Remembering Newt’s Awfulness

Posted on | November 15, 2011 | 100 Comments

Just now, I called Dan Collins to talk about the grim prospect that threatens to destroy all hope of carrying forward the Tea Party momentum of the 2010 midterms: Mitt vs. Newt as the final showdown for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Dan was saying that this has provided him an occasion to remember all the reasons he can’t stand Newt Gingrich.

The idea that Newt could fill the role of a champion of grassroots conservatism against the Republican Establishment is so absurd as to be laughable, if the situation were not so tragic.

“The limits of Newt Gingrich’s staying power” is the Washington Post headline expressing what is perhaps the only hopeful aspect of the most recent polls: The Newt Bubble can’t possibly last, and eventually some other Not Romney will emerge as the leading alternative. However, viewing the situation as it stands now — seven weeks before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses — by the time the Newt Bubble ends, there will be little time for any other Not Romney to raise the big money needed to fund a campaign against Romney in Florida.

Gingrich Said Paid by Freddie Mac to Win Allies
— Bloomberg News

Gingrich needs to explain what
he did for Freddie and Fannie
— Jennifer Rubin

Yeah, a bit more attention to that kind of stuff would be helpful. This whole “Second look at Gingrich” nonsense — I’m looking at you, Ed Morrissey — is almost as much a waste of time as the Jon Huntsman campaign, and the sooner people wake up and realize it, the better.

Da Tech Guy has excoriated me for my anti-Gingrich attitude, but I’m serious and will repeat what I said yesterday: To support Newt is tantamount to advocating the re-election of Barack Obama.

Anyone who thinks Newt can beat Obama is delusional. As bad as Romney is, he’s not worse than Gingrich, and if this Newt Bubble isn’t deflated PDQ, I fear that I might be stuck making that argument next February, a profoundly depressing prospect.

UPDATE: My friend Jeffrey Lord has taken leave of his senses. Comparing Gingrich to Winston Churchill? The most obvious difference is that the latter was a man of action, who understood that deeds counted more than words.

Churchill’s disrepute among his political rivals can be attributed chiefly to their envy of his superior qualities. The way Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, became the scapegoat for the failure of the Gallipoli campaign is one episode that must be studied to see how Churchill was damaged by this resentment. He had won early fame in the Boer War and self-interested rivals, concerned mainly with their own status, viewed Churchill’s success as likely to result in their own eclipse — as of course it ultimately did, but only after their had kept him in the wilderness during the years of appeasement in the 1930s.

Category: Election 2012, Newt Gingrich

Comments

100 Responses to “Remembering Newt’s Awfulness”

Eden
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:36 pm

Romney is worse than Gingrich. Romney is still for the Individual Mandate and Gingrich is not.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/gingrich-obamacare-and-individual-mandate_607924.html
steve benton
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:39 pm

Umm..you mean delusional like Squirming Herman supporters? I notice you never linked to his brilliant answer on Libya. Yeah, that’s your guy. I’d take Newt in a millisecond over Cain.
Joe
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:40 pm

Your a mean one, Mr.GingrichYou really are a heelYou cuddled up to DedeYour as charming as an eel, Mr.GingrichYour a bad banana with a greasy black peelYour a monster, Mr.GingrichYour hearts an empty holeYour brain is full of compromiseYou’re a RINO in your soul, Mr. GingrichI wouldn’t touch with a 39 and a half foot poleYour a foul one, Mr.GingrichYou have termites in your smileYou like to canoodle with Pelosi the crocodileMr.Gingrich, Mr. GingrichGiven the choice between the two of you,It’s a push between you and the crocodileYour a rotter Mr.GingrichYour the king of sinful sotsYour hearts a dead tomatoSplotched with moldy purple spots, Mr. GingrichYour a three decker sour crout toad stool sandwichWith arsenic sauceYour sole is a appalling dump heap Overflowing with the most disgracefulAssortment of deplorable rubbishImaginable, mangled up in tangled up knotsYou’re a foul one Mr GingrichYou’re a nasty wasty skunkYour heart is full of unwashed socksYour sole is full of gunkMr GingrichThe 3 best words that best describe you, are as follows, and I quoteStink! Stank! Stunk!
Joe
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:42 pm

