Newt


  1. Newt will not be appealing to women
    1. Callista would be a significant liability.
    2. Newt will have a more difficult time gaining the respect of women because of his 3 affairs. 
    3. Newt will have a more difficult time gaining the respect of women because he is currently married to someone 23 years young than himself.
    4. Newt will have more difficulty appealing to women because he is old. 
    5. Newt will have more difficulty appealing to women because he is fat. 
    6. Unfortunately for Newt, his second wife is still very much alive and has been VERY outspoken about exactly why there is “no way” Newt will ever be president.
      1. When you have ex-wives, they better at least still endorse you, especially when you are a Republican running against a media darling like Obama. Should Newt be nominated, the media will make sure that every American will know what his second wife thinks of him.
    7. Newt's appearance and demeanor obviously don’t exactly appeal to the majority of women.
    8. Newt has said many things that will offend women:
      1. In 1995, he told a class he taught that he questioned whether women were fit for military combat because they get “infections” once a month.
  2. Newt will not be appealing to independents. 
    1. Newt who is perceived (wrongly) as a far right conservative. Romney is perceived (wrongly) as liberal. 
    2. Newt will have a more difficult time gaining the respect of independents because of his 3 affairs. 
    3. The gender gap would be massive.
    4. It will be easy for the democrats and the media to characterize Newt as corrupt. 
      1. Newt called for Barney Frank and Chris Dodd to be put in jail for their role with Fannie May and Feddie Mac. Then it was revealed that Newt himself was paid at least $1.6 million by Freddie Mac. 
      2. New was the first Speaker of the House to ever be “convicted” (overwhelmingly) of congressional ethic charges.
    5. It will be easy for the democrats and the media to characterize Newt as a liar. 
      1. He initially let people believe he was paid $300,000 from Freddi Mac. 
      2. At first he said he was paid to be a historian. Then he said he was giving strategic advice, to stop their business model, at the same time he was telling other people on TV that their business model was fine. 
    6. Many leading republicans have said bad things about Newt, which the democrats will be able to use against him in the general election.
      1. There is an unwritten rule of modern politics which (as proven by Joe Lieberman’s largely ignored support of John McCain) only really applies to Republicans which says that if too many prominent people from your side say you shouldn’t be elected, then you shouldn’t be elected. This rule was in full effect with regard to Sarah Palin and the many “conservative” sell outs who helped destroy her candidacy in exchange for some liberal media love.
    7. Most nonpartisans presently have no idea about Newt’s history, and so his poll numbers should be taken with a bucket of salt. 
    8. Newt is to blame for three government shutdowns in the 1990s.
  3. The media will make a joke out of Newt. 
    1. Newt is easy to make a caricature. 
    2. The media will not make the distinction that Newt was going after Clinton for lying, but will successfully paint him as a hypocrite who went after Clinton because of an Affair at the same time that he was having an affair. 
    3. Newt Gingrich is a fat, old, angry, white male
    4. Comedians love to make fun of hypocritical republicans. 
    5. Newt's current marriage is weird.
      1. Many people say that Callista Gingrich is a nut. 
      2. Callista Gingrich controlled Newt to the point where she forced him to put her in his movies despite the fact that she was horrible on camera. 
  4. Newt would loose to Obama
    1. The gender gap would be massive
  5. Newt makes bad arguments
    1. Newt made a knee-jerk socialist argument when he said that Romney should give back the money he made.
      1. Romney made his money from purchasing a portion of a company. He only made money if the company did well. 
      2. Capitalism is good.
      3. People who graduated at the top of their Harvard law and business classes should be allowed to make as much money as they want. 
      4. Newt lives more extravagantly than Mitt.
        1. Mitt lived in an upper middle income house outside of Boston for 25 years, and didn't move into a mansion even when he made it big. 
    2. You can't have successful business unless you allow some businesses to fail. 
  6. Newt draws attention to himself, instead of to the issues. 
    1. His bomb throwing draws attention. We don't want the attention to be on us, we want it to be on Obama.
  7. Newt has a pattern of failure. 
    1. Not resigned from congress in disgrace
  8. Newt will be unable to harm Obama in a debate.
    1. Debates are not substantive.
    2. Newt has never had a one-on-one debate, the way Obama has with Hillary. 
    3. Even if Newt hit a grand, the media would simply make the issue Newt’s “temperament” and whether he was being “unpresidential,” if not downright “racist.”
    4. Newt's so called strengths as a debater, only help him in the republican primary:
      1. One of Newt's "strength" as a debater is speaking down to the media, which doesn't give independent voters the same reaction as republicans. 
      2. Newt saying that Barney Frank should go to jail, gets republicans hot and bothered, but it turns independents off.  
      3. Newt gets big applause from Republicans when he says that those who don't pray shouldn't lead our country, but independents are not going to be cheering. 
  9. Mitt is better positioned from an electoral college map than Newt.
    1. Colorado, New Hampshire, and Nevada are all swing states. Romney is strong in the west (Colorado and Nevada) and has a vacation home in New Hampshire. 
    2. Mitt was born in Michigan and his father was a 3 or 4 term governor from there. Mitt can speak intelegently about the Car industry more so than Newt. 
  10. Accusations that Mitt Romney is liberal are less convincing, when seeing all the conservative things he did with a democratic legislature.
  11. Arguments that John huntsman is conservative are less impressive seeing that Utah is very conservative. 
  12. Arguments that Newt Gingrich is conservative are less impressive seeing that he was dealing with republican majorities.  
    1. Newt is on video supported individual mandates in health insurance  in 1994, 2003, 2005, and 2007
    2. His pro-mandate think tank received $37 million from the healthcare industry. 
    3. Newt had strong support for the massive Medicare prescription drug give away, which marked the end of the Bush administration pretending to be fiscally conservative. This act caused congresswomen Michele Bachmann to, rightly, refer to Newt as a “frugal socialist” on the Glenn Beck show.
    4. Statement on “Meet the Press” that Paul Ryan’s proposed reform of Medicare was “right wing social engineering” and no better than the “left wing”.
    5. Newt has strongly praised both FDR and the New Deal in two different books? 
    6. Newt worked with Nancy Pelosi backing Al Gore’s campaign for government action against Global Warming. Tthis was not a momentary “lapse” (how one lapses into taping a global warming commercial with Nancy Pelosi seems as inexplicable as how someone “falls into” an affair), but rather a strong indication of what makes Newt tick both psychologically and politically. He flat out embarrassed himself by doing a “debate” with John Kerry in 2007 on the issue of climate change and shocking Kerry by actually being to the left of the Massachusetts Democrat on certain proposals.  Newt claims here that he has never believed in the “fantasies” of Al Gore, but fails to mention that the Nancy Pelosi commercial was sponsored by Gore’s own foundation!
    7. Newt speaks passionately in favor of government support for ethanol
    8. And he once came up with one of his celebrated “ideas” to “fix” the problem using giant mirrors, which now would easily be used to further the narrative that he is just plain weird.
    9. But Newt’s flirtations with the far left hardly end with Pelosi and Kerry. How many conservatives are aware of this video that Newt did with Al Sharpton, openly praising the man found responsible by a court for falsely claiming rape in the infamous Tawana Brawley case?

 

Newt would be more dangerous as a surrogate than a candidate

 

Just remember the higher a monkey climbs on a pole the more you could see his butt.

 

Newt is uniquely qualified to unite both liberals and conservatives against him. 

