New at Reason

March 20, 2007

Dave Weigel contemplates the prospect of a Newt Gingrich presidential run.

Comments

|3.20.07 @ 12:16PM|#

Well Dave you got this one exactly right. Gingrich is Judas. He engineered a Republican take over of congress off a platform resting on a libertarian foundation. Then starting on day 101, he started selling out. What started as experimentation, became a habit, and then an addiction. He handed the GOP over to the big government conservatives on a platinum platter.

Newt has been a Bush booster from the get go. A big war hawk that I've never heard waver from the company line.

Fluffy|3.20.07 @ 12:25PM|#

Newt could have positioned himself to be the "White Knight" saving the Republican party from itself, and the nomination would have fallen into his lap.

Instead he decided to campaign on the basis of the notion that the problem we've had with Bush has been that he hasn't started enough wars, and that the way to protect our freedom is to do away with free speech rights.

I think most of the Republican candidates seriously underestimate how much anti-Bush feeling is lurking out there, even within the Republican party itself, hiding underneath that remaining 30% positive rating. The Republicans want an anti-Bush candidate, and more than that, I think they know that they NEED one. But all the candidates in the race now are afraid to take that step.

|3.20.07 @ 12:52PM|#

I have to disagree, fellas. Gingrich was sounding the alarm about the Iraq War going south back when all the other Republicans in Washington were mindlessly mumbling "stay the course" and blaming the growing pereception that things were going poorly there on CNN's refusal to air prime time specials about painting schools.

I certainly don't agree with him about very much, but he strikes me as an order of magnitude more intelligent, capable, and serious than anyone else running for the Republican nomnination.

But what do I know. The last guy I said that about was Dick Lugar.

|3.20.07 @ 1:16PM|#

No Newts is Good Newts.

This man's actions bely his words on every core principle he has ever espoused - professionally and personally. That whole Dobson mea culpa made me want to hurl.

When he first showed up I thought he was intelligent and "articulate" even when I disagreed. But he has revealed himself as just another DC megalomaniac.

|3.20.07 @ 1:25PM|#

After the Contract with America petered out (or was snuffed out), I came to see Gingrich and Bill Clinton as twins--glib, silver-haired egomaniacs in love with the sound of their own voices. Either would sell their firstborn for a sniff of power.

In the end, though, Gingrich isn't going to run. He's just soaking up the attention.

|3.20.07 @ 1:27PM|#

I'm with j-j-j

I'm with jj-j--jj-jj--

I'm with joe.

|3.20.07 @ 1:41PM|#

Hey, cab, get used to it. I agree with joe once a week, whether I need to or not.

|3.20.07 @ 3:10PM|#

Gingrich really is quite smart and articulate, and he understands many of the lessons of history. Unfortunately, he's not very good at applying them consistently. He's a big-idea guy who gets sidetracked when it comes to implementing those ideas, and ends up buying into the status quo. He ought to be a futurist, or head up a conservative think-tank.

|3.20.07 @ 3:36PM|#

""In the end, though, Gingrich isn't going to run. He's just soaking up the attention.""

Or he's building up clout to improve his ability to lobby.