On Jan 26, 5:49 pm, Keith In Tampa <keithinta...@gmail.com> wrote:
> "*Anyone who covered Gingrich in the 1990s knew he held Reagan in high
> regard* " Major Garrett
>
> On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 6:47 PM, Keith In Tampa <keithinta...@gmail.com>wrote:
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> > Dole vs. Gingrich: The GOP Empire Strikes Back
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> > <http://cdn-media.nationaljournal.com/?controllerName=image&action=get...>
> > AP Photo/Matt Rourke
>
> > Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
> > speaks at the University of North Florida, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, in
> > Jacksonville, Fla.
> > The Republican establishment mobilizes to prevent the nomination of Newt.
>
> > <http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/dole-vs-gin...><http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/dole-vs-gin...><http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/dole-vs-gin...><http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/dole-vs-gin...><http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/dole-vs-gin...>
>
> > By Major Garrett <http://www.nationaljournal.com/reporters/bio/40>
> > Updated: January 26, 2012 | 6:29 p.m.
> > January 26, 2012 | 4:52 p.m.
>
> > After arriving in Florida like a rolling ball of butcher knives, former
> > House Speaker Newt Gingrich is looking less edgy and more flabby by the
> > hour. The last four polls in Florida now show Mitt Romney back ahead (the
> > previous four had Gingrich up).
>
> > That's at least in part because Republicans-–some conservative, some
> > semiconservative, and some conveniently conservative–-are attacking
> > Gingrich as a walking, talking party menace; a flu-like contagion who will
> > lose the presidency and contaminate down-ballot Republicans with erratic
> > extremism.
>
> > While voters in South Carolina found Gingrich's condemnation of the news
> > media and braggadocio about "big ideas" infectious, an increasing number of
> > Republicans now describe Gingrich as something akin to political plague.
>
> > "If Gingrich is the nominee, it will have an adverse impact on Republican
> > candidates running for county, state, and federal offices," said Bob Dole,
> > the GOP's 1996 nominee and former Senate majority leader. Dole released a
> > letter denouncing Gingrich on Thursday that Romney's campaign quickly
> > distributed. "Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has endorsed
> > him, and that fact speaks for itself. He was a one-man band who rarely took
> > advice. It was his way or the highway."
>
> > Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, who served as the No. 3
> > Republican in the House when Gingrich was speaker, told Houston TV station
> > KTRH that Gingrich was "not really a conservative." Conservative
> > commentator Ann Coulter has said that a Gingrich nomination would guarantee
> > President Obama's reelection. Peter Wehner, a former Reagan aide, calls
> > Gingrich "intemperate and erratic."
>
> > Dole remains an important figure in the party, although his attachment to
> > it has waned in recent years and he has no links to the tea party-inspired
> > segment of the party responsible for propelling Republicans to a House
> > majority and Senate gains in 2010. Dole's message, however, is not unlike
> > the warnings that GOP veterans issued in 2010 when tea party activists
> > nominated Sharron Angle in Nevada and Christine O'Donnell in
> > Delaware–-hard-line conservatives who turned jump-ball Senate races into
> > slam-dunk Democratic victories.
>
> > Dole and Gingrich have a history, and it bears a quick summary. When Dole
> > was a member of the Senate Finance Committee and urged then-President
> > Reagan to raise taxes to cope with rising budget deficits, Gingrich
> > memorably branded him a "tax collector for the welfare state."
>
> > When Dole challenged President Clinton in 1996, Gingrich negotiated the
> > deal with Clinton over welfare reform-–removing a potent issue of contrast
> > from Dole's campaign quiver. Dole told me later that when he heard welfare
> > reform would be signed before his nominating convention, he knew his
> > campaign had no chance.
>
> > It probably didn't anyway, but Dole viewed Gingrich's decision to get
> > welfare reform signed into law–-allowing Clinton to campaign on it as he
> > did in his convention renomination speech–-as a political and personal
> > affront. Dole also knew he would face an onslaught of Clinton ads linking
> > him to the unpopular Gingrich. He did. Vice President Al Gore put a cap on
> > this at his convention speech, when he declared "Americans will reject this
> > Dole-Gingrich approach and all this déjà voodoo."
