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The Spectacle Blog
Leave it to Newt Gingrich to take a dump over his entire party and the whole conservative movement in his unhinged efforts to find some way, any way, to fulfill what he sees (delusionally) as his destiny of being a world-historical figure. I have no idea what the latest bizarre political calculation it is that he thinks he is making, but it’s absolutely idiotic politically, it’s horribly wrong philosophically, and it give solace and succor to President Obama by undercutting the argument (an absolutely valid argument at that) that the individual mandate to buy health insurance is impractical, immoral, and unconstitutional.
So what has me exercised? Gingrich today strongly endorsed the individual mandate, absurdly (and meanly) blasted Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan as “right-wing social engineering,” and otherwise made an absolute jackanapes of himself.
Why does any conservative even give this guy the time of day anymore? Deroy Murdock gives all sorts of good reasons to oppose Gingrich at any cost. Then there is his habit of spouting off at conservatives not just with disagreements, which is everybody’s prerogative, but instead with utter vitriol. Remember how when he endorsed Scozzafava in that special election in New York over the conservative Hoffman (another huge mark against Gingrich)? He wasn’t content just to endorse her; instead, he absolutely trashed conservatives for backing Hoffman.
Then, of course, there was the way he absolutely screwed up the 1998 elections, after screwing up both the budget negotiations that year and the impeachment-inquiry procedures. Then there was his mercurial, untrustworthy, push-the-GOP-in-one-direction in the morning and then take-a-nearly-diametrically-opposite-position himself in the afternoon routine while he was Speaker. While it always was in incredibly stupid idea for a bunch of Republican underlings in 1997 to try to engineer a coup to overthrow Gingrich mid-term (changing horses in mid-stream, or mid-term, is a recipe for disaster), it was nevertheless an understandable impulse, because Gingrich was such an egomaniacal, bullying, inconstant leader.
Gingrich’s other lamest hits include his commercial with Nancy Pelosi lamenting global warming; his pathetic pandering to Iowans by endorsing even greater ethanol subsidies or use than already exist; his brazen flip-flops this spring about whether the U.S. should take arms against Moammar Ghadafi; his 1983 call for “very activist government’: sucking up to Al Sharpton; claiming that he carried on what by some accounts was a six-year-long affair because he got too caught up in trying to save the country (just lie back and think of America!); his ethics-related rebuke by the House; and, going way back, his work on behalf of the presidential campaign of Nelson Rockefeller in 1968.
But this — this takes the cake. The Republican Party and the conservative movement right now are invested in the Ryan plan. (And for good reason: In most particulars, it is a great plan.) To blast it the way Gingrich did today is inexcusable.
This post has nothing to do with whether or not Gingrich should be president. It has everything to do with whether a single conservative should ever take him seriously again. Answer: No.
View all comments (60) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/05/15/memo-to-gingrich-get-lost-now
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jan| 5.15.11 @ 10:21PM
We conservatives don't really like Ryan's version to much either, it doesn't cut government it just spreads out the spending. Newt and all of the ESTABLISHMENT are liberal, open border, one world big government freaks! So it's the people against the establishment and we need an outsider with some guts who knows something about reforming these freaks/corruption and has done it before. Gee ......who could that be, someone with 20 years of gov experience and a policy wonk on top of it and who has been vetted inside and out, who has survived all of the media smack downs and who was accused OF FREAKIN MURDER and is still a strong, humble , country lovin, who respects the American people and WHO WILL FIGHT FOR FREEDOM AND WILL KICK SOME JIHAD BUTT!!??? Hmmmm, oh that's right GOV SARAH PALIN that's who! Oh she will be in that house on that hill and maybe just maybe some of these freaks might get what they deserve, JAIL!!
A.Men| 5.16.11 @ 6:38AM
Ryan's plan does not CUT any spending. Newt sit back on the couch with Pelosi in front of the cameras --- both of you are attention whores!
Tea Party Candidates that were elected in 2010, stand up with a steel spine and do what you are elected to do --- CUT SPENDING!!
Zbigniew Mazurak | 5.16.11 @ 9:24AM
Ryan's plan would cut federal spending (including defense spending and entitlements) by a whopping $6.2 TRILLION over the next 10 FYs. It is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to save America. Therefore, by dissing it, Gingrich has irreparably discredited himself. As Quin has correctly written, he should get lost now.
Bob Grant| 5.15.11 @ 10:35PM
Well,
Hillyer blasted Huckabee yesterday, Gingrich today. Could he be so kind to finish his triple play by blasting Sarah P tomorrow?
Quin| 5.16.11 @ 7:20AM
No, not Palin today, but maybe Romney.
;)
LC Jackboot | 5.16.11 @ 11:49PM
I beg of you Sir, please do, ESPECIALLY Romney.
