October 26, 2009
Newt Gingrich: The epitome of what is wrong with the Republican Party.

Posted at 3:54 pm, in: Republican Party
Tags: 2010 Midterm Election, Arlen Specter, Chriss Dodd, Connecticut, Contract with America, Dede Scozzafava, Democrats, Doug Hoffman, Garden State, Harry Reid, Illinois, Iowa, Jon Corzine, Kansas, Nancy Pelosi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Newt Gingrich, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Republicans, Ronald Reagan, Senate, Wisconsin

No wonder the public still has a disfavorable view of the Republican Party:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has taken considerable heat from conservative activists for endorsing Republican Dede Scozzafava over Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in next month’s special congressional election in New York.

But Gingrich is defending his approach to re-building the Republican Party. It begins, he said, by accommodating those who might disagree with you.

“Both parties have to recognize, you can create a center-right majority in America, which we did with Reagan in ‘80 and we did it again with the ‘Contract with America’ in ‘94,” Gingrich said in an interview with CNN Radio. “You can’t have a purely right-wing majority; you can’t have a purely left-wing majority.”

The former speaker claimed that Democrats are doing their part to help the GOP by promoting a liberal ideology. “Today, the Democrats are moving toward a secular-socialist model that is guaranteed minority in America,” he said.

And he was cautiously optimistic about the 2010 midterm elections.

“Next year, I think we could win [governorships in] Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, the Senate seat in Illinois. In Ohio, we could win both the governorship and the Senate seat,” Gingrich said. He also predicted losses for three prominent Democratic incumbents: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Along with the New York special election, Republicans are also watching two key gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey. Gingrich predicated the GOP will win in Virginia “by a big margin,” but was less optimistic about the party’s chances in the Garden State.

“I think we have a good chance to win New Jersey, if people conclude that voting for the third-party candidate just re-elects [incumbent Gov. Jon] Corzine,” he said.

I have never been a fan of Newt Gingrich. I couldn’t have cared less about politics in ‘94 and, therefore, wasn’t impressed with the Class of ‘94 and I never seemed to get into the whole Gingrich thing after that. Once I saw him sitting on a couch with Pelosi lecturing us about global warming, whatever interest I had in the guy was gone. I see him as little better than John McCain. He’s just another Republican relying on the liberal media and the likes of Meghan McCain for direction on where to take the Republican Party. Too bad that direction is the wrong direction.

He invokes Ronald Reagan as if Reagan ever encouraged his party to become more liberal in order to attract voters. That’s not how it was. Reagan just actually explained conservatism in a way that translated across party lines. He didn’t moderate his views; he moderated their understanding of his views. Every time I hear a Republican use Reagan as evidence we need to moderate ourselves more to the left it makes me a little sick. John McCain is, possibly, the most liberal Republican the party every put forward and he lost. Everytime Republicans compromise on their platform in order to “broaden their appeal,” all they do is lose all of their appeal.

I don’t call myself a Republican because there’s no difference between Republicans and Democrats, anymore. All politicians are just out to secure and retain power. They’re all looking to spend our money, it’s just on different things. Ultimately, it’s in order to secure our votes in the next election. Gingrich is just trying to rebuild his power base. Because of what he did 15 years ago, people still respect him and his opinion. Well, I don’t. I think his “big tent” approach to rebuilding the Republican Party is wrong. I think endorsing a lost-cause liberal like Dede Scozzafava is wrong. And, I think trying to scare people into voting for her by threatening a Democrat win if they vote third party is wrong.

Except for the party faithful, the rest of us don’t care if Republicans lose or Democrats lose. The majority of Americans identify as independent, because we know both parties are corrupt. Like I said before, it’s all about securing and retaining power. Gingrich has been working his way back in to regain power for years. And, now he’s making the colossal mistake of thinking that the way to do that is by endorsing liberal Republican candidates and alienating the grass roots. Well, good luck with that, buddy. Let me know how it works out. You think you can run in 2012 for the presidency? Well, you can run. And, you might even win the Republican nomination, but you won’t win the conservative vote, the liberal vote, or the independent vote and so you won’t win the election.

We don’t need to accommodate those who disagree with us. We need to amplify those disagreements and explain why our opponents are wrong. That is the quickest strategy for defeat that I think I have ever heard. You’re supposed to be smarter than that, Newt. You have taken a generally dislike of you and turned into complete disgust. In the words of Ice Cube, “You better check yo self before you wreck yo self!”