In recent months, polls have been kind to GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich. Voters appear to be jumping to the side of the former House Speaker, with the Georgian edging Mitt Romney at a national level.
As for conservative media outlets, the feeling toward Gingrich has leaned more toward cold, headed by a premiere right-wing publication. The National Review published a forceful editorial on Wednesday, cautioning voters against granting Gingrich the GOP nomination. The piece notes how Republicans have a major opportunity within their grasp — a chance to win back the White House. To make that a reality, the editors say Gingrich is not the best fit.
“We fear that to nominate former Speaker Newt Gingrich, the frontrunner in the polls, would be to blow this opportunity,” the editorial states.
The editors went on to slam Gingrich’s character flaws during his time in office in the 1990s, noting that it was right for his tenure as House Speaker to end.
“…his impulsiveness, his grandiosity, his weakness for half-baked (and not especially conservative) ideas — made him a poor Speaker of the House. Again and again he combined incendiary rhetoric with irresolute action, bringing Republicans all the political costs of a hardline position without actually taking one. Again and again he put his own interests above those of the causes he championed in public.”
Gingrich’s complicated relationship with the conservative press has been apparent in recent weeks. Right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh called attention to the issue last Wednesday, saying there appeared to be a “coordinated” effort against the current GOP frontrunner.
(Source: HuffPost)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
7 Responses
“bringing Republicans all the political costs of a hardline position without actually taking one. ”
Is this true? Is he all talk, no follow through?
It is important for conservative media to viciously attack Gingrich and Romney since to win the election they need to get moderate/centrist votes, and what better way to do so than being called “moderate” by the conservatives. Let Obama appeal to his base, the winner is the one who gets the center.
Romney has to overcome his resume, and Gingrich has to overcome his big mouth, but they’re both reasonable candidates.
now that the national review gave fuel to the left to use during the general election, what will the national review do if Gingrich gets elected despite them? Endorse Obama? Really, a house divided cannot stand.
The parenthesis “(and not especially conservative)” says it all. According to true-blue conservatives (or even liberal) publications, either you follow the party line completely or they will blast you. This is in a nutshell why Gingrich is interesting…and even more so…why he has an excellent change of winning both the nomination and the election. SECHEL tells you that it sometimes makes sense to be selective in your positions. ….and the point they recently bring against Gingrich is that he was shown in a picture with Arafat…maybe he tried to work with Arafat and saw that he was a phoney through and through. So now Gingrich has grown. He also is not afraid to publicly state that there will be a decades long battle against radical Islam. B”H he is “zany”. He is not afraid to tell the truth. As far as his “ethical lapses” he is no worse than Bill Clinton, the liberal media darling.
Nothing upsets unthinking conservatives (I do not consider “unthinking” to be redundant of the word that follows it) more than the possibility that a question might not have an easy answer. Hence the anguish, expressed above, by some conservatives over having to choose between Newt and Mitt, and the cognitive dissonance of a respected conservative organ’s (National Review magazine) opposition to a current unthinking-conservative favorite.
Just to be clear, my first choice for president in 2012 is the incumbent. My first choice for his opponent is currently Mr. Romney, even if he is the Republican candidate most likely to defeat the incumbent, because (i) there is a possibility that the current incumbent may not be re-elected no matter who the Republicans run, and (ii) Mr. Romney is the only Republican candidate who does not scare me.
Personally I felt Gingrich was the better of the 2 however I just don’t think he can beat Obama, he just seems like he is all talk. He is lacking something. Romney I was never sold on but he has a charima to him and he can beat Obama he is the lesser of 2 evils if yiu will. Ron Paul rubs me the same way as Gingrich does. As far I’m concerned I’m going with the person who can beat Obama. MCKain could not beat Obama. Huckabee could have but his campaign manager messed him up. In any event this whole election is gonna suck who ever winsbut hopefully Obama will not have a chance.
#6, I think Newt is the only one who can stop Obama. He can and will put him in his place, and call him on all his horrible actions for the past 3 years. He’s the only one of all the candidates who says “The emperor has no clothes!” I don’t think Romney will do that; he’s too wishy washy. In order to win with the American people, the Republican candidate has to stand up to Obama’s stupid shtick, and call him on all his lies. Do you think Romney can do that? He’s too nice!