He’s better than some of the alternatives. Gingrich sort of reminds me of Richard Nixon - he’d be immoral but competent.
He was part and parcel of the moral majority. And yep, he’d scare me if he actually took office.
Indeed, at the end of his term he was being called “A Useful Idot” for the Soviets
by the Conservative Caucus.
I was just going to post this exact thing. Shodan likes to give the credit of the balanced budget to the Republican controlled legislature, but it is complete bullshit. We have hashed this over many times here. I guess if he thinks that if he just keeps saying it, maybe someday everybody will forget it’s wrong. That said, people who try to give Clinton the credit are off base also (though less so); sure he signed the 1993 bill with its pay-go rules (that not a single Republican voted for) and again in 1997, but more importantly he re-appointed and listened to Greenspan (and look how that worked out!). I would be willing to concede that President Bush the first deserves more credit with the pay-go rules in 1990 (supported by the Democratic legislature), but he got voted out of office for signing it (read my lips!). It wasn’t until 97’ that the congressional Republicans got in the game with the bi-partisan support of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Of course as soon as President Bush the Second was in, they trashed all the pay-go rules, cut taxes, passed the drug benefit, started a couple of wars, and got us in the mess we are in now. But I’ll bet this is not how Shodan sees it, so YMMV.
A little thought will show that this is not possible - if the GOP has a majority in both the House and Senate, no bill can pass if every Republican votes against it.
Clinton’s baseline budget in 1995 had $200 billion deficits as far as the eye could see. Then Gingrich and the GOP took over, based mostly on their Contract with America, and the budget was balanced in 1998.
Regards,
Shodan
I know this is petty, but his wife’s nose scared me the other day. I saw her turn to her husband during the White House correspondents Dinner and was taken aback. Later, I tried to look her up on Google images to see if she really had that big a nose, and there are not very many side views of her. Thank goodness!
That’s a nose that looks like it should have a pair of novelty glasses attached to it.
What? Talk all you like about how America “worships youth,” but politics remains a field where a man of 50 is a baby. It has always been so.
Gingrich doesn’t scare me. He nauseates me.
I didn’t say that he was old; I said that he was a has-been. His political career already reached its zenith, then went into decline and ended, over a decade ago. John McCain, by contrast, despite being older, is still active in politics, and in as high a position as he’s ever held.
Does Newt Gingrich scare me? Man, the only thing that scares me about Gingrich is that some o’ his ugly might rub off on me in the ring! I’m tellin’ you that I am great, Gingrich will drop in eight! The man used to be speaker, but I will prove that he is the weaker! If you wanna lose your loot, just bet it on Newt! Rumble, young man rumble!
Are y’all talking about the Gingrinch? The Gingrinch that Stole Congress?
Hey, Nixon had highs and lows.
Sometimes the losing party misses the old guy and wants a comeback kid, too. Look at how popular Al Gore was in 02 when the polls were trying to gauge potential candidates. Lieberman had good numbers, too, but that’s because he was linked to AG. As soon as the updated AG candidate was in the media, Howard Dean rose to fame (and unfortunately fell, but anywhoo). I think if AG had run in 2004, that would would’ve been in the bag.
Not saying that Newt Gingrich is the equivalent or whatever, but if he runs his campaign properly, I’ll get nervous. He is the antithesis of Obama and there are enough critics out there to sway some.
Exactly.
It’s the competent Republicans you need to be weary of. :o
Gingrich is a lot further out of politics than Gore or Nixon were. Gore had been Vice President and a Presidential candidate in 2000; recent history in 2002 and 2004. Nixon was the Vice President and Presidential candidate in 1960 (along with his ill-considered run for governor in 1962); his comeback was 1968.
But Gingrich has been out of office since January 1999 - twelve years is a long time in politics and a Congressman (even a Speaker) doesn’t have the historical name recognition that a Vice President or Presidential nominee has. Gingrich was part of the same crowd as Phil Gramm and Steve Forbes and Pete Wilson.
No, that would weaken her Hypno-Vision.
Come to think of it, bipolar disorder would explain a lot about Nixon.
It scares me that Newt will get about 35% of the popular vote, and it would scare me if he got 1% of the popular vote. That should scare anyone. 
It is scare to me that he is only in it for the money. Gingrich and Trump are both in it for the publicity and the money that brings. Plus the very faint hope that a dozen better candidates might drop out for some reason, Obama will decide against running for some reason and they might get to be POTUS with no effort.