In the growing ranks of candidates who have soared to the top of the polls as the not–Mitt Romney contender, long-time Washington insider Newt Gingrich appears at first glance to be one of the least likely tea-party crusaders yet. As Mark Meckler, co-founder and national coordinator of Tea Party Patriots, puts it, “He’s not a great not-Romney candidate, because he has flipflopped on a lot of the major issues.”
Chris Chocola, president of the fiscally conservative Club for Growth, describes Gingrich’s record as a mix of “hiccups” and impressive accomplishments. “Newt Gingrich is an advocate of limited government and free-market solutions, except when he’s not,” Chocola says. “He has overall a very good record, but he has some blemishes. He was a big advocate of [Medicare] Part D. He flirted with climate change when he appeared in a commercial with Nancy Pelosi.”
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“He believes in limited government,” Chocola adds, “but he believes in smart government, and he thinks he’s the smart guy who can figure out where government can insert itself in a productive way, which leads to some inconsistencies.”
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, distinguishes between Gingrich past and Gingrich present. Gingrich’s record, Norquist says, has certain “problems,” such as “compromises with the Clinton administration and compromises with the Republican Senate.”
But that’s not the Gingrich who is running for president now. “In terms of where he’s looking to go,” Norquist says, “I think most conservatives would be very happy with his flat-rate income-tax plan, his good proposal for reforming Social Security and Medicare, pro-market reforms in health care — it’s all very good stuff. I don’t know anything that he’s talking about now that isn’t in the center of where Reagan Republicans would be. If you’re judging him on where he’s going and how he sees the future, he and Rick Perry and the other Republicans are generally moving in the same direction.”
The Tea Party Patriots’ Meckler calls Gingrich’s record “a very mixed bag,” citing the Pelosi commercial and the endorsement of liberal Republican Dede Scozzafavva over Conservative-party nominee Doug Hoffman in the 2009 special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district. “He’s made some major gaffes for someone who’s supposed to be a conservative leader. It’s hard to argue that somebody else is a flipflopper if you don’t nail Newt for the same thing,” Meckler says.
But right now, Gingrich is backed by 35 percent of self-identified tea-party Republicans, making him by far the most popular candidate among tea partiers. Only two other candidates registered double-digit support from tea partiers in the Fox News poll released last week: Herman Cain (20 percent) and Mitt Romney (15 percent).
One reason for Gingrich’s popularity may be the way he has courted tea partiers. “Newt has been reaching out to tea partiers all across the country for pretty much the past two and a half years,” says Amy Kremer, co-chairman of Tea Party Express. “American Solutions [a Gingrich organization] was involved with the Tax Day tea party in 2009. He has been reaching out, and I’ve seen a growing number of people supporting him.”
That puts Gingrich in marked contrast to Romney, who has for the most part neither criticized nor courted tea partiers and has attended only one explicitly tea-party event so far in the campaign, a Tea Party Express gathering in New Hampshire in September.
Gingrich paired with a GOP majority in both houses would achieve more Tea Party goals than any other GOP candidate. He is bold and capable. His congressional experience would be a huge positive. On both foreign and domestic issues there is no one better than Gingrich.
I cringe when folk talk about Ron Paul as a "Tea Party" type. When he starts talking about Al Qaeda only wanting "occupiers" out of their lands and nothing else his "nuttiness" becomes a true danger to the nation. Al Qaeda and all of the other radical (and a lot of moderates) Muslim’s want to see the West conquered and under Sharia law. This alone should dissuade all voters from supporting this man. Give me “flip-flopper” Mitt; “Lots-o-baggage” Newt; “brain freeze” Perry or any of the others over Ron Paul—the guy is nuts! He and Joe Biden should have side by side rockers on the porch, at the loony bin!
Cringe all you want. The Tea Party movement was started December 16th, 2007 by Ron Paul supporters as a Ron Paul money bomb.The tea party is his movement. I personally cringe every time I hear a neocon warmonger call himself a conservative republican.
