Kathleen
The Donald won’t be running for president after teasing (threatening?) the American people for a few weeks. I’m glad that the less serious candidates are starting to drop out and folks like Mitch Daniels are giving a nod and a wink to the race. The second most destructive GOP bid is, in my opinion, Newt Gingrich – particularly after his performance on MTP yesterday where he gave a rather uncharitable reading of Paul Ryan’s budget proposals. Yuval Levin weighed in on the Corner:
On the Ryan budget’s Medicare reform, Gingrich basically echoed the liberal talking point that moving to a premium-support system starting in ten years (and only for people who would retire at that point or later) was too radical. Instead, he said, “we need a national conversation to get to a better Medicare system with more choices for seniors.” His own contributions to that conversation, he suggested, would be ways of addressing fraud in Medicare and the notion that “I think what you want to have is a system where people voluntarily migrate to better outcomes.”Fraud is, of course, a huge problem in Medicare and should be addressed, but it is hardly the essence of our health-care financing crisis. Gingrich’s second point was specific-sounding enough that it presumably refers to some particular idea. But what would that be? Perhaps a premium-support system as an option alongside today’s fee-for-service Medicare? Such an approach was considered during the Clinton years (a form of it was proposed by the Breaux-Thomas commission in 1997) but eventually killed by the White House and congressional Democrats. If that’s what Gingrich is saying, then let him say so and argue out its benefits and drawbacks compared to the (very similar) Ryan proposal, rather than just parrot Charles Schumer’s talking points about radicalism in a way that hands the Democrats a weapon to use against any real reform. … Calling such reforms radical while repeating unfounded Democratic talking points is certainly an effective way to undermine such solutions.
I’ll be honest, Newt Gingrich embarrasses me as a history major, an American, and as a registered Republican (forgive me for linking to ThinkProgress video). The only person he seems to be consistently in favor, and in defense of, is himself.
——————————————–
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Hopefully Newt will drop out quickly, but I'm becoming less enamored by Daniels the more I learn about him. Did you hear about the Supreme Court justice he nominated that overturned centuries of Common Law?
http://tinyurl.com/5t4fd5v
As a libertarian Republican, Kathleen, this should give your tremendous pause. I am leaning towards Pawlenty as of now, assuming no rock stars enter. I just was reminded again today how epic it would be if Paul Ryan actually runs. I'm holding that dream alive until the last possible moment.
Well noted, Kathleen. Newt is first and foremost for Newt and has been since the 1994 election (at least).
Your last sentence says it all. But, unfortunately, that could be said about many of the politicians in Washington.
Mike, great insight. Thanks so much – that gives me a bit to mull over.
Rose, agreed, though I do happen to see Newt as more hypocritical/cannibalistic than many other right-wingers.
I just was reminded again today how epic it would be if Paul Ryan actually runs. I'm holding that dream alive until the last possible moment.
Paul Ryan makes me feel as I imagine Dems felt about Obama save for the minor difference that Ryan fills out a suit quite nicely whereas Obama's is – ya know- empty.
Agree completely with Kathleen, Newt is an embarrassment.
I can't wait to watch Hannity tonight. Hannity has been to Gingrich what Chris Matthews has been to Obama. Tingly leg syndrome.
At least Trump served the useful prupose of reminding conservatives that none of the "serious" "electable" RINOs (including Pawlenty) have any in them and that the GOP establishment will still throw anyone under the bus who does not have Rove's stamp of approval and yet attacks Obama anyway. Just like 2008.
We are now again free to agonize about the embarrassingly lame field of GOP candidates standing around doing nothing. The noseholders are again in the drivers seat.
Believe it or not, but I remember in the late '80s, early '90s, there were some very serious conservative thinkers and pundits who thought Gingrich was the natural successor to the "Reagan Revolution". Seriously.
Man, how he has fallen.
Completely agree with K and others on this thread. Newt is old/bad/sad/dead news. And he is so enamored of himself he can't see it.
As to the "lack of a candidate" problem, the only place that creates an issue is for Dhimo house spokespersons/media types who have no one to tear down or rant about right now, and thus cannot earn their keep. I'm perfectly fine with waiting several months until a couple of real candidates come forth.
I have not seen a single candidate that has addressed the ongoing stealth jihad, which is the most important issue to me. The only potential candidate about whom I have heard any positive commentary on this score is Allen West.
As Governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty had has Housing Finance Agency set up a Sharia-compliant lending fund so Muslims could purchase homes without paying interest. He shut down the fund after 18 months, and later claimed he didn't know about it. Very suspicious.
Mitch Daniels has received an award from the Arab American Institute, an anti-American and anti-Israel organization according to Discover the Networks. While his recent school reform victory gives me encouragement, in my book, this is enough for me to write him off.
I want a candidate who clearly and confidently knows what to do about Hamas-linked CAIR and other Muslim Brotherhood front groups in the US. So far, I haven't seen one, except Allen West. So he has my vote thus far above all the others.
And then there was the "cuddling up to fleebaggers" to attack Indiana Republicans over their proposed Rignt to Work legislation.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/02/gov_daniels_walks_back_comment.html
Daniels is a lot like Gingrich in that he is in it for himself. Not a team player.
How about Herman Cain? In this YouTube video from 1994, he's instructing Bill Clinton on the true costs of HillaryCare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy542UgSelQ
Goodbye Newt. If the Pelosi commercial and his support of Scozzofava was not enough evidence of the depth of his disconnect, this pretty much seals it. Go home Newt. It's over.
Oh Please let Newt drop out…. his RINO is showing.
Who's surprised Newt is now headed toward the exit at a faster speed? Though people have tried to be nice to him (he's intelligent, he's full of ideas, blah blah) this man is exactly why so many young people hate politicians, especially republican ones.
So he has 10,000 ideas, he puts his foot in his mouth with alarming regularity. I listened to him speak on healthcare reform where he had the common sense of Dr. Michael Porter, agreeing that healthcare can and should be treated, and will behave as a free marked commodity.
When you do so, people seek the best value, if prices are posted we see that the highest quality service tends to come from efficient and experienced centers. The weak are driven out of business and costs go down for everybody. What Porter wrote in his book is more true than ever, while Gingrich is reduced to babbling about some strange migration.
Don't forget, he had to resign from government, he WAS that bad at the end. Now, 13 years later he is not what we want, not what we need.
He turned me into a Newt….got a got better.