Newt Gingrich and the Fairness Doctrine
When thinking of Newt Gingrich it is hard for me to get past that image of him sitting on the couch with Nancy Pelosi and talking about his belief in manmade global warming. He has since said that making that commercial was one of the stupidest things he has done in his life. So I suppose we could give him a pass on that one issue, but what about his opposition to the Paul Ryan budget? He called it right wing social engineering, was this a stupid mistake also?
What about his previous support for healthcare mandates, TARP, the bailouts, stupid mistakes all? We know he doesn’t consider his past support for amnesty as a stupid mistake because he still believes in a “path toward legality.” It is a stupid position he still holds, not a stupid mistake from the past. Newt Gingrich is frequently called the smartest man on the stage during the Republican debates, if this is true how can he possibly have made so many stupid mistakes in his past?
But there is one issue that I just found out about yesterday, and it may be the most troubling of all; back in 1987 New Gingrich actually CO-SPONSORED a bill which would reinstate the Fairness Doctrine. This bill came thisclose to becoming law as it passed the House and the Senate before being vetoed by President Reagan.
There is a pattern emerging here; either Newt Gingrich has made a series of stupid mistakes in the past, or he is not the conservative he claims to be. Newt Gingrich is surging in the polls and it can’t be because of his past positions and policies, it can only be because he speaks well. Didn’t we learn anything from 2008?
Why am I being so hard on Newt Gingrich when Mitt Romney has at least as many flip flops in his past? It isn’t because I am supporting Romney, because I am not; it is simply because we all know that Mitt Romney has no core values other than the belief he should be president, we know he will say or do whatever he needs to in order to get elected and we don’t expect anything but this from him, but Newt is pretending to be something he is not and he seems to have quite a few people fooled, but he really isn’t all that much different from Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney is a legendary flip flopper, but it turns out that Newt Gingrich is just as flip floppy as Mitt Romney.
America's Watchtower 
Newt Gingrich is a very smart man, I believe. He is also very good at thinking on his feet. However, he also has a large truckload of baggage following him around. I really think he is ethically challenged
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I agree, Newt is a smart man which is why I believe he is simply not who he is claiming to be.
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Ahhhh….Newt is unconsciously presenting himself as an enigma -or is he? The American public has been lied to and fed unfulfilled promises by more than Barack Obama.
There is not now and the way things are looking, is never going to be any ‘hope or change’ from either side of the aisle – corruption is a systemic disease and it seems like all of the current crop of politicians are infected.
Call me a cynic but I am rapidly losing faith in our political system. Just my opinion….WM
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I happen to agree with what you said; I don’t think there is anyone runnung who will actually do what it will take to turn this country around in time. I think it is going to take the collapse of the country and the economy before we begin to right ourselves, but then the question is; what type of country rises from the ashes?
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Ok, William, you are a cynic! However, you are NOT the only one, there are alot of us running around out here. It is a sad state of affairs, when we have to “hold our noses” to vote for someone. Surely there is someone worthy of being our President that does not come with baggage???? Ron Paul is probably the one that is in the running at the moment that would come close to that, BUT, I am not entirely in sync with all that he does either. I think we are in big trouble. If people just stay home and don’t vote, we will have 4 more years of what is in there and we can’t afford that.
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I couldn’t agree more Lou, we are left with less than desirable candidate and I am tired of chosing between the lesser of two evils.
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I think you are right on the money, Dennis. I was very surprised the Union Leader endorsed him. The bottom line is this: Newt is not a limited-government man. He may be very smart and very fiscally conservative, but he does not stand out as one devoted to individual liberty. He has an authoritarian streak that I find disturbing for someone with as many bad ideas as good ones.
Most troubling is his denial that he essentially acted as a lobbyist for Fannie Mae. He is a DC big-money insider, and as such, to me he is corrupt by definition. Newt may want government to live within its means, but he wants that government to be a lot more involved in our lives than I do.
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I agree, Newt is a big government Republican and big government–no matter which side is in charge–is exactly what I oppose. I cannot support Newt just because he as an ‘R’ after his name when he still supports enlarging the government.
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Newt… geez I hope the guy goes down in flames. He is the consummate insider and an arrogant SOB.
Romney or Paul… tough choice. I guess I’d go with Paul but if Romney won could I hold my nose and vote for him?
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I don’t know if I could hold my nose and vote for Romney, I did that in 2008 with McCain and that didn’t work out so well.
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If I had to vote for either of them and go to the polls, it would be worse than going to a funeral. In the end, I will rather go down with them than the alternative. Unless we start a campaign to draft someone, but not so easy to do these days. Try as I may, I cannot get on board with Paul’s total isolationism. “They” want ot kill us. Simple as that.
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If it wasn’t for Paul’s isolationism I would be on board with him, but I can’t get passed his Iran/nukes comment.
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What he said is true. No one has the right to tell the USA we cant have Nukes and WE dont have the right to tell anyone else they cant have them. That doesnt mean we wont take the position of forcing ourselves upon them in the name of protecting ourselves. Even Ron Paul would say that…….you have to listen to the whole story……….
