Yesterday, Fox News Sunday panel talked about Newt Gingrich, and moderator Chris Wallace asked about his receiving money from Freddie Mac and various major healthcare company. AB Stoddard’s answer was withering:
“I think he’s been disingenuous in his answers. The healthcare companies and drug firms did not pay his consortium $37 million because of his grasp of history. Freddie Mac did not pay him $30,000 an hour for their monthly visits because of his grasp of history. And I think Iowa voters will begin to discern as they learn more about his activities whether his answers are reasonable and credible and forgivable. He’s I think been disingenuous and parsing his answers on this. But he is ultimately also Romney lite. He is admitting now in this big website he has set up to let us know why he’s such a true conservative and he’s the alternative to Mitt Romney that he really is taking back his support for TARP, and he’s really sorry he said what he said on climate change and a mandate for health care reform. Those are major issues, and those are called flip-flops.”
Brit Hume twisted the knife a little more: “He did have a checkered period as speaker. He was the only Speaker in the United States History ever reprimanded for an ethics violation for which he had to pay a $300,000 penalty. In addition to that he was nearly ousted in a mutiny by his own troops in the house in 1997 and was finally basically forced to step down in 1998. And he became during that period a kind of a poster child for Republican excess and he was the guy that was a favorite whipping boy. Could he be made into that again is the question, if he were the nominee for President, and I think that’s the question that Republicans have to worry about. Could he be successfully portrayed as a guy who’s way out there and too erratic and too extreme for the voters in a multi-hundred million dollar ad campaign mounted by the Obama team.”
The problem with Newt is he knows what the conservatives are looking for and he can say all the right things. I heard him call in to Mark Levin and schmooze Mark and his audience. Mark seemed to like what he heard. But can you believe what he says? Or are we so desperate that we will take anyone’s promises? Remember that he promised his first wife he would be faithful “’til death do we part.” And he promised his second wife the same thing. Fool me once–shame on you. Fool me twice–shame on me.
No thanks, Newt. I’d rather have an out-and-out moderate with some degree of integrity than a two-timer. Or make that a three-timer.
