The American Spectator : Newt Does a Job on Obama on Jobs

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The Obama Watch

Newt Does a Job on Obama on Jobs

By Peter Ferrara on 12.9.09 @ 6:08AM

Obama was for deficits before he was against them and for them yesterday.

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The second reason why the recovery has nothing to do with Obamanomics is that the economy naturally recovers on its own. We don't even remember the business cycle anymore, because Reaganomics was so successful in eliminating it, with 25 years of almost uninterrupted economic growth. But the term business cycle, means the economy naturally goes up as well as down. Every morning people get up and try to figure out how to make their business prosper again, or find a new job. Over time, this process will naturally lead to recovery. That is why the average recession since World War II has ended in 10 months. Barack Obama's Keynesian economics has nothing to do with it. The economy was always naturally going to recover on its own, and should have long before now, if Obama's neo-socialism hadn't gotten in the way.

Conservatives should not try to deny the recovery is happening, or predict continued recession. They should explain why the Obama/Democrat policies have made things worse rather than better, through the record, backbreaking debt, collapsing dollar, rising energy prices, and more. They should explain why we can do better, with free market economic policies. In the 1960s, when the liberals were in power exactly like they are today, the economy was booming (thanks to President Kennedy's supply-side tax rate cuts). But the Democrats were still massacred in the 1966 Congressional elections, and the Republicans still won the White House in 1968, holding the presidency for 20 of the next 24 years. The liberal media was also much more dominant then than it is now.

Gingrich v. Obama

President Obama's so-called Jobs Summit last week was a political charade meant to provide a public relations foundation for a third stimulus package involving still more of the same, brain-dead, Keynesian snake oil. He wasn't interested in listening to anything from anybody at the Summit. He already knew what he was going to propose in the package he unveiled yesterday. Those attending the Summit were just props.

For that third stimulus package, President Obama proposed paying people to "weatherize" homes (cash for caulkers), which, again, will not create any new jobs on net. It will just reallocate jobs from the work that would have been done with those funds in the private sector. That will probably result in a net loss of national income, because the private market allocates resources and workers to the most productive and urgent uses. Extending unemployment benefits further, as Obama proposed yet again, just perpetuates unemployment. The infrastructure spending Obama proposed was supposed to be in the last stimulus. Spending still more funds that should go back to taxpayers or to reducing the deficit on that is again not going to increase overall jobs on net.

President Obama proposed federal loans for small business. But the disastrous experience with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shows that the government should stay out of the loan business and political allocation of credit. Credit will flow through established markets if the federal government, including the Federal Reserve, adopts strong pro-growth, sound money policies. Obama also wants a tax credit for businesses hiring workers. But true to his practice of recycling old ideas that are proven failures, the federal government for many years maintained a Targeted Jobs Tax Credit that did the same thing. It was abolished based on studies showing that it only paid companies to hire workers they were going to hire anyway. Other narrow, cramped tax breaks Obama proposed will not promote general economic recovery.

In sharp contrast, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich held his own job summits last week, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Jackson, Mississippi. Based on what he has heard from small business leaders there and across America, Gingrich has proposed his own jobs plan. While Gingrich was Speaker of the House, federal spending growth was at its lowest level since the 1920s. Gingrich says, "We can apply the same principles that worked then to create jobs and four straight balanced budgets through smaller government, less spending, lower interest rates, and less debt."

The Gingrich Plan provides immediate payroll tax relief by cutting the payroll tax rate by 50% for two years, giving a raise to workers and incentives to small business to create jobs.

Secondly, rather than increase capital gains tax rates by 66% as Obama and the Democrats propose, Gingrich would abolish capital gains taxes altogether, as they just involve double taxation of capital income. That is why this policy has been adopted in 14 out of 30 OECD countries, plus China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and others.

Thirdly, America suffers from the second highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, with a federal rate of 35% and states pushing it close to 40%. By contrast, the average corporate tax rate in the European Union has been slashed from 38% in 1996 to 24% today. Ireland has a corporate tax rate of 12.5%, which has led per capita income to soar from the second lowest in the EU 20 years ago to the second highest today. Our own Treasury Department has said Ireland raises more corporate tax revenue as a percent of GDP than we do with our much higher rates. Corporate tax rates in India and China, our emerging competitors for the future, are lower as well. Gingrich would reduce the federal business tax rate to Ireland's 12.5%.

Gingrich says quite rightly, "Combined with the zero capital gains rate, America would become the most desirable country in the world in which to invest and start a business. This means new jobs and new prosperity."

