Robert Reich: Don't Wish for a Newt Nomination

[KingOrfeo]

From Salon:

Thursday, Jan 26, 2012 2:41 PM 22:31:17 EST

Don’t wish for a Newt nomination


Yes, Obama would very likely beat him, but it's still not worth even the smallest risk of a President Gingrich

Republicans are worried sick about Newt Gingrich’s ascendance, while Democrats are tickled pink.

Yet no responsible Democrat should be pleased at the prospect that Gingrich could get the GOP nomination. The future of America is too important to accept even a small risk of a Gingrich presidency.

The Republican worry is understandable. “The possibility of Newt Gingrich being our nominee against Barack Obama I think is essentially handling the election over to Obama,” says former Minnesota Governor Tom Pawlenty, a leading GOP conservative. “I think that’s shared by a lot of folks in the Republican party.”

Pawlenty’s views are indeed widely shared in Republican circles. “He’s not a conservative – he’s an opportunist,” says pundit Joe Scarborough, a member of the Republican Class of 1994 who came to Washington under Gingrich’s banner. Gingrich doesn’t “have the temperament, intellectual discipline or ego control to be either a successful nominee or president,” says New York Republican Rep. Peter King, who hasn’t endorsed any candidate. “Basically, Newt can’t control himself.”

Gingrich is “an embarrassment to the party,” says New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie, and “was run out of the speakership” on ethics violations. Republican strategist Mike Murphy says “Newt Gingrich could not carry a swing state in the general election if it was made of feathers.”

“Weird” is the word I hear most from Republicans who have worked with him. Scott Klug, a former Republican House member from Wisconsin, who hasn’t endorsed anyone yet, says “Newt has ten ideas a day – two of them are good, six are weird and two are very weird.”

Newt’s latest idea, for example – to colonize the moon – is typically whacky.

The Republican establishment also points to polls showing Gingrich’s supporters to be enthusiastic but his detractors even more fired up. In the latest ABC News/ Washington Post poll, 29 percent view Gingrich favorably while 51 percent have an unfavorable view of him. (Obama, by contrast, draws a 53 percent favorable and 43 percent unfavorable.)

Independents, who will be key to the general election, are especially alarmed by Gingrich.

As they should be. It’s not just Newt’s weirdness. It’s also the stunning hypocrisy. His personal life makes a mockery of his moralistic bromides. He condemns Washington insiders but had a 40-year Washington career that ended with ethic violations. He fulminates against finance yet drew fat checks from Freddie Mac. He poses as a populist but has had a $500,000 revolving charge at Tiffany’s.
And it’s the flagrant irresponsibility of many of his propositions – for example, that presidents are not bound by Supreme Court rulings, that the liberal Ninth Circuit court of appeals should be abolished, that capital gains should not be taxed, that the First Amendment guarantees freedom “of” religion but not “from” religion.

It’s also Gingrich’s eagerness to channel the public’s frustrations into resentments against immigrants, blacks, the poor, Muslims, “liberal elites,” the mainstream media and any other group that’s an easy target of white middle-class and working-class anger.

These are all the hallmarks of a demagogue.

Yet Democratic pundits, political advisers, officials and former officials are salivating over the possibility of a Gingrich candidacy. They agree with key Republicans that Newt would dramatically increase the odds of Obama’s reelection and would also improve the chances of Democrats taking control over the House and retaining control over the Senate.

I warn you. It’s not worth the risk.

Even if the odds that Gingrich as GOP presidential candidate would win the general election are 10 percent, that’s too much of a risk to the nation. No responsible American should accept a 10 percent risk of a President Gingrich.

I’d take a 49 percent odds of a Mitt Romney win – who in my view would make a terrible president – over a 10 percent possibility that Newt Gingrich would become the next president – who would be an unmitigated disaster for America and the world.

 

[TexasWife25]

I heard a republican senator on CNN the other day say "a Newt nomination would so humiliate the republican party that it would take a decade to recover."

 

[ChinaBandit]

Sadly, my observation is that Mr. Obama's chances of being re-elected are improving day-to-day.

Unfortunately, Romney's not exactly the strongest candidate either.

His campaign has dealt with the tax issue poorly.

 

[TexasWife25]

Sadly, my observation is that Mr. Obama's chances of being re-elected are improving day-to-day.

Unfortunately, Romney's not exactly the strongest candidate either.

His campaign has dealt with the tax issue poorly.

I honestly think Romney has half given up
He has been making a lot of really silly mistakes
that will come back to bite him should he make it
to the general election.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Methinks they protest too much.

Newt was around for a long time when they elected him Speaker. And it was his PAC money that got many of them gigs in Washington.

 

[ChinaBandit]

It's been a weak Republican field from the outset.

I would have liked to have seen Bloomburg or Christie run.

 

[Ham Murabi]

I don't like Newt and I'm not wild about Romney. The stupid shit Ron Paul says about foreign policy would generate wild applause if he was a Democrat and said it in one of their debates.
That said, I'm not sure why Democrats think they have a strong candidate. Yeah, Romney's no hot shot, but he sure looks like one stacked up to that clown in the White House.

 

[TexasWife25]

It's been a weak Republican field from the outset.

I would have liked to have seen Bloomburg or Christie run.

I think either of them would have had an honest shot
All the GOP really needed was someone with basic
qualifications, name recognition and a fresh face.

Newt and Romney just feel like last years pickings
same old same old.

