David Frum: The Coming GOP Gingrich Freakout

[babylonsister]

http://www.frumforum.com/the-coming-gop-gingrich-freakout

The Coming GOP Gingrich Freakout
David Frum

snip//

The most important thing to remember about Gingrich is not the three marriages, not the dubious financial practices, not the abrupt reversals on healthcare mandates and climate change. It’s not the grandiosity of language, not the habit of casting opponents as un-American, not the lack of self-awareness that allowed him to impeach a president for lying under oath about an extramarital affair while engaged in an extramarital affair of his own.

The most important thing to remember about Newt Gingrich is that his colleagues in the House of Representatives effectively fired him as their leader even before the impeachment crisis, shifting power instead into the more competent hands of Tom DeLay. It was Tom DeLay who ran the caucus while Newt Gingrich was traveling the country giving speeches about Total Quality Management and the Struggle for Western Civilization.

Gingrich was not pushed aside by his caucus for any of the offenses listed above. He was pushed aside because he plunged the caucus into chaos, because he lost fights that he himself had chosen, because he could not control his mouth, because he wanted to be a star more than he wanted to get things done. There’s a reason Gingrich is fascinated by management gurus: he needs the help.

That weakness in Gingrich will not now abruptly change. The chaos that surrounded him as Speaker, the chaos that engulfed his presidential campaign earlier this year – that chaos will replicate itself again. But when? It’s less than 5 weeks to the New Hampshire primary. Perhaps Gingrich can behave himself till then, in which case Mitt Romney has a big problem on his hands. But it’s more than 8 full months to the Republican convention in Tampa.

Prediction: if Gingrich has emerged as the nominee by then, the mood of that convention will be full unconcealed panic.

[tridim]

1. I still wonder if Newt is doing this as payback to the party that shunned him.

His run makes more sense that way.

[Cigar11]

3. I know how you feel :)

[Cal33]

16. That woul be behavior typical for a sociopath. And the top positions of the

GOP are replete with them: Gingrich, Walker, Kasich, Boehner, Cantor ...
ad infinitum ... Sick people in positions of power. If the Greedy
Obscene Party should win in Nov. 2012, God help our nation!!

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

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[opihimoimoi]

2. The very thought of "Full unconcealed panic" sent me into stitches LOL

[Bogart]

4. Have establishment Democrats ever gone after one of their own with this level of intensity?

I don't know that much about Gringrich--I wonder how he got this far with so many enemies.

[eridani]

8. Yes--higher ups in the party worked directly agains McGovern n/t

[Bogart]

12. Your response prompted me to learn who McGovern was...

Wow...! You are right--many Democrats hated him. This pretty much sums it up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrats_for_Nixon

He was an anti-war candidate with impeccable credentials and he was a fiscal conservative (my kind of Democrat).

McGovern ran on a platform that advocated withdrawal from the Vietnam War in exchange for the return of American prisoners of war<141> and amnesty for draft evaders who had left the country.<142>

McGovern's platform also included an across-the-board, 37% reduction in defense spending over three years;<143> and a "demogrant" program (later dropped from the platform) that would replace the personal income tax exemption with a $1,000 tax credit as a minimum-income floor for every citizen in America,<144> to replace the welfare bureaucracy and complicated maze of existing public-assistance programs. Its concept (a conservative one) was similar to the negative income tax long advocated by economist Milton Friedman...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_McGovern#1972_presidential_campaign

[eridani]

24. Your response makes me feel really, really old

:evilgrin:

[Bogart]

29. Actually, it should make you feel really, really wise :)

the more I learn about this guy, the more I like him. It seems to me that his understanding of the realities of war, is what led him to oppose the war.

Aware that McGovern had been at 22 a decorated Army Air Force pilot who had flown 35 combat missions (the maximum number allowed), I urged the McGovern managers to film a couple of members of the flight crew telling how terrified they were the day McGovern, with two of his plane's four engines knocked out, somehow managed through skill and strength an emergency landing of his B-24 (which required a 5,000 foot landing strip) on a 2,200 foot runway on an island in the Adriatic.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/conversation/july-dec01/wildblue_8-16.html#

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. I love the smell of panic in the morning

especially coming from the GOP camp.

[totodeinhere]

6. And why am I going to listen to David Frum? He was a Neocon Bush enabler

of the worst kind. His priority here is to make sure that his establishment buddy Romney gets the nomination. There is nothing else to see here.

