Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich used a breakfast speech this morning to belittle all kinds of people, and I can find nothing he said (at least as reported by Bill Sammon of the Washington Examiner) with which I disagree.
I even agree with his unwitting observation that a Gingrich presidency would be "the country's problem." But, of course, it'll never come to that.
3 comments:
If he hadn't been such an entitlement whore and fan of big government (despite his comments to the contrary) during his time in charge, I'd probably be a Gingrich fan. His breakfast/brunch press conference while he was Speaker were usually very entertaining and he certainly took the time to put the issues in a valid historical context. But as a leader, he did a terrible job of keeping the Republicans on the small government path and he didn't do much to purge the party of utter hacks and thieves like Lott and DeLay. So I can't imagine that Newt would be a particularly great president...all sound and fury signifying nothing. Although I think he makes a very effective and useful gadfly and often brings up some very good points, like in that article.
Hey, I don't have much use for Newtie. But anybody who can diss the Republican presidential field and Chris Matthews in one breath is not all bad.
Newt's an academic...a very good one I'd argue with some smart ideas, and I think he operates best in an area where he doesn't have to manage people, deal with the in-fighting of day-to-day politics, or deal with the ethical quandries of power. Unfortunately for Newt, those last characteristics are as important to a leader as the other ones. I think he works better in situations where he's not trusted with too much abuseable authority and doesn't have to deal with the nuts-and-bolts of management. Kind of a good spiritual advisor for small-government types, but not someone you'd want actually leading the movement.
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