Instead of reinstating the death tax with a 45% rate, as Obama and the Democrats want, Gingrich would abolish the death tax as well. Gingrich says, "Inheritance is the most powerful accumulator of capital. Studies show that eliminating the death tax would create hundreds of thousands of new jobs." Taxpayers have already paid considerable taxes on any money saved over a lifetime. Taxing it again at death is just abusive, unfair, and arbitrary. Gingrich would also provide for immediate expensing for 100% of new equipment purchases by small businesses, stimulating investment in new, productive technologies.

Exactly the opposite of the regressive Cap and Trade policies of Obama and the Democrats, Gingrich would implement an American Energy Plan that would unleash the private sector to produce low cost, reliable energy supplies from domestic, American, energy sources. This energy development would create millions of new jobs, and generate billions in new revenues for federal and state governments.

Gingrich also favors the same strong dollar monetary policies as Reagan, guaranteeing the dollar remains the world's reserve currency, and ensuring lower interest rates over the long run and more capital investment. He would also balance the federal budget within 7 years by controlling spending and reforming government, as he did with the Republican Congress in the 1990s. He would also abolish TARP and return the money, end all bailouts, and repeal still unspent "stimulus" funding.

Gingrich also favors following the 50% payroll tax cut with a permanent personal account option for that portion of payroll taxes for younger workers, with the personal accounts substituting for an equivalent portion of future retirement benefits. Given historical capital market returns, workers should get much higher benefits as a result than Social Security even promises today, let alone what it can pay, with a continuing safety net guaranteeing that workers would get at least as much as Social Security currently promises them. This would provide a continuing gusher of new savings for capital investment, resulting in more jobs and higher wages.

These policies would reduce unemployment back to 3-4%, and restore long-term economic growth, maybe even another 25-year boom. The American people recognize the common sense behind this Jobs Plan, and would overwhelmingly support it over President Obama's neo-socialism. Just think who you would want debating President Obama on the platform in 2012.

Page: < 12

topics:
Economic Growth, Unemployment

About the Author

Peter Ferrara is Senior Fellow at the Carleson Center for Public Policy, Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy for the Heartland Institute, and General Counsel of the American Civil Rights Union. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under the first President Bush. He is the author of America’s Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb, now available from HarperCollins.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (72) | Leave a comment

dum & dummer| 12.9.09 @ 6:33AM

yeah, maybe newt can get with dede and see if she can propose some of this stuff. oh never mind.

Alan Brooks| 12.9.09 @ 5:46PM

Why can't Newt say "I was wrong about futurism, it is rope-a-dope techno Marxism."

It is called cutting your losses. Reconciliation; admitting your flaws.

anneymarc| 12.10.09 @ 2:20AM

great jobs.have a obama.

Enhanced Kre-Alkalyn

Rocco| 12.9.09 @ 7:32AM

Although the ideas are good - where are the Republican spokesman screaming this from the rooftops??? - unfortunately the messenger is flawed. Newt, although full of good ideas, has discredited himself through bad choices, the latest being his support of Dede, and his trying to co-opt the Tea Party movement. Politicos are politicos. They all need to just be swept aside next November. ALL of them.

moron| 12.9.09 @ 7:47AM

Even Bill O'Reilly gives Obama a "B" on jobs. What a suck up to the liberals he is becoming.

Rocco| 12.9.09 @ 8:08AM

I quit watching O'Reilly years ago. Too damned squishy for me.

Stephanie| 12.9.09 @ 8:17AM

Yeah, O'Reilly is a liberal in conservative clothing.
I'm done with him and his show. What a fool.

David Williams| 12.9.09 @ 8:44AM

Contrary to his nightly cliam, O'Reilly is really looking out for just one person--himself. Obama played him like a violin by agreeing to appear on O'Reilly's tv program knowing that, because of the appearance, O'Reilly would go easy on him. That is exactly what has happened.

Grzmlyk| 12.9.09 @ 8:51AM

It is SO refreshing to see other conservatives who are disgusted with O'Reilly. I agree with everything that's been said here.

I love how he backs off the most outrageous insanity because he wants to be "fair" By all means, let's not assume Obama is a radical Marxist - hey, he might be a well intentioned patriot who may yet implement true social justice, right Bill?

He's eventually going to have to have his lips surgically removed from Obama's ass.

Why do so many conservatives go soft when they succeed?

How O'Reilly is the ratings king at Fox is beyond me - he belongs in the mail room.

crookedwren| 12.9.09 @ 5:53PM

O'Reilly can't handle the terrible truth about this Administration!

Get to D.C. on Dec. 16th, 1:30 pm.

