Thread: Newt Gingrich

Originally Posted by Bruno

Does he have an actual chance, and if so why doesn't his behavior turn the Conservative voters away from him? Or is he only running for the attention?

Yes, and it will to some extent in the primaries. I don't think he's only running for the attention.

As far as morality, it could be that Newt is not seen as a hypocrite because he has this pattern of immoral behavior, does not deny it, and does not demand higher values from others. In the past, Dan Quayle for example, have been burned by appearing to put on too much of a holier-than-thou attitude - Newt may be arrogant but I don't think he has that particular problem

Regarding conservatives, I think many might weigh Obama against the eventual Republican nominee on the sin scale with perceived sins against the Constitution and tea party ideals weighing more heavily than perceived sins against one's wife, God, etc.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

As far as morality, it could be that Newt is not seen as a hypocrite because he has this pattern of immoral behavior, does not deny it, and does not demand higher values from others. In the past, Dan Quayle for example, have been burned by appearing to put on too much of a holier-than-thou attitude - Newt may be arrogant but I don't think he has that particular problem

I'm not sure that's the case. He was having an affair at the same time when he was trying to impeach Clinton. I guess that was technically over Clinton lying, not for having his cigars in unorthodox ways, but I bet to a lot of people the real issue was the sex.
Then recently he demanded that Barney Frank be fired for being 'close to lobbyists' when Gingrich was paid millions by the same people at the same time.
But I think the stuff that would be brought to the attention of those who vote in the primaries is going to be different than the stuff that's brought up to the attention of the larger pool who votes in the actual election.

I read that when he was challenged on his big government sins of the past last weekend or so his response was - pretty much all conservatives were in that same boat. At the end of the day it's a choice among those 5 or 6 who are actually running. One is a flip-flopper with a religion largely thought as a cult, one is having trouble stringing coherent sentences together, one is too consistent and often at odds with many of the 'conservative talking points' of the day, one is a woman and prone to gaffes of crazy talking without any facts, and the rest are barely getting any traction. So, compared to all of those Gingrich probably doesn't look all that bad, especially now that the primary campaigning has changed completely from the past and is primarily in a form where he has an edge to the rest.

OK, wonderful job of baiting but I won't bite. I'll only say that given Obama's pole numbers and the state of the economy, it probably doesn't matter what Republican runs against him, he's gonna get his clock cleaned. Does Gingrich have baggage? Sure he does, who doesn't? It's remarkable to me though that the mainstream media will scarcely report on a Democrat's indiscretion but it seems like Republicans are called out for everything. I'm not defending Gingrich but there does seem to be a double standard.

More disturbing to me is the apparent campaign strategy from the Dems. Obama obviously cannot run on his record so the strategy seems to be smear and discredit any threats to the regime. As long as we have enough money to dig up or (if needed) making up damning evidence against this candidate or that, the media is a willing and capable accomplice. Of course, the electorate is obviously too stupid to engage in any critical thinking. This is the stuff of political campaigns in the Banana Republics of the 1970's.

Originally Posted by 1OldGI

I'm not defending Gingrich but there does seem to be a double standard.

Not even close. Clinton, Wiener, Spitzer, Edwards, Inouye, Massa, McGreevey....
The double standard is in Republicans being let off the hook much easier - Vitter, Folley, Craig...


'Nice try' on smear and discredit, but somehow magically Romney doesn't get smeared and discredited on his morals. May be he's just one of the liberals, so it's the 'double standard'. Or for that matter Paul, Perry, Santorum and Huntsman as well.

Originally Posted by gugi

Not even close. Clinton, Wiener, Spitzer, Edwards, Inouye, Massa, McGreevey....

You'd have to be deep in the bowels of a partisan cave to not remember these people. Edwards and Wiener wasn't even that long ago.

sorry, bit of joke, wasn't directed at anyone.

Originally Posted by gugi

Not even close. Clinton, Wiener, Spitzer, Edwards, Inouye, Massa, McGreevey....
The double standard is in Republicans being let off the hook much easier - Vitter, Folley, Craig...e standard'. Or for that matter Paul, Perry, Santorum and Huntsman as well.

So Clinton's escapades WHILE IN OFFICE AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. resulted in him being personally disgraced politically written off? Well at least, he was fired on the spot? No wait, he became a hero of the American left and despite committing perjury the entire incident was for the most part presented as a vast right wing conspiracy against the poor unfortunate Bubba Clinton. The message here is clear, if you're going to conduct shady business, 1. Be Democrat. 2. Be prepared to lie 3. Assume the media will give you the benefit of the doubt. Had George W. Bush attended a church with same politcal leanings as the one Barack Obama attended, they would have hung Bush from the highest tree. Perry was being crucified for a large rock where he and his father hunted with the N word painted on it. But Obama can attend the church of reverend "Kill Whitey" for 25 years and nothing gets said!? Not to mention Obama's association with known domestic terrorists.

How much media coverage do we get about Fast and Furious? Eric Holder's dereliction of duty and perjury? Obama's bilking taxpayers out of millions of dollars to pay off big labor and other political supporters? What about Solyndra? We get nothing on these issues from the state controlled media but wall to wall coverage of Herman Kaine's alleged taudry affairs. Come on, don't even try to tell me there is no double standard. Dammit Gugi, I think I just bit

Romney, Paul, Perry, Santorum and Huntsman have never been the front runner. Just watch when the lead changes hands, if they can't dig up facts to discredit the leader the media is prepared to do so with fiction. They presented Perry as an idiot for simple public speaking gaffs. Of course, he's not a Democrat, he must be an idiot, and oh by the way, he's from Texas, where the other idiot was from. Meanwhile, no one seems to notice when Obama engage in random acts of stupidity (see also: I've been to 57 states and have 2 more to go.)

I thought conservatives didn't even bother to check the lamestream media, or even if they may hear it in the background they know it's all lies.

We're talking republican primaries here, aren't we? Somebody isn't paying attention to who is 'frontrunner'.

As far as Clinton goes "every guilty verdict coming from Republican Senators, five Democratic Representatives voting to impeach, and no Democratic Senators voting for conviction". May be you shouldn't have voted for so many democrats. I'm sure Newt wasn't at fault for that democratic majority though, it was all big conspiracy against him and he was just the victim. Poor thing even lost his job, while Clinton kept his....

Originally Posted by 1OldGI

Meanwhile, no one seems to notice when Obama engage in random acts of stupidity (see also: I've been to 57 states and have 2 more to go.)

Are you saying there are even more states? It's all those immigrants who are confusing the real americans with one specific number. It's a free country, everybody has the right to believe in as many states as they want

These types of threads are going to get increasingly awesome for the outside reader (e.g., me) to read. Just think of when we actually get close to the election!

That is, unless AttackWatch gets us first!

For the record, I've only voted for two Democrats in my entire life, John McCain and Charlie Crist. In my defense though, they were both cleverly disguised as Republicans.

PS: The state controlled media is like a bad car wreck, you don't want to look but somehow you're compelled to do so. Al Sharpton's show on MSNBC is on the cusp of replacing Comedy Central in my house.