WHY NEWT MUST RUN (from 1995)

[jaxx]

WHY NEWT MUST RUN
Nov 27, 1995, Vol. 1, No. 11 • By ARIANNA HUFFINGTON

LAST WEEK, NEWT GINGRICH SPOKE a few surprising words -- words that went astonishingly unnoticed, given their ominous ring. "We may lose next year," he told the annual meeting of GOPAC, the political-action committee he ran for nine years, "but in 11 months, working as a team, we made the tough decisions and laid our careers on the line." Wait a moment: lose next year? Was that Newt Gingrich, the leader of the political realignment, slayer of the New Deal, the most powerful congressional politician since Henry Clay?

<..> The first moral imperative was expressed by Gingrich in his first speech as speaker: "How can any American read about an l 1-year-old buried with his teddy bear because he killed a 14-year-old, and then another 14-year-old killed him, and not have some sense of "My God, where has this country gone?" How can we not decide that this is a moral crisis equal to segregation, equal to slavery, and how can we not insist that every day we take steps to do something?" The Republican message so far has been expressed not in terms of a moral crisis but in terms of dollars and cents. The connection between balancing the budget and turning lives around has simply not been made; neither has the connection between the level of pain in America that Gingrich has spoken about and the legislative agenda on the Hill.

<..> Is it not worth the sacrifice if Gingrich can be liberated from his coalition-building job in the House to build consensus in the country? And wouldn't the House freshmen be far more grateful to him if he helped create a national climate that would make it easier for them to defend their voting records when they're fighting for their seats next November?

<..> But just as the Gingrich of November 1995 is different from the one who assumed the speakership, so too the Gingrich of November 1996 could be a far different, far more inspiring public figure. Gingrich may be a lightning rod, but he also embodies the revolution like no one else. He is its most articulate, self-confident, and unapologetic voice, and he burns with conviction that America can and will be a better place because of it. And if he's sufficiently freed up from the punishing legislative schedule of the last few months, he can rediscover the youthful realization that drove him to dedicate his life to politics in the first place:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Pr...9pomwg.asp

Arianna at her finest, supporting Newt.

Of historical interest or maybe hysterical interest.

[Drunken Irishman]

Great find. I wonder if she'll write a similar article for her rag?

[jaxx]

I heard the other day that Arianna said she was going to vote pub. Will be fun to watch the people who have switched to see how they go this election.

[Brainwreck]

Your youthful realization was greed, Newt. Did you forget?

[DFW]

Gingrich sometimes knows more than he lets on in public.

In March of 1995, when Gingrich had been speaker for less than 3 months, and was riding high in the polls and the headlines, and Bill Clinton, with the wind against him, was looking like a one-term president (sound familiar?), we were all at the annual Gridiron Club dinner and show in Washington. Bill Clinton was giving a masterful funny speech and had the whole room eating out of the palm of his hand. Even Gingrich himself was in hysterics. During Clinton's speech, Gingrich leaned over to my mom, who was seated between him and Al Gore, and whispered to her, "anyone who thinks this guy is going to be a pushover in the [1996] election is kidding themselves." In a conversation with someone I didn't recognize, I also overheard Gingrich saying that his ambitious program was such that "we may have bitten off more than we can chew."

He may spout a lot of BS in public, but he knows far better than he lets on what the score is. Like Cain, he knows his chances to end up in the Oval Office are slim and none, but if there's more money in the gig, he's in. So he's in.