Strange how the same people who attack the President for "thinking he's so smart" LOVE Newt because

[EffieBlack]

he's supposedly "so smart."

For example:

Newt Gingrich, Intelligent But Unelectable? Power Outsiders Pond

Gingrich's intellect, on regular display in a series of nationally televised candidate debates, stands out as the core of his appeal. We asked respondents for one word to describe Gingrich, and their answers were overwhelmingly positive (70 percent), with the list dominated by "intelligent," "smart," "brilliant" and "knowledgeable." In fact, synonyms describing intelligence accounted for 41 percent of all responses.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/newt-gingrich-polls-power-outsiders-intelligent-unelectable_n_1095847.html

Newt Gingrich: Smartest Man in the Room

Watch the way he handles the leftist reporters in these clips of the last debate. Can you imagine how he would wipe the floor with Obama in a one-on-one debate." Conservative Patriot. http://conpats.blogspot.com/2011/11/newt-gingrich-smartest-man-in-room.html

Gingrich - Without question, the smartest man in the room.
Without question, the smartest man in the room. Watch the other candidates seemingly looking at him in awe when he is answering the questions with specifics, historical context as well as current application to fix our Countries many/many issues and problems.
http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2011/11/gingrich-without-question-smartest-man.html

They don't even realize how clearly they're highlighting their bigotry . . . their problem is not that a president or presidential candidate is smart. They just hate the fact that a BLACK president not only is smart, but KNOWS he's smart.

In other words, the President is uppity.

[CakeGrrl]

1. Yep. Busted.

But it's been pretty obvious from the go, at least for me.

[TlalocW]

2. I love the people who say that Newt would wipe the floor with Obama

They're basing this off of debates he's having with morons. Yeah, it's not hard to shine there when 90% of your strategy is just to let the other people talk and make asses of themselves.

TlalocW

[FrenchieCat]

3. He doesn't even shine with the other clowns.....

Even if the media keeps telling us that he does.

[ellisonz]

5. Warning! Hold your beverages away from your electronics...

[davidpdx]

14. -

[davidpdx]

16. The alternative version

I just couldn't resist...

[karynnj]

8. I have wondered when anyone in the media would say what you wrote

Given that Perry seeming to know less about elections than it would take to pass a 6th grade test, Paul often far from the mainstream, Romney more "plastic like" than any candidate in recent memory, and Cain sounding like SNL wrote his answers, if he really were so brilliant, it would have been obvious. Yet, he has, at best, been kind of in the background. It is hard to remember anything he has said or done in any debate. (I remember just his referencing Reagan and saying they should not attack each other and a rather "nothing" exchange with Romney when Romney pointed out that Gingrich was for the mandate before he was.) There was no brilliance.

The good news is that he will get more time and will want to dazzle - just what he needs to say something startling and not at all brilliant.

The longest real debate I saw Gingrich have was with Kerry on climate change. Even right wing accounts credit Kerry as winning. It would be kind of hard to do otherwise -by the end of the debate, Gingrich had agreed climate change was real, manmade and urgent -the position Kerry had long held.

[EffieBlack]

6. "Debates he's having with morons."

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[ellisonz]

4. I'm going to be less nice about this as the campaign develops.

A victory for the GOP in 2012 is a victory for racism in America.

[DonCoquixote]

13. yes but

you know Jane hamsher will spin it as a victory for women as it will clear the way for Hillary 2016.

[MadMaddie]

23. It's bigger than just racism...It will be the final demise of

America as we know it..

[Cosmocat]

7. It is the standard MO across the board ...

they are infants, truly, and just spew in mass whatever nonsense some profiteer leader throws out to them at any given time.

they have LONG lost any desire to have intellectual consistency or honesty.

[BeyondGeography]

9. Everyone thinks they're going to kick Obama's ass in a debate

Then all of a sudden they're wondering why their nose is bleeding 30 or 40 minutes in and the other guy looks pretty fresh.

[babylonsister]

10. Rec'd. 'Strange' indeed, and a whole lot more. nt

[TlalocW]

11. The other thing I'm just now remembering

Is how full of himself he was after 1994. In the book, "Tell Newt to Shut Up," time and time again, Clinton was able to win him over to his side by applying a little intelligence and charm or just plain outmaneuver him because he was so full of hubris. If Newt does grab the nomination, the first big meltdown will come when during a debate with Obama, the moderator or Obama brings up the kids as janitors idea. Obama will be totally prepared as to why this is a bad idea - from costs to culture to GPAs - that Newt will be buried and not be able to come back with anything.

TlalocW

[treestar]

12. Yeah, really, I thought it was elitist to have that Harvard Education?

:rofl: Republicans really are hypocrites.

[davidpdx]

15. Well the second two links are nothing but blog drivel, so take it for what's worth

That said, I don't think Gingrich is exceptionally smart, but he does take positions that are well thought out (I'm not by any means saying I agree with him on anything). He would be a much better debate opponent then Romney in my opinion.

In terms of the Huffington Post article (side note: I've never liked them and don't think they are a reputable source), one thing that stood out was toward the end:

Some raised these issues as a way of articulating their doubts about his electability:

"A lot of people view him as a hypocrite based on his own personal life, rightly or wrongly."
"His personal past is still very difficult for many people to get past."
"His multiple marriages are a problem for many women."

I think his campaign is underestimating how much his baggage will harm him. Even if he won the nomination, independents are going to quickly start paying attention and both his baggage and hypocrisy will hurt him badly.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

17. Always a double standard when it comes to Democrats. Smart Democrats are "elitists"

Smart Republicans are well..."smart" and "thoughtful." :puke::puke:

[Enrique]

18. they did the same thing with John Kerry

anti-intellectualism is very old in the GOP.

Like many things in the universe, it didn't begin with Obama.

[Empowerer]

19. But it's been taken to a new level with Obama-in frequency, intensity and tone

I know that you rarely seem willing to acknowledge that any treatment of Obama is based on his race, but the reality is that some of it is. And this is a perfect example of it.

[Enrique]

20. nope, not on the "too smart" attack

Obama actually gets less of that than both Kerry and Gore did. Obama definitely gets some, no doubt about it, but not as much as Kerry and Gore. Clinton didn't get it very much either, even though he was very smart.

[EffieBlack]

21. I think you're missing the nuance here

They don't complain that the President is "too smart." Their complaint is that he THINKS he's smarter than they are. Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Al Gore, etc. were never attacked to such a degree for THINKING they were smart.

For these people, it's bad enough that the President is as intelligent as he is, but they have a real problem with the notion that he might actually THINK he's the smartest guy in the room - that's the very essence of "uppityness."

There is clearly a racial dimension in this, regardless how hard you try to cast this as purely a partisan issue.

[marlakay]

22. Its okay for their peeps to be educated and rich

but god forbid ours if they are…

basically its anything that helps themselves. I love what Colbert did last night showing how Fox guy treated Bush with kid gloves but treated Romney like crap and actually gave him hard questions.

If our side can just learn to message like they do we would win every time because our message has a lot more fact and truth in it.