>
> > In that summer of 1996, Gingrich was terrified that Republicans would lose
> > their majority-–in part because of two government shutdowns that Gingrich
> > engineered in pursuit of a balanced budget (which was, it bears saying,
> > eventually achieved). In that atmosphere of panic, Gingrich pointedly
> > advised swing-district Republicans to leave conservatism aside and do
> > whatever it took to hold their seats.
>
> > "For the marginal members, being speaker of the House, I'd say to them:
> > Talk to your pollsters, do what gets you reelected, and call home
> > afterward," Gingrich told *The New York Times* editorial board.
>
> > Dole and other Republicans are now telling GOP primary voters to avoid
> > what Gingrich was forced to advise when he led the party as speaker–-a mad
> > race toward political expediency created by an agenda that had grown
> > unpopular and threatening to the party's long-term health.
>
> > This is not the only line of attack Gingrich has had to confront. Now
> > brought into question is Gingrich's fidelity to Reagan. There are several
> > print and video examples of Gingrich trafficking in allegedly anti-Reagan
> > apostasy. Some are contrived. For instance, a 1988 clip of Gingrich
> > predicting that then-Vice President George H. W. Bush would lose if he ran
> > like Reagan was actually advice for Bush to develop an authentic
> > conservative platform of his own and distinguish himself as a new leader
> > for a new time. In fact, Gingrich in that clip-–circulated by the Romney
> > campaign to suggest Gingrich was abandoning Reaganism–-specifically praises
> > Bush for his "no new taxes" pledge. He made that pledge while campaigning
> > for the New Hampshire primary–-in which he defeated Dole.
>
> > Former State Department official Elliott Abrams wrote in *National Review*this week that during the Reagan administration, Gingrich "often spewed
> > insulting rhetoric at Reagan, his top aides, and his policies to defeat
> > Communism." But anyone who covered Gingrich in the 1990s knew he held
> > Reagan in high regard and developed much of his Contract With America
> > agenda along the lines of what he considered Reagan's unfinished domestic
> > agenda, which could be carried out only with a GOP-led House and Senate.
> > And any student of history knows it was not uncommon during Reagan's
> > presidency for Hill Republicans to question the day-to-day tactics and
> > strategy of the Reagan White House. Criticism was common and sometimes done
> > as an act of sell-preservation (Reagan had severe popularity ups and downs).
>
> > And Gingrich spurned the George H.W. Bush White House and John Sununu
> > (Bush the elder's chief of staff, who is now an aggressive Romney promoter)
> > by refusing to cooperate in raising taxes as part of the 1990 bipartisan
> > budget compromise. Gingrich savaged Bush's decision to increase taxes and
> > used his position as party whip –- chief vote-counter -– to defeat the
> > first version of the deal.
>
> > That decision paid significant political dividends for House Republicans
> > who followed Gingrich – because they maintained unblemished purity on the
> > tax issue. As a matter of governing, however, it forced the Bush White
> > House to negotiate a budget deal with more taxes and fewer spending cuts
> > because Bush had to seek Democratic votes to pass it. To the degree this
> > actual history is debated and dissected in Florida or any subsequent
> > primary state, GOP voters can decide for themselves which approach is more
> > "conservative."
>
> > As ever in politics, there is a lot of history here. Some of it is deeply
> > personal. Some of it is philosophical. Some of it is tactical. All of it is
> > about how to position and unite the party as the campaign against Obama
> > comes into focus.
>
> > While defined broadly as the establishment versus the insurgents, the
> > uprising against Gingrich isn't really that monochromatic. Gingrich is a
> > Washington figure through-and-through. Romney is backed by Republicans of
> > established political success in Washington, but is not a Washington figure
> > at all.
>
> > While this is advertised as a fight over conservatism, it's really a fight
> > over winning or what the party decides winning is about or what winning is
> > meant to pursue. Gingrich wants to win to bring about "radical change."
> > Romney and the new wave of party critics contend the only thing radical
> > about a 2012 campaign with Gingrich as nominee would be the radical loss of
> > political clout in Congress and state legislatures across the land, along
> > with the White House itself.
>
> > So, in essence, Gingrich is right about something. This is all about
> > winning the future.
>
> > *Want to stay ahead of the curve? Sign up for National Journal's AM & PM
> > Must Reads <http://www.nationaljournal.com/newsletters>. News and
> > analysis to ensure you don't miss a thing.*
> > <http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/dole-vs-gin...><http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/dole-vs-gin...>
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