# Will Newt Gingrich run for POTUS? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 3, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475 "2007-03-03T23:01:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/41 "2007-03-07T14:50:41Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] More in play? It seems to have been more or less decisive since 1964, as I (or rather, George Will) mentioned. [/QUOTE] I dare say yes. Two things are going to push some southern voters away from the GOP. 1) The Iraq War. Even amongst the hard core pro-military faction that is more prevalent in the south than elsewhere, support for this war is dropping like a stone. And if congressional hearings demonstrate that Bush deliberately lied to start the war, that might be decisive. 2) The Walter Reed scandal. Southerners support the troops probably more than other regions. For the US to neglect the wounded vets probably will cause more outrage there than elsewhere. Put it together, and enough southern voters could revolt from the GOP and put the region in play. It only takes a migration of a few percent to tip the scales the other way. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/42 "2007-03-07T15:39:59Z")
Newt, he’s pale, he’s rested, he’s ready. It would work to his advantage that he hasn’t been in government during the Republican orchestrated catastrophe of the past several years. I still think McCain will be the guy though. He’s paid his dues, swallowed his pride and raised a hell of a lot of money. He’s pro-war, but anti-Bush execution of the war. Despite his high standing in the polls right now I think Giuliani will fade away when he has to repeatedly defend his pro-gay, pro-abortion, multiple-divorce past. Although Reagan got divorced. And Gingrich. And Limbaugh and McCain and pretty much every other member of the moral conscience of America. Republican voters will have to ask themselves “is Giuliani a man who God will leave behind when the rapture comes?” Plus the NRA will be backing someone else. I expect someone calling himself a “real conservative” will make a run at McCain. Whether that will be Gingrich or Brownback or someone else, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/43 "2007-03-07T16:27:18Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] I dare say yes. Two things are going to push some southern voters away from the GOP. 1) The Iraq War. Even amongst the hard core pro-military faction that is more prevalent in the south than elsewhere, support for this war is dropping like a stone. And if congressional hearings demonstrate that Bush deliberately lied to start the war, that might be decisive. [/quote] Still gonna try with that, eh? Well, maybe, unless Hilary is the nominee. Think of the fun using her public statements in support of the invasion prior to 2002 to show that she lied about it, too. The more public a role she takes in Congressional hearings on the subject, the more vulnerable she becomes on the subject. > [@](#): > > 1. The Walter Reed scandal. Southerners support the troops probably more than other regions. For the US to neglect the wounded vets probably will cause more outrage there than elsewhere. Put it together, and enough southern voters could revolt from the GOP and put the region in play. It only takes a migration of a few percent to tip the scales the other way. Again, maybe, unless voters don’t have as long a memory. Another disadvantage of declaring so early. You nail your colors to the mast of whatever is the latest scandal, and you run the risk of a year from now, voters all saying “Walter who?” And maybe it is unkind to point it out again, but Bush isn’t running in 2008. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/44 "2007-03-07T17:07:57Z")
I have no worries about Hillary winning the nomination. Her hawkish past is a millstone around her neck. The Walter Reed scandal has legs. Long legs. This isn’t going to die out anytime soon. And the Democrats can run against Bush again, just as Republicans ran against Carter in 1984. And 1988. And 1992. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/45 "2007-03-07T19:24:20Z")
Oh please. Whenever I think of Newt Gingrich I remember the term Family Values being shoved down our collective throats…and then I recall Newt’s personal hypocrises and chuckle. The man has no chance. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/46 "2007-03-07T19:58:43Z")
Let see …he bounced 22 bad checks during the Banking Scandal. Gave back an advance for a book deal after jumping on Jim Wright for same thing 300k Family values… after many affairs yet went hard after Clinton for same thing Dems filed 84 ethical violations against Newton Accused of being a dead beat dad when he left wife in the lurch Draft dodged on same level as Clinton yet went after Clinton He can run but he can’t hide. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/47 "2007-03-07T20:22:47Z")
There’s a basic problem with the ‘hang back and wait for everyone else to look like crap before jumping in’ approach, completely aside from the fact that if you were going to look like crap if you’d run early, the crap’s still there waiting to find you. And that’s that people sign up with campaigns. Specifically, the people who do the nuts and bolts of campaigns sign up with campaigns. The people who do your TV ads, your targeted mass mailings, organize your volunteers and GOTV - they don’t wait around. They sign up with campaigns so that they don’t risk getting shut out of the action. What a late candidate winds up with is the C team. Since the campaign for a party’s nomination is a state-by-state campaign, _this is happening at the state level in the key states_, where there’s not a whole lot of depth. In New Hampshire, the C team is going to be pretty thin. Nonetheless, I’m all for Newt jumping in. If he can siphon off enough primary votes from the Rudy McRomney trio, and nobody comes out of Feb. 5 in a dominant position, it might be the GOP that’s looking at a brokered convention. Wouldn’t _that_ be fun! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/48 "2007-03-08T21:38:27Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] I dare say yes. Two things are going to push some southern voters away from the GOP. 1) The Iraq War. Even amongst the hard core pro-military faction that is more prevalent in the south than elsewhere, support for this war is dropping like a stone. And if congressional hearings demonstrate that Bush deliberately lied to start the war, that might be decisive. 2) The Walter Reed scandal. Southerners support the troops probably more than other regions. For the US to neglect the wounded vets probably will cause more outrage there than elsewhere. Put it together, and enough southern voters could revolt from the GOP and put the region in play. It only takes a migration of a few percent to tip the scales the other way. [/QUOTE] 1. More and more working- and middle-class southerners are going to wake up to the fact that the GOP’s **economic** policies were not formulated with their best interests in mind. See [_Foxes in the Henhouse,_](http://www.amazon.com/Foxes-Henhouse-Republicans-Heartland-Democrats/dp/0743286529/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-9788122-0265632?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173389829&sr=8-1) by Steve Jarding and David “Mudcat” Saunders. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/49 "2007-03-09T17:00:16Z")
