CHICAGO, January 30, 2012—When Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, Newt Gingrich was a junior member of the House of Representatives. He was an inconsequential backbencher. Congress and political parties operate on a strict seniority system, and Gingrich was very junior.
A junior member of the House or Senate is nothing more than a houseplant.
When Ronald Reagan was elected, Newt was a houseplant; pretty to look and pretty much useless.
Ronald Reagan created his brand of Conservatism or Republicanism long before Newt Gingrich was a political seedling. Newt did not help create Reagan conservatism no matter how much Newt the historian tries to rewrite history.
Just like liberal historians, Newt rewrites and revises history to fit his personal needs. Reagan isn’t around to dispute him. Newt was, and is, nothing more than a political opportunist. No one trusts a political opportunist. They have no moral or political core. They merely flit from issue to issue.
Gingrich did not come into his own until Reagan’s second term. Gingrich gained some seniority and notoriety. He developed a reputation as guerilla bomb thrower, carnival barker and circus clown. He became a populist personality.
By then, Reagan, his philosophy, and policies were well entrenched. Reagan never needed Gingrich for anything. Gingrich needed anyone he could use. That is the mark of a self-destructive lightweight.
The Gingrich brand has never changed: bold, brash, erratic, bombastic, inconsistent, and combustible. He is the whirling Dervish of politics. He will say anything, take any position, or espouse any ideology if it benefits him. Facts and truth are meaningless. He spins so fast you can’t keep up.
When the built up momentum stops, when he implodes, when his credibility collapses, Newt attacks. His campaign is imploding now. Newt is on the attack.
Newt creates stark contrasts between himself, his opposition, and critics. His stark contrasts may appeal to some gullible voters, susceptible Tea Party Kool-Aid drinkers, and narrow-minded social, cultural, or so-called family value absolutists.
They don’t sell to a vast, diverse audience. You need a vast, diverse audience to generate votes and win elections.
The object of the game is to win elections, not get standing ovations and adulation. Bullying with bluster or preaching to small choirs does not win elections.
Gingrich will never be elected president. Never is a long time. Newtrons, forget about it. President Obama will clean his clock.
You cannot run against an absolutist president when you claim to be an absolutist. You cannot accuse the president of being extremist or dangerous if you sound like a dangerous extremist.
There is no stark contrast between Newt Gingrich and President Obama, except their party affiliation.
It must be remembered that by 1998, Gingrich was detested and hated by his own party, including newly elected members of the House. They eventually forced him out of the Speaker’s chair and out of office in disgrace in 1999.
The fear in Republican Party circles is that Gingrich will preserve President Obama’s job, lose the House, and make no gains in the Senate. It will be déjà vu all over again. He preserved Bill Clinton’s job and helped elect more Democrats to Congress. Republicans never forgave him.
Newt Gingrich would lead the GOP into an avalanche of defeat. Newt does not care. He will just go on an “I told you so” attack to prove to himself he was right.
Gingrich can rail against the media and the establishment - Republican and Democrat - all he wants. When he cannot defend his dishonesty, distortions, or deceptions, he plays the victim. He sounds like Hillary Clinton with her imaginary Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
Political conspiracy theorists in tinfoil hats should not hold high public office.
Unfortunately for Gingrich, it is conservatives, and even archconservatives, who are attacking him. Many of these same people originally criticized and attacked Mitt Romney over his moderation.
The critics may be political zealots, but they are grounded realists. They know Newt is not electable and the object of the game is getting a candidate elected.
Newt’s dishonesty, deceptions, duplicitous nature, insider status, hypocrisy, and distortions are coming back to bite him.
When vituperative conservative viper, Ann Coulter, attacks your Republican credentials, you have a problem. Ms. Coulter warns, “Re-elect Obama, Vote Newt!” She also took aim at Newt’s ego and temper: “Hotheaded arrogance is neither conservative nor attractive to voters.”
R. Emmet Tyrell posits, “Newt has more skeletons in his closet than a body snatcher”.
National Review opines, “Gingrich backers say that he is inspiring. What he mostly seems to inspire is opposition.”
Bob Dole chimed in, “Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has endorsed him and that fact speaks for itself. He was a one-man-band who rarely took advice. It was his way or the highway.”
Newt Gingrich is not a conservative. He is merely an opportunist, a snake oil salesman. He will always tell people what they want or need to hear. He will say anything to win.
Christian theology teaches that Satan’s greatest trick is to convince people he does not exist. That describes Newt Gingrich to a tee. He is trying to convince people the evil amoral Newt is nothing more than a fabrication of the establishment and the media.
According to the gospel of Gingrich, the evil Newt does not exist.
Peter V. Bella is a retired Chicago Police Officer, freelance writer and photographer, cook, and raconteur. He likes to be the sharp stick that pokes, prods, and annoys. His opinions are his and his alone.
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