M.B. Dougherty
C’mon, people: Gingrich is horrible
It’s pretty simple. Ideas come to you easily when you have no principles to get in the way of your roaming untrained intellect. So what are some of the ideas Newt Gingrich has promoted? Are they even conservative ideas?
He promoted the return of the Fairness Doctrine.
He was for a federal individual health-care mandate, the lynchpin of ObamaCare.
He was practically spooning Nancy Pelosi in commercials about the need for government action on global warming.
He supports green energy projects [Solyndras] and farm-subsidies.
Even as late as this year he was pitching for more government intervention in the health-care system at the progressive Brookings Institution.
How is Gingrich an improvement on Mitt Romney?
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: 1 2 Next »
He’s an improvement over Mitt Romney because he actually has a record of conservative reform from the 80s to his time as speaker in the 90s where he nationalized the congressional elections with the Contract with America. Romney has nothing that touches this.
And it’s not like we have much to choose from this time around.
Daemonocracy on November 11, 2011 at 1:27 PM
We know.
Beggars can’t be choosers and we are scrapping the junk off the bottom of the barrel.
sharrukin on November 11, 2011 at 1:27 PM
I didn’t know about that.
He’s a very bright guy, but he looks like Ellis Hennican in a funhouse mirror, married someone it’s hard to imagine as First Lady, and took a low shot at Rick Perry yesterday.
I’m looking for someone with character and governing skills, and Perry is the only one I see. Seems America is looking for something else.
capitalist piglet on November 11, 2011 at 1:27 PM
Gingrich at least attempts to appear conservative. Romney makes no such effort.
UltimateBob on November 11, 2011 at 1:28 PM
P.S. And I want to be clear – when I talk about his appearance, I’m saying so because we’ve reached the point in America where that seems to matter a great deal to the masses. I’m not saying that it does to me – it doesn’t.
capitalist piglet on November 11, 2011 at 1:28 PM
How is Gingrich an improvement on Mitt Romney?
FloatingRock on November 11, 2011 at 1:29 PM
Romney supporters are amazingly ignorant of history, their own candidate’s and, now, apparently that of other candidates also.
29Victor on November 11, 2011 at 1:30 PM
Unfortunately, everything in that article is true. He’s rising in the polls because he’s taking swipes at the media but his record screams RINO with baggage.
Knucklehead on November 11, 2011 at 1:31 PM
The newest meme is Newt’s baggage isn’t as bad as you remember. Um, yeah it is. I could add to Dougherty’s list.
Damn-it-all if he doesn’t debate the best, though.
Fallon on November 11, 2011 at 1:31 PM
Whoops, hit the wrong button and posted to soon, and I didn’t even have a good comment prepared….
FloatingRock on November 11, 2011 at 1:32 PM
BTW, this is the same guy who wrote this:
http://www.businessinsider.com/hey-republicans-theres-one-real-conservative-left-to-vote-for-and-its-jon-huntsman-2011-10
/obligatory Huntsman plug
Abby Adams on November 11, 2011 at 1:32 PM
Deedee Scozzafazza
ConservativePartyNow on November 11, 2011 at 1:33 PM
I’ll pull the lever for whoever’s at the top of the ticket next November, but right now, Gingrich is the best of a bad bunch.
Hesiodos on November 11, 2011 at 1:34 PM
I didn’t know Newt was so far gone.
I guess I’m down to Bachmann or Ron Paul. Unless she surges again I’ll be voting for Ron Paul.
FloatingRock on November 11, 2011 at 1:35 PM
I actually support Newt because the others are really that bad. Newt, maybe Santorum, and that Ham Sandwich is starting to sound interesting.
sharrukin on November 11, 2011 at 1:35 PM
Elija Huntsman…?
/
Seven Percent Solution on November 11, 2011 at 1:35 PM
Richard Nixon. The two-term president whose departure had nothing to do with his attacks on the media.
Attacking the media that spends every minute attacking us? Yes, yes it does.
And yet we hear every day about how wonderful the Clinton years were. Make up your mind.
Please. Obama doesn’t want to get into an argument about character and personal history. Especially not against Gingrich, who will have no problem reminding voters of Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers.
Wait. I thought being smart and an ideas guy was a good thing? Three years ago Obama was going to be the bestest president evuh because, you know, all of that intellect and those ideas.
amerpundit on November 11, 2011 at 1:35 PM
No, he’s rising in the polls because Romney, Perry and Cain all suck.
