So is Newt Gingrinch going to run for President in 08?

[Lex]

I was trying to find out something about that scandal where he was accepting money for 'teaching' classes (but it was really political talks?) and it was against the House rules at the time. This was before he dropped out of the limelight.

Instead I found this fascinating TIME article from Nov. 1998: The Fall of the House of Newt
I had forgotten how much of an idiot Newt is.

After the {federal government} shutdown, Gingrich remorsefully talked of sidelining himself, of having "thrown one too many interceptions." Back then no one knew that this would be his habit. In June 1997 the issue was disaster relief. Republicans loaded the bill with blatantly partisan riders, assuming Clinton wouldn't dare veto it. The President did, within minutes of its landing on his desk, and the Republicans were blamed for flood victims' getting stranded. A coup ensued, but Gingrich prevailed, primarily because there was no obvious candidate to replace him. His response: a 12-point memo on the lessons to be learned from the disaster-relief disaster. Lesson One: "In dealing with Clinton, you must never put yourself in a position where he can be compassionate or self-righteous."

So where was Gingrich last spring? Putting himself in a position in which Clinton could be self-righteous. So confident was Gingrich that the intern scandal would doom the President--despite polls that were already consistently showing that the public didn't care--that he assumed he would have the upper hand in any budget deal. Instead, the public saw the Democrats as the party that was trying to attend to business while the Republicans were distracted by scandal.

All that history made it hard, after the elections last week, for anyone to trust Gingrich with another two years as Speaker. Most may have been willing, once again, to accept his promises of change--change in management, in decision making, in priorities. But there was one thing Gingrich couldn't change. "The problem for the party is that Newt is the face of the party," said a G.O.P. congressional operative on the eve of Gingrich's resignation. "Until we elect a President, he's the most visible spokesman we have. The snake won't die unless you cut off its head."

In light of recent events, the whole article (from 8 yrs ago) is postively fascinating:

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/1998/11/09/gingrich.html

[WI_DEM]

1. Good! Let's hope he gets nominated.

[Lex]

4. "The problem for the party is that Newt is the face of the party,"

is a memorable quote from that article.

Nothing's changed. He's still a toad . . . er, a newt.

[BuyingThyme]

2. Yes.

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. Yes, he pretty much announced when he met with Hillary

to discuss 'Healthcare Reform' sometime after she was elected Senator. PLENTY of photo-ops for both sides with that jaw-dropping event.

[warrens]

5. Not a chance in hell

Nootie burned WAY too many bridges. Even though he's totally nuts, which is a good thing in Repuke primaries, he's hated by a lot of key Repukes.

[Lex]

8. Reading through that article I linked definitely does show

how he was a major screw-up, over and over again.

The GOP wanted him out.

[pacalo]

6. All I can say is that BushCo has lowered the standards of what we can

expect from leadership so low that Grinch apparently feels he can come across as a credible statesman -- & the tv hosts have no qualms about having him on as a voice of authority. Higher standards would have required that this opportunist slink under a rock forever.

[Lex]

9. LOL--Newt is now one of the GOP's best and brightest.

Oh my.

[wicket]

7. God I hope so!

What a train wreck that will be to watch! :popcorn:

[KoKo]

10. There was a "buzz" in media last week that he would. If Giuliani throws

his hat in the ring, you can bet Newt will, too. He will figure if Giuliani can do it with his list of scandals then why not himself with his own long list of adultery and side line money making deals.

If we are lucky all the Repug crooks will run. They will cancel each other out of the race with the dirt that will come out.

Bring em on!

[Cosmocat]

11. I saw this coming ...

for a year and a half now ... Saw Gingrich on some C-Span thing ... Could tell he was gearing up ...

There is something about the way he talks, that he has this "likeable" thing about him ... But, the man has an ego like few people I have ever seen ... EVERY time I see him speak, I come away thinking that if I didn't know any better, he invented everything from sliced bread to Space Shuttle ...

Likeable speaking or not, the man is a PLAGUE on american politics ... HE was the man behind the republican speak that enabled these scumbags to dominate political discourse over the last 15 years, and he literally got his talking points from Nazi handbook ... Seriously, he ripped their playbook to develop their whole approach ... Lie often and big, create a straw man to demonize and preemptively put what you are doing on them ... All this stuff, he dusted off and put it into play ...

Frankly, Gingrich was one of the few republicans who was cheering his butt off on November 8th ... Allen and Santorum were the first two in line to be the big time conservative candidate ... Those two getting their walking papers gave him a huge boost ...

He, no doubt is the prototype ... A philandering piece of garbage who did everything he could do to take down a fine president for an affair ... This is who they are ...

[billbuckhead]

13. From the sound of his latest speech, Gingrich is running for Fueher

"Gingrich raises alarm at event honoring those who stand up for freedom of speech
By RILEY YATES
Union Leader Staff

MANCHESTER – Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich yesterday said the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism.

Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a "different set of rules" may be needed to reduce terrorists' ability to use the Internet and free speech to recruit and get out their message.

"We need to get ahead of the curve before we actually lose a city, which I think could happen in the next decade," said Gingrich, a Republican who helped engineer the GOP's takeover of Congress in 1994."

--------------snip-------------------------
<http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Gingrich+raises+alarm+at+event+honoring+those+who+stand+up+for+freedom+of+speech&articleId=d3f4ee4e-1e90-475a-b1b0-bbcd5baedd78>

I guess these guys have more Reichstag fires planned for the future.

[Lex]

15. "before we actually lose a city" he said?

And what? He's going to save us by ripping up the Constitution?

What a jackass.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

12. NEWT! NEWT! NEWT! NEWT! NEWT!

It is my most fervent hope that Gingrich will run.

I'm flexible on my choice for the Democratic nominee, but there's only one I want to see at the top of the Republican ticket.

And I think he has a pretty good shot at it.

Although McCain and Giulani are grovelling at the feet of the extreme right, Newt is their natural-born leader.

Newt has the hawk walk and the God talk down pat. His "George Washington strategy" for Iraq is more than a call for victory. It is a highly coded appeal to the religious right.

I urge all to read Jeff Sharlet's "How the Christian Right Is Reimagining U.S. History" in December's Harper's to understand how Gingrich's new book, Rediscovering God in America, dovetails with the R.J. Rushdoony-inspired movement to promote our nation as historically Christian. Sharlet's article reveals how the "theocentrist" movement has successfully gone mainstream by appropriating historical figures for the cause of a Christian nation. And Newt has joined them in the hope that they will choose him to lead them to victory.

While most other Republicans are trying to straddle the moderate fence, Newt Gingrich has chosen his side. It will make him a standout in the GOP primaries, a polarizing entity in the campaign, and, ultimately, a loser in November 2008.

Gingrich is the one candidate that any of ours can beat. Go, Newt!

[Lex]

14. LOL!

I had forgotten how miserably he screwed things up for the GOP. He left DC with his head hanging down.

Can't wait to see his enormous ego run for Prez.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

16. hannity's been pushing it for over a year now

my fingers are crossed. newt's loaded with lurid baggage
'08 would be a cakewalk and the GOP hardcore are stupid enough to nominate him

[H2O Man]

17. Yes, he is running.

He actually has been since January of 2005. Though he didsn't announce it publicly then, he began to organize the rabid right machine. There was a brief slow-down when VP Cheney had second thoughts about having a "draft Cheney" crusade started. He has since backed off -- "big time" -- and given the green light to Newt.