Byron York has been one of the few level heads throughout the primaries. There’s no point in naming names, since I’ve done that plenty, but so many in the alleged conservative punditry and media put in abysmal performances.
This post shines, With his serious talk, Gingrich elevated GOP race:
Watching Newt Gingrich’s graceful and low-key withdrawal from the presidential race Wednesday, it was hard not to think back to January, in Columbia, S.C., when he drew a wall-to-wall, fired-up crowd to celebrate his blowout victory in that state’s primary.
Stop right there. “Graceful and low-key withdrawal.” Exactly, a point I made the other day and which the Newt-hating pundits tried to spin into something else.
But even with his raging resentment toward Romney’s tactics [in Florida], Gingrich could still shine on the stump. In Cape Canaveral, he delivered a remarkably good speech on space policy; it was smart, filled with substance, even inspiring. A few days later, Romney came to the Space Coast and delivered a lackluster message that mostly showed he had no space policy at all. And after that, Romney, the man with no ideas on space, mocked Gingrich for having ideas, saying if he were still in business he would fire Gingrich for coming up with a crazy plan like establishing a base on the moon.
Gingrich, usually quick on his feet, thought of a good comeback only later. Romney, he said, “is the kind of guy who would have fired Christopher Columbus.”
Gingrich never recovered from Romney’s thrashing in Florida, although he later won his home state of Georgia by a huge margin….
I sensed, and knew in my heart, that it was over for Newt after Florida. But I wasn’t going to turn on a candidate just because someone else was better on the attack, had more money, more media friends, and more political weaponry.
In an organizational sense, Gingrich never really had much of a campaign. But he is a serious man who has accomplished big things in his life, and his presence made the race a more substantial affair. And it’s fair to say Romney became a better candidate after facing the Gingrich challenge. Even those Republicans who never wanted Gingrich to win should be glad he ran.
Damn straight.
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Too bad we won’t have a space program under Romney either.
Link to Byron’s piece doesn’t work, fyi.
fixed, thanks
Professor, you didn’t abandon him and many of us stood with you to the end.
I still think that we need to “secede” from the GOP and form a movement (not a party) that the GOP has to woo every two years.
As it stands now, they take us for granted. I’d love to see Newt lead that movement or assist someone like Palin.
I’d be the first on my block to join!
Sarah? Newt? Say the word and I’m there!
“I still think that we need to “secede” from the GOP and form a movement (not a party) that the GOP has to woo every two years.”
If by ‘we’ you mean the Tea Party Movement generally, then by historical standards, it’s been a runaway success. In 2010 you pretty much won the House. This past year, Tea got two credible contenders in who were both fairly new to politics, and had at least two long serving Republicans clamoring to kiss their ring.
Certainly, Tea has a long way to go, but it’s pretty astounding how far it’s come.
Tea is a good place to start, but I’m not part of Tea–and I dare say that there as many of me as there are in Tea.
And if we are labeled as Tea, we already know how Boehner, Cantor, and McConnell feel about us.
We need to be bigger than just Tea
I’ll join you in leaving the GOP. This election cycle has been very revealing to say the least.
It has. My problem is that I live in NY where we have a Conservative Party that is as corrupt as the main ones.
We elected these morons to govern, not to politic. All they do is politic.
I’ll vote for Newt in Texas.
We DO have a space program, BTW.
It is a private (market) program, and I figure we’ll beat the shorts off of the Chinese Army in a matter of time.
But do those private companies celebrate the contributions to space exploration that were made by a people that have yet to discover the commode or toilet paper?
Bidets are the go.
Bidets are not sanitary or safe for public restroom or multiple users unless they are cleaned and disinfected between users. Especially with today’s high incidence of diseases among indiscriminately sexually active and drug users.
Er, Johnnycab, they do have western style toilets and they do have toilet paper. The problem is, you would have to go upscale to find that combination in one place. Downscale, you squat over a porcelain trench and provide your own TP.
What a great choice.. Hitler or Stalin.. Obama or Obama lite.. The lesser of 2 evils should never have to be the choice, but unfortunately the apathy of the Republican base electorate, let alone the general public, is what seems to rule now.
Thus the slower decline of progressive Republicrat RINOism, is what the people prefer to actual real constitutional conservative policies and principles.
It is a sad dilemma we are now faced with.. but would we the Reagan conservatives turn to Ron Paul and his delusionary dogmatic insane libertarianism instead.. No, that is not an option either, only a real Reagan constitutional conservative can bring America back from the brink.
“…only a real Reagan constitutional conservative can bring America back from the brink.”
Or a whole lot of us. We EACH have to step up to this, not wait for a “leader”. We have leaders enough now.
Byron York does a lot of great work.
Classy, Byron York.
I’ve always liked York. Common sense to the core.
Reagan didn’t win his first bid. You hear me Newt, Reagan didn’t win his first bid. Regardless who wins in 2012 I EXPECT to see you in 2016. We need vision and we need leadership not management of decline.
