Former House speaker Newt Gingrich attempted a tricky balancing act last night in Waukee, a small town outside Des Moines: In a speech (video here) to social conservatives at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, he blasted President Obama’s values; then, minutes later, in a Fox News interview, sought forgiveness for his own past indiscretions.
For Gingrich, framing the values debate on his own terms — as a discussion of Judeo-Christian heritage rather than a messy contrast of personal histories — will be a challenge. Gingrich’s Monday appearance was the first road test of his punch-then-navel-gaze approach.
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Gingrich, a high-profile media figure for decades, knows that his two divorces will be endlessly highlighted. His hope, it appears, is that being frank and conciliatory on that front will inoculate him as he continues to skewer Obama as leader of the “secular, socialist Left.”
“Morality applies across the board,” Gingrich remarked to the thousands gathered at Point of Grace Church. “Morality matters in economics because balancing the budget is an essentially moral, not economic, question about whether or not politicians ought to follow the same rules as the rest of us.”
Morality, added the Catholic convert, is the glue that binds the three legs of his politics. “There should be no distinction between economic, national-security, and social conservatives,” he said. “We should all base our principles on fundamental questions of morality.”
Following his speech, Gingrich sat down with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News to talk about the personal issues that went unmentioned at the podium. “I’ve made no bones about the fact that there were times I did the wrong thing,” he said. “I’ve made no bones about the fact that I’ve asked for forgiveness.”
“[Voters] have to render their judgment, as do all Americans,” he continued. “I think that’s something people have to decide. And they have to decide by looking at it and looking at the total person and looking at my total record.”
The Waukee audience appeared to embrace Gingrich most when he championed catchy policy ideas, such as urging the next president, on “Day 1,” to eliminate all White House czar positions. This was classic Newt: packaging well-worn positions into a fresh and marketable talking point.
Gingrich advisers are taking these early stops seriously. A couple of his aides told NRO last week that a strong showing in the Hawkeye State would be crucial for a Newt ’12 effort. Team Newt sees Gingrich competitive in South Carolina, but with former Bay State governor Mitt Romney likely to perform well in New Hampshire, emerging out of a crowded Iowa field as a much-buzzed contender becomes a top priority. If Gingrich can do that, one confidant predicts that he will become the “Romney alternative” as the primary unfolds.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This initial cattle call was more of an opportunity for the former speaker to reintroduce himself to Midwestern values voters. It’s a crowd he knows well: Gingrich has been to Iowa many times over the past few years, helping to recall judges who overruled Iowa’s law prohibiting same-sex marriage and stumping for statehouse candidates.
I was looking to hear a lot about those local activities last night. Instead, he stuck close to his usual themes, talking about activist judges, to be sure, but in a national context. The former college professor also lectured about the lessons of Albert Camus and referenced Abraham Lincoln, providing the crowd with a sweeping, high-drama view of world history. “We have an extraordinarily fundamental choice to make about the very future of this country,” he said. “We need a political change so deep, and so profound, that nothing we have seen in our lifetime is comparable to the depth we have to go to get this country back on track.”
Buchanon shoaled on free trade; Gingrich has followed w/ethanol. I can understand a roving eye; I cannot his, apparent-in my eyes, loss of intellectual and political integrity.
It's not is indescretions, it's his random crazy ivans where he turns away from his conservatism and sounds like a RINO or worse. His inconsistent ideology is what will prevent his nomination. His indiscretsion just underscore a time when republicans lost there bearings and lost badly in political chicken. To this day they will not stand up for themselves. At least we have Palin and Bachmann to show the men courage.
I liked Newt better when he was Speaker of the House of Reps. and a political "bomb-thrower" Somewhere along the road, something happened. Newt badly misjudged the peoples understanding of the message he was bringing to Washington. Conservative yes, but not inspiring. More like a tax audit of what the democrats had been doing the last 40 years. Finally, some House cleaning. But House cleaning isn't a message, it's merely a necessary domestic task. The Contract with America was the republican message, but that waned when the republicans began to act like democrats under G.W.Bush. Thus, the RINO population was able to grow in size. We just culled the herd last Nov.
What bothers me most about Newt is his failure to point out the one thing that made Obama's dream of nationalized health care come true. That one thing was the first item on the Contract. "FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress." This was the Anti-ruling Class Law. Nancy Pelosi and the democrats made the repeal of the Fairness Rules their first priority. Were the Fairness rules in place, Obama care would have died a quick death in congress. Exempting themselves from the laws they were going to write for us, gave them the power to become the ruling class. I don't recall Newt screaming from the rooftops about the danger of repealing the republican Fairness Rules. Jan. 5th, 2009, the tyranny of tiny minds was reborn.