We've got to continue standing up for Liberty & the Constitution.

martha| 12.9.09 @ 7:35PM

Thank you all, I thought it was just me getting fed up with O'Reilly. He makes everything all about him, he's constantly bragging about himself on the show, and sometimes forces his guests to say that he was responsible for ideas and what-not. When I heard him give Obama a "B"on jobs I almost fell off my couch

Adam Smith| 12.10.09 @ 10:45AM

The O'Bloviation factor has never been watchable.

O'Reilly's ignorance, complete lack of background prep work on his stories (mostly the same garbage themes as his tabloid days), softball questions and diversionary (see Hucksterbee interview) rambling & pontification about HIS opinion....

True, O'Reilly does well in spite of himself.
Fox is seen as the only alternative for a huge chunk of the population and gets the default watchers in droves.

Put Stossel in his slot and viewership would double in 6 months.

I am sick of this fool hawking his junk on tv and pretending he is relevant, bold or fresh (or a journalist).
His coverage of the most recent elections and boiling it all down to "lack of black turnout" revealed him as the simpleton and race baiter he is.

Back to the tabloids with BOR and take Geraldo with you. Maybe let Sheppy Smith drive the clown car...

I turn apoplectic when my liberal friends try to hang O'Reilly up as some kind of representation of "conservatism". He has no idea what the word means and is an embarrasment to any rational thinker, left or right.

Fox really ain't all that taken in whole. It is just the only msm outlet where some stories are allowed to be covered. Other than Beck, no one does a very good job of investigative journalism. Thankfully Stossel should be up & running soon.

Wish they'd give him Huckabee's wasted time slot...

Son Of Sam| 12.9.09 @ 8:04AM

New Gingrich, despite his support of crypto communists like our dear beloved "dede", is actually one of the most intelligent people in American public life. He is a smart man and he has a lot of great ideas. That much being said, he has ZERO chance of getting either the nomination or becoming President. Here's why:

The next Presidential election is in 2012. That will be exactly 18 years since his signature triumphs in 1994, meaning that the youngest voters going to the polls WERE NOT EVEN BORN YET when he became "Speaker Newt". Has he been on TV a lot? Surely; but he lacks the courage of his convictions. That's why he didn't run in 2008. Its why he won't run in 2012 if it looks like Obama's chances are better than now. Just like Mitt Romney bowing out after his Super Tuesday defeat by McCain (rather than fighting on, as Reagan did with Ford in '76), Newt will cut and run if the going gets too rough.

My prediction is that Speaker Newt will be an invaluable adviser to the next Republican President, just as Jack Kemp was to Ronald Reagan. He will be in the Oval Office, he just won't be behind the big desk.

stand strong until freedom dawns
Son Of Sam

Rocco| 12.9.09 @ 8:07AM

Son of Sam, you're probably correct on that. Particularly on the "cut and run" part of the campaign. But, as you say, at best, Newt will be the adviser, not the one sitting in the big chair.

Grzmlyk| 12.9.09 @ 8:57AM

I agree with these Newt comments too.

Newt is willing to play ball with the most odious of liberal concepts - like global warming, with which Newt is making nice-nice (as long as he thinks it's politically expedient).

He is one giant marketing machine, working overtime to burnish the Newt brand. And in my opinion he does it ham-handedly, crassly and painfully obviously.

He IS smart, and I wouldn't mind seeing him in a cabinet position in a Republican administration, but, as Son of Sam said, he doesn't have the courage of his convictions. And a lot of his ideas aren't exactly genius - they're common sense wrapped up to look like genius.

He's no leader.

bluecollarbytes| 12.9.09 @ 10:14AM

"Professional Newts" have their place in conservatism, just as pollsters do. But if we are to really fix what's broke, we need more than arguments structured around Democrat activism.

I don't know why, but I'm under the impression that Newt will never go for the presidency unless he judges the Republican field to be weak enough to insure his nomination.

jd| 12.9.09 @ 8:30AM

I agree, Son of Sam, Newt is intelligent but does not have the courage of his convictions. He would never be elected but could serve a role as an invaluable advisor.

As for the Big Zero, he has fast become a joke of a president. He has no understanding of economics period. The damage he is inflicting is incalcuable. He is beyond hope and we, the people, need to revolt.

Ken (Old Texican)| 12.9.09 @ 8:59AM

Does anyone here have any ideas about how we can utilize "civil disobedience" to the new EPA stranglehold being foisted on the country.

This back door scares the dickens out of me.

Dixie Pixie| 12.9.09 @ 11:59AM

The four classic ways of coping with a undesirable governmental policies are “out of here”, “ ignore it “, “bribe the officers”, “go underground”.

The first is easily done, just leave for another country with more favorable economic / political polices. Most major corporations have been leaving the USA for decades.