Zbigniew Mazurak | 5.16.11 @ 9:24AM
Maybe he did so because Huckabee has a liberal record as Governor of Arkansas?
Booger | 5.15.11 @ 10:36PM
Poor Newt, he was relevant when Bill Clinton was in his 1st term. Now he's just an egomaniac with more luggage than Imelda Marcos.
Sierra Blanca| 5.15.11 @ 10:39PM
Hilarious--both Newt and Ryan--sinking the Republican dreams. The only Repub capable of a meaningful debate with Obama is Ron Paul.
Occam's Tool| 5.15.11 @ 11:29PM
John Bolton, Herman Cain, Allen West, Marco Rubio---all of them, especially West, could hand Obama his ass in a debate.
Bob K.| 5.16.11 @ 10:07AM
How will Obama manage a debate without teleprompters? He can't respond to the softball questions the press throws at him now without making gaffes.
richard lloyd, Sr.| 5.16.11 @ 4:19PM
what are you smoking.i want some.
Christopher Holland| 5.15.11 @ 10:40PM
Come on, Quin, 'fess up- you love the guy, really.
G Fontana| 5.15.11 @ 10:41PM
I think he just shot himself in the foot! No more donations for you, Mr. Gingrich.
Margie| 5.15.11 @ 10:55PM
I was holding a little bit of hope out for Newt, as I am always willing to do for a once brilliant thinking super conservative man who I admired so greatly back in the early days of my becoming "politically aware". re: the contract with America days, and zeal for the House :^).
Now though after hearing this, especially the charge of "right-wing engineering" concerning Ryan's Medicare plan.. what does he mean by that?
Is he perhaps jealous of Ryan because Ryan is truly standing out from the crowd with a real plan and getting noticed?
Newt~ come on!
Get a grip.
Occam's Tool| 5.15.11 @ 11:26PM
Bye, Newt.
Allen West, Allen West, Allen West....
Margie| 5.15.11 @ 11:50PM
Yeah, I think this put the final kibosh on his chances.
Allen West, that's definitely more like it.
I can't hear him complaining about "Right Wing engineering", but probably more along the lines of he's proud to be a member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy~ of which I myself am still a card carrying member.
Remember that?
Occam's Tool| 5.15.11 @ 11:58PM
Yup. I am, too. G-d Bless you, Margie.
Bob Grant| 5.15.11 @ 11:03PM
I never understood labeling him as smart. He now just provided the Dems a catch phrase you'll soon get tired of hearing:
Right-wing social engineering...........Thanks alot Newt.
You've just made it that much harder to defeat Obama and Obamacare by providing him cover.
Your done!!
Margie| 5.15.11 @ 11:04PM
Ok, he's still a brilliant thinker, but this is not.
Bob Grant| 5.15.11 @ 11:05PM
Please prove to me his brilliance.
Margie| 5.15.11 @ 11:08PM
Hey, you!
Heh, my post was coming through as you posted yours and I did not see yours, nor was I responding to yours.
And anyhow, I don't have to prove anything to you.
So there. :^)~.
Bob Grant| 5.15.11 @ 11:11PM
We'll I figured I'd give it a shot.
Margie| 5.15.11 @ 11:21PM
But really, Mr. Grant~ don't you think he's something of a brilliant historian and great communicator of conservative thought? I've heard him speak about the Founding Fathers, especially George Washington, and the history of our country in such a great way.
Because of listening to him I got motivated to buy plenty of great books on our history.
And can you really deny how he motivated the Republicans in the House back then?
He was great as far as I'm concerned.
Bob Grant| 5.16.11 @ 9:34AM
I agree with all of that. The problem with Newt, it seems he has a vindictive streak in him and he's so political he cannot be trusted. Can you say with certainty how he would preside as president?
Margie| 5.16.11 @ 2:32PM
"Can you say with certainty how he would preside as president?"
Nope. He's out.
Margie| 5.15.11 @ 11:13PM
Although, I will say this: for him to come out with such a comment shows that he doesn't consider himself "Right Wing".
Which is too bad. And sad.
Occam's Tool| 5.15.11 @ 11:27PM
Margie,
as a politician, Newt is a great History lecturer and writer of alternative histories. Not much else, though.
You are much more the dream rabbit. ;)
s bennett| 5.16.11 @ 8:32AM
mile wide inch deep-- thats newt
Bob K.| 5.16.11 @ 10:13AM
Indeed!
Mouth and ego a wide as the mouth of a Texas river and with personal integrity just as shallow!
simon templar| 5.16.11 @ 12:38AM
I could not believe what I was reading this evening on the news sites. I literally did a double take. Is this guy insane? First the global warming nonsense and now the mandate? Does he think he is going to get elected without 40 percent of the conservative vote let alone be nominated? He makes Rand Paul sound better every day. If anyone ever had any doubts about this guy not being a true conservative but just another beltway big goverment RINO..he just solidly confirmed it. I can cut someone some slack if they have a few differing positions or some different approaches but this is nuts. This really is a teachable moment as Rush says. We can no longer take anything at face value but must vet these people relentlessly.