 

Newt Gingrich is an undisciplined partisan who would alienate, not unite, if he reverts to mean-spirited attacks on display as House speaker

 

http://www.newtcantwin.com/

 

Newt is unreliable.

Newt is Undisciplined. 

Newt is Unprincipled.

Newt is Unpresidential.

Newt is Unelectable.

 

“Washington doesn’t work for the American people, but for the last three decades it’s been working just fine for Newt Gingrich.” –Gail Gitcho, Romney Communications Director 

  1. Gingrich Was Paid At Least $1.6 Million By Freddie Mac To Convince Conservatives Not To Dismantle The Mortgage Giant:
    1. Gingrich Reportedly Was Paid Between $1.6 Million And $1.8 Million By Freddie Mac. 
      1. “Newt Gingrich made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in consulting fees from two contracts with mortgage company Freddie Mac, according to two people familiar with the arrangement. The total amount is significantly larger than the $300,000 payment from Freddie Mac that Gingrich was asked about during a Republican presidential debate on Nov. 9 sponsored by CNBC, and more than was disclosed in the middle of congressional investigations into the housing industry collapse.” (Clea Benson and John McCormick, “Gingrich Said To Be Paid About $1.6 Million By Freddie Mac,” Bloomberg, 11/16/11) 
      2. First, Gingrich Claimed That Freddie Mac Paid Him For His Advice As An “Historian.” “ 
        1. Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said during a Nov. 9 debate that he earned a $300,000 fee to advise Freddie Mac as a ‘historian’ who warned that the mortgage company’s business model was ‘insane.’” (Clea Benson and Kristin Jensen, “Gingrich Said To Be Paid By Freddie Mac To Court Republicans,” Bloomberg, 11/15/11) 
      3. Gingrich Then Explained That He Was Hired To Give “Strategic Advice.” 
        1. “Speaking with reporters in Iowa on Wednesday, Gingrich said he provided ‘strategic advice for a long period of time’ after he resigned as House speaker following his party's losses in the 1998 elections. He defended Freddie Mac's role in housing finance and said, ‘every American should be interested in expanding housing opportunities.’” (Pete Yost and Thomas Beaumont, “Gingrich Defends Big Contracts With Freddie Mac,” The Associated Press, 11/16/11) 
    2. Freddie Mac Officials Said Gingrich Was Hired As A Consultant To Keep Conservatives From Dismantling The Mortgage Giant. 
      1. “Former Freddie Mac officials familiar with the consulting work Gingrich was hired to perform for the company in 2006 tell a different story. They say the former House speaker was asked to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it.” (Clea Benson and Kristin Jensen, “Gingrich Said To Be Paid By Freddie Mac To Court Republicans,” Bloomberg, 11/15/11)
      2. The Washington Post: “As More Information Has Emerged, Gingrich’s Explanations Appear To Have Changed.” 
        1. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich has risen in the polls, bringing new scrutiny to his campaign. Bloomberg News, in particular, has done an excellent job of trying to figure out exactly what Gingrich did to earn his hefty consulting fee from controversial mortgage giant Freddie Mac. As more information has emerged, Gingrich’s explanations appear to have changed. (“Glenn Kessler, “Newt Gingrich And Freddie Mac: Is He Being Misleading?” The Washington Post, 11/17/11) 
  2. Gingrich Claims He Warned Freddie Mac About The Housing Bubble, But The Record Shows The Opposite: 
    1. Gingrich Claimed That He Advised Freddie Mac That Their Model Was “Insane.” 
      1. GINGRICH: “And my advice as a historian, when they walked in and said to me, ‘We are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that's what the government wants us to do,’ as I said to them at the time, this is a bubble. This is insane. This is impossible. It turned out, unfortunately, I was right and the people who were doing exactly what Congresswoman Bachmann talked about were wrong.” (CNBC, Republican Presidential Primary Debate," Rochester, MI, 11/9/11) 
    2.  In 2007, Gingrich Said That “We Have A Much More Liquid And Stable Housing Finance System” Because Of Freddie Mac.
      1. GINGRICH: “Certainly there is a lot of debate today about the housing GSEs, but I think it is telling that there is strong bipartisan support for maintaining the GSE model in housing. There is not much support for the idea of removing the GSE charters from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. And I think it's clear why. The housing GSEs have made an important contribution to homeownership and the housing finance system. We have a much more liquid and stable housing finance system than we would have without the GSEs.” (“Market-Based Models Are Key to Transforming U.S. Government to a 21st Century Organization,” Freddie Mac, 4/24/07) 
      2. Gingrich Also Said We Would Be On Mars Today If NASA Had Been Structured Like Freddie Mac. 
        1. GINGRICH: “There are areas in which a public purpose would be best achieved by using market-based models. I think GSEs provide one of those models. I like the GSE model because it provides a more efficient, market-based alternative to taxpayer-funded government programs. It marries private enterprise to a public purpose. We obviously don't want to use GSEs for everything, but there are times when private enterprise alone is not sufficient to achieve a public purpose. … I think a GSE for space exploration ought to be seriously considered – I'm convinced that if NASA were a GSE, we probably would be on Mars today.” (“Policy Talk,” Freddie Mac Website, www.freddiemac.com, 4/24/07) 
    3. In January 2008, Gingrich Said That Going After Those Responsible For The Sub-Prime Lending Crisis Was A Bad Idea.
      1. GINGRICH: “Let me say something beyond that, Sean. I was very jarred last night when Senator McCain talked about maybe some people need to be punished for the subprime mortgages. I don't -- I think if we started introducing a criminalization, class warfare model, we're going to wreck this economy. And I found what he said last night about going after some people, about they may need to be punished, I thought that illustrated a very bad understanding of the free market and how this world works.” (Fox News’ “Hannity And Colmes,” 1/31/08) 
        1. NOTE: Gingrich Claims He Was Never Paid To Say Things He didn’t Agree With. 
          1. “[Gingrich] contended he never voiced opinions that weren't his own. ‘If I didn't like the issue, I didn't deal with it,’ Gingrich said ‘If I didn't agree with you, I didn't say it.’” (Philip Elliott, “Gingrich Says He Never Lobbied, Didn't Need Money,” The Associated Press, 11/29/11) 
    4. The Wall Street Journal: Gingrich’s Past Comments “Appear At Odds With The Candidate's Recent Statements That He Had Warned The Company Of Impending Financial Disaster.” “ 
      1. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich touted the virtues of Freddie Mac's business model in an interview he conducted with the company in April 2007 remarks that appear at odds with the candidate's recent statements that he had warned the company of impending financial disaster.” (Nick Timiraos, “Gingrich Backed Freddie Mac In 2007 Interview,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/1/11) 


Gingrich Was Paid By Freddie Mac And Defended The Mortgage Giant Up Until The Bubble Burst: 

1. Gingrich’s Contract Continued Up Until September 2008, When The Housing Meltdown Forced The Federal Government To Seize Freddie Mac. 

a. “GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s $30,000-a-month consulting gig with Freddie Mac only ended after the housing meltdown forced the federal government to take over the failing mortgage giant. Gingrich … served as a consultant to Freddie Mac until September 2008 when the U.S. Treasury took control of the government-sponsored entity, his spokesman R.C. Hammond confirmed to POLITICO Thursday.” (Anna Palmer, “Newt Gingrich Consulted Freddie Until Takeover,” Politico, 11/17/11) 

