Who would believe that Newt Gingrich holds support amongst Conservatives? His written and orally described stances on issues Conservatives know to be fraudulent would put him in the same boat as Romney. We’ve all heard the problems with him as a Conservative, his couch talk with Pelosi on Global Warming for the Al Gore website, his affirmative push for mandates in health care, his failures as Speaker, his pro-Fairness Doctrine bill, his immigration stance, and so much more. He is apparently effectively deflecting Conservative criticism better than Romney. Why is that?
Though Gingrich has so many negatives, and actually, more negatives for Conservatives than Romney, (mostly because Romney sits back and doesn’t take a stand until everyone else does, and as far as we know hasn’t committed adultery,) I think the fundamental difference between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich is their attitude toward Democrats.
Mitt Romney, a Republican who became Governor of Massachusetts, describes his term of working with and having to gain support from Democrats, who made up 85% of his State Government, as a model for bringing people from opposite philosophies together. He has said in many cases, that he does not approve of incendiary language from Republicans against Democrats because it does not help the governing process.
Newt Gingrich, on the other hand, denounces Democratic ideas, whether in the media or government. That exercise of Newt’s is like an itch has hasn’t been scratched. We had it when Trump was considering being in the race, we had it when we thought Palin would be in the race, but despite the gains in the House, we do not get that from Boehner and the boys. We need that, something to rally around.
Basically, Mitt gives the impression he is afraid of ticking off the left, while Newt does not live with that fear.
The main thrust of the support from Conservatives is that they believe that if they keep holding his feet to the fire, Newt will perform as they wish, whereas Mitt already refuses to denounce Romneycare, a move that runs antithetical to conservative thought and political logic.
I have read a couple of Newt’s books. ‘Window Of Opportunity,’ is a book that is described as a great example of understanding how Newt thinks. The other book I read is, ‘Contract With The Earth,’ a book that describes his desire to put a Conservative face on environmentalism.
In ‘Window,’ I began to understand why Gingrich has been described as professorial, (indeed he used to be a History Professor,) and forward thinking. He is very intelligent. However, he does describe how he would incentivize, invest and fund government programs.
In ‘Contract,’ his true colors of what he believes government’s role is in addressing climate change are bright and bold. He consistently suggests that the government must fund, and invest in ways to stop climate change. In fact, I have pointed out that what was suggested as his mea culpa on the couch chat with Pelosi was not really a mea culpa. He merely said that he did not effectively communicate his ideas about how to deal with climate change.
So while Newt has so many bad positions and history on what Conservatives look for in a candidate, Newt has the big, saving grace that he gives the impression he will take it to Obama and the Democrats. Romney has experience in, and promotes working with them, to the point that he used them to write the healthcare legislation he signed in Massachusetts.
There is, however, a huge mistake I believe some Conservatives are making. Forgiving Newt and trying to work with him merely because he would have a great performance in debating Obama is ludicrous. There is no guarantee Obama will debate, at all. As I have said, if Obama refuses to debate, what do we have? We have a candidate that we will rally around when he is going after the left, but one that we will have to set straight constantly.
