Newt Gingrich's road show bombs

[marmar]

WASHINGTON -- The very sharp and largely negative reaction to Newt Gingrich's first days on the presidential campaign trail say as much about the requirements of modern campaigning as they do about the former House speaker's politics.

Gingrich, to be sure, has hardly made life easy for himself. His critique of House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan's Medicare voucher plan was bound to irritate the conservative base, which is already convinced that the Wisconsin Republican's proposal wasn't getting a fair shake. His call for new, targeted spending measures to encourage economic savings and growth made for a screeching contrast with the party's austerity mindset.

By Tuesday, damage had clearly been done. A Wall Street Journal editorial declared -– after an interview with the Georgia Republican, no less -- that "Mr. Gingrich speaks loudly but shrinks from hard choices." An Iowa Republican voter, while literally refusing to stop holding Gingrich's hand, called him "an embarrassment to our party." Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.), apparently unprompted, called up CNN to admonish the former speaker for cutting Ryan "off at the knees."

The irony is that Gingrich's position on the Ryan plan really hasn't changed at all. On April 22, he put up a Facebook post in which he said he preferred proposals offered by former Democratic Congressional Budget Office director Alice Rivlin and former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), which would make Medicare vouchers voluntary. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/17/newt-gingrich-medicare-paul-ryan_n_863068.html