Gingrich Only Began Criticizing Freddie Mac When He Stopped Getting Paid: 

1. In September 2008, Gingrich Attacked Obama By Noting The “Democratic Party's Extraordinary Closeness To Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac.” 

a. GINGRICH: “Well, I don't know that anybody knows how to necessarily bail us out in the past sense, but I think the speech that Senator McCain gave in which he outlined today very dramatic differences in how he would approach it and how Senator Obama would approach it -- and the difference between the Democratic Party's extraordinary closeness to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two huge financial institutions that the government has temporarily taken over. I think you're going to see some very interesting fireworks over the next 46 days, and one of the questions is going to be whether or not Senator Dodd should step down as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee because, given his closeness to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it's inconceivable that he could be fair in writing a bill that protects the taxpayers.” (Fox News’ “On The Record,” 9/19/08) 

2. In October 2008, Gingrich Demanded That Obama Give Back All The Campaign Contributions He Had Received From Freddie Mac And To Fire An Advisor With Ties To The Company. 

a. GINGRICH: “I'm very saddened that John McCain hasn't had the nerve and the coherence to go nose to nose with Obama, and force Obama to give back the money that he's taken from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, forced him to fire Franklin Raines, who after all got $90 million in six years while totally mismanaging Fannie Mae.” (Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor,” 10/10/08) 

3. In October 2011, Gingrich Implied That People Like Barney Frank And Chris Dodd Should End Up In Jail For, Among Other Things, Ties To Freddie Mac. 

a. CHARLIE ROSE: "Clearly, you're not saying they should go to jail?" GINGRICH: "Well, in Chris Dodd's case, go back to look at the Countryside deals. In Barney Frank's case, go back and look at the lobbyist who was close to Freddie Mac. All I'm saying is, everybody in the media who wants to go after the business community ought to start by going after the politicians who were at the heart of the sickness which is weakening this country and ought to start with Bernanke, who still has not been exposed for the hundreds of billions of dollars." (Rep. Newt Gingrich, Bloomberg Debate, Hanover, NH, 10/12/11)

 
 
Newt Gingrich, October 11th: "If you want to put people in jail, I want to second what Michele said: You ought to start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. And let's look at the politicians who created the environment, the politicians who profited from the environment, and the politicians who put this country in trouble.
MR. ROSE: Clearly, you're not saying they should go to jail.
Newt: Well, in Chris Dodd's case, go back and look at the Countryside deals. In Barney Frank's case, go back and look at the lobbyists he was close to at -- at the -- at Freddie Mac."
Newt: All I'm saying is, everybody --MS. TUMULTY: So if you were in the White --Newt: -- everybody -- everybody in the media who wants to go after the business community ought to start by going after the politicians who have been at the heart of the sickness which is weakening this country, and ought to start with (me, I mean) Bernanke, who has still not been exposed."
Newt actually called on Obama to return the money that he received from Freddie Mac. How could he do that, and then keep the money that he made.
Newt Gingrich made more than $1.6 million while "consulting" (as a lobbyists) for government-backed mortgage company Freddie Mac. The hypocracy is asstounding. nominating Gingrich (Get Rich) would be one of the most profoundly stupid things a political party has ever done.
Conservatives may want catharsis, but the rest of the public seems to mainly want reassurance
Newt would loose to Obama. 
Reasons to agree:
  1. Newt Lost to Clinton
  2. Newt was one of the most despised politicians in the 90s. 
  3. Those who know Newt best like him least.
    1. Those who actually worked with him did not like working with him and do not support him. 
      1. PEGGY NOONAN: "What is striking is the extraordinary divide in opinion between those who know Gingrich and those who don't. Those who do are mostly not for him, and they were burning up the phone lines this week in Washington."
      2. Those who know Ron Paul and oppose him do so on the basis of his stands, they don't say his temperament forecloses the possibility of his presidency. But that's pretty much what a lot of those who've worked with Newt say.
      3. Former New Hampshire governor and George H.W. Bush chief of staff John Sununu told The Wall Street Journal this week: "Listen to just about anyone who worked alongside Gingrich and you will hear that he's inconsistent, erratic, untrustworthy and unprincipled." 
      4. In a conference call Thursday, Jim Talent, who served with Mr. Gingrich in the House from 1993 through 1999, said, "He's not reliable as a leader." 
      5. Sen. Tom Coburn, a member of the House class of 1994, called the former speaker's leadership "lacking," and according to a local press report, he told Oklahoma constituents last year that Mr. Gingrich was "the last person I'd vote for for president of the United States."

 

AAbortion

  1. Newt has changed his position on abortion, if you think that is is wrong for politicians to advocate different things at different points in their career.
  2. Reasons to agree
    1. He advocated taxpayer funding of abortion services in 1995 when he was speaker of the House, poor people who had been raped, or were at a health risk, which I don't mind. (Jacobs, Jennifer (November 29, 2011). "Examples of Gingrich comments in favor of federally-funded abortion, stem cell research". Des Moines Register. Retrieved November 29, 2011). But he has now flip-flopped.

Adultery

  1. Newt's multiple adulteries are good reasons not to vote for him. 
    1. If people want to have adultery on the sideline, and not get caught it is their own business.  But if they get caught multiple times, get divorced and do it again, and we vote for them, we are sending the message to our children, and all married people that we approve. It would be bad for our society to send a loud and clear message that we approve of adultery. The disintegration of the family is the thing that more than any other is destroying the future of blacks in America. Any group that has high levels of family failure, has economic and social failure. Our country will be weaker than other countries if our families continue to fall apart. As Romney said: “America cannot continue to lead the family of nations around the world if we suffer the collapse of the family here at home”.
    2. "I believe most Americans are pro-choice and anti-abortion."
      1. http://ontheissues.org/Celeb/Newt_Gingrich_Abortion.htm
    3. "I think that abortion should not be legal, and I think that how you would implement that I'm not sure."
      1. http://2012.republican-candidates.org/Gingrich/Abortion.php
    4. "As with any public policy, the more strongly public opinion is swayed in defense of unborn life, the more our laws should and will change as a result." 
      1. http://www.issues2000.org/2012/Newt_Gingrich_Abortion.htm

Amnesty 

 


 


BBaggage

  1. Adultery, Dishonesty & Corruption Aren’t “Baggage”. Baggage is something small, like if you said something stupid one time. Cheating on 2 wives, while trying to impeach someone for adultery is something that you would laugh at and assume that republicans would never be so stupid as to consider nominating someone who did this.... right? 

Books

  1. In the late 1980s, Gingrich launched a vicious attack on Democratic Speaker Jim Wright, arguing that bulk sales of his book had been crafted to avoid laws limiting outside income for members of Congress. By the mid-90s, however, Gingrich found himself in a strikingly similar position, as it came to light that he had received a $4.5 million advance from HarperCollins in a two-book deal. Then, in the spirit of one doing one better, it later came out that one of Gingrich’s charities had bought the books en masse.

Brash

  1. Gingrich’s scorched-earth style is primary-ready, but can it work in a general election?

Big Government

  1. In 2007 Newt said, “It’s not a point of view libertarians would embrace, but I am more in the Alexander Hamilton-Teddy Roosevelt tradition of conservatism. I recognize that there are times when you need government to help spur private enterprise and economic development.”
  2. In his 1984 book, “Window of Opportunity,” is a broadside against what he calls the “laissez-faire” conservatism — the idea that government should just get out of the way so the market can flourish. As he wrote, “The opportunity society calls not for a laissez-faire society in which the economic world is a neutral jungle of purely random individual behavior, but for forceful government intervention on behalf of growth and opportunity.”