The second tactic is simply ignoring the policies. The Federal government can not be everywhere at once nor can it see without informants. In short if everyone ignores a governmental policy then the government must drop it. The FCC Regulations on CB Radio usage are a classic case in point.

The third is simply bribe the enforcement officials tasked with upholding the law. The Federal Laws have become so twisted, lengthy and the procedures so convoluted it is impossible to completely enforce them . The Federal Government has only a limited supply of underpaid enforcement personal. If it is often economically feasible to simply bribe the enforcement personal to look the other way.

The last is the hardest method. Going underground leaves the legal world behind. This automatically dooms a enterprise or activity to be called “criminal”. The effort required to maintain the enterprise is proportional to the amount of interest in the government in suppressing the enterprise. The ACORN affair is a amusing example of a criminal activity operating openly.

Dixie Pixie| 12.9.09 @ 5:48PM

To: Ken
Upon further reflection there is a historical analog which may be helpful.

Have you tried the social resistance philosophy's of Mohandas Gandhi. I am referring to the Salt Satyagraha affair in which Gandhi ultimately broke the British control of the salt trade by leading his followers to produce their own salt.

The US analog would be if someone created a “New Energy Cooperative” to produce gasoline, fuel oils, and diesel fuel in defiance of the EPA. The procedure is simple, gather a large group banded together to break the EPA and its regulations. Buy a underperforming oil well and connected it to a mini-refinery. Produce and sell the product, distributing the profits to the cooperative members. When the EPA arrives with the police to close the refinery, use the membership to resist the EPA.

The key strategy is to keep the mini-refinery small, cheap and numerous. A mini-refinery should produce less than 150 barrels a day and fit inside a standard semi-trailer load. Refinery mobility and the willingness of the cooperative members to go to jail in very large numbers are the key to breaking the EPA.

Ret. Marine| 12.9.09 @ 8:32PM

Ken, Congress has the authority to disolve the EPA, why don't they do it?, it's simple really. They need to tax the crap out of everyone of us to pay down the debt they have created because of their policies with the help of the pretender-n-thief. One way I can think of doing this without the use of extreme violence, and believe me, if it did start it would be the only way to conduct the fight, with extreme predjustice, anyway I digress. If there was a way to get everyone on board try this out for size. Let's all quit our jobs. Stop buying anything other than the bare necessities, file for unemployment, go to the walfare office, sign up for everything available with the "give it to me because I am" a victim program, on the way home stop at the SSI administration and file for SSI disability bennies while you're at it, then go home and call our Senators, CONgress critters, hell e-mail the pretender-n-theif himself and explain to them that we are stressed out to the point that we can no longer handle the rigers of everyday life and We are GLAD to hear that he has placed another 15% increase to the welfare benefits because now we feel our past taxes were worth every dime because we are going to need his help from this point on. I know it's just a start but?

bluecollarbytes| 12.9.09 @ 10:04AM

excerpt: "Conservatives should not try to deny the recovery is happening, or predict continued recession."

This is more than a recession. 'This' is a fast moving political force with the real potential to destroy the country. We're not simply getting tweaked around the edges here. I hear these folks talk of the history of recessions, as though the elephant in the room: Obama's ideological leftist activism, is of no major relevance to the ultimate outcomes. Warnings are needed. If Obama's goals were static, yes the country might eventually assimilate his demands and at some point, well into the future, rise above the detrimental economic effects. Obama is about the March to the left more than any set of policy endeavors. To assume that today's projections combined with 'what went on before' tell us where we will be in a couple years seems to me to be folly. This community organizer is determined to nation-build in the mold of Acorn.

Moby Froll| 12.9.09 @ 10:14AM

Thank you, Mr. Ferrara, for an excellent article on the wonderful Newt!

We (i.e. your future rulers under sharia law) applaud you!

We love Newt, just liked we loved McCain, who ensured the election of our Manchurian/Kenyan Candidate!

Prepare for the coming of the Caliphate!

Newt/McCain in 2012!!!"

You cannot stop us (as long as we can find a way to shut up that moose-hunting, hick fertility goddess)!

Allahu Akbar!

Free Major Hasan!

Al Adab| 12.9.09 @ 10:18AM

The Left firmly believes that central planning is superior to free markets. It is a matter of Faith with them and they will not be shaken by facts or history. What Conservatives must do is make the case for economic expansion. Lower taxes on business and lower regulatory costs would have an immediate effect on business (and employment) growth.

A president who believes (like community organizers do) that all good things come from government is a tyranical disaster waiting to happen. Redistribution is no answer. Even JFK knew that a rising tide lefts all ships. Sad for America that so many never learned that lesson. It is up to Conservatives- not the GOP- to make the case for Liberty. That is the only road ever traveled to the benefit of an entire society not conversly the select few who find favor with Govt. Washington is not Santa Claus.