This morning when I read that article, I emailed him to thank him for not trashing Newt. I couldn’t help it, it was just so nice to see someone actually write something good about him for a change.
Why do people think the TP has been defeated or has disbanded because we did take the nomination. Look at how far we have come in just two years. This is going to take time. The establishment is a giant, but it will fall.
My primary here in Indiana is this coming tuesday and I intend to vote for Newt, but I will wholeheartedly support Romney in the general. A MA moderate with a republican congress is far better then four more of the “One”
Still fawning over Gingrich, still lauding how wonderful he is (and still pointing out how nasty others were), does not portrait the image you now are seeking to sow Bill.
But I sense that you, egged on by your commenters, are attempting to setup a most perverse “I told you so” moment.
If Romney can’t win the General Election, then it is less likely that Gingrich would have won. Both have core constituents. The match, as drawn by the media, has been who is the best non-Romney candidate; the real match was who would be the best candidate to take on Obama. And given primary results, Romney, not Gingrich, (nor Bachmann, nor Perry, nor Cain, nor Santorum) is that candidate. Yet any would have faced a Democrat/Media complex that would do everything to prevent their election. It is pretense to think that Gingrich et. al. would have had a much easier time, and that he would have been more nimble in countering the inevitable scurrilous attacks.
Yes, Newt has good ideas (he has also had very bad ideas), and yes it is nice to see the MSM smacked down, as Gingrich did in (nearly home state) SC. But your portrait of him as a magnanimous freedom fighter does nothing to assuage others impression that he is egotistical firebrand.
Just saying. If you chose to try and rub our nose in the fact that we did not chose your favored candidate, then dont be surprised if some chose not to follow your lead elsewhere.
Gingrich was your candidate – Bachmann was mine. I wont work less in removing Obama from office. And I will not gloat if he isn’t… just because more of my fellow Americans didn’t like my first choice.
Romney has several platforms that should appeal enough that you guys will vote for him . It is silly to say he is Stalin . Good grief .
In particular he is more conservative on several core issures than Newt.
Immigration – Newt & his local Amnsty panels ? Yikes .
Foreign Affairs – Romney is a steadier hand & will be much welcomed by America’s traditional allies. Obama is suspect & Newt is unstable. There is no ‘thinking aloud’ – there are few intellectual options for America at this point.
It is beyongd ridiculous to compare Romney with Stalin. He just isn’t a moustache kinda guy.
What Romney says just doesn’t mean anything to me. He will say anything.
Romney is an extreme vacillator, without core convictions, so much so that he cannot hold to any truth or position for long. He has already flipped on his campaign statements.
Romney also has a fragile ego. He cannot handle debates, interviews that are not controlled. He gets upset and angry when challenged. On the campaign trail, he has to be held together emotionally by his wife.
Dear Professor Jacobson,
Ronald Reagan made me a Republican. It has been a long slog ever since. Gingrich changed all that.
Your posts helped too.
Thank you, Professor Gingrich; thank you too, Professor Jacobson.
Yours truly,
ThOR
Dittos, from top to bottom.
Wow. While I voted for him, I did not become a ‘Republican’ until 1996 when Steve Forbes was running (Colorado has closed primaries). Opening my own business made me a right-leaning libertarian who votes Republican a bit before.
And as a self-employed lad, I have always approached every election (primary and general) with “which candidate is going to least constrict my business” in mind. Professor Gingrich was never that person. Selfish you say? Yeah, selfish for me and scores of millions of other self-employed businessmen.
Newt is no Reagen.
Just spare a thought for the poor Brits. They have David Cameron being dragged off to some boondocks in Ohio to eat hotdogs. National humiliation .
If they don’t like him they have the Milli Vanilli brothers. Oh & some beige outfit called Liberal Democratic Party.-don’t know what they stand for but can’t be good.
Apparently it is all the fault of an 81 year old man named Rupert who mainly relays the soccer.
This is not a time to be precious.
You should all re label yourselves.
Seriously Conservative.
Seriouser Conservatives.
Seriously serious Conservatives
etc.
How about Severely Conservative?
The GOP fielded 6 or 7 of the worst candidates they have fielded in YEARS! The fact that one of them won the primary is hardly good news for the process, the GOP or the country.
At this rate, I may never vote Republican again.
Running down and running off the base is not “victory.”
But you vote Constitutional Party anyhow.
I have voted GOP for every election since 1980 until 2008 when the GOP nominated McCain. I held my nose for every candidate since Reagan and pulled the lever for the GOP. But I just won’t do that any longer. Enough is enough.
A REVIEW OF WHY NEWT GINGRICH IS THE BEST PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE and hope for our nation’s future.
You will never hear truth, clarity and good sense come from Romney’s mind or from Romney’s lips – unless it is lucrative for himself – financially or politically.