Where the hell was Newt? Nowhere to be found.
I hope Newt does well in Iowa. We need smart people with ideals and the ability to move beyond zingy comments to substance when they talk about issues. Newt, Romney and Pawlenty can. The tea partiers have some with that ability but Palin is NOT one of them. They need to seek out and convince people like Ryan to run. Palin=electoral disaster in 2012.
He didn't sit, for 20 yrs, in a church listening to a lunatic, have quaint connections to a terrorist (Ayres), grow up in a foreign country with anti-western sentiments, snort cocaine, and he actually seems to like this country.
Newt is brilliant but mercurial. I think he would be an average President and a poor candidate. He serves best on the cabinet, taking the reins and shutting down whole departments (energy, education, HUD). He would be awesome at that task.
John Maynard Keynes is credited with stating, "When the facts change, I change my mind." This was done on no less a subject than monetary policy.
Conservatives need to stop tripping up on their ideology. No one is going to be able to absolutely adhere to dogma, and to expect a politician to do so is to be totally devoid of reality.
Gingrich has ideas. He doesn't have dogma. He'll take conservatives as far as he can, and when their philosophy begins to become an obstruction to progress, he will do the correct thing by diverging and take the best solution available to him. That's what makes him formidable. He is the only one that can be credited with a balanced budget as a speaker, holding spending to a manageable level, and to do so with a committed socialist like Clinton is a nice entry on a presidential resume.
Newt has two marks against him as far as I'm concerned: His shilling for ethanol corn growers at a recent convention; his side-by-side with Nancy Pelosi promising to work for climate change.
I can't speak for all TPartiers or for the GOP, but we already saw this debate play out in the Delaware Republican primary last year.
Many a TPartier would rather run a dyed-in-the-wool conservative and lose, than accept a RINO and take the win.
In general I support that concept, and if spending and ObamaCare are to be the issue - I believe it a moot point for the 2012 Presidential election.
Newt's day has come and gone. He was "Borked" out of politics in the 90's, and has "McCained" himself since to re-emerge today.
No thanks. I'll take a Conservative candidate in 2012.
I agree with SilversmithPress, Dave R, American, and Robert in SC. Frankly, I think Newt Gingrich is a very creative man but his day has come and gone, and his judgment is suspect. He might make a good cabinet secretary or presidential advisor if he can keep his mouth shut in front of the press, but he is not of presidential timber.
I have to disagree somewhat with the observation that Gingrich would score a knockout in a debate with Obama. He would certainly have a great command of response time, and enough command of the facts to dispatch his opponent. But he shares with most of the GOP candidates, particularly the George Will top 5 picks a weakness. Namely, he would play nice like a George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain in not being aggressive enough. As Rush said yesterday, Sarah Palin has more courage in her little finger than the rest of the field combined. Add in Gingrich's personal baggage, which any way you look at it, is detrimental to his candidacy, and he's the one that's toast, not Palin. And for anyone looking at Donald Trump, well, he supported Frank Lautenberg and Chuck Schumer among others with money. Yes, if Gingrich is the nominee I'll vote for him; if Trump is I most certainly WILL stay home.
I also note that Newt, unfortunately like most of the GOP field, seems unable to elucidate the tough choices that need to be made with respect to federal spending.
Take Iowa for example. Everyone knows that corn and ethanol subsidies are a boondoggle. They don't reduce our dependence on foreign oil (you have to burn about as many BTUs of petroleum to make a gallon of ethanol as you get when you burn the ethanol), they don't reduce CO2 emissions (if that worries you), and they cost tons of money we just don't have. We are literally borrowing money from the Chinese to fund this stupidity. Yet, only last month Newt gave his full throated support for ethanol and ethanol related corn subsidies. Basically the man will pander to whatever audience he's in front of.
Has Newt outlined any sort of detailed plan to substantially cut federal spending? If he has he's been very quiet about it.
There was a day when American could afford this type of silliness. That day has passed.
I would love to see Newt debate Obama, he does know his facts. However, the fact that he's shaky on some important issues, cap-n-trade ethanol subsidies, really bothers me. He may be too much of a Washington insider.
I think though he'd make an excellent cabinet member. He does have ideas which he seems to be able to explain.
The indiscretions aren't any worse than anyone elses. We all make mistakes and he seems to be about 15 years past the last one.
It is too bad about Gingrich, he should have been president 20 years ago, now he is simply messing up the crowd and confusing the issues for the younger conservatives.
He is not electable and contributes nothing different or new.
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