Bob K.| 5.16.11 @ 10:15AM
We should start encouraging him to switch parties!
Occam's Tool| 5.16.11 @ 12:43AM
Dear Simon:
The guy you want is Bolton or West. rand paul shares dady's views on foreign policy.
simon templar| 5.16.11 @ 12:50AM
OT..I was just making a point for dramatic comparison..next to this craziness Rand Paul and the father looks like the harbingers of sanity and reason.
West, Cain, Rubio, or Bolton..Yes!
Occam's Tool| 5.19.11 @ 1:53AM
Boy, Simon, that was bad spelling, but I was tired. My apologies.
Rob| 5.16.11 @ 12:43AM
Gingrich is like the girl about whom Longfellow wrote: "And when she was good, she was very, very good, But when she was bad she was horrid." The victory of 1994 and the Contract with America was very, very good, but sadly the latest word from Gingrich is indeed "horrid," and is far from an exception. Quite a disappointment.
Margie| 5.16.11 @ 12:51AM
Dittos.
simon templar| 5.16.11 @ 12:45AM
The more I think of this the more disconcerting this is...has the GOP lost its mind? how does this jive with the horsecrap he has been slinging about big government and his statements that this Obamacare is the biggest boondoggle and piece of dung ever written? This a joke, right? It is just a media ploy... a belated April fools joke?
Margie| 5.16.11 @ 12:55AM
Nah. Simon, think of it this way~ the pruning has begun. And pruning makes for some healthy growth, and permits for the bearing of good fruit.
Now the others are going to come forth. You watch!
Bob Grant| 5.16.11 @ 9:35AM
Michelle Bachman is looking more appealing by the day.
JmsA| 5.16.11 @ 4:41AM
"Why does any conservative even give this guy the time of day anymore?"
Maybe you should ask Sean Hannity that very question.
shirochan| 5.16.11 @ 8:12AM
Allen West? Beating Obama in a debate? Are you people serious?
His only political experience is being elected to the House in 2010. Prior to that he was a Lt Col in the army with a stained Iraq record, which may be unfair or justified, but either way makes him a tough candidate to back.
But in a debate? You want to put this guy in the ring with a 4-year incumbant who "caught Obama", has started to "end the war in Iraq", who has piloted a slow recovery in "the worst depression in a generation", *and* who happens to be to have been the president of the "Harvard Law Review"? Seriously, do you know how hard-core smart you have to be to run the "Review"? Not like any other bright people at Harvard Law wanted that gig...
I want a good opponent for Obama in 2012, I want the US to have a "real choice". But the more Trumps and Wests and Newts that get marched out, the more I realize that the real Republicans are going to let someone else be this election's Mondale or Dole or Kerry while they get another 4 years of seasoning ... and won't have to run against an incumbent.
shirochan| 5.16.11 @ 8:13AM
Ha ha. I said "Obama" when I meant "Osama". It's even easier to mistype than to misspeak. I guess this invalidates my other comments ...
Bob K.| 5.16.11 @ 10:31AM
Give us a break!
If he is so damn "hard Core" (not "corps" mind you) smart why didn't he have an article in the journal? And why won't he release his grades like Bush and Kerry did? And has it been determined yet that he has a current license to practice law?
And if these issues don't come up in a debate it will be because the Republican Candidate won't have the instinct for the jugular. Because you can bet Obama will be as nasty as he always has been in his speeches and in his past debates.
He makes a good speech only if he can hold his chin up in the air and waggle his head back an forth looking at prompters. He won't have them in a debate.
shirochan| 5.16.11 @ 12:34PM
I'm kidding? You are completely underestimating the competition from similarly cut-throat hard-core law students for most prestigious student position in the (arguably) most prestigious law school in the US. His grades are an issue? How? You really think this guy had poor grades? Current license to practice law? He was a law professor at Chicago for 12 years ... I don't think that he has any intention of practicing again, do you?
You are missing my point: He is ruthless, highly intelligent, and now has a 4 year record as president to spin into rhetoric in his favor. I am blown away by how Republicans underestimate this guy over and over again.
LC Jackboot | 5.16.11 @ 11:57PM
Underestimate. I've been pounding on that one over at my site, for a long time now. I get nauseated when someone tells me how much the GOP is going to walk all over Ogabe in '12. This thinking WILL get us 4 more years of socialist hell.
small town gal| 5.16.11 @ 10:57AM
Is your comment serious? I take it you've never heard West speak. The man quotes Plato. I think I've heard him 'um' 'er' 'uh' once, if that much, unlike Stuttering Soetoro. And Barry's Law Review 'gig' - the only guy to run it who never wrote an article - unless you count something Politico claimed they found that BO wrote even though it is unsigned. BO admitted he "undoubtedly benefitted from affirmative action" and that is how he was able to get that 'gig', not because he was a smart egg. I, for one, have never heard one intelligent thought come out of Barry's mouth. Why do you think he has so many handlers? And he hates America! Unlike West, who everyone knows was ready to give his life for our country.