Every time I start thinking that Newt is my guy he goes and does something like say "do we destroy a family that's been here 25 years by sending back the parents" (paraphrasing).
Well, Newt, that's exactly what we do to citizen-criminal moms and/or dads when we send them to jail every day across the U.S. If it's good enough for citizens, it's good enough for illegal aliens.
No, he's not. He's just another establishment goon like Romney and ALL politicians. They are ALL snakes and liars and the sooner the left figures that out too the better we'll all be.
Tea Partiers are not robots waiting to be programmed by their leader. They are independent thinkers, and while they share many concerns and goals, they vary in their prioritization. They know there can never be a perfect Tea Party candidate. The question is, what needs to be accomplished in the years 2013-2016 and who is best able to do it? Tea Partiers know that everything can't be accomplished in one term. Two or three major accomplishmemts would be fantastic. All agree that the federal beast has to be put on a starvation diet. Just about every conservative goal, social, fiscal, legal, depends on that.
So, each Tea Partier must decide which two or three things need to be done immediately, starting in January 2013, and work from there toward a chouce.
Everyone knows the difference between genuine changes of heart/mind, and politically opportunistic pandering to an audience or electorate. We don't always agree on exactly who's changes of position are sincere. And it is always possible that a candidate has done a bit of both.
Newt's real problem isn't his postitions which he changes daily to suit his whims and intellectual gymnastics. His real problem is the $1.6 million fee from Freddie Mac. Over a nine year period he worked for an hour a month "giving historical strategy" to this government enterprise. That works out ot $14,800 per hour.
People may not care and assume that anyone willing to pay that much money is the idiot in the crowd. But as it turns out, Newt and his friends, the executives at Freddie Mac, took many, many millions out while running it over the cliff. Did anyone of their cronies in high government circles charge them with crimes or make them put the money back in? No, instead their friends made us taxpayers put that money back into Freddie.
Peter Scheizer in his top selling book, "Throw Them All Out", defined these cozy relationships as crony capitalism. Crony capitalism is the ulitmate redistribution system whereby the small and middle class taxpayers subsidize the super rich. It is Trickle Up Economics and Newt is a prime player in that corrupt game.
Newt can't be trusted to guard the taxpayers money; that's my problem with him.
My question is, "Can Newt prove, in spite of his manifest human failings, that he has learned from his mistakes and has attained a gravitas and sense of humanity to go along with his great mind?". We need a sincere, competent, energetic and clear thinking president, not a redeemer.
Romney would have it sewn up by now had he been willing to say early on, "I goofed on RomneyCare - it won't happen again".
Newt admits and explains his mistakes, including telling us that the Pelosi moment was "plain dumb".
Mitt won't apologize for anything, especially "ObamneyCare", and his latest performance affected an air of superiority which was a huge turnoff.
Mittens, we're just not that into you!
I have a Newt countdown to implosion, I am at 8, tomorrow 7,6,5,.... The guy is such a pompous buffoon that he will get so full of himself with these good polls, he and his big brain with explode. It started with his amnesty idea - shot himself in the foot completely unnessary in the context of the debate to even bring it up. Yes, when we solve the border problem, make legal immigration not a nightmare for applicants, remove the real criminals
remove the magnets, then we can deal with many of the people with family and long ties to the community with some kind of process. But not until we get these other things accomplished can it be effective because millions more will come hoping to get under the wire. I do not blame them but all countries have rules and borders and we simply have been overwhelmed by illegals both good people and bad people whom we have no control over.
I think Tea Partiers like the fact that Newt is smart. The narrative is that Democrats are smart and Republicans are stupid. They don't want a candidate that can be skewered on SNL for lack of intelligence.
Newt has passed the test in the debates as the most dynamic candidate. His knowledge has length and width and breadth.
I don't think anyone who passes the ideological litmus test of the social, economic conservatives can get elected.
Whether the candidate is Romney or Gingrich, if you are willing to stay home because they don't meet your rigid standards, Obama will be the next president because democrats won't have a problem voting for their candidate no matter what he does.
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