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With Newt, it depends on who is paying him as to which opinion you get. This is an example:
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2011/dec/gingrich-credits-freddie-fannie-liquid-stable-housing-finance-system
Gingrich Credits Freddie/Fannie For Liquid, Stable Housing Finance System
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Newt isn’t really any different to Mitt, it is hard to believe these are our two front runners.
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Here’s an add to check out. Some disturbing stuff.
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Thanks for the link, pretty damning stuff there!
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Good post. It’s all pretty depressing right now, innit? Gonna keep my head buried awhile longer.
lin
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It sure is depressing, we really don’t have a good viable candidate running. When you unbury your head I don’t think it is going to be any better.
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To be honest, I am finding conservative support for Newt to be like an episode of the Twilight Zone. The guy’s cut from the same fabric as Mitt. Heck, Newt was defending something that was eerily similar to the individual mandate as late as 2005.
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I haven’t seen you around here in quite awhile Terrant, welcome back! I agree with you; Newt’s support with conservatives is baffling to me. It certainly is not based on his record so it must be based on his debate performances. He speaks well and comes off as being very intelligent and so he is gaining momentum, but many of the people who support him for this reason criticize Obama for the same reason.
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I think a lot of people are looking at this 2 dimensionally – who is liberal, who is conservative, who supports which policy position, who has flipped, and who has flopped. But now look at what matters in American politics – compare the personalities of Newt and Mitt, and consider which one would be more at home with the icons of history. The Republican establishment seems to like Romney almost exclusively because he “looks presidential.” But who? Who are these presidents that Romney is supposedly in the mold of? Made for TV movie presidents, perhaps, but not real ones. Real presidents – successful, iconic ones in particular – tend to be outsized personalities much closer to that of Newt than Romney. They also tend to be fairly flawed individuals. Despite what the GOP establishment thinks, it is Newt, not Mitt, that has all the makings of a great president. Perhaps that is why the GOP establishment has never picked a successful candidate, much less a great president.
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The Democrats nominated Kerry mostly because they felt he looked presidential and that didn’t work out for them, now the Republicans are about to make the same mistake. Those that do not learn from history…..
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Mitt Romney is the Thomas Dewey of this year’s election cycle. Walter Lippmann said that Dewey “changes his views from hour to hour… always more concerned with taking the popular position than he is in dealing with the real issues.” Sound familiar?
Dewey was a liberal northeastern governor, and the favored candidate of the Republican establishment. They believed he was the candidate who could unseat the deeply unpopular Truman, but the public found Dewey to be stiff, awkward, patrician, and coiffed. Dewey was supposed to be a “safe” non-confrontational candidate, who would just hang back and wait for his inauguration. But this gave Truman the opening to instead run against congress. Which is exactly the same strategy 0bama is planning to take. Newt Gingrich will ensure that 0bama cannot pull a Truman upset. If 0bama tries to blame congress, Newt will say that 0bama simply lacks the experience and leadership skills to get things done with the congress, but Newt’s own record as Speaker illustrates he knows how to get things done. Unlike Romney, Newt will keep the focus on 0bama’s failure as President, and will not allow him to get away with playing the blame game.
This is why the 0bama White House has been trying to project the race as already being Romney vs. 0bama, and why they are deathly afraid of Newt.
Romney plays right into 0bama’s Truman strategy. As usual, the GOP establishment is clueless, just as they were when they backed Dewey.
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I am afraid that you are right, Romney is the man that Obama wants to face and that is why the Democrats are not attacking him yet. They want him to win the nomination and then they will comeout with guns blazing.
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Politics makes for strange bed-fellows.
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It sure does!
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Check Ron Paul out fully. He is not an isolationist. An isolationist doesn’t even want to trade with other foreign entities. Ron Paul is for free trade, not no trade. His foreign policy makes sense as a whole. He wants to see the end of nation building and nation policing. We cannot afford to be the world’s police, nor should we be. Each sovereign country has a right to defend itself (i.e. guns, tanks, fighter jets, nukes, etc.). If any of those sovereign countries want to mess with us and/or threaten us, then we neutralize the threat. Congress declares the war, sets clear objectives, we gear up to go in and win, we go and win, and then we come home. That’s what Ron Paul wants, and that is what I want too. Ron Paul has none of the baggage that ANY of the other candidates have. He is consistent and trustworthy, period!
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I have not yet ruled out voting for Paul in the New Hampshire primary and in fact I will either be voting for him or Santorum. Right now I am leaning toward Santorum, but that could change.
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This article is true. Newt is a faux conservative. I cannot support him for president given his co-sponsoring of the fairness doctrine, his comments on Paul Ryan’s budget plan, what he did in New York with supporting Dede Scozzafava in the 2010 race, sitting on the couch with Nancy Pelosi, healthcare mandate views, etc. Then add in his cheating on 2 wives. He has NO morals.
I am too young to have been around while the “John Birch Society” was more popular (and I am cautious of them), but there is one thing I have learned from them….these progressives will do anything, infiltrate the Tea Party and the Republican Party to achieve their goals. I believe Newt is a progressive and it would not be the first time that he would lie to get what he wants.
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