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Farewell to the Spectator
December 16, 2011 | 8 comments
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Tentative Praise for Ryan’s New Bipartisan Medicare Plan
December 15, 2011 | 3 comments
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The Day Ahead: Thursday, December 15
December 15, 2011 | 0 comments
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Examiner for Romney, National Review Against Gingrich
December 14, 2011 | 39 comments
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Paul Ryan to Introduce New Medicare Plan with Democrat Ron Wyden
December 14, 2011 | 4 comments
The Spectacle Blog
With Mitt Romney’s campaign embracing the Ryan plan for Medicare today more closely than he has before — surrogate John Sununu called it a “conservative litmus test” — it’s worth considering that Romney’s platform is now far more defined than Newt Gingrich’s. Whatever Romney’s past shifts and ideological transgressions, at this point in the primary contest he’s faced far more pointed questions than Gingrich about what should be done to fix the economy, health care, energy, immigration, etc.
Of course, Gingrich has a long track record. But because he’s been, up until the past few weeks, in the background during GOP debates and on the campaign trail, no one else has really bothered to force him to define his positions and explain the inconsistencies in his record. So the strange situation is that by far the most substantive questioning Gingrich has faced has come from Glenn Beck, in a wide-ranging interview.
That one interview underscores the point that Gingrich’s platform is relatively underdeveloped. It contained probably four or five different points that will be fodder for Romney and others’ attacks next time they’re on stage together. You have to assume that more such opportunities will arise as Gingrich’s public exposure increases.
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More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/12/08/many-of-gingrichs-views-yet-to
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Clint| 12.8.11 @ 5:31PM
Gingrich And Romney Are Serial Traitors To Conservatism.
We Are Being Set Up By The RINO-CINO Flunkie Stooges.
These Are The RINO-CINO Flunkie Stooges Who Gave Us The Serial Traitor To Conservatism, John McCain Of McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy,McCain-Lieberman,Gang Of 14, Opposing Bush Tax Cuts Of 2001 & 2003,TARP.
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here And In Iowa.
Jack in Wi| 12.8.11 @ 6:51PM
Gingrich and his beliefs can best be discerned by which the wind is blowing.
Dan| 12.8.11 @ 6:20PM
And since when is a comprehensive platform clearly definable ALWAYS a desirable quality going into a general?
Sophisticated political observers have long known that a shade of evasiveness is not necessarily undesirable.
So Romney's platform is supposedly "defined."
The only thing we do KNOW for certain is that Romney has a track record of backtracking, crawfishing and dodging.
Gingrich made his bones in the dramatic battles with Libs during the 80's and 90's.
We know he's a fighter; we know that he often has to control his own internal impulses to go after Liberalism.
Romney has no such internal forces to wrestle with.
William R| 12.8.11 @ 7:25PM
Newt Gingrich a “Wilsonian”
For traditional conservatives, President Woodrow Wilson has long been considered a big government villain second perhaps only to Franklin Roosevelt. Wilsonian “progressivism” has always been enemy of conservatism proper—and it always will be if conservatives are to remain conservative.
Said author Thomas Sowell of Barack Obama on Glenn Beck’s program last year: “I’ve often thought the current president is really sort of Woodrow Wilson reincarnated.”
Said Glenn Beck of Wilson: “Woodrow Wilson was an evil S.O.B.”
Said Newt Gingrich: “I’m a real politick Wilsonian.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
Jack in Wi| 12.8.11 @ 9:18PM
William R. Newt Gingrich's 2 greatest political hero's are FDR and Woodrow Wilson. Why the hell does any conservative listen to him?
Clint| 12.8.11 @ 9:44PM
" With the intense search for a conservative alternative to Mitt Romney producing popularity “bubbles” for Rick Perry and Herman Cain, “Who’s next?” has been the recurring question. In an ironic twist, the consensus answer seems to be: Newt Gingrich.
I say “ironic” because the opposition to Romney has been led by conservative grassroots writers and activists, as well as groups like FreedomWorks. Gingrich isn’t much more popular among that contingent than Romney. In May, when Gingrich sharply criticized Paul Ryan’s Medicare reform plan, FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey reminded National Review that Gingrich had been a serial offender:
Citing Gingrich’s support of Dede Scozzafava in the 2009 congressional election in New York’s 23rd district, his backing of Medicare Part D and TARP, and his commercial with Nancy Pelosi about climate change, Armey observes that “Newt entered the race with serious ground to make up with these 2 million Tea Party activists.”…
Brendan Steinhauser, director of Federal and State Campaigns for FreedomWorks, reports that the Tea Partiers he’s talked to are “irate” at Gingrich… “I never met a single Tea Party activist that supported Newt Gingrich for president,” he adds."
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here And In Iowa.
Clint| 12.8.11 @ 9:46PM
" Gingrich praised Freddie Mac model in 2007
Newt Gingrich in 2007 extolled the virtues of Freddie Mac, saying he would be "very cautious" about changing the way the mortgage-finance company's public-private business plan operated.
In an interview placed on Freddie Mac's website, the Republican presidential candidate said the government-sponsored enterprise, or GSE, could serve as a guide for rebuilding the hurricane-ravaged Gulf of Mexico, improving health care and funding space exploration. For decades, Freddie Mac collected profits while benefiting from an implicit taxpayer guarantee of its debt.
"I'm convinced that if NASA were a GSE, we probably would be on Mars today," Gingrich said in the April 24, 2007, Web post.
"While we need to improve the regulation of the GSEs, I would be very cautious about fundamentally changing their role or the model itself," he said."
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here And In Iowa.
Diogenes| 12.9.11 @ 5:30AM
Romney's positions are pretty well defined as being whatever he thinks the voters want to hear. He thinks capital gains reductions should be limited to those without the capital to invest because 'the middle class needs help' (instead of cutting across the board to stimulate investment and growth so the middle class can get jobs). He believes scaremongering about China 'stealing our jobs' is a winner, that we need tariffs to put them in their place (because Smoot-Hawley worked so well the last time we were in a long term financial crisis).
Gingrich, on the other hand says what he believes no matter who it alienates, and the last time he was in political power did exactly what he said he would do (the Contract with America).
And for the record, there was exactly zero new in the Beck interview. All of Newt's positions are out there, his platform is clearly defined on his web site. As far as the 'gotcha' minutia his dectractors keep coming up with-keep asking the questions. The more you hear his answers the better he sounds.
Unless you're a Romney supporter or Paulbot, of course.
martin j smith| 12.9.11 @ 7:21AM
And what exactly are Miott Romney's views on anything ? He is illdefined or not at all defined.
He is BS and I will not vote for him--he is backed by Establishments Republicans and the Socialists--NO THANK YOU AT ALL.!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bob K.| 12.9.11 @ 7:39AM
He has had since the 1990's opportunity enough to define them. If he hasn't done so by now we can conclude that he is a political con man.
martin j smith| 12.9.11 @ 9:19AM
Romney is a political Con Man,. May Newt is too but maybe not. The point is each guy should have the responsibility to prove who they are not these pundits here or on FOX or in Pravda ( = NYT )
Lyneil Vandermolen| 12.9.11 @ 1:25PM
Newt's immigration platform is clear enough for me. He wants to cram another gigantic amnesty down our throat just like Kennedy, Bush and McCain did. He also tried to kill the original E-Verify bill so that employers could keep hiring illegal aliens. Then he added an amendment to keep it voluntary when E-Verify's passage looked inevitable. The establishment is fighting back against the grass roots with this open borders retread. It takes more than a good debater to save this country's self determination.