CChild Labor"Child janitor comments" are evidence that he has a lot of stupid ideas."You say to somebody, you shouldn't go to work before you're what, 14, 16 years of age, fine. You're totally poor. You're in a school that is failing with a teacher that is failing. I've tried for years to have a very simple model. Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they would have pride in the schools, they'd begin the process of rising."

 

Reasons to agree:

  1. The federal government shouldn't be telling local schools to fire janitors.
  2. What does a presidential candidate care about janitors? Is Newt running for a school-board or president of the United States? 
  3. Children are not going to do a very good job as janitors.
  4. Janitors have to climb ladders, use dangerous chemicals, and have plumbing training. This "have children be janitors" idea is the kind of thing that someone comes up with who has been in politics his whole life. They have never done a cost-benefit analysis for anything. They just sit around and pat themselves on the back for stupid ideas. It would cost more money than it saves. It would take hours and hours of training. Who is going to train them? The Janitors? You tell janitors, do a great job teaching this kid to be a janitor, and when you are done; we are going to let you go? Are kids going to do electrical work in the schools? Change 277Volta lamps?
  5. It is demeaning to say that just because you are poor you need to start learning how to do janitorial work.  
  6. How many janitors does he think a school has. 

 

 

Corruption

  1. "In the past decade Newt Gingrich's “consulting” firm got $37 million in fees from pharmaceutical firms lobbying for the 2003 prescription drug benefit (Medicare Part D), from ADM and ethanol makers lobbying for subsidies, from Freddie Mac lobbying for federal support for the soon-to-be toxic sub-prime mortgage market, and from banks lobbying for the 2008 “TARP” bailout (which Gingrich endorsed).
  2. When he wasn’t busy pursuing these various corruptions, Gingrich was busy promoting Al Gore’s “cap and trade” legislation and global warming myths in widely-publicized TV and print ads sitting cozily on a coach with Nancy Pelosi, whose political tactics he has subsequently characterized as “despicable,” “dishonest” and “vicious.” Well, it takes one to know one." ~Richard M. Salsman
  3. Newt led Republicans to power in 1994 in part by blasting Democrats as being hopelessly corrupt. But soon after, Gingrich engaged in his own congressional corruption, getting slammed by the House Ethics Committee on a multitude of charges: of laundering donations through charities, of using a charity called “Learning for Earning” to pay the salary of a staffer writing a Newt Gingrich biography, and of lying to the ethics committee. Gingrich eventually had to pay a $300,000 fine for his transgressions.

 

Climate Change

  1. In his 2008 commercial for WeCanSolveIt.org, Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi agree that "our country must take action to address climate change."
  2. In February 2007, Gingrich stated that he "would strongly support" a cap and trade system for reducing carbon emissions based on the success of the 'Acid Rain Program' enacted by Congress under his tenure. He later changed his position, saying that such a trading system "would lead to corruption, political favoritism, and would have a huge impact on the economy."

 

Check Kitting

  1. Gingrich himself was among members of the House who had engaged in check kiting; he had overdrafts on twenty-two checks, including a $9,463 check to the Internal Revenue Service in 1990.

 

Corporate Welfare (ethanol)

  1. Newt says conservatives that oppose welfare for farms are "big city" folks that don't like farmers. Newt is supposed to be intelligent? I thought we were supposed to have learned something from Solyndra, that government should not get involved in the market unless they are doing basic research. How can Newt critisize Obama on Solyndra?

Colonialism 

  1. Gingrich said that colonialism was bad for people living in America, but that it was a mixed bag for Africa. 

Club for Growth

  1. August 30, 2004: Now he’s back, preaching the gospel of party moderation. At an Aug. 30 forum held by the centrist Republican Main Street Partnership, Gingrich heralded the GOP’s new, bigger big tent. “Everywhere I’ve been, I’ve argued in favor of electing the moderates,” Gingrich said . . . He even chastised the fiscally conservative Club for Growth — a group that finances primary challengers to Republican incumbents they deem too liberal — for not getting with the program. “Their strategy is explicitly wrong,” Gingrich said. “The key is to elect more Republicans and have a bigger majority and be more inclusive.” http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/aug2004/nf20040831_0424_db038.htm

Cap and Trade

  1. In a 2007 interview with PBS, Gingrich endorsed the idea of a "cap and trade" scheme to limit carbon emissions....
    1. “I think if you have mandatory carbon caps combined with a trading system, much like we did with sulfur, and if you have a tax-incentive program for investing in the solutions, that there’s a package there that’s very, very good. And frankly, it’s something I would strongly support.”
      1. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/283240/gingrich-redux-katrina-trinko?pg=2

Campaign finance regulation

  1. Newt is wrong to say that campaign finance restrictions make "it impossible for a candidate of average means to go out and raise the resources" needed for a campaign. (Povich, Elaine S. (September 26, 1997). "Gingrich: End Donor Limits/Promises Debate By Year's End". Newsday).
    1. Reasons to agree:
      1. Of course he is an idiot or trying to confuse the issue to oppose campaign finance restrictions the voice of very wealthy people would be greatly expanded. 
  2. Newt doesn't seem to understand simple cause and affect. 
    1. Reasons to agree:
      1. In a 2006 article in the National Review, Gingrich stated that current campaign finance rules have moved the U.S. "dangerously closer to a plutocracy where the highest bidder can buy a seat. His solution to removing the power of the very wealthy, is to remove any restrictions on how much money that can put into poltics. 
        1. Gingrich, Newt (June 1, 2006). "Blacking Out Speech". The National Review. Retrieved April 21, 2011.
        2. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/217794/blacking-out-speech/newt-gingrich
  3. Newt is wrong to say that individuals should be allowed to donate unlimited amounts to Congressional candidates within their district. It is better for a candidate to have to appeal to a large amount of people, instead of just a few very rich people. 
    1. Gingrich, Newt (June 1, 2006). "Blacking Out Speech". The National Review. Retrieved April 21, 2011.
      1. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/217794/blacking-out-speech/newt-gingrich
    2. Blacking out speech". NPR. January 21, 2010. Retrieved April 21, 2011.
      1. http://www.npr.org/2010/01/21/122823118/Opposing-Views-Of-Campaign-Finance-Decision

Clinton

  1. I continue to believe Bill Clinton should have been removed from the presidency for his sleazy conduct as president and that his sleazy conduct as governor should have been enough to keep him out of office. Once upon a time, Gingrich professed to believe that, too. But Clinton’s problems all stemmed from an inability to keep it in his pants; his crimes were limited to lying about it when caught. Gingrich seems to be a pretty disgusting fellow across the board. There are the two divorces under very unfortunate circumstances. The numerous ethics violations in four short years as Speaker. The personal pettiness. The hypocrisy. The lobbying.

 

 


DDisorganized

  1. “He knew nothing about running meetings and nothing about driving an agenda,” DeLay writes in his memoir, No Retreat, No Surrender.

 

David Brooks

  1. "I wouldn't let that guy run a 7-Eleven, let alone a country."