FloatingRock on November 11, 2011 at 1:36 PM
Newt’s plans were free market based. Because he thinks there should be action on global warming, doesn’t imply he thinks they should be government based.
He balanced the budget as speaker. He reformed welfare and medicare. Romney decided his state’s residents were peasants to be ordered around by him.
So was Heritage Foundation. Newt/Heritage/et al came to their senses. Romney didn’t.
Lots of congress critters you’d consider conservative were in support of it. You know, back in 1987. More recently, Newt has, of course, been against the idea of re-instating it. And now that’s officially dead, this is an issue?
Not to say Newt is perfect – he’s not. But this is pretty lame stuff.
lorien1973 on November 11, 2011 at 1:37 PM
RomneyCare. Immigration. Gardasil.
Each of the candidates has issues. People are giving Gingrich a shot not because they’re under the impression he’s 100% conservative but because the other Not-Romney choices are flaming out.
amerpundit on November 11, 2011 at 1:37 PM
That too.
And didn’t he take some classless swipes at Paul Ryan and Michelle Bachman too, early in his campaign?
I’m reluctant about throwing my support behind Newt. No doubt he has a colorful record (not always in a good way). But as Fallon said above,
Part of me is supporting him just for the entertainment value. Of all the candidates, he’s the one that I would most like to see debate 0bama on national television.
UltimateBob on November 11, 2011 at 1:39 PM
When “Horrible Newt” starts looking good, that tells you alot about the other candidates running for the GOP nomination.
portlandon on November 11, 2011 at 1:39 PM
This is also the same reporter who authored that lame “Romney was ambushed by Ohio GOP politics” excuse to explain Romney’s failure to endorse Kasich on Issue 2 a few weeks ago.
Lawdawg86 on November 11, 2011 at 1:39 PM
M.B. Dougherty, the Huntsman shill? No thanks.
The “Put Progressive Champion Alan Grayson Back in Congress” ad I’m getting goes well with this article.
Demosthenes on November 11, 2011 at 1:40 PM
I haven’t been keeping up. Is M.B. Dougherty a real conservative, or is he writing this because he’s pro-Romney?
blink on November 11, 2011 at 1:42 PM
Time for a little perspective. If you’re looking for a candidate that you agree with on 100% of everything, good luck wasting your time, I hope it pays off for you.
It’s a “weighing pros vs. cons” thing here. I’m sure if you looked at everything each candidate did or said in the past, you are going to find a lot of stuff you don’t agree with. Heck, didn’t Reagan grant amnesty to a bunch of illegal aliens?
Pcoop on November 11, 2011 at 1:43 PM
And he’s the one that I’d most like to see giving it right back to the media.
blink on November 11, 2011 at 1:44 PM
Nope.
Very pro Huntsman, to the point of being creepy.
Demosthenes on November 11, 2011 at 1:44 PM
+1
mankai on November 11, 2011 at 1:45 PM
I Agree.
Del Dolemonte on November 11, 2011 at 1:45 PM
Just wait until he gets palinized….then he will suck too.
thebrokenrattle on November 11, 2011 at 1:45 PM
You know lorien I was thinking about this in the last debate when Romney yet again stammered through another Romneycare question: out of all his flip flops why did he draw the line at the individual mandates in Romneycare? Romneycare is failing, needs the other 49 states to bail it out, is suffering from huge cost overruns, overcrowded emergency rooms, soaring health care costs and isurance premiums and now they are considering death panels to save costs.
If there was ever an issue Romney should flip flop on and say “I tried my best with all my business executive experience to make it work, but individual mandates and government healthcare are fundamentally flawed and that is a lesson learned I will take to Washington as President.” This would put Obamacare back on the table for a Romney/Obama debate, but he stands by this most intrusive policy.
Daemonocracy on November 11, 2011 at 1:45 PM
From the video: The Real Newt Gingrich: Progressive Newt?
Newt on The Constitution:
Newt as speaker asked congressmen to read 8 books and documents including “The Third Wave” By Alvin Tofler (a long time friend). It urged a “radical change” away from constitutional principles promoted by the founding fathers. It called The Constitution “obsolete” and urged the “death and replacement of the American Constitutional System”. Other documents on the list were the Federalist Papers and Declaration of Independence, but not the Constitution.
He championed GATT and pushed the vote through a lame duck session, before the more conservative Republican Majority took seat. That gave unprecedented authority to an international organizations and created the WTO.
