# Who wins an Obama vs Gingrich debate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 1, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755 "2011-12-01T22:15:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/21 "2011-12-02T04:01:09Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Which values would they be abandoning, exactly? Well that sanctity of marriage bullshit for one. The hating Washington insiders for another. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/22 "2011-12-02T04:11:36Z")
I can’t remember who said it, but…Newt is a dumb guy’s idea of what a smart guy sounds like. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/23 "2011-12-02T05:57:36Z")
Its not that Newt is stupid. It’s that you don’t like him. Also, monstro has the quote of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/24 "2011-12-02T06:00:53Z")
[http://www.thestatecolumn.com/articles/gop-poll-newt-gingrichs-support-skyrockets-to-50-percent-in-florida/](http://www.thestatecolumn.com/articles/gop-poll-newt-gingrichs-support-skyrockets-to-50-percent-in-florida/) Sorry, typing on phone, but yeah. I think Republicans are getting over his past indiscretions. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/25 "2011-12-02T06:33:59Z")
What do they disagree on? Foreign policy? No real difference. Economic stimulus? Gingrich gave Roosevelt credit for, [among other things](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1150430/posts), ending the Depression so we know where he stands. Health care? Nope. Assassinating U.S citizens? Two peas in a pod. So I’ll take a wild guess and say the debate would be two hours of two goons going back and forth on whether we should be taxing the rich. Of course this hypothetical election will be billed as the most important in our lifetime. What a crock of shit. ---
**Author:** ![Untoward\_Parable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Untoward\_Parable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Untoward_Parable)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/26 "2011-12-02T08:06:04Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > What do they disagree on? > > Foreign policy? No real difference. > > Economic stimulus? Gingrich gave Roosevelt credit for, [among other things](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1150430/posts), ending the Depression so we know where he stands. > > Health care? Nope. > > Assassinating U.S citizens? Two peas in a pod. > > So I’ll take a wild guess and say the debate would be two hours of two goons going back and forth on whether we should be taxing the rich. > > Of course this hypothetical election will be billed as the most important in our lifetime. What a crock of shit. Shhh, just pick a side and get angry at the other like you’re supposed to. ---
**Author:** ![Untoward\_Parable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Untoward\_Parable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Untoward_Parable)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/27 "2011-12-02T08:16:16Z")
“Dr. Gingrich your creation is unnatural, you used crony capitalism to build it!” “reFRAINS?.. reFRAINS!..” “What does it want?!” “Hollow platitudes about market principles! It’s the only thing that calms it down!” “If rich people just weren’t so disadvantaged everything wold be wonderful! Oh God it’s too late! He’s devalued my 401k! Oh God!” ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/28 "2011-12-02T11:55:43Z")
Newt has a pretty high opinion of his potential ability to clock Obama in a debate. Newt’s current stump speech mentions teleprompters quite a bit. Personally, I try to not ‘set myself up to fail’. Obama can be a pretty good off-the-cuff speaker, despite the right wing family fiction to the contrary. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/29 "2011-12-02T13:44:11Z")
“Whoever you are gonna vote for” would win. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/30 "2011-12-02T13:59:46Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > What do they disagree on? > … > Health care? Nope. Umm, what? This one definitely needs a citation. The foreign policy one, too. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/31 "2011-12-02T14:07:29Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Economic stimulus? Gingrich gave Roosevelt credit for, [among other things](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1150430/posts), ending the Depression so we know where he stands. That was in 2004, before the Republican Party adopted _crazy_ as the basis of its platform. Gingrich knows damn well he couldn’t say anything like that in a debate now. ---
**Author:** ![G-SE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@G-SE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G-SE)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/32 "2011-12-02T14:29:32Z")
Newt will mop the floor with Obama’s “Let me be perfectly clear… uh um uhhhhh uh … 57 states … um wait a minute. ya lost me. uhh umm it would be better uh umm uh um CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE HOPE HOPE HOPE” ---
**Author:** ![Mekhazzio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/33 "2011-12-02T14:47:41Z")
> [@MilTan](#): > > Umm, what? This one definitely needs a citation. Why? It should be common knowledge, it’s even in Gingrich’s wikipedia page. When the Clintons were pushing for health care reform in the 90s, the alternative reform plan presented by the Congressional Republicans, whom Newt Gingrich had no small amount of sway over, was all but identical in the key points to what’s recently been labeled Obamacare. After his time in Congress, Gingrich founded an organization focused on health care reform that continued to promote essentially the same plan. He has an even harder time attacking PPACA than Romney does; Romney gets to split hairs about a distinction between federal and state. Newt gets no such escape hatch. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/34 "2011-12-02T14:52:39Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Economic stimulus? Gingrich gave Roosevelt credit for, [among other things](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1150430/posts), ending the Depression so we know where he stands. Yeah, but he meant **Eleanor.** Man of unusual tastes, that Newt is. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/35 "2011-12-02T14:59:05Z")
> [@G-SE](#): > > Newt will mop the floor with Obama’s “Let me be perfectly clear… uh um uhhhhh uh … 57 states … um wait a minute. ya lost me. uhh umm it would be better uh umm uh um CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE HOPE HOPE HOPE” Ooookay. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/36 "2011-12-02T15:36:15Z")
> [@MilTan](#): > > Umm, what? This one definitely needs a citation. The foreign policy one, too. Gingrich [supported](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/11/29/gingrich_supported_individual_mandate_in_2005.html) the individual mandate. Gingrich and Obama both support military interventionism. [Cite](http://www.newt.org/solutions/tell-truth-about-national-security) > [@](#): > > Know our values. America’s foreign policy must begin by understanding who we are as a country. We are, as Ronald Reagan said, the world’s “abiding alternative to tyranny.” Therefore, America’s foreign policy must be to ensure our own survival and protect those who share our values. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/37 "2011-12-02T16:18:25Z")
> [@G-SE](#): > > Newt will mop the floor with Obama’s “Let me be perfectly clear… uh um uhhhhh uh … 57 states … um wait a minute. ya lost me. uhh umm it would be better uh umm uh um CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE HOPE HOPE HOPE” Yeah go back to **Lobohan** ’s and look for Obama stumbling. The Republicans begged he not bring camera’s because they knew he could make everyone of them look like fools, he did. When it comes to public speaking he’s got it, with or without a teleprompter. Anything to the contrary is Republican myth. You can think his policies are absolute garbage but claiming he can’t speak makes you look like an idiot. With the 57 states thing you right wingers need to go back over 3 years of him speaking to find an instance of him messing up. To me that’s pretty freaking impressive really, with most politicians you only need look back one or two speeches to find a verbal gaff. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/38 "2011-12-02T16:37:13Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > I meant Paul. I got my miniature nutbags mixed up. 😃 Newt makes Ron Paul look like idiot? On what topic exactly? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/39 "2011-12-02T18:49:39Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > Newt makes Ron Paul look like idiot? On what topic exactly? On the topic of not being a Libertarian. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755/40 "2011-12-02T18:55:53Z")
They’re both pretty good at sounding knowledgeable, so I imagine on merits it’ll be more or less a tie. Obama comes off a lot more likable, IMHO, which probably shouldn’t matter, but does. Gingrich also has sort of a Joe Biden problem too, in that he doesn’t seem to be able to resist the urge to go off script, with occasionally disastrous results. Obama, on the other hand, has been pretty good about staying on message without sounding like he’s staying on message. So I think on merits the debate will be a tie, but that Newt will say at least one surprisingly damaging thing, and will come of as less “likable” to the public. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wins-an-obama-vs-gingrich-debate/604755.md?page=3)