 

[ChinaBandit]

The polling numbers (NBC/WSJ) for Newt against Obama are dreadful.

Nominating him would be on par with selecting Barry Goldwater in 1964.

All those purple states that looked so good to RNC members 3 months ago become disasters waiting to happen, unless Europe does fall off the cliff and drag the American economy and Obama with it.

 

[TexasWife25]

The polling numbers (NBC/WSJ) for Newt against Obama are dreadful.

Nominating him would be on par with selecting Barry Goldwater in 1964.

All those purple states that looked so good to RNC members 3 months ago become disasters waiting to happen, unless Europe does fall off the cliff and drag the American economy and Obama with it.

I dont think Newt or Romney have a shot unless something serious happens or a serious campagine error is made.

The 2nd I think is more likely, look at Hilliary, bill opened his mouth and there went the nomination.

 

[KingOrfeo]

“Weird” is the word I hear most from Republicans who have worked with him. Scott Klug, a former Republican House member from Wisconsin, who hasn’t endorsed anyone yet, says “Newt has ten ideas a day – two of them are good, six are weird and two are very weird.”

OK, so he'd make a wonderful Litster. But is that really what we want for POTUS?!

 

[rosco rathbone]

I watched about half of the debates last night. Have to admit I was pretty impressed with Ron Paul. I "got" what people see in him, all of a sudden.

Newt doesn't bother me at all. He's just an old hack. Romney is kind of annoying in an entitled, uptight way, but meh.

Santorum is the one I can't stand. He's the poster child for "angry Republican douchebag". When he does his impassioned, half-bright defense of ten-year old GOP talking points and memes drained of substance I understand why he's hated.

 

[JohnnySavage]

I watched about half of the debates last night. Have to admit I was pretty impressed with Ron Paul. I "got" what people see in him, all of a sudden.

Newt doesn't bother me at all. He's just an old hack. Romney is kind of annoying in an entitled, uptight way, but meh.

Santorum is the one I can't stand. He's the poster child for "angry Republican douchebag". When he does his impassioned, half-bright defense of ten-year old GOP talking points and memes drained of substance I understand why he's hated.

I like Paul. But I like him as a gadfly who is getting people talking about real issues. If he were younger and a better speaker, I'd be a strong supporter.

Santorum is too bible-thumping for me and comes across as whiny. I'd like to flick him on the nose just to see him run to his mommy, screaming like a little girl.

Newt would be an absolute disaster and I agree with the editorial in the OP. He gives good speech, but his history tells a different story.

As an Independent, I'm left with Romney and I'm ok with him. I disagree with him on a lot of issues, but he's better than Obama - who I voted for.

 

[KRCummings]

Ever notice that the Romney family look like Stepford people?

 

[klippert]

Third Reich is a retard....

 

[JohnnySavage]

Ever notice that the Romney family look like Stepford people?

They are staged and polished, but Romney has wanted to be President for a long time and I can't fault him for trying to put together a standard first-family model.

 

[rosco rathbone]

I like Paul. But I like him as a gadfly who is getting people talking about real issues. If he were younger and a better speaker, I'd be a strong supporter.

Santorum is too bible-thumping for me and comes across as whiny. I'd like to flick him on the nose just to see him run to his mommy, screaming like a little girl.

Newt would be an absolute disaster and I agree with the editorial in the OP. He gives good speech, but his history tells a different story.

As an Independent, I'm left with Romney and I'm ok with him. I disagree with him on a lot of issues, but he's better than Obama - who I voted for.

Yeah, I wouldn't actually want a goldbug like Paul as President. It's just great to hear someone on a GOP stage speaking common sense, like when he was talking about blowback and how we would regard a blockade of the Gulf of Mexico as an act of war, so why shouldn't other countries feel the same way about their own back yards. That kind of talk was treason ten years ago.

Newt would definitely be a disaster, but he's never going to be elected, and I like his entertainment value. His rhetorical stunts are so blunt and obvious that you have to wonder who is biting. The whole thing where he locked onto "grandmothers" and wouldn't let go, while Romney looked on incredulously, was hilarious.

From what I saw, Romney landed all the punches, but I tuned out at 930.

 

[unregistered]

 

[JohnnySavage]

Does anyone besides the hopelessly benighted care what this little apparatchik thinks?

What?

 

[KRCummings]

They are staged and polished, but Romney has wanted to be President for a long time and I can't fault him for trying to put together a standard first-family model.

I get why they're like that but it's still sorta creepy. They're superficially perfect.

 

[KRCummings]

What?

Nice to see he's back to using benighted. It was one of his favorite words for a while.
Apparatchik is new. I guess his new calendar came in. Must have ordered the Russian one.

 

[JohnnySavage]

Nice to see he's back to using benighted. It was one of his favorite words for a while.
Apparatchik is new. I guess his new calendar came in. Must have ordered the Russian one.

Odd he would be using soviet/communist/socialist/marxist terms...

A slip I think.

 

[KRCummings]

Odd he would be using soviet/communist/socialist/marxist terms...

A slip I think.

Da, comrade.

 

[eyer]

Does anyone besides the hopelessly benighted care what this little apparatchik thinks?

He's got a Party to hack for, vette...

...surely you admire him for that.

 

[rosco rathbone]

Had to love Newt's intro line. Everyone else is all "I'm a grandfather, blah blah" and he cuts straight to the pandering: ." Glad to be here in Jacksonville, home of the next new carrier battle group".