Death Panels

  1. In July 2009, Newt Gingrich was director of a health care think tank and a staunch advocate of so-called “death panels,” writing, “If [end-of-life-counseling] was used to care for the approximately 4.5 million Medicare beneficiaries who die every year, Medicare could save more than $33 billion a year.” But a year later, as he weighed his presidential aspirations, Gingrich took a different tack on Obama’s plan to reimburse doctors for such consultations: “You’re asking us to trust turning power over to the government, when there clearly are people in America who believe in establishing euthanasia.”

DNA

  1. In October 2005, Gingrich called for “universal but confidential” DNA testing.

Drug Policy

  1. Gingrich flip-flopped on medical marijuana. 
    1. In 1982, Gingrich wrote a letter supporting medical marijuana
      1. http://norml.org/library/medical-marijuana-reports/item/newt-gingrich-s-letter-supporting-medical-marijuana
  2. Gingrich was over the top on drugs. 
    1. Reasons to agree:
      1. While serving in Congress, Gingrich introduced H.R. 4170, the Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1996. The legislation would have directed the court to sentence a first time drug importer to life in prison or multiple-time offender to death.
        1. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c104:H.R.4170
        2. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h104-4170

EEthically dubious

  1. Eighty-four ethics charges were filed against Speaker Gingrich during his term, including claiming tax-exempt status for a college course run for political purposes. Following an investigation by the House Ethics Committee Gingrich was sanctioned US $300,000. (House Reprimands, Penalizes Speaker". The Washington Post. August 5, 1998.)
  2. Gingrich acknowledged in January 1997 that "In my name and over my signature, inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable statements were given to the committee". (Galloway, Jim. "Newt Gingrich Page". Tylwythteg.com. Retrieved 2011-12-03.)
  3. The House Ethics Committee concluded that inaccurate information supplied to investigators represented "intentional or ... reckless" disregard of House rules. (Yang, John E. and Dewar, Helen (January 18, 1997). Washingtonpost.com "Ethics Panel Supports Reprimand of Gingrich". Washington Post. p. A01. Retrieved August 15, 2006.
  4. Special Counsel James M. Cole concluded that Gingrich violated federal tax law and had lied to the ethics panel in an effort to force the committee to dismiss the complaint against him. The full committee panel did not agree whether tax law had been violated and left that issue up to the IRS. "Ethics Panel Supports Reprimand of Gingrich". The Washington Post. August 5, 1998. Retrieved May 20, 2010. 

Eratic

  1. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.): “On Monday, we would say we’re not going to give a $500 child tax credit to people who don’t have tax liabilities. On Wednesday, he’d meet with President Clinton, and that position would change.” 
  2. “In May 1997 . . . Newt declared the GOP willing to separate tax cuts from other items in a balanced-budget deal that we were negotiating with Bill Clinton,” writes former speaker Denny Hastert (R., Ill.) in his memoir, Speaker. “That was news to us and represented a huge change in policy in less than twenty-four hours.”  


Embryonic Stem Cell Research

  1. In 2001 he supported embryonic stem cell research. In 2011 he said he never supported it. 
    1. 2011: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/gingrich-breaks-from-some-in-anti-abortion-community-on-when-life-begins/
    2. 2001:  http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/283696/gingrichs-stem-cell-history-ramesh-ponnuru 

Extremism

  1. "I have twohttp://www.nationalreview.com/corner/258125/newt-hearts-ethanol-jonathan-h-adler grandchildren: Maggie is 11; Robert is 9. I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."
    1. 2011-03-27, quoted in Marr, Kendra (2011-03-27), "Newt Gingrich talks faith — not affairs — at Cornerstone Church in Texas", Politico, retrieved on 2011-03-30

Ethanol

  1. The cozy relationship Gingrich has with the ethanol industry led to his consulting business winning more than $300,000 in fees from the ethanol lobby after he left Congress. The Wall Street Journal noted April 27, 2011 that "Professor Gingrich says his ethanol support is grounded in his lifetime of studying history and intellectual problems, but what about that $312,500 from the ethanol lobby?... We've never suggested Mr. Gingrich has been bought off, though of course there wouldn't be an ethanol lobby to hire Mr. Gingrich if there weren't politicians like Mr. Gingrich willing to prop it up with taxpayer dollars, tariffs and mandates."
  2. Its wrong for the government to subsidize ethanol. We should stop wars to keep access to oil. We should stop subsidizing any industry, and support basic research in the ethanol sciences, but stop handing them truckloads of the nations money.
    1. http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/9587-newt-gingrich-the-qanti-romneyq-or-the-qother-romneyq
  3. We should stop picking winners in the free market. Maybe wind, maybe solar, maybe carbon sequestering of CO2 from coal will prove most economical. But when we keep driving truck loads of cash to Iowa farmers just because they have the first primary in the nation, we are messing up the market so that the best bio-fuel will never come to market, because the politically connected Iowans keep getting their butts kissed by people like Newt. 
    1. Adler, Jonathan (January 26, 2011) Newt Hearts Ethanol, National Review, http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/258125/newt-hearts-ethanol-jonathan-h-adler
    2. Professor Cornpone, The Wall Street Journal, January 30, 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704698004576104682930044012.html

EPA

  1. Here’s the EPA idea, as listed on his campaign website: ”Replacing the Environmental Protection Agency with an Environmental Solutions Agency that works collaboratively with local government and industry to achieve better results.” That’s simply a non-policy. Changing the name of an agency doesn’t give us “better results,”

FFuture

  1. A Romney presidency would be better for the future of the conservative movement than a Newt presidency.
    1. Newt looks like a 68 year old stay puff marshmillow man.... not exactly the brand that we want to bet the future of the party on. 

 

Family

  1. Newts daughters, who work for their daddy, have financial reasons to support him. 
    1. Kathy Gingrich Lubbers is president of Gingrich Communications. (Robert Yoon (March 2, 2011). "Fox-less Newt remains gainfully employed". CNN. Retrieved March 3, 2011.) 
    2. Jackie Gingrich Cushman writes books with her father. 

Flip-Flops

  1. As to the issues, Gingrich makes Mitt Romney look like a pillar of consistency. At least Romney has an excuse, even if he can’t use it: he was running to govern and then governing one of the most liberal states in the union back then and is now looking to run the whole country now. It’s hardly surprising that he’d take different policy stances under those vastly different circumstances. Gingrich, on the other hand, has been a public intellectual for the past fifteen years and has been known to flip-flip on an issue in the space of a weekend.

 


Government Shutdown

  1. Newt said that the reason he shut down the federal government was because when he flew in Air Force one, he was told to leave at the back of the plane. He said to Clinton that this was "part of why you ended up with us sending down a tougher continuing resolution". ("White House: Gingrich comment 'bizarre'". CNN. November 16, 1995. Retrieved May 12, 2011.) Gingrich was lampooned for implying that the government shutdown was a result of his personal grievances, including a widely-shared editorial cartoon depicting him as having thrown a temper tantrum (Newt Baby. Daily News cartoon and Murdock, Deroy (August 28, 2000). NationalReview.com "Newt Gingrich's Implosion". National Review. Retrieved August 15, 2006.) 

