Levin v Gingrich

Real Clear Politics has a long segment of Mark Levin criticizing Newt Gingrich. Judge it for yourself. I respect what both Mark and Newt have contributed over the years. But it's time to face some facts.

Levin went on to criticize Gingrich for supporting Colin Powell and told the former speaker he does not know the same Ronald Reagan that he does. Levin accused Gingrich of having too much personal "baggage" and being "undisciplined" when he makes public comments.

Newt's electoral day has come and gone. In recent years he has taken up several trends to make himself relevant to the GOP. He is relevant to an important degree, obviously. Unfortunately, those issues range from such disparate causes as bashing Limbaugh, (instead of adding the appropriate nuance to Rush's comments on Obama failing for clarity on MTP), to the recent Tea Party movement, and Nancy Pelosi's rhetoric on Global Warming. There are other waves he's surfed, or attempted to, as well.

In short, he's been all over the map and unfortunately is now at a point to which he looks far more like a political opportunist, than he does a statesman. That the NRCC saw him as the go to guy for their recent event is more of a cause for additional criticism of the current GOP establishment, than it is a feather in Newt's cap.

Newt has much to contribute to the GOP, I'm sure. But he's been far too inconsistent over the years to generate the kind of broad support that would make him a successful national politician on the Right.

Newt is a respected part of what was for the Right. And as an intellect, he can offer much more. But some future face of the GOP that can win he simply is not and will never be, again.

Comments

[SacTownMan]

I think that Newt should be fondly remembered for what he did in the Contract days. That being said he seems to be another of those that would see the continuation of the Republican "lite" message that the State Run media is trying to craft.

He helps the left continue to try and marginalize the real future voices of the party like Palin, Jindal and Pawlenty. These are the folks that will lead the party in the future. There will always be a place for the Newt's of the world but not at the "head" of the table.

The Tea Party movement has shown that the current bunch in power from both the left and right are in need of a wakeup call to stop the pilaging of America by special interest groups regardless of party affiliation.

Right is right and wrong is wrong to the real patriots of this country and the current bunch in office had better wake up real soon or they will out of a job starting in Nov 2010!

[mark l.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi6n_-wB154

i don't see levin cutting a climate change commercial with pelosi.

[Evil Red Scandi]

Plenty of good men and women have gone to Washington and become corrupted by its influence. Instead of doing the right things and pushing the country in the right direction, they become more concerned with "getting along by going along." They give a little here and a little there with the hope of eventually getting something in return, but it doesn't happen. And you'd think that eventually this would bore its way through their thick skulls, but the empty platitudes dropped on them by their scheming opponents blind them to the truth - they've become the useful idiots of the left.

[Dave R.]

I've always liked Newt, but more for his Contract with America days than out of any personal fandom. The part of Levin's critique that rang truest for me is that once you start accepting the left's premises, whatever they may be, you're not going to be an effective champion of conservatism.

Levin didn't bring it up, but I think the joint global warming commercial with Pelosi was extremely telling. Newt's just been in the beltway too long, he's bought in to the zeitgeist, and now his vision of "conservatism" is partly just liberal goals managed more efficiently.

[Kyle Menig]

Do you guys think Mark will be the only person really being vocal about Newt's days being numbered or do you think we'll start to see more of this from other TV/Radio personalities?

[Jamie Lockett]

Levin is accusing another of being undisciplined in his public comments. That's rich.

Newt has been positioning himself to run for the presidency for a while now. I think that some of his past inconsistencies are worrisome but should not disqualify him from a potential presidential run. This was the last man to successfully sell smaller government to the American people - if only for that he deserves his shot at the big chair. I don't see the sort of intellectual cases for small government being made by any of the other potential Republican front runners (Romney, Huckabee, Palin et al.)

[Ran]

Jamie,
Palin has been consistently making the case for limited-powers small-budget government. Just read her speeches.

Newt, however, has recently been making the case for "the environment" and prior to that with Hillary for national healthcare. He abandoned small, limited government quite a while back in favor of "American solutions" - smarter ways to make big, powerful government run under Republicans. Is there a policy area where Newt differs from Conor (with one remaining 'n')?

[kasper]

Newt appears to be almost as much as a narcissist as Obama is and the left media keep putting his face up as the voice of tconservatives. They have a very cozy relationship. Newt's way of staying in the political game is to cause a sensation and says something the left loves to hear.

He's a creep!

[Gary Ogletree]

My renewed contempt for Newt began when he tried to appropriate the Tea Party in NYC with the help of the clueless Sean Hannity. He keeps crossing the center line, saying the right thing one minute then exposing his idiocy the next. 56 minute speech? You couldn't pay me to sit thru that. However, if it was Palin speaking, I'd be happy to wait in line for an hour or two.

[apodoca]

I became a Conservative GOPer because of Newt. I used to listen to him on C-SPAN make speech after speech after speech. However, recently, Newt is no longer that man who brought me to the GOP. Global warming. Criticizing Rush but not the Democrats. Dishing Sarah. Goodbye, Newt! goodbye!

[WestWright]

SacTownMan says it well! Newt has become complicit of the statist borg. Mark Levin was a breath of fresh air on ltwt Hannity last night.

[Jamie Lockett]

Palin's case for small limited government includes socializing petroleum profits, being for the bridge to nowhere before she was against it, accepting more federal assistance per capita than any other state in the union, and as mayor of Wasilla, a town of some 7,000 residents, lobbying for, and winning, almost $27 million in federal earmarks.

Palin sure doesn't practice anything she preaches.