I guess [this is his way of kicking off his campaign](http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-gingrich9mar09,1,699446.story?coll=la-news-a_section): > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) was having an extramarital affair while he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group. Run, Newt, run! Isn’t it a bad thing for a campaign to have news stories coming out entitled [Newt’s Zipper Issue](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/03/09/BL2007030900530.html) even before the campaign has started? Man, the Republicans are in a shitstorm of disarray. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of numbnuts. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/50 "2007-03-09T17:43:38Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] Isn’t it a bad thing for a campaign to have news stories coming out entitled [Newt’s Zipper Issue](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/03/09/BL2007030900530.html) even before the campaign has started? [/QUOTE] From Newt’s POV, it was going to come out anyway, better now than later. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/51 "2007-03-09T17:51:38Z")
I think he’s in now. Otherwise he’d just have kept mum about the whole thing. He must have figured there was too much evidence out there to hide this one anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/52 "2007-03-09T17:55:53Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Lance Murdoch] I think he’s in now. Otherwise he’d just have kept mum about the whole thing. He must have figured there was too much evidence out there to hide this one anymore. [/QUOTE] That’s my reading, too. He’s pre-emptively admitting that he’s a hypocrite. And this makes for a fun new debate: “Who had the worse first day on the campaign trail: Gingrich or Biden?” ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/53 "2007-03-09T18:16:12Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Gave back an advance for a book deal after jumping on Jim Wright for same thing 300k Not really the same thing - he wrote a real book; Wright’s “book” was a compliation of his speeches sold primarily to lobbyists. > [@](#): > > Family values.. after many affairs yet went hard after Clinton for same thing _:sigh:_ Trying this again? Could you provide a cite that Clinton was impeached for adultery? > [@](#): > > Dems filed 84 ethical violations against Newton As I recall, you are off by about 500. > [@](#): > > There’s a basic problem with the ‘hang back and wait for everyone else to look like crap before jumping in’ approach, completely aside from the fact that if you were going to look like crap if you’d run early, the crap’s still there waiting to find you. Or you can announce it pre-emptively, as Newt is trying to do, and then let them wear themselves out accusing you of doing things you have already admitted. I assume only Hilary is eligible for the “old scandals don’t count” defense. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/54 "2007-03-09T18:22:59Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] _:sigh:_ Trying this again? Could you provide a cite that Clinton was impeached for adultery? [/QUOTE] _double :sigh:_ He **was** impeached for adultery and you know it. Lying under oath was the nominal charge simply because it was all they had, adultery itself being no crime. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/55 "2007-03-09T18:47:47Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] _double :sigh:_ He **was** impeached for adultery and you know it. [/QUOTE] You’re lying, obviously. Your own post shows that you are lying - you can’t be impeached for something that isn’t a crime. _:shrugs:_ Contemptible. But not surprising. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/56 "2007-03-09T18:51:45Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] Your own post shows that you are lying - you can’t be impeached for something that isn’t a crime. [/QUOTE] Cite. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/57 "2007-03-09T19:34:21Z")
[Newt on the Rule of Law:](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030900086.html) > [@](#): > > He declared: "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law Yet, at the time he was boffing his bimbo, and leading the charge against Clinton, [Adultery was a crime in Georgia:](http://www.gpc.edu/~wbroadwe/gamarriage.htm) > [@](#): > > Up until 2003, marriage was the only relationship in which sexual intercourse between consenting adults was lawful. It was a crime known as fornication for unmarried persons to have sex even if it was consensual (the age of consent for sex in Georgia is 16). Newt needs to do his time, like Clinton, before we can consider forgiving his indiscretion. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/58 "2007-03-09T22:00:23Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] [Newt on the Rule of Law:](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030900086.html) Yet, at the time he was boffing his bimbo, and leading the charge against Clinton, [Adultery was a crime in Georgia:](http://www.gpc.edu/~wbroadwe/gamarriage.htm) [/quote] Uh oh! He’s on the wrong side of family values _and_ law and order. What will this do to the women’s vote for him (presuming they aren’t down with infections on election day)? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/59 "2007-03-09T22:51:59Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] . . . you can’t be impeached for something that isn’t a crime. [/QUOTE] [Andrew Johnson was.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson#Impeachment) (Of course, an impeachment charge of “adultery and sexual immorality” would have been preposterous even by **those** standards.) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475/60 "2007-03-10T01:33:50Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] Your own post shows that you are lying - you can’t be impeached for something that isn’t a crime. [/QUOTE] Congress can impeach for whatever reason it wants; can be a crime, but doesn’t have to be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-newt-gingrich-run-for-potus/394475.md?page=4)