Your a mean one, Mr.Gingrich
You really are a heel
You cuddled up to Dede
Your as charming as an eel, Mr.Gingrich

Your a bad banana with a greasy black peel

Your a monster, Mr.Gingrich
Your hearts an empty hole
Your brain is full of compromiseYou’re a RINO in your soul, Mr. GingrichI wouldn’t touch with a 39 and a half foot pole

Your a foul one, Mr.Gingrich
You have termites in your smile
You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile
Mr.Gingrich, Mr. Gingrich
Given the choice between the two of you,
I’d choose the seasick crocodile
Your a rotter Mr.Gingrich
Your the king of sinful sots
Your hearts a dead tomato
Splotched with moldy purple spots, Mr. Gingrich
Your a three decker sour crout toad stool sandwich
With arsenic sauce

Your sole is a appalling dump heap
Overflowing with the most disgraceful
Assortment of deplorable rubbish
Imaginable, mangled up in tangled up knots
You’re a foul one Mr Gingrich
You’re a nasty wasty skunk
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your sole is full of gunk
Mr Gingrich

The 3 best words that best describe you, are as follows, and I quote
Stink!
Stank!
Stunk!
Edward
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:42 pm

Newt’s singular talent is for, politically speaking, running face-first into a wall a la Wile E. Coyote. He does this repeatedly and often without any purpose but definitely with awful results.
smitty
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:43 pm

My takeaway is that, no matter what you do, you’re going to get tooled by a tool.
As a junior officer, my mantra was “See the bone, be the bone, love the bone.”
Now, that isn’t really meant in any literal sort of way; the bone is an abstraction for what you got when you wanted a bit of, say, chicken leg, and instead got the bone. Achieving one-ness with the bone, in the third stage of the mantra, makes it all good.
I repeated this mantra so many times during my frigate tour that I own two plastic femurs, given as parting gifts by departing wardroom members.
Don’t matter who wins the nomination and election: our next four years at least are going to be an opportunity to love the bone.
Dan Collins
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:44 pm

Here’s a good round-up of Newt on the issues, which touches on some of his foibles, but certainly not all: http://monoblogue.us/2011/09/14/dossier-newt-gingrich/
smitty
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:45 pm

Does this whole question boil down to Who Sucks Least? Really?
AngelaTC
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:45 pm

Newt has expressed support for the individual mandate. Here is a video of Newt expressing his support for the individual mandate, so you can’t say I am twisting his words: http://townhall.com/video/newt-gingrich-supports-individual-mandate
smitty
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:48 pm

Libya?
What blew my mind was when they asked Herman to derive the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.
Less snarkily, somebody needs to define what is ‘the line’ and apply it evenly to all.
AngelaTC
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:48 pm

Why should this year be any different?
Anonymous
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:48 pm

“Anyone who thinks Newt can beat Obama is delusional.”

Probably.

Of course, you could insert any other name from the GOP field into that statement and the response would still be “probably.”
Bob Belvedere
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:54 pm

Yes, now that Mrs. Palin is out of the race.
Bob Belvedere
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:58 pm

Anyone taking a second look at Newt is broadcasting the despairation. And despairation is a very unflattering pose.
Eden
November 15th, 2011 @ 5:59 pm

Well I guess he changed his mind when he realized other states don’t want to pay taxes for the states that want the mandate….and rightly so. Both Romney and Gingrich should both leave this individual mandate crap out of it…it’s unconstitutional either way.
N4CER
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:00 pm

Newt’s baggage is too much to hold up against scrutiny.
Liz
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:02 pm

Yes!

*fistbumps self*

Someone else who thinks that Gingrich is vile! I’m not insane! About this!