Gill O’Teen ✝✡| 12.9.09 @ 10:20AM

I truly believe that the stimulus "increased employment between 600,000 and 1.6 million." At last count, I think that’s the number of czars and their staff obummer mmm mmm mmm has placed in key Executive Branch positions, and some of these jobs are seemingly dedicated to rehabbing convicts.

And Ken (Old Texican), I thought your TEAM had solutions. If you’d been paying attention you would know that I have been advocating acts of civil disobedience for some time, most of which you advised against. Most recently I suggested that we all ‘Go Galt’ with a one-day national strike. The plan would call on all Americans to simply take an unpaid holiday from their jobs. The whole idea is to reduce the caloric intake of the gum’mint beast by sending the IRS exactly nothing in withholdings that day. People unable to take time away from their work, would be asked to donate a day’s gross pay to the tax-deductible charity of their choice or to simply volunteer to their employer that they work one day for free. Variations on this theme are certainly possible, but the basic idea of reducing the gum’mint’s tax revenue is important.

Gill O’Teen ✝✡
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
Proudly pro innocent life and I vote.
Don’t Tread on Me!!

Al Adab| 12.9.09 @ 10:50AM

Morning Gill,
A national strike might get someone's attention as might the Harley Parade in DC discussed elsewhere on this site. At least they'd hear the harleys. While the officials of our government pretend to ignore (or be unaware) of hundreds of thousands in the streets, they have to understand that their days are numbered. Make noise and refuse to play.

Molon Labe.

dum &dummer;| 12.9.09 @ 10:31AM

bluecollarbytes,
i totally agree with you. in the beginning i was of the mind that our economy was so large and diverse that it would eventually shake off the effects of what this bunch is trying to accomplish. now, i am growing more fearful every day that that may not be the case. we have ,(barring an all out popular uprising) three more years of this to endure and i am growing more skeptical daily.

NeilBJ| 12.9.09 @ 10:33AM

Re: "So President Obama, who experience proves does not learn from experience..."

It is not that Obama does not learn from experience, it is the fact that he ignores experience, that is, what has been demostrated to work.

His ideology takes precedence over experience, and that is the far worse crime. To choose what your ideology tells you to do over what experience tells you will work is an unconscionable choice.

Ret. Marine| 12.9.09 @ 8:39PM

Excuss me there Neil BJ, but this pretender-n-theif has no paper trail of any kind to remoltely suggest he has experience of any tye other than a "community organizer of the marxist type"

Anthony| 12.9.09 @ 10:41AM

Will the real Newt Gingrich please stand up? Hey Newt, it's getting real hard to keep pace with your protean images. Which are you; and what are you?
The American Thinker said you were coming out with a piece on AGW, which you have shamelessly bought into; I guess we'll just wait and see which Newt emerges from this now exposed colossal fraud. It should be quite the nuianced article.
Oh, Newt, by the way, when you do decide to publish your Contract With America Part II, make sure Term Limits is numero uno and make sure it gets DONE!! We're sick of professional pols, got it?

Pete| 12.9.09 @ 10:59AM

The number of jobs created isn't exactly zero. I would bet a few thousand useless government jobs have been "created" as gifts for the election. Of course, on a net basis, the number is badly negative despite the insistence of Honest Joe B and the Mocha Messiah. There should be a popular revolt if a third "stimulus" goes through. What, $800B wasn't enough to pay off your buddies? Sick and wrong. This isn't "redistribution," it is theft.

Stephen Zierak| 12.9.09 @ 11:00AM

Newt has absolutely no chance of ever being elected President. He is personally undisciplined, and his ideas are often half-baked. I am always interested in listening to him, and I can often learn from him, but trust him as President? No way. Rolling back payroll taxes on entitlements that are already set to bankrupt this country is very dangerous. First of all, temporary tax changes have little positive economic effect, since people make decisions based on longer term situations. Second, this will embolden the looney left Dhimmicrats to turn payroll taxes into another graduated system. If we can roll back taxes, won't it be easier to reimpose them (plus) on the rich rather than the working stiffs? I can hear it now, just like justifying the current stimulus spending with Bush's support of the ridiculous TARP. You want a job creating situation? Reduce the income tax rates to the Reagan level permanently; abolish tax on cap gains/interest/death; and forego any kind of energy plan EXCEPT removing regulations from energy production and guaranteeing that any remaining government approval processes are completed within 6 months (and that there is a strong presumption in favor of approvals, both as a regulatory and judicial matter). At the same time, begin to rein in the Fed and bring back a strong dollar. Low permanent taxes, higher interest rates, low regulation barriers: that will put us back on a sustainable growth path.

