Newt Gingrich, Weasel

May9th
Newt Gingrich, Weasel
Tom Woods

Check out Bob Wenzel's brief but very sharp analysis of Newt Gingrich's weasel platform that avoids discussing spending cuts on the grounds that first we have to get things moving again, etc.  All I would add to Bob's analysis is what I wrote about Gingrich in Rollback: his record is horrendous.  Of course, the media portrays him as some kind of strict free-marketeer, since that's the media's job: define the range of opinion in such a way as to exclude genuine friends of freedom.  For if you are to the right of Newt Gingrich -- and, citizen, we have already told you Newt is as free market as they come! -- you must be some kind of "extremist"!  In fact, you probably don't exist.

http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/newt-gingrich-weasel-2/

xxx

Monday, May 9, 2011
Gingrich to Announce Presidential Run
Posted by Robert Wenzel at 11:38 AM

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will officially jump into the race for the Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday with announcements on Facebook and Twitter, according to his spokesman.

The Gingrich campaign strategy appears to be that he will run not on any principles, but more on the fact that he is not President Obama.

A Gingrich snippet:

The fact is, we are not going to close the deficit and move towards a balanced budget unless we follow the policies that foster the economic growth necessary to create jobs.The first and most immediate step would be to employ the policies that encourage investment, create jobs, and reward innovation and entrepreneurship -- exactly the opposite of the Obama anti-jobs policies

Aside from the attack on President Obama, the underlying message here is that Gingrich wants to balance the budget not by reducing government spending, but by increasing tax revenues through more jobs. In other words, Gingrich sees no problem with the current size of government.


http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/05/gingrich-to-announce-presidential-run.html