 

Gays

  1. "Look, I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion. And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you have to confront the fact. And, frank— for that matter, if you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism, you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they're the opposite, of what you're taught in Sunday school." The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News, 2008-11-15"Gingrich: "[T]here is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us"", Media Matters for America, 2008-11-17, retrieved on 2011-03-30 discussing protesters against a California ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage

Greed

  1. "Gingrich was perfectly content to belly up to the Freddie Mac trough and then invent a Hamiltonian rationale to justify his own greed." David Brooks

HHouse of Representatives

  1. Newt was a member of the House. If you want to win, you should at least nominate a senator, that has to win a big election for about 1/2 of a state. I think their are 14 members of the house in Georgia. Newt has never won a large statewide election, for a high profile position. Governors get much more scrutiny. If you want to win a presidential election you should usually try to nominate someone from the Governor's office. At least Rick Perry was a Governor of a large state. 

 

Hyperbolic

  1. He was hyperbolic. “He’d call something ‘the single most corrupt act in the history of Western civilization’ . . . always these Armageddon-type announcements,” says Rep. Pete King (R., N.Y.).

 

Hypocrisy

  1. We are trying to find someone who can advance the cause of protecting the family.  We are not trying to play god and determine if he is a good person or not. People change. People can be forgiven. That is not what this is about. We need to defend the family from actions that Newt has taken. We are trying to win a political fight with liberals, and Gingrich would be a giant symbol for republican hypocrisy. That is the image that democrats want to paint republicans with and Newt would give them a wonderful gift that would keep on giving. Newt is the extreme hypocrite who went after Clinton for his affair at the same time he was having one.  
  2. In May 1988, Gingrich (along with 77 other House members and Common Cause) brought ethics charges against Democratic Speaker Jim Wright, who was alleged to have used a book deal to circumvent campaign-finance laws and House ethics rules. During the investigation, it was noted Gingrich had his own unusual book deal, for Window of Opportunity, in which publicity expenses were covered by a limited partnership, which raised $105,000 from Republican political supporters to promote sales of Gingrich's book.[26] Gingrich's success in forcing Wright's resignation was in part responsible for his rising influence in the Republican caucus. (Can Gingrich Unify GOP Without Throwing Bombs?" Jack W. Germond; Jules Witcover, Chicago Tribune Syndicate, March 24, 1989)
Housing
  1. Newt Gingrich was a willing rented spokesman for the belief that government should control the mortgage market. 
    1. Newt received millions of dollars from Fanny and Freddie Mack to use is political power to keep the money rolling in. He says he was paid as a historian. The last time I checked historians didn't make that type of money. That sounds more like former-speaker-of-the-house-government lobbyist type of money. 
    2. In the Bloomberg-Washington Post debate, Newt called, with a straight face, for the jailing of Chris Dodd and Barney Frank: “In Barney Frank’s case,” he advised, “go back and look at the lobbyists he was close to at—at Freddie Mac. … Everybody in the media who wants to go after the business community ought to start by going after the politicians who have been at the heart of the sickness which is weakening this country.” All that rage at lobbyists for the housing agencies … from a man whom Freddie Mac paid between $1.6 and $1.8 million for his “advice as a historian.” Which definitely isn’t lobbying, and would never qualify as the sort of relationship that he just suggested was worthy of being jailed for.

Healthcare

  1. In a May 15, 2011, interview on Meet the Press, Gingrich repeated his long-held belief that "all of us have a responsibility to pay—help pay for health care", and suggested this could be implemented by either a mandate to obtain health insurance or a requirement to post a bond ensuring coverage. (Kolawole, Emi; Weiner, Rachel (May 16, 2011). "Gingrich calls Medicare voucher proposal 'right-wing social engineering'". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 17, 2011.^ a b Marr, Kendra (May 16, 2011), "Newt Gingrich's rough roll-out", Politico, retrieved May 17, 2011.
  2. In 2005, Newt sat down with then-Sen. Hillary Clinton to make common cause over health care. He said he and Clinton “have the same instinct” on health care and praised the notion of a health-care “transfer of finances” from rich to poor. “I risk sounding not quite as right wing as I should,” Gingrich said at the time. “I’ve spent enough of my life fighting,” he added.
    1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-newt-gingrich-wont-last/2011/11/15/gIQAmTNcPN_story.html

Humility

  1. “I’m not a natural leader. I’m too intellectual; I’m too abstract; I think too much.”

 

Hitler

Gingrich: Look—
Colmes: — comparing them to those who enabled Hitler?
Gingrich: Yes.
Colmes: That's an astounding comment —
Gingrich: What's your — what's your — why? Why is it astounding?
Colmes: — that's a very insulting comment —
Gingrich: It's not an insulting comment.

Harebrained



IIndividual Mandate

  1. Newt not only supported the individual mandate, he also supported Universal Healthcare. 
  2. In a May 15, 2011, interview with David Gregory on Meet the Press, Gingrich repeated his long-held belief that "all of us have a responsibility to pay – help pay for health care", and suggested this could be implemented by either a mandate to obtain health insurance or a requirement to post a bond ensuring coverage. Now he criticizes Romney for supporting the individual mandate in the states. 
  3. During this campaign, Newt Gingrich has loudly denounced Obamacare, but in 2008 he wrote a book entitled "Real Change" in which he endorsed an individual mandate for health insurance.
    1. http://reason.com/archives/2011/11/15/newt-gingrich-is-no-conservative
  4. In fact, earlier this year Newt Gingrich stated during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press that he still believes in an individual mandate.  The following is from an exchange between host David Gregory and Gingrich during the show....
    1. MR. GREGORY: All right, let me ask you about another hot-button issue in the Republican primary, of course, and that's health care. Mitt Romney having to defend his proponent--that he was a proponent of universal health care in Massachusetts, and specifically around this idea of the individual mandate where you make Americans buy insurance if they don't have it. Now, I know you've got big differences with what you call Obamacare. But back in 1993 on this program this is what you said about the individual mandate. Watch.  (Videotape, October 3, 1993)  
    2. REP. GINGRICH: I am for people, individuals--exactly like automobile insurance--individuals having health insurance and being required to have health insurance. And I am prepared to vote for a voucher system which will give individuals, on a sliding scale, a government subsidy so we insure that everyone as individuals have health insurance.  (End videotape)  MR. 
    3. GREGORY: What you advocate there is precisely what President Obama did with his healthcare legislation, is it not?  
    4. REP. GINGRICH: No, it's not precisely what he did. In, in the first place, Obama basically is trying to replace the entire insurance system, creating state exchanges, building a Washington-based model, creating a federal system. I believe all of us--and this is going to be a big debate--I believe all of us have a responsibility to help pay for health care. I think the idea that... 
    5. MR. GREGORY: You agree with Mitt Romney on this point.  
    6. REP. GINGRICH: Well, I agree that all of us have a responsibility to pay--help pay for health care. And, and I think that there are ways to do it that make most libertarians relatively happy. I've said consistently we ought to have some requirement that you either have health insurance or you post a bond...  
    7. MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.  
    8. REP. GINGRICH: ...or in some way you indicate you're going to be held accountable.  
    9. MR. GREGORY: But that is the individual mandate, is it not?  
    10. REP. GINGRICH: It's a variation on it.
    11. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43022759/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/t/meet-press-transcript-may/#.TqxH10OImU8

 

Imagination

  1. Gingrich, meanwhile, is a constant reminder that political leaders can have too much, as well as too little, imagination. His recent proposals on immigration are classic Gingrich: innovative-sounding, accompanied by high-tech gadgetry, and wholly absurd. Local community boards will decide which illegal immigrants to expel! We will be “humane,” while denying temporary workers the vote and stripping their children of citizenship! 