[Enthusiast]

11. Up until recently he was a full time RW propagandist.

No reason to assume he has changed.

[Jennicut]

27. All of this is true but he does offer a fascinating perspective on why

so many in Newt's own party dislike him so much. I mean, I knew he was kicked out as speaker I just never knew he was that chaotic a leader.

[CanisCrocinus]

7. The thing I like most about this

campaign season is watching Reagan's "11th Commandment" -- "thou shalt speak no ill of a fellow Republican" - get all shot to hell. :-)

[sufrommich]

14. Yep, it's a beautiful thing. nt

[Enthusiast]

21. It is most gratifying.

[mikekohr]

9. How nice is this? nt

[Enthusiast]

10. Newt would make the worst possible POTUS.

Well, let me qualify that. You could elect Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck -that might be worse. But not much worse, if at all.

Elect Newt Gingrich and prepare yourself for WWIII.

[Ikonoklast]

18. No, he would be the best one.

Because he would be the *last* one in living memory...if the country survived the catastrophe of Newt being POTUS.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

20. He already believes we're currently in WWIV!

n/t

[sufrommich]

13. The GOP are in a no-win situation right now. If it's Gingrich,

it will basically be the GOP crazy train exposed and in full view of the American public, he may (inexplicably) appeal to the teabaggers,but the average voter will reject Gingrich once his warts are exposed.
Or it will be Romney, who is so disliked by your average republican that ,if he wins, we can expect a demoralized and angry GOP base who will stay home. I honestly think if Gingrich or Romney wins, the GOP will write off the election, they'll go through the act of running a candidate, but they're hearts won't be in it.

[Moostache]

15. Do not write them off so easily...that would be a fatal mistake.

They most definitely won't just go through the motions...the Tea Zealots all believe Obama is the anti-Christ, so no matter that Gingrich is a foul, loathsome hypocrite or Romney is a weirdo, cult-member noodle-boy, they will show up to vote AGAINST Obama as much as for anyone else.

[DCBob]

17. I fear a brokered convention with a fresh nominee that is relatively clean..

eg.. Jeb Bush. He would be seen as the "saviour" of the party and most Republicans would rally around him.. including many independents. He would get a huge boost from the excitement of the convention and the news buzz and that might be enough to last until the elections. Democratic strategists need to be prepared for this possibility.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

19. I agree it should be a concern

However, wouldn't the fact that it was a brokered convention make some people uneasy/uncertain about the party that had to do it(has a brokered convention produced a winning candidate?). Would a JEB Bush nomination automatically be embraced by everybody in the GOP and/or the public? I have my doubts. His actions regarding Schiavo didn't sit well among most people if I remember correctly. Plus he WAS governor at the time of the 2000 election too.

[DCBob]

22. Most are already "uneasy/uncertain" about the party...

and I think most would see this as a positive move away from the mess that has been going on with the current candidates. Of course anything can happen but its a troubling scenario that I think could happen and Democrats need to be prepared for it.

[Hawkowl]

30. This is the goal of the GOP establishment

I believe that the reason we the media is pushing a new front runner every other month is too make them ALL competitive for the party nomination. This keeps it interesting for the media and more importantly, allows the GOP establishment, who are pulling the strings, to ensure none of these ass clowns wins enough delegates to win the nomination. The establishment then gets to pick their saviour, AND makes a mockery of the entire primary process which can then be "reformed" away into a more dictatorial, top down, stately affair for the next election.

I believe they have someone waiting in the wings, who is going to swoop in and will have a good chance to beat Obama simply because from convention to election is only 9 WEEKS! The corrupt media won't be able to do anything but build the nominee up in order to make it a true "horse race".

[woo me with science]

31. Yep, or some general,

because we're headed for even bigger, better wars!

[high density]

25. It just means the Wurlitzer will go into overdrive

They've already got at least 40% of the country consistently believing that down is up... Not too much farther to go.

[maximusveritas]

26. I'm hoping he keeps it together until after the convention

You know the GOP bigwigs are going to try to pick on any perceived slip-up as an excuse to fall back to the "safety nominee" Romney.

[Douglas Carpenter]

28. Rachel dissects the Tea Party and explains why they love Newt

link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#45620578

.