I don’t much like Romney, but I’m dedicated to getting Teh Won out. Gingrich would make me think long and hard about whether it’s worth my while to vote.
ThePaganTemple
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:04 pm

Hey guys I heard a rumor that’s got me real upset. I just heard China has nuclear weapons. Is this true? Newt seems to be a pretty smart guy, reckon he’d know? What about Herman?
Anonymous
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:06 pm

And Newt is likely to use The Bone to whack conservatives on the head. That’s his problem. He talks a big game (and with such purty words, too) but only occasionally delivers. He is of the beast. Why in the world would anyone expect differently? He has lived D.C. more than any candidate running and by a considerable margin. Now how exactly would anyone have confidence that he could split his personality and become Mr. Conservative?

Look, I love the man’s rhetoric right now as a candidate; but it’s purely rhetoric as he is as well-practiced as anyone at playing the political game.

Now my choice was Palin. It would still be given what we’ve seen so far from the field, but I’ve already “lost.” I’m settling whomever I back now, but I’d sure not like to settle for Gingrich. Cabinet, yes. Chief of Staff? Possibly. Pres/VP? No. Would he be better than SCoaMF? Infinitely… and so would a garden gnome. We’re settling not only on a low bar but a rusty, well-worn one, too.

In the abstract Gingrich might be great. But he has a long history of non-trivial non-abstract. His performance really doesn’t match his words much as I wish they did.
Edward
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:06 pm

That’s nothing. I heard their generals are all chefs. Some guy named General Tso is one serious bad-ass. And General Chien is no slouch either.
AngelaTC
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:08 pm

A better bet is that he’s a political sociopath who will say anything to get elected. He was a big fan of the individual mandate in his book, too.

He also favored and worked with Hillary on a national health care database, presumably because one of the corporations he was involved with stood to make billions from getting the technology contract. Obviously conservatives think that the federal government should be in charge of storing all our health care records, right? He also stumped heavy and hard for the prescription drug benefit.He voted for establishing the Department of Education.Really, I could go and on, but I already know how objectionable voting records can be, and that sadly, they’re no match for rhetoric and slogans.
AngelaTC
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:10 pm

Careful what you ask for…
AngelaTC
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:12 pm

I think Newt’s a very savvy politician, and I certainly can’t imagine that Obama would pick him as the candidate that he’d most like to run against. On the other hand, he’s as much of a lightening rod as Palin. Thinking that he’d get 5 minutes of fair coverage is…delusional.
AngelaTC
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:13 pm

Yeah, but a la McCain, the media is going to love, or at least relatively ignore, Newt until after he gets the nomination
Anonymous
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:14 pm

Well between “Newt-the-Snoot” and the “fiscally responsible”, hand picked by Speaker Boner” Republicans on the Stupidcommittee advocating tax increases we’re just getting a blizzard of cheerful news!

As I said when Boner caved, he is as Progressive as Prez!Stinky™, just wants a slower windup. Flute-Snoot-Newt would run the Ship-of-State’s speed to our Final Iceberg back up to Full Pa-lousy Ahead!” He might even order his global warming coach to Reid Rimming Speed!

I’m just going to turn off my hearing aid, and take a nap… wake me after the collapse. This just can’t be real…
Liz
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:19 pm

Yeah. Isn’t it curious that the same people excoriating Romney for flip flopping always have some excuse for Newt? Something that generally involves that legendarily legendary intellect of legend. *yawns*

Again, the thought of Romney makes me want to cry. But I suspect he’s far more intelligent than Newt, and his attention span has evolved past that of a two year old. Also, I don’t think Romney is as sociopathic as Newt.
Eden
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:21 pm

I’m still not seeing how Romney is better with his(MA’s) bad economy and unemployment. Given the state of the Republican field, I would still rather vote for Gingrich. At least Gingrich helped balance the budget and improve the economy.
Anonymous
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:34 pm

I’ve been touting the notion of Newt for veep lately. I think it’s perfect for him.
1) High-profile, but almost no power.
2) Only real power is in the Congress.
3) Only as much power/responsibility as the president allows.
4) A Newt/Biden debate… I’ll be in my bunk.

The only concern is that the prez be strong enough to keep Newt on his leash. I think Cain, Perry, and Romney could all do that.