Oldefarte| 12.9.09 @ 11:47AM

I disagree with Peter's prediction of the economic cycle's future return to recovery [but agree with his stated Newt's Plan of taxation policies]. Obama [pre-election] proclaimed his desire of WEALTH REDISTRIBUTION, and that is exactly what he/Democrats are now accompolishing with their governmental spending policies. This is only THROWING MONEY DOWN A RATHOLE, as it will accompolish NOTHING. The only way government can provide economic stimulation is through providing taxiation relief to private businesses. The Obama Administration is now simply providing WELFARE [direct governmental payments to car manufacturers, taxpayers,state/local governments,etc] which has very little stimulative effect. Our economy will not recover on its own initiative and not from these governmental giveaways. It is essentially dead or dormant if/until someone replaces the current administrative/congressional Democratic leaders with knowledgeable, business-experienced conservative politicians who can redirect governmental policies toward true stimulation. Get use to 10-20% unemployment, business/consumer bankruptcies,etc, folks, because it will only get worse as long as Obama, Reid, Pilosi, Frank, Dodd, Schumer,and company are in our nation's drivers seat!!!!

Oldefarte| 12.9.09 @ 11:52AM

PS, America needs political leaders who will also recognize the COST/EXPENSE side of governmental accounting; and beging to substantially reduce/eliminate the thousands of governmental programs/expendatures that are essentially WELFARE [domestic social programs, foreign aid, farm support programs,etc] and bring our government's expenses down to reasonable levels!!!!

james wilson| 12.9.09 @ 11:58AM

I'm so sick of Gingrich. This is a man who just wants to be in the pile, and any pile will do in a pinch.

Oldefarte| 12.9.09 @ 12:15PM

Gingrich has his faults but he'd be [and has been] a damned-sure better governmental leader than the socialistic morons that are now running our government [and who are reasons why our country and our government are in such dire straits]. Anyone not recognizing that fact is simply STUPID!!!!!!!!!

Mattled| 12.9.09 @ 12:48PM

Newt has the media bully pulpit and it seems that he is holding back.

I get his newsletters that read like he is waging war with Obama and asking us to join. Then goes on TV air and tiptoes like Michael Steele.

Americans want a fighter----Liberal so-called Americans want an appeaser. Well they got theirs. Where is our fighter?
When you have Michelle Bachman FIGHTING, and Newt "strategizing", you might have an image problem.

Whoever posted to "scream from the rooftops" has it right.

We have no media strategy. The media dictates THE strategy, not OUR strategy.

Ari Fleischer is doing PR for the College BCS-----why hasn't he been tapped for the RNC?

I've suggested before, how about a few Republican states---GA, AL, MS, LA getting together and announcing a cross-state plan to allow residents to buy insurance across state lines in those 4 states? The Obama admin would then have to explain why it is stepping in to stop it.

I saw Axelrod try to explain to Blitzer (of all people) why Obam wouldn't allow cross state purchases. Axelrod weaseled that "that wasn't part of THEIR reform". Good!

Let's roll!!

S.L. Toddard| 12.9.09 @ 12:56PM

"Newt Does a Job on Obama on Jobs"

Oof. Newt Gingrich is precisely as slimy as his Christian name would suggest. This spineless bottom-feeder is a thoroughly discredited hypocrite, a lowlife adulterer and serial wife-dumper.

If ever you find this "man" making your arguments I advise soaking them in bleach before taking them up again.

bob alou| 12.9.09 @ 1:16PM

Of course the fact that your former guru Clinton is all of these, and worse, would be something you would not care to acknowledge.

S.L. Toddard| 12.9.09 @ 1:28PM

*My* guru? You're new here, Bob, so I'll let that slide. Clinton - a sleazy used car salesman type - was not *my* anything. He's the guy that the homosexuals, pedophiles, adulterers and war criminals in the GOP attacked for - get this! - not being morally upstanding. As sleazy as Bill Clinton was, watching the holly-roller sodomites, bible-thumping pedophiles and moralizing adulterers get their comeuppance was truly delightful. I still smile about it from time to time.

What's too bad, though, is that Bill Clinton never got HIS comeuppance. And then the Bush presidency goes and makes Clinton's look like a g*ddamned Golden Age. Oh well.

S.L. Toddard| 12.9.09 @ 2:35PM

"holly-roller" - that's a guy who rolls holly into wreaths. It's a seasonal job.

Truth to Power| 12.9.09 @ 2:51PM

S. L. Toddards's guru can be seen in the movie Bruno. He is the used car salesman-like character wanting to talk Austrian Economics with Bruno. The movie is very crude but if you can see this clip it will give you a feel from where Toddard (or as we affectionately refer to him, the Terd) is coming from. He thinks he is a historian, Constitutional scholar, and all around very smart guy. You will not be able to shake him of those notions. That will have to be left to those that dispense psychiatric therapy.

