young Republican House members decided to have a coup. They decided to kick him out of leadership. Among them were J.C. Watts and Steve Largent who, in addition to being former football players, were some of the brightest young lights in the House. But they couldn’t stand Newt and what they saw as his unreliability, so they wanted his scalp.
And Bill Paxon tried to calm them down. Going to a meeting of disgruntled Republicans, Bill Paxon tried to soothe them and encouraged an outreach to Newt Gingrich that would leave him in power but make him aware of the discontent among his colleagues. Bill Paxon, as a member of Newt Gingrich’s leadership team, worked hard to support Newt Gingrich.
And it might have worked.
Except that while Paxon was being a good scout, one of the climbers who knew how to manipulate Newt – aptly named Dick Armey – whispered to Newt that Paxon was a turncoat. Even though just the opposite was true, Armey was able to trigger Newt’s jealousy and turn it to his own benefit. With a little coaxing from Armey, Newt was livid at Paxon.
It was completely unjustified, and showed a fundamental ignorance as well as limitations of character and capability. But Newt was certain the lie he had been told was true, and he savagely waylaid Bill Paxon, making vile accusations against him.
By the end of the meeting Paxon was out of the leadership and by the end of the week he was on his way out of the Congress. He was essentially destroyed by Newt Gingrich. The irony of that is that Bill Paxon is a far better and more capable man than Newt Gingrich. It was a clear example of the smaller man destroying the nobler man out of cattiness and jealousy.
And I don’t want that kind of person as my president.
Certainly, there are no conservatives vying for the Republican nomination. Certainly, Newt is a great scholar of how this country should be. Certainly, a man with Newt’s intellect would make a great president.
But not a man with Newt’s character.
So early in this campaign, as some are in and some are toying with the idea of announcing, let’s throw one out.
Newt’s day is done. He asked for the House and we gave it to him. And though his philosophical strength was and is admirable, his moral strength is lacking and unsatisfactory.
Maybe Fred Thompson will get into the race. Or maybe we conservatives will just have to sit this one out.
But I’m not voting for Newt Gingrich.
He’s not man enough for the job.
No pun intended?
Interesting information from Bob Lonsberry. Thanks for posting.
I dislike Newt for these reasons. Also, I accept Tom Coburn’s opinion of him, which is unflattering.
Wow. I didn’t realize Newt’s affair went on so long. The hypocrisy really is a bit much.
A month or so ago, I was favorable inclined towrads Newt as a VP candidate. But after the “debate (???)” with Kerry over global warming, when Newt caved completely..well..I don’t think so anymore. He buried any chance he might have with that pitiful performance..
Well so far there’s no real indication that he’s running.
Plus he’s the new Owl Bore
Its very odd, this method of hiring a President. Its the most glorified temp job our system can create, and most of what you’ve complained about would be grounds for a massive lawsuit if it was used in any other hiring process.
While I have yet to make up my mind about who I will support, I am interested in seeing Gingrich in the GOP primary debates. He will add quite a bit to that process, if nothing else.
Bottom line is its way way too early to start picking winners, or even candidates.
The only thing in this world I agree with Arianna Huffington about politically is her assessment of Newt Gingrich...and that unflattering take was made before she left the GOP. He’s got the morals of Bill Clinton.
So Reagan got divorced the “right” way and Newt got divorced the “wrong” way. OK, fine. Whatever makes people feel better. I believe both men did some good things for the country and that’s why I supported both of them when they were in elected office. I don’t think Newt will run so I doubt any of us will have to really fret about the details of his divorce. Yet, divorce could still be an issue. There certainly is no shortage of divorced men running for the Republican nomination.
We’re not electing a Pope!
We need somebody in there with the leadership and vision to achieve conservative objectives and ensure that we do not suffer under the terror of Hillary.
How’s SHE stack up against the author’s standards?
Somewhere near Buffalo, NY.
In addition to what the author relates, was Newt’s divorce of his second(?) wife while she was in a hospital bed suffering from cancer. As I recall he was boffing a DEMOCRATIC staffer—talk about sleeping with the enemy.
The final nail for this lout was his “all aboard the global warming train” w/ John F’n Kerry in last week’s “debate”..
We deserve better than Newt.
Another factoid few know about Newt.
From the GOA website..
“As Speaker of the House, Gingrich often generated frustration among gun owners by acting as a blocking force standing in the way of pro-gun reform. He has been rated as low as “D” by Gun Owners of America.”
I agree. Newt is a great idea man, but his leadership had its limits. He did engineer the GOP takeover of Congress in 94, but he backed down to Clinton in the government shutdown fight. Also, in Georgia he had a reputation for not being able to control himself around good looking women.
I listen to Lonsberry here in western NY- he is brilliant.
I think he nails it on this one- we NEED Newt to voice his conservative viewpoints, because he is a fantastic speaker and no one says it better then him, righ tnow.
But I think he was not a great leader. He got railroaded by the democrap MINORITY- but in his defense he was speaker of a house that was democrap for 40 years before him.
Spot-on...
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