 

Intelligence 

  1. Newt needs to stop referring to himself as the smartest guy in the room, if he wants to win elections. That line was about the people who ran Enron, and believed they were the smartest men in the room. If Newt Gingrich has any pattern at all, and he does – it is a pattern of getting himself into trouble because he thinks he is the smartest guy in the room.

 

Impulsive

 



LLies

  1. Newt said that he was paid tens of millions of dollars as a historian? The last time I checked historians didn't make that type of money. That sounds more like former-speaker-of-the-house-government lobbyist type of money. 

 

Lobbyist

  1. Newt was a lobbyist for Freddie Mac while attacking Freddie Mac. He called on Obama to return the money that Obama got from Freddie, but has yet to return the money that he received. This hypocrisy does not bother Newt at all. 
  2. Newt Gingrich is a big time Washington insider that is often paid huge sums of money for doing next to nothing. Gingrich has said that he was paid $300,000 for "work" that he did for Freddie Mac, but according to Bloomberg he actually earned somewhere between $1.6 million and $1.8 million between 1999 and 2008. So what did he do for Freddie Mac? Gingrich claims that he warned Freddie Mac about the housing bubble, but the report by Bloomberg disputes this....
    1. None of the former Freddie Mac officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said Gingrich raised the issue of the housing bubble or was critical of Freddie Mac’s business model.
    2. It turns out that much of the "work" that Gingrich was expected to do never actually got done....
      1. Former Freddie Mac officials familiar with his work in 2006 say Gingrich was asked to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it.He was expected to provide written material that could be circulated among free-market conservatives in Congress and in outside organizations, said two former company executives familiar with Gingrich’s role at the firm. He didn’t produce a white paper or any other document the firm could use on its behalf, they said.
    3. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-16/gingrich-said-to-be-paid-at-least-1-6-million-by-freddie-mac.html

 

Leadership

  1. “I’m not a natural leader. I’m too intellectual; I’m too abstract; I think too much.”

Libertarians

  1. “It’s not a point of view libertarians would embrace, but I am more in the Alexander Hamilton-Teddy Roosevelt tradition of conservatism. I recognize that there are times when you need government to help spur private enterprise and economic development.”

M

#2#3

Marriage
  1. Gingrich has been married three times. 
    1. In 1962, he married Jackie Battley, his former high school geometry teacher. 
    2. In the spring of 1980, Gingrich left Battley after having an affair with Marianne Ginther. (Gingrich Admits to Affair During Clinton Impeachment". ABC News.) 
      1. 1984, Battley told the Washington Post that the divorce was a "complete surprise" to her. According to Battley, in September 1980, Gingrich and their children visited her while she was in the hospital, recovering from surgery, and Gingrich wanted to discuss the terms of their divorce. (Romano, Lois (January 3, 1985). "Newt Gingrich, Maverick on the Hill; The New Right's Abrasive Point Man Talks of Changing His Tone and Tactics". The Washington Post.)
        1. Gingrich has disputed that account. (Jeff Zeleny (February 26, 2011). "On the Stump, Gingrich Puts Focus on Faith". The New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2011.) 
        2. In 2011, their daughter, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, said that it was her mother who requested the divorce, that it happened prior to the hospital stay, and that Gingrich's visit was for the purpose of bringing the couple's children to see their mother, not to discuss the divorce. 
        3. According to L.H. Carter, his campaign treasurer, Gingrich said of Battley: "She's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of the President. And besides, she has cancer." 
          1. Scheer, Robert (December 25, 1994). "Gingrich Puts a Price on His Family Values : He sheltered his $4-million book bonanza from his struggling, non-trophy ex-wife.". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved Nov. 24, 2011.
          2. Calmes, Jackie; Kuntz, Phil (November 9, 1994). "Newt's House: Republicans' Wins Put Their Attack Tactician In a Position to Lead—Gingrich, Having Led Assault On Capital Ways, Faces Unfamiliar Role: Builder—`This Is a Brand New World'". The Wall Street Journal: p. A1.)
          3. Gingrich has denied saying it. 
          4. His supporters dismiss Carter as a disgruntled former aide who was miffed at not being asked to accompany Gingrich to Washington. (Gingrich's Life: The Complications and Ideals, By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE, New York Times, November 24, 1994)
        4. Six months after the divorce from Battley was final, Gingrich wed Marianne Ginther in 1981. 
        5. In the mid-1990s, Gingrich began an affair with House of Representatives staffer Callista Bisek, who is 23 years his junior. They continued their affair during the Lewinsky scandal, when Gingrich became a leader of the investigation of President Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with his alleged affairs. 
          1. Gingrich admits having affair in '90s". Associated Press. Retrieved June 7, 2009.
        6. In a 2011 interview with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network Gingrich addressed his past infidelities by saying, "There's no question at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate." So he tried to blame his multiple affairs because he worked too much. 

Moon

  1. Newt has called for “a massive new program to build a permanent lunar colony to exploit the Moon’s resources.”

Mirrors

  1. Newt has suggested that “a mirror system in space could provide the light equivalent of many full moons so that there would be no need for nighttime lighting of the highways.”


N

NANCY PELOSI

  1. Smiling on a couch with Nancy Pelosi. But when he wants to make it through the republican primary he says she is “despicable,” “dishonest” and “vicious.”

Nick Names

  1. Newt Getrich

National Sales Tax

  1. Newt was wrong to support the national sales tax for energy with Nancy Pelosi (Link).
    1. Everyone freaked out over Herman Cain's sales tax because it would introduce a new form of sales tax. 

Obama

What Newt has said about Obama will harm Newt more than Obama, because Newt has gone way to far. Newt just wants to throw bombs, he doesn't want to talk issues. This hatred gets die-hard conservatives all fired up, but it gets old very fast, is not american, and will disgust independents.  

  1. "The president of the United States, the most radical president in American history, has now thrown down the gauntlet to the American people. He has said, "I run a machine, I own Washington, and there's nothing you can do about it." Now, that's where we are.
    1. Coverage of Southern Republican Leadership Conference, CSPAN, 2010-04-08" Gingrich: Obama is "the most radical president in American history"", Media Matters for America, 2010-04-09, retrieved on 2011-03-30
  2. "The goal that the Obama team has is to fundamentally replace the historic America of self-reliance, independence, the work ethic, the people who go out and achieve because they spend their lifetime doing the right things. And they want to replace it with a politician-dominated redistributionist bureaucracy. Which in the essence would mean the end of America as it has been for the last 400 years."
    1. The Glenn Beck Program, Premiere Radio Networks, 2010-05-17 "On Beck's radio show, Gingrich says Obama admin. is trying to "end ... America as it has been for the last 400 years"", Media Matters for America, 2010-05-17, retrieved on 2011-03-30
  3. "What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]? That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior." It will be easy for Obama to label Newt as racist. 

Obama-care

  1. Newt's recent statements about Obamacare are a problem.
    1. Reasons to agree:
      1. Newt said: "Now there are about 300 pages that are pretty good" 
        1. http://thehill.com/video/campaign/184747-gingrich-on-obamas-healthcare-law-about-300-pages-are-pretty-good
        2. This is a problem because Romneycare was 70 pages. Obamacare was 2,074 pages. You can't have a good 300 page healthcare bill. It is too complex. The problem was they voted on it before anyone could read it, including Newt. Click here for a complete comparison of the bills: http://mittromneyandhealthcare.blogspot.com/p/romneycare-vs-obamacare.html Why would Newt a republican praise 300 pages of a national take-over of healthcare, that raises taxes, was passed in the middle of the night, was unpopular, was done in a hurry without letting the american people read it first, and not praise Romneycare that meets the requirments of the 10th amendment, did not raise taxes. was popular, was done with a balanced budget, etc? Why would Newt praise the democrat and criticize Romneycare? It couldn't be because he is an unprincipled shill could it? 