J.
alwaysfiredup
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:38 pm

“As bad as Romney is, he’s not worse than Gingrich”

Nope. Gingrich is a fighter. Romney will lay down and die.
Anonymous
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:38 pm

McCain v Huckabee II: NewtRomney Boogaloo
alwaysfiredup
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:39 pm

Sadly, yes. The good candidates chose not to run.
alwaysfiredup
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:40 pm

That’s exactly how I feel about Romney. When given the choice between two waffles, I’ll take crispy over soggy any day.
alwaysfiredup
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:42 pm

No one is going to get fair coverage, period. We need to stop expecting our candidates to smell like roses in the press. They simply have to endure, fight, and not make themselves look too foolish in the process.
alwaysfiredup
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:43 pm

Nonsense. He’ll argue his way out of it like always. America does not expect perfection, just competence with a touch of the bulldog, and Gingrinch offers that.
Anonymous
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:45 pm

That would appear to be the case. Not surprising really the GOP’s Caligula period during the aughts didn’t exactly groom much of a bench.
Steve in TN
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:47 pm

You Betcha.
Anonymous
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:49 pm

Cthulhu it is then.
Anonymous
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:52 pm

And stab David Gregory in the eye with a pen when opportunity presents.
CalMark
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:53 pm

Cain and Gingrich can’t run on the same ticket.

Both are from Georgia and the Constitution doesn’t permit President and VP to be from the same state.
Steve in TN
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:55 pm

I see @rsmccain is getting his inner @jrubinblogger on for @NewtGingrich.
Datechguy's Blog » Blog Archive » My Reply to Stacy McCain, et/al: I do not approve, I understand » Datechguy's Blog
November 15th, 2011 @ 6:57 pm

[…] 3: Stacy links but seems to misinterprets me slightly, my argument equally applies to those who insist, Romney, Cain, Perry, Paul, Huntsman, Johnson, […]
Jim Bummer
November 15th, 2011 @ 7:02 pm

You are incorrect.

They have different residences, which can be proved.

Also, even if it couldn’t and they were forced to run as GA residents, they simply wouldn’t be able to take all of GA’s electoral votes, but they could still run together.

Cain’s not dead. And he (eventually) gave the right answer on Libya.

Oh, and Federal employees DO have collective bargaining rights. Cain 1 MJS 0.
Jim Bummer
November 15th, 2011 @ 7:04 pm

Expounding, I feel that Cain has the best shot (other than Mittens, who is unacceptable) to garner independent support enough to actually win the GE.

The middle will NEVER accept Newt, even if we do. I don’t trust him any farther than I can throw him. And he’s a fatass.
Bob Belvedere
November 15th, 2011 @ 7:19 pm

Buy more pens!…or make more mud bricks…
Bob Belvedere
November 15th, 2011 @ 7:21 pm

Might work.
steve benton
November 15th, 2011 @ 7:27 pm

LOL. Yeah, that was a real toughie there. Umm, umm…let me twirl it around again. Ummm, lets see: Obama entered a civil war on the side of Al Qaeda, never went to congress to get congressional approval, and has been the single largest factor in spreading radical Islam since Mohammed. Yeah, that question.
DaveO
November 15th, 2011 @ 7:46 pm

I remain functionally fixated on Newt being an excellent mind, and good to have around for the purpose of foiling the intent of the MSM to smear all the candidates with bad impressions. Perry needs no assistance.

But as public figure of 30+ years, Newt has more baggage than American Airlines’ lost baggage Warehouse. He can’t cover up, like Obama, and every position he’s held on issues, every statement (spoken and written), every vote is out there. 3 weeks of Axelroddian exposure, and Newt will go ex-pat to Russia.
Anonymous
November 15th, 2011 @ 7:49 pm

I’m convinced a year from now that squandered opportunity will prove to have been the turning point.
Joe
November 15th, 2011 @ 7:52 pm

Yeah looks like Gingrich really put up a fight with those exchanges of his with Gore and Pelosi.
Anonymous
November 15th, 2011 @ 7:56 pm

Not soon enough.