Newt told an audience in 1995 that he was. “a big fan of Franklyn Roosevelt” and “a big fan of Woodrow Wilson“.
In 1995, Newt gave a speech in which he said, “The American Challenge in leading the world is compounded by our Constitution”. He said that we would have to “rethink our constitution”. He then said, “I believe in a very strong central government. You can have a very strong but limited federal government.”
Think about that last bit..
elfman on November 11, 2011 at 1:47 PM
Completely missed your post, Abby.
Beat me to it.
Demosthenes on November 11, 2011 at 1:48 PM
When they all look good compared to Obama, that tells you something about our president.
Pcoop on November 11, 2011 at 1:49 PM
Second look at Gary Johnson?
Mike Honcho on November 11, 2011 at 1:49 PM
Except Palin doesn’t suck and they have been attacking her for years.
Romney, Perry and Cain really are just terrible candidates. Newt isn’t that good either but he’s the best of a bad lot.
sharrukin on November 11, 2011 at 1:50 PM
elfman on November 11, 2011 at 1:50 PM
If Newt becomes the nominee we won’t have to worry about any more debates.
Cindy Munford on November 11, 2011 at 1:51 PM
Good to see all the Republicans following exactly the route the Democrats want.
“The primary winner will suck. He will either be not conservative enough or completely unelectable.” Ignore the fact that the previous sentence wipes out the last 30 years of election experience.
“Stay home. Sulk. We’ve always been losers anyway, right?”
Stop listening to the media Muzak. We know what they want.
And keep in mind that almost everyone on the Republican side who is dissing a candidate is usually doing it because they like a different candidate.
tbrosz on November 11, 2011 at 1:51 PM
I did and he’s actually worse than Ron Paul.
sharrukin on November 11, 2011 at 1:51 PM
The fact that Newt is even a viable option is telling, and unfortunate.
Browncoatone on November 11, 2011 at 1:54 PM
This reads like a press release from an opposing campaign.
Newt is far from perfect, but I picked just one of the things on the list and I learned why it was presented in list form sans context.
Newt’s support of the Fairness Doctrine was in 1987 before national conservative talk radio even existed, and before anybody knew how the Democrats would eventually want to use the FD to crush it. At the time liberals did have a monopoly on media and many conservatives thought the FD was the only thing preventing them from being even more aggressive in using it.
Newt has since been quite clear that he opposes reviving the Fairness Doctrine and I don’t think any honest person would think he would sign anything as president to do so.
forest on November 11, 2011 at 1:54 PM
It sounds like the authors credibility is in question so I’ll keep an open mind on Newt until we learn more. But Really, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s true Newt supported some of that stuff, but I’ll away context.
FloatingRock on November 11, 2011 at 1:56 PM
away=await
FloatingRock on November 11, 2011 at 1:56 PM
Yes, the author isn’t perfect either, but he didn’t say anything that isn’t true or plausible. He was right on the money about Newt not letting principle stand in the way of his ideas. Market solutions for AGW? Ha! Every “energy plan” he’s come up with has been a centrally planned government initiative. He does believe in the “A” in AGW, too.
Evangelicals are a very important block of the base, and they won’t turn out for Newt. Just hope he married ALL of his bimbos!
First Lady Callista?
cartooner on November 11, 2011 at 1:57 PM
As people are saying on twitter, if Newt is the tea party candidate, then the tea party is dead. Smart guy, great debater. Seriously flawed as a candidate, although he’s not alone in that of course.
Plus this from MKH made me laugh: I CALLED NEWTMENTUM WHEN HE WAS STILL IN THE MEDITERRANEAN!
juliesa on November 11, 2011 at 1:57 PM
So pointless to keep highlighting these type of articles.
EVERY candidate on the stage is deemed “horrible” in one way or another by people who support someone else. What I see in Gingrich is a man willing to take on Obama, while offering solutions to get us out of this horrible economic rut we’re in.
And the man wants Allen West as his VP and John Bolton as his Secretary of State.
Come on now.
nickj116 on November 11, 2011 at 1:59 PM
Whoever beats Obama must understand that the only mandate he gets is the one that undoes everything Obama has done.
Connie on November 11, 2011 at 2:00 PM
But hey, Gingrich can look good in dog-and-pony show debates and he can run a campaign! Doesn’t everybody know that these are the most important qualifications for a president? Geez, what’s wrong with you people …
/s
thirteen28 on November 11, 2011 at 2:02 PM
Comment pages: 1 2 Next »