Gingrich: That Pig Won’t Fly

While GOP voters are in the irrational grips of Newt-mania (he's the least conservative candidate in the race), good columnists are reminding us about Newt Gingrich. You read them and go, “oh, yeah… I forgot all that…”

On Paul Ryan’s budget plans, Rich Lowry explains that many on the right had questions, but Gingrich had to bombastically dismiss the plan as “rightwing social engineering.”  It took a vigorous scolding from conservative elder statesman Bill Bennett to force a Newt climbdown.

Only Gingrich, though, felt compelled to take a rhetorical flamethrower to the document endorsed by almost every House Republican.

He can’t help himself. Gingrich prefers extravagant lambasting when a mere distancing would do, and the over-arching theoretical construct to a mundane pander. He is drawn irresistibly to operatic overstatement — sometimes brilliant, always interesting, and occasionally downright absurd. (Rich Lowry – Newt the Unreliable)

And there’s also the little matter of Gingrich having a long history of his own social engineering experimentation, from Fannie and Freddie to global warming and health care...

Mr. Gingrich’s ability to reach leaders like Mrs. Clinton was a selling point for the Center. A PowerPoint presentation for prospective members advertised its “contacts at the highest levels” of federal and state government. Paying $200,000 a year for the top-tier membership, it said, “increases your channels of input to decision makers” and grants “access to top transformational leadership across industry and government.” (Commentary - Gingrich was an Influence Peddler)

Gingrich needs to come out singing “I Saw the Light” if he wants to remain credible in the face of his substantially statist record. As a warm up, he also needs to face up to his DC power player past and stop the ridiculous “outsider” pose. His Center for Health Transformation, while perfectly legal, was a classic milk-the-taxpayer beltway bonanza.

I understand that people can change, and politicians more than most, since they compete for power under constantly shifting ground. Maybe Newt’s changed, who knows? How would we know? His promiscuous mind has produced flamboyant government plans by the wagonload. Grandiose agendas and melodic musings are his imperial domain. Is there anything he hasn’t thought of?

A Lust for Ideas

My problem with him is that he is an egghead, more enamored of shiny new ideas than with governing from a core set of well thought out principles. We don’t need an intellectual thrill seeker in the White House, and Newt has shown himself to be an edge junky looking for the next cerebral high.

He belongs in the lofty forums of Davos and Aspen, not in the White House, where he would morph into an intellectually aroused Anthony Wiener, taking pictures of his tumescent ideas and flashing them, unwanted, into the homes of unsuspecting citizens. We don’t need that.

We don’t need theoretical experimentation and thought titillation from a president; we need principled conservative leadership, and Gingrich has no track record of that.

Further Reading:
George Will - GOP's Front Runners
Ramesh Ponnuru makes a convincing case for why Mitt’s the One.
Charles Krauthammer sizes it up: Krauthammer – Newt vs Mitt
Bill Bennett Schools Newt Gingrich

So Much We Know That Just Ain't So

Loose Links

I don't know how you guys roll, but I generally bookmark things I find interesting and potentially blog-worthy.  I always end up with more links than posts, and I figure it's a shame to just throw them away.  Here are four quick bites for your Sunday..

Christopher Hitchens slams Noam Chomsky

Some of you may be only vaguely familiar with Noam Chomsky, that lecturing hero of the America-hating international left.  Shunned here at home, he travels the globe with the grateful earnestness of one who has finally found credulous fools willing to listen to his 9/11 troofer nonsense.  Euro-lefties and third-worlders eat up his contradictory message that "America deserved it" and "Osama didn't do it, maybe it was a neo-con Jewish conspiracy."

Hitchens focuses like a laser beam on the Chomskyite "cognitive dissonance" as he describes traveling in the Middle East and ...

"...meeting the hoarse and aggressive person who first denies that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center and then proceeds to describe the attack as a justified vengeance for decades of American imperialism." (Slate)

He proceeds to dismantle such America haters in a crisp, acerbic fashion.  This is a good one to save for the 10th Anniversary of 9/11.

T Boone Pickpockets is at it Again

His Quixotic windmill plan flopped a few years back when we learned the windmills would be powered not by wind, but by billions in taxpayer funds whooshing into Pickens' pockets.  Now he's back, this time with a different angle involving gas and hot air.

We should challenge all grand progressive projects with one question.  Is it economically viable?  If yes, then the private sector will jump at investing in it.  End of story--No taxpayer money needed. 

"Fair Trade" is a Crock

Dalibor Rohac provides a public service by exposing "Fair Trade" for the guilty liberal feel good scam that it is.  Only a naive liberal could believe such fairy tales.  If they think America's rich and powerful are rapacious, they should travel to the third world. 