Prescription Drugs

  1. In 2003, Newt Gingrich boldly promoted the medicare part d prescription drug bill. Because of that bill, the federal government is now facing an additional 17 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities.
    1. http://reason.com/archives/2011/11/15/newt-gingrich-is-no-conservative

Philosophically unanchored, an unstable element

  1. There are too many storms within him, and he seeks out external storms in order to equalize his own atmosphere. He's a trouble magnet, a starter of fights that need not be fought. 


Tiffany’s 

  1. Newt needs to stop having $1 million dollars debt at the high-end jewelry store Tiffany’s if he wants to be president. This is the man who is supposed to balance our budget? http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57487.html. He is a self-proclaimed fiscal conservative? 

Tarp

  1. In 2008, Newt Gingrich stated that he would have voted for the TARP bailout if he was still a member of Congress.
    1. http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/rep_bios.php?rep_id=72471931&category=views&id=20110512155526

Tragic

  1. "He has an inner urge to be tragic, to always be unrealized and misunderstood. But he goes too far, his rhetoric becomes too slashing, the musings he shares—when he rose to the speakership, in 1995, it was that women shouldn't serve in combat because they're prone to infections—are too strange. And he starts to write in his notes what Kirsten Powers, in the Daily Beast, remembered: he described himself as "definer of civilization . . . leader (possibly) of the civilizing forces." ~Peggy Noonan


RRush

  1. Gingrich was one of the 71 co-sponsors of a bill to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine after the Federal Communications Commission stopped enforcing the rule in 1987.
    1. Newt Gingrich Co-Sponsored the 1987 Pro-Fairness Doctrine Bill
      1. http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2011/04/29/newt-gingrich-co-sponsored-the-1987-pro-fairness-doctrine-bill/

 

Resignation

  1. He resigned from the House on November 5, 1998, three days after being elected to his 11th term.
  2. Republicans lost five seats in the House in the 1998 elections—the worst midterm performance in 64 years for a party that didn't hold the presidency. Polls showed that Gingrich's attempt to remove President Clinton from office was deeply unpopular among voters. (Fischle, M. (2000). "Mass Response to the Lewinsky Scandal: Motivated Reasoning or Bayesian Updating?". Political Psychology)
  3. Gingrich suffered much of the blame for the election loss. Facing a rebellion in the Republican caucus, he announced on November 5, 1998 that he would not only stand down as Speaker, but would leave the House as well. Gingrich made this announcement only a day after being elected to an 11th term from his district. Commenting on his departure, Gingrich said, "I'm willing to lead but I'm not willing to preside over people who are cannibals. My only fear would be that if I tried to stay, it would just overshadow whoever my successor is." ("The Speaker Steps Down", The New York Times, November 8, 1998). This boastful self righteousness about how awesome he was did not explain in any way why he would just walk away from an election that he promiced he would stand for the things that his supported voted for, and then walk away. It was worse than what Sarah Palin did. He quite office 5 days after coming to office. At least Sarah Palin wasn't so weird and self-righteous when she left office early. 

 

 

The last time Gingrich held office, he reached a depth of unpopularity that suggested that the public did not merely disagree with his policies but disliked him as a person. Memories have faded, and his current fans say he is a changed man. But he still has the rhetorical style — by turns incendiary, grandiose, and abrasive — that turned off middle-of-the-road Americans then. (November 16: “Because I am much like Reagan and Margaret Thatcher . . . ”) And he does not seem to have learned that aspiring presidents should weigh their words carefully. Recall the events that led to his campaign’s meltdown this summer, in which he first praised Paul Ryan’s plan for entitlements, then condemned it as “right-wing social engineering,” and finally apologized to Ryan for the comment. 



SStay Puff

  1. Newt needs to stop winning Stay Puff Marshmallow man look alike contest if he wants to be president. 

 

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)

  1. “I am not inclined to be a supporter of Newt Gingrich’s having served under him for four years and experienced his leadership. Because I found it lacking often times. There’s all kind of leaders, leaders that instill confidence and leaders that are somewhat abrupt, leaders that have one standard for the people that they are leading and a different standard for themselves. I will have difficulty supporting him for president of the United States.”
    1. Coburn said on Fox News Sunday. The Oklahoma senator served in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001.

Stupid

  1. An America under President Gingrich would have two Social Security systems — “one old, one new, running side by side” — two tax systems and two versions of Medicare. Gingrich says these programs are broke, and so he wants to create new versions, but he promises if you don't like his system, you can just keep the old version... That you can choose which tax system you want to use. Romney has promised to consolidation duplicate programs and eliminate redundant. Gingrich says he is the big idea guy -- he is right -- many of his ideas result in large bloated government.  

Surge

  1. Newt opposed the 2006 “surge” that turned around the Iraq war.

TThose who know him best

  1. Newt has not won over politicians, GOP-aligned organized groups, or other conservative opinion leaders. Rank-and-file Republicans, who are generally not aware of his weaknesses.

Temperament

  1. "Disorganization and a tendency to see everything as a cataclysmic clash requiring a radical response" David Brooks
  2. "Gingrich seems to have walked straight out of the 1960s. He has every negative character trait that conservatives associate with ’60s excess: narcissism, self-righteousness, self-indulgence and intemperance. He just has those traits in Republican form." David Brooks

WWorst Day of his Life

  1. Newt who had been through 2 divorces, had a wife get cancer, said the worst day of his life was when the media found out about his $1 million dollar bill at the Tiffany's diamond store. 

War Powers Act

  1. Newt was wrong to to advocate the removal of the War Powers act. 
    1. Reasons to agree:
      1. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 is a federal law intended to check the power of the President in committing the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of Congress.
      2. http://www.lessgovisthebestgov.com/Newt-Gingrich-Candidate-President-Republican-Primary.html
      3. After Iraq shouldn't we all agree that Congress should follow the rules, and vote for war? That way they don't get to threaten the president with cutting off the money and call him a war criminal. If they get to fund it, they shouldn't have to start it. 

Videos
Vetting

  1. Romney got a thorough presidential vetting that Newt has not received
    1. In 2008 Romney competed in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, California, Florida, and many other states talking with local and national media in a way that Newt has not experienced sense he was forced out of office more than a decade ago. 
Vietnam
  1. Newt is an anti-Communist Army brat who supported the Vietnam War but dodged it.“ Part of the question I had to ask myself,” he said in a 1985 Wall Street Journal piece about war wimps, “was what difference I would have made.” So his excuse was that he was too fat, or to weak to fight, but he supported other people fighting? 
Words
  1. Newt made a deal with the devil, and was promised that he would be given the presidency if he used one of the following words in every sentence he speaks. So far, so good. The words are: fundamentally, profoundly, deeply, and frankly. You will notice that he uses one of these words in every sentence, and sometimes uses more than one of them in a sentence. 
    1. In a single 2008 address to the American Enterprise Institute, he used the words fundamentally or fundamental a total of eighteen times. 
Reference
  1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Newt_Gingrich#Abortion
  2. http://www.ontheissues.org/Newt_Gingrich.htm