Dick Morris: Yes, Newt’s Electable
He says Gingrich is the most knowledgeable and articulate GOP candidate in the field, and while much of his rise comes from the misfortune of others a lot of it is “Newt being Newt.”
Dismisses the baggage because he thinks the guy is brilliant and people will see that. And says it’ll be a Romney-Gingrich-Obama fight.
It would be interesting to hear Morris discuss how Gingrich handles some of the coming media assault about Newt’s divorces and so on. Morris proved himself perhaps the best consultant possible to deal with things like that via his work with Bill Clinton.
Because while Gingrich’s skeletons are already out of the closet, he’s going to have to handle the fresh attention to them – or else Morris’ assertion that he’s electable is mistaken.
It is not Newt’s well documented infidelities which bother me. It is his multidecade track record which is FAR from being conservative on several key issues.
Seek and you will find who could well be the ultimate RINO insider of all candidates in the field.
I’ve tried to show this side (more important than rhetoric) to several people, but it is obvious that they have already invested their emotions, rather than logic, into Newtie.
Your right….he has not always been a good conservative. But he has always been a great politician and leader. Like all great politicians he has played the game on the inside and is very good at it. Yes in the past he was an insider. But not anymore. He has not held public office for some time and don’t forget…we are talking about an election to an EXECUTIVE office. He won’t have to play the game nearly like he used to as president. And if you think he has the same positions on everything that he had 20 years ago think again. That’s why he’s a great politician. He has to get elected first and if he is the nominee he WILL beat the hell out of Obama.
Newt is great at finding trends inside of polling data, then altering his course to go with the trend. The summer of Drill Baby Drill is a fine example. He was still taking credit for trying to get Hillary to pass her healthcare in small chunks to get the entire thing through, as late as last year. Fortunately for us, she did not take his advice.
Then there is the problem he has had in the past of sitting on his laurels and not forging ahead.
Would you like for me to go on about his track record from 1974 through 2008?
No it’s obvious you don’t like the guy….a lot of conservatives had big problems with Ronal Reagan to. All I am saying is that if he is the nominee he will b e a vast improvement over “Gumby” in the Oval Office.
I hate the circular firing squad mentality. Mitt is the ultimate Rhino here no matter how bad everyones flipping record is. Why? Romneycare, which is indefensible. But I like him as I like all of the crop of candidates. I have no favortite and I am sure of only one thing; any one of them is an improvement over Hussein. Accusing people of being blinded “Newties” only hardens their resolve to support the man. Don’t be a blind “ant-Newtie” although you back up what you say so good for you. However, ALL of these candidates are vulnerable and flawed in some way. To me it’s not about whether my guy gets the nomination, it’s about shaking this thing out til we get a man (or woman) out there that displays “leadership”, and not “management”. That’s all it’s going to take to beat the sitting (on his ass mostly) current President.
Beckel (who annoys me but is politically adroit) thinks Newt has a real shot if he just stops talking to much (and ads that he has). It was really funny when he said “Newt’s never had an un spoken thought” on Hannity last night. Beckel thinks if he can control his mouth, he can be the Man.
Yeah, I can see why Dick Morris would think that Newt’s infidelities are no big deal:
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/30/us/call-girl-story-costs-president-a-key-strategist.html