S.L. Toddard| 12.9.09 @ 5:13PM

It's "Turd."

Truth to Power| 12.9.09 @ 7:12PM

I like Terd better. Like SLT it is not quite right but still smells bad.

George Jefferson| 12.9.09 @ 1:30PM

Oboingo is fooling nobody but himself; IMO, he has been ordered by his shadow-bosses to crash the economic power of the US. It is intentional, it is planned, it is being executed as we speak. The endgame is an America under the totalitarian jack-boot of the UN with Obongo "promoted" to World Dictator. Be scared, be very scared. Unless something happens soon, the US is history. Finito. Kaput.

Ret. Marine| 12.9.09 @ 8:46PM

Sorry there George, but I think there are about 15-24 million of us veterans that will have a say in this matter, of course we will not be handing out lolly-pops for the bad guys.

Tony in Central PA| 12.9.09 @ 2:38PM

A less experienced person might find it ironic that so many of the things the Left cared so much about before the election are now unimportant. The deficit ? Who cares ? Afghanistan and Iraq ? How many antiwar protests did we see after Obama's troop " surge " announcement ?
Just as I told every Obamite before the election, " We'll still have the same problems if he's elected. In fact, they'll probably even be worse, but people won't seem to care very much ".
People don't care. They don't know, either, and don't care to know. That's the only way somebody like Obama could have become President. Maybe we have the government we deserve.

JimE| 12.9.09 @ 5:04PM

Tony, I agree with you completely. People don't care. Newt is a self-serving buffoon. The time for talk is over, only violent action against the government bring any meaningful changes.

JimE| 12.9.09 @ 5:04PM

Tony, I agree with you completely. People don't care. Newt is a self-serving buffoon. The time for talk is over, only violent action against the government bring any meaningful changes.

Tony in Central PA| 12.9.09 @ 7:55PM

Jim, I absolutely can't agree with you about " violent action ". Many of the things that direct our society don't come from government, although I believe that one of the main distinguishers between liberal and conservative these days is the conception by the left that society should somehow be " steered " by a more enlightened government versus the people steering the government.
Violence directed against the government isn't going to change people's hearts. People in America apparently need to experience the failures of socialism and having the State as the Church because they have either forgotten or not witnessed these failures in other countries. And with this President and this Congress and Senate, they're gonna get it.

Northern Rebel | 12.9.09 @ 2:42PM

I'm sad to say Newt no longer has any credibility among thinking conservatives. He has proven that he is nothing but another chamelion politician, and he might as well go back to sucking Pelosi's botox riddled face!

I wouldn't vote for him for my village dogcatcher position.

Clintidote| 12.9.09 @ 3:56PM

Newt belongs on the same "done and gone" pile as Oldbobdole, Pelosi, ScuzzyFavaBean and the rest of his Beltway cronies.

Broom these clowns before it's too late to kill this Big Stupid Government tumor.

Mattled| 12.9.09 @ 5:13PM

Truth to Power,

He/She just stays in a Holiday Inn Express every night and voila! A geneticist, rocket scientist, historian---whatever.

But then the barista job comes calling.

Truth to Power| 12.10.09 @ 12:42AM

This would explain almost everything. I am thinking he by the way. Your basic female narcissist has a little different style.

Richard Baker| 12.9.09 @ 6:21PM

Newt is History. Seems that he's just another professional politician going whichever way the wind blows. His support of Scozzafava was the last straw for me. Who cares what this epitome of arrogance thinks?

Jim O'Brien| 12.9.09 @ 6:29PM

Maybe BHO will start having Fireside Chats? How about a new Works Progress Administration (WPA)? Bush duplicated Hoover, and Obama is copying FDR. Wage war on business, increase taxes, increase federal programs and spending, then watch the economy stagnate for a decade.

Jobs are create by capitalism, not by socialism.
Is Obama really ignorant of economics, or is he very deliberately working to increase the number of people dependent on the government while simultaneously destroying private enterprise?

dum & dummer| 12.9.09 @ 6:39PM

tony from pa., you, my friend are right on. we have exactly the gov. we deserve.