West is a real man, a true American patriot who served her heroically, honors our Constitution and wants to see America prosper.
shirochan| 5.16.11 @ 12:47PM
"The man quotes Plato." You're killing me.
Yes, I am serious. Do you think that Congressman West would ever refer to the President as "Stuttering Soetoro" or "Barry"? If Obama suggests that he is "not a smart egg", it is to get himself closer to the people and is clearly contrary to the evidence. Why is everyone on the right trying to underestimate this guy? The right needs to respect him in order to properly confront him on issues; convincing themselves that he's a pretender is a terrible mistake.
People believing that he doesn't have an "intelligent thought" in his head or "hates America" are the reason why the right is stuck courting fringe candidates who appeal to this kind of nonsense instead of coming up with a legitimate opponent for this guy in 2012.
Occam's Tool| 5.19.11 @ 1:58AM
The level of competition to graduate with honors at University of Texas Medical Branch dwarfs that of HLS. About 10% or less of my class graduated with honors. Over 60% of HLS does. And as I know some Ivy Law grads, they're not that smart.
West is intelligent and articulate and can think on his feet. I renew the assertion previously made. Cain is a talk show host. I renew the assertion previously made.
West's "stained" record was his willingness to sacrifice his career for the safety of his troops.
President of HLS is an elected, not earned, position. Editor requires the analytic smarts, if such can be said of attorneys.
BUCK JOHNSON| 5.16.11 @ 9:45AM
The whole voucher scam is just plain silly, with all kinds of uninteded consequences. For example, suppose my grandma loses her voucher, moves, never receives her voucher, voucher went to the wrong person, a hospital or doctor does not accept the voucher, her voucher is stolen, etc.. . And for all you small government people, what type of new government agency will need to be created to keep track of vouchers. My grandma can hardly keep track of her false teeth...keeping track of her voucher will be very interesting.
AnyoneButNewt| 5.16.11 @ 9:51AM
HUGE "See, I Told You So."
Oldefarte| 5.16.11 @ 11:17AM
Bullseye once again, Quin....kudos! He's obviously lost some critical brain matter [or as you say, always]. His crawling into political bed with Democrats over this WELFARECARE garbage disguised as wealth redistribution, health insurance style is asinine, ludicrous and [more importantly for him] a job killer. For him to languish his decision concerning seeking the presidency, and almost immediately thereafter come out proclaiming this excrement is way beyond insanity. How dare this moron! When half of the states are now in a legal fight headed twoards the SCOTUS and a clear majority of polled citizens in disfavor over his welfarecare, his extreme stupidity to approve its passage is a mental illness requiring immediate medical attention. He just added his name to the list [including Romney, Huckabee, Johnson etc] of defeated, non-successful seekers of the Republican nomination for president. Palin has stated that if in her opinion there was a serious need for her to seek the Republican nomination from the lack of serious candidates dedicated towards solving pertinent issues facing this country, that she would then throw her hat into the ring......I now think that there is no doubt that she will do so in the near future. Personally, I think a possible Palin-Buchmann ticket would be incredible!!!!
simon templar| 5.16.11 @ 11:46AM
Maybe it is time and is the way me must go given there is an incredible shortage of real men with any balls in the political arena. Two strong principled women running the country with conservative balls the size of Mount Rushmore..sounds good to me.
Oldefarte| 5.16.11 @ 1:24PM
Amen, ST! Even MSNBC's Joe Scarborough is now reflecting back to his days of interaction with Newt and prophesizing that Newt is a possible RINO!!!!!!!!!
Bob Grant| 5.16.11 @ 11:31PM
Old Flat...
That's too rich. Apparently, RINO's do not own mirrors.
Howard Hyde | 5.17.11 @ 7:05PM
LOL! Priceless.
Barry Schreiber | 5.16.11 @ 4:11PM
Right on. Well stated. In fact, all Republicans should not run on their own merits. Make Obama run on his record.
Bob| 5.16.11 @ 5:12PM
"OT..I was just making a point for dramatic comparison..next to this craziness Rand Paul and the father looks like the harbingers of sanity and reason.West, Cain, Rubio, or Bolton..Yes!"
Pauls yes ... I can't vote for Micheal Bolton ... just don't like his music.
Occam's Tool| 5.19.11 @ 1:59AM
John Bolton, not Michael. John the former UN ambassador.
Bill| 5.16.11 @ 8:01PM
Exactly.
Beautiful , economical prose.
Eloquent. Etc. Etc. Etc.