And the main benefit flows to fair-trade cooperatives -- groups of landowners, not laborers. The certification includes no incentives for the owners to pay higher wages to farmworkers, who tend to be poorer and more vulnerable. (NY Post - Dalibor Rohac)

Newt's Operatic Flameout

And finally, Rich Lowry at National Review has the best take on Newt's latest flameout involving his characterizing the Ryan plan as "Rightwing social engineering."  I love Lowry's vivid use of the language.  I wish I could write like that...

Gingrich’s hesitation about the Ryan plan is understandable and shared by other potential GOP candidates. Only Gingrich, though, felt compelled to take a rhetorical flamethrower to the document endorsed by almost every House Republican.

He can’t help himself. Gingrich prefers extravagant lambasting when a mere distancing would do, and the over-arching theoretical construct to a mundane pander. He is drawn irresistibly to operatic overstatement — sometimes brilliant, always interesting, and occasionally downright absurd.(NRO - Rich Lowry)

Have a happy Sunday!

Bill Bennett Schools Newt Gingrich over Paul Ryan Comments

Bill Bennett is a model of staunch but polite conservatism

Bill Bennett is a national treasure. He provides children and parents a world of humanities and history education with “The Book of Virtues” and the “America, The Last Best Hope,” definitive volumes of classical literature and American History.

In addition to being the rare beacon of conservatism and common sense on CNN, he is also the professor of morning talk radio. No bombast, no liberal bashing, just crystal clear logic and an honest, educational examination of the issues.  And he makes it fun.

I listen to him on the way to work in the morning, and it is refreshing to hear him address the issues of the day in a thoughtful, philosophical manner (he has a PhD in Philosophy as well as a law degree.) His application of logic is astringent and unbiased and he does it all with “Intelligence, Candor and Goodwill,” the watchwords of his show.

Newtered Gingrich

Dr. Bennett had Newt Gingrich on Tuesday morning, and he completely dismantled poor Newt over his stupid comments about Ryan’s budget plan. Please go listen to this segment to see how it’s done. No personal attacks, no shouting, just a merciless examination of what newt said.

You could hear Newt squirming, fumbling and backpedaling in the face of Bennett’s powerful onslaught. I have no sympathy for Newt, but it was still painful to listen to.

Newt starts out with the audacious claim that the Washington establishment is afraid of his candidacy, which is laughable since he is a member of said establishment.

The fun starts at the 3:40 point. Bennett confronts Newt with his exact language, asking why he attacked Ryan. Newt responds with a cloud of plaintive bluster, and Bennett becomes impatient and intones in his deep rumble, “Let’s play the tape.” Bennett focuses in on his phrase “Right-Wing Social Engineering,” and it’s all over for the blabbering egotistical blunderbuss; Newt’s a dead man walking at this point, and he doesn’t even know it.

"A False Equivalency"

He charges Gingrich with equating Ryan’s plan with Obamaism and asks why Newt is “shooting at him from the rear.”  Going on to point out that unlike Obama, Ryan has opened a dialog on his plan,  Bennett reduces Newt to a whiny, sputtering third grader caught by the principle shooting spitwads at the teacher

Bennett throws him a bone and appeals to his sense of ego, “You’re a brilliant man, an intellectual,” displaying a fatherly magnanimity while still not conceding one iota of his argument.

The fireworks are over at 8:15 with Newt reduced to bleating out some weak excuses, and effusive praise for Paul Ryan. Bennett let him up because there is no use in completely pulverizing your opponent. The facts stood for all to see, it was obvious. Bennett won in a knockout. He didn’t need to gloat.

After the break, Bill generously offers Newt advice on how to extricate himself, talking it through as a battered Newt smartly seizes the opportunity to perform a rhetorical climbdown. Bennett allows Newt to reclaim some dignity after the dressing down, switching to a matter-of-fact discussion of Newt's pre-canned talking points. Bennett then concludes by reinforcing his central point, that there is no equivalency between Ryan and Obama and that Newt need to explicitly make that clear. Newt is “yup, yupping” in the background as the segment closes, .

This is how an intelligent gentleman argues his case.  Bennett's  intellectual stare was withering and unblinking, but he remained polite and focused on the facts. Thank you Dr. Bennett for another stellar lesson in debate and argumentation.

Newt apologized to Ryan on Tuesday, but I still think he's toast.  Not just toast, but yesterday's toast.

http://youtu.be/uuo3dBP431k
http://www.billbennett.com/