Cincinnatius| 12.9.09 @ 7:34PM

Add my vote to those saying Newt is a self-promoting coward. He is a politico thru and thru. He is really smart and would be a great president if only he weren't missing the traits of courage and morality. We've got to keep looking for our man....Newt ain't him!

martha| 12.9.09 @ 7:54PM

Our man's out there but he might be wearing a skirt and heels.
A few people I like:
Mike Pence,
Jim DeMint.
Michelle Bachman, and of course
Miss Sarah.
I'm starting to pay attention to John Thune-I haven't heard much from him yet and what I'm going to say is going to sound very shallow but think about it: Thune looks like what you think a President should look like, tall clean cut, sounds a little like Henry Fonda in the "Grapes of Wrath" In a Presidential race, image counts for a lot, I do however need to know more about Thune's positions on things, however at this early early stage, I tell ya, he's got the look! If you do'nt think it counts-think about Obama. It got him elected, Thune would be a good competitor in the image dept, but I need to know his positions before I'd go further.

John II| 12.9.09 @ 8:56PM

If Thune's positions are anything like Henry Fonda's, forget it.

"Reds!?! I keep hearin' about Reds. Who ARE these Reds, anyway?" (Grapes of Wrath, 1939)

I prefer Honda's personal friend and political foe, Jimmy Stewart:

"Reality? Wellll, uh, you know, I wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it." (Harvey, 1950)

Yeah, I'd vote for someone who looked and talked like Jimmy Stewart--and subscribed to his conservative politics and all-around decency.

martha| 12.9.09 @ 9:48PM

Agree with you as far as whose politics I'd favor, after all Henry did have Hanoi Jane and Peter.
That being said, if you read what I wrote, I said he SPOKE like Henry Fonda, not that he thought like Henry Fonda.
I also said, more than once, that I was waiting to hear what his positions are.
Jeeeeessssssshhhhhhhh

Pat Spooner| 12.9.09 @ 8:22PM

Let's face it, the absolute best that anyone can say about the obama is that he is: 1) the most inexperienced person ever elected President; 2) clueless when it comes to anything dealing with the economy; and, 3) unwilling to listen to anyone expect his inexperienced staff, who for the most part are government cronies who couldn't get a job in the private sector to save their souls. He sees no evil and hears only what he says - perferring not to listen to anyone except his replays on his dvr!

Northern Rebel| 12.9.09 @ 8:39PM

Martha:

I agree that there are many great conservative voices ot there, Pence being a favorite.

My guy is George Allen. I dream of an Allen/Santorum ticket, but until we purge the repug party of liberals, it won't happen.

What will happen, is the American people WILL embrace a ticket like that, because conservatism is like abstinence, in that it works every time it's tried!

Until we remove the socialist element from the republican party, men like Thune, and Ladies like Bachman, will continue to be marginalized within their own party, by the Snowes, and the Crist's of the political world.

Martha| 12.9.09 @ 9:56PM

Santorum, I think I remember hearing, may be running for either Gov or Senator in NY.
Do'nt quote me on that, I read the article really quickly.
I think if real Conservatives, like Bachman, Hoffman in NY23 Pence can get elected and we support them, it would send a major message to the Republican Party. Because at the end of the day, the Repubs want to win elections.
Dennis Miller tonight on a segment with O'Reilly listed Ayn Rand as one of his most fascinating people, and he made a comment about how the Objectivist movement is gaining steam. I think our time is coming but we have to get someone in 2012 who can win, so we can start to undo the Damage. That is if we do'nt impeach him first.
Everyday I ask myself-can we impeach him yet?

George| 12.9.09 @ 8:57PM

O'Reilly and Gingrich represent two from the past. O'Reilly is just a fat old man who interupts his guests so often that there is no value in his show except to O'Reilly. Newt's had his chance and should go under some rug somewhere and hide his silly two faces. We need some real conservatives real fair and balance commentators and some one who is not afraid to ask hard questions. O'Reilly is a little old lady and rude to boot. It's time Fox changed his show to 3AM.

Northern Rebel| 12.10.09 @ 9:44AM

Martha:

If we tried to impeach this treasonous wretch, the race cards would
come out of the woodwork faster than
than Tiger Woods' mistresses.

It's better that he slink off like the whipped, disgraced cur he is, after he's pummeled in the next Presidential election.

That will only happen if we nominate an unabashed conservative, be it Sarah, George Allen, or Rick Santorum.

You notice there is only one candidate that can be referred to without a surname?

The first female President of the United States of America, will not be Hillary Clinton!

How delicious is that? :o)

Northern Rebel| 12.10.09 @ 9:49AM

George:
I like O'Reilly, until he tries to be the anti-Rush. He was touting a 2% national sales tax to cut the deficit, and Neil Cavuto ripped him to shreds on his own show.

He wants so much to be an alpha dog, that it's comical! Still, I like the man, he's got good, if misguided intentions. Rush called him Ted Baxter, and it fits!

If they replaced his show with Red Eye, I wouldn't have to record it!

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