Or he is just clueless on why the GOP made such huge gains last November.

Seriously. It’s like we don’t want to win. The spine factory was taxed out of business…

These guys are just too old and over the hill to get it.

What demographic are they going for???

The Federal Government needs to get out of the healthcare business period.

We don’t need a British style NHS. Look what a success that has been /sarc.

Newt & Mitt – hang it up and go home.

Why did he get in the race if he’s Obama Jr? Maybe it’s the Republican establishment’s way of telling us our choices are radical Progressives or Progressive Lite. This, plus LUR’s report about unionizing OMB, tells me the republic is gasping its last breaths.

against a person, but with Gingrich I do. For him to divorce his first wife while she was battling cancer only to again leave his second wife shortly after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, demonstrates this guys mindset, values, character, commitment, etc.

So it is of no surprise that what was once the conservative guy who brought about the conservative revolution all of a sudden bounces over to the dark side. He is about what makes him feel good at the moment, he is about himself, and sacrifice, commitment, and honor are as foreign to Newt as they are to Obama.

The upside to Newt is that he doesn’t have defenders.

See ya, Newt.

First, the John Kerry debate on climate change, then the PSA with Nancy Pelosi, and now this? Is Next trying to challenge Biden?

Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously.

So Ryan’s plan is right-wing social engineering and but Mitt’s individual mandate is not. I think they have therapy for this sort of disconnect.

From Rush:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_011408/content/01125111.guest.html

Newt lost me forever on that alone, and he keeps adding more to dislike him for any office.

No need to take on the candidates w/ name recognition when you can just stand on the sidelines for now and watch them self-destruct.

Even a really smart guy is not smarter than everybody else combined. The core of conservatism and American exceptionalism is that government stays the heck out of the way and lets individual Americans make smart individual choices that improve both the individual and the common good.

Even a really smart guy is not smarter than everybody else combined. The core of conservatism and American exceptionalism is that government stays the heck out of the way and lets individual Americans make smart individual choices that improve both the individual and the common good.

I mean in the 90s he was the guy. We believed iin him and his Contract with America. Now it is Ryan’s time in the sun and Newt can’t stand it.

Or he just doesn’t like what is happening in the GOP.

I just hope someone from his campaign call me asking for money.

Newt represents to me the old GOP, that I think we should work hard to get away from.

THIS is what the primaries are all about. THIS is why polls this early are useless.

Suddenly, we get to hear, first hand, from the the horses’ mouths (-or whatever) what these candidates REALLY think on the stump. Some will shine, others will wilt.

It’s not white papers, it’s not break-out sessions, it’s not opinion pieces: It’s raw, unscripted, Q&A. Which, by the way, is what governing is.

Thanks, Newt, for providing me with a reason to cross you off my list– which is too bad, because I had at least a glimmer of hope that you would, rhetorically speaking, be able to punch your way out of the leftist-media complex bag. Instead, you’ve slapped it over your own head, and now you are asphyxiating yourself with it. Too bad.

…just ended.

….they’ve got a long trail of “pro-mandate” comments/actions that they can’t run away from.

Our best “shot on goal”, so to speak, of getting rid of Obamacare is the Supreme Court ruling it is unconstitutional next year. Every single candidate ought to be talking about the unconstitutionality of the individual mandate…not defending it or variations of it.

It’s not constitutional. Period. And we weaken that argument when Newt & Romney are out there defending it…or variations of it.

to take an American history class from Newt. I think he’d be awesome.

I don’t want him to be President.

He says his 1993Meet The Press statement on individually-mandated HC vouchers he says differentiates from Obama’s legislation of a Federal fiat. REALLY?
Now Newt agrees with Romney, in that all Americans be held responsible to help pay for healthcare, saying that free riders apart from system should be held accountable. Newt’s stated triple choice HC proposal, that is, “either have health insurance or you post a bond, or in some way, you indicate you’re going to be held accountable”– Newt believes would set up a range of options designed by economy, rather than the DC. REALLY??

And what if individuals choose none of the above? Because that’s what the free market should allow, free choices, Mr. Speaker.

Huck is out and Newt obviously is not an option. Pawlenty seems like the GOP’s answer to Walter Mondale.

Sigh.

The question to ask after this interview is: WHO STOLE NEWT’S BRAIN?

He’s now against “radical conservative change” because he doesnt like ‘radical’ and ‘change’…

I mean, after “Real Solutions” and “Real Change” and his willingness to blue sky so many great ideas and things????

I wouldnt mind if Newt made a critique of the Ryan plan, but base it constructively on ‘here’s what I’d do better’ and couch it in a “at least the Republicans have a solution to the impending bankruptcy of medicare, the Democrat just want to step on the gas pedal as we drive off the cliff.”

But Newt dissed it by calling it ‘radical’, when it is hardly radical but more like the minimum necessary to fix the budget crisis that looms.

Washington DC is disconnected from the rest of the country and the politicos and pundits get disconnected as well. This is why formerly good Republican conservatives go wobbly on us after some years. Such politicians end up needing to be retired.

Newt, alas, I thought you were made of sterner stuff than that. That sitting on the sofa with nancy Pelosi was indeed a ‘jump the shark’ moment … enjoy your retirement, you won’t be the nominee.

…back after the 2006 debacle. I think he was trying to push the message that the GOP needs to get back to it’s conservative roots (often speaking of Reagan’s “bold colors, not pale pastels” remark).

But now it appears that he is being too “smart”, calculating, wonky, whatever for his own good. This is in addition to the fact that he is advocating big government, nanny-state ideas that disgust and repel the conservative/tea-party base that realizes that the federal government is bankrupt and the bill is coming due.

I am thinking more and more that the GOP primary is going to be steered (if not dominated) by candidates who simply, unapologetically, and in non “DC speak” promote grass-root conservatism. So far, it appears this would be limited to Cain, Paul, and Palin (if she gets in). Everyone else (Mitt, Newt, Santorum) smacks of that equivocating, floundering, hypocritical, uber-politician speak/vibe. (Still don’t know where Pawlenty, Daniels, and a couple other undeclared candidates will fall in that spectrum).

Way too many reasons not to vote for Newt now.

We will survive without him.
Makes me wonder who his advisory team is?

I hope there is someone waiting in the wings. If I was such a person, I would wait longer to jump in the race right now as well. Let the existing group take the media hits for the team while providing ACTION PLANS to help America recover.

Educate, educate, educate.

The party has changed since your 1996 debacle. Time to change partys or just go away, please!

The party has changed since your 1996 debacle. Time to change partys or just go away, please!

Newt’s right in regards to there being several ways for working folks to have some continuity of paying for care.

If folks are sold on the notion that coverage must be offered to those without prior coverage, there are all sorts of financial tools commonly used to spread payments out over time to cover the time and missing contributions to catastrophic pools of coverage one might have gone without coverage — including a finance charge… In other words, their coverage will cost enough to make up payments into the pool that they didn’t make.

Such a system would also be most compatible with high deductible catastrophic coverage offered as part of Medical Savings Accounts…

This doesn’t define an individual mandate, nor a bond, but rather common sense financing brought back into medical coverage. Folks who want to pay more by skipping out on catastrophic coverage, could roll the dice.

Sure, there will be some folks unable to pay, but hows that going to be any different with or without an individual mandate? Some will always end up getting care through some sort of charity care option — including but not limited to Medicaid and Medicare…

Newt just lost me as one of his longtime newsletter subscribers & overall supporters. What the hell kind of answers were those if you really consider yourself a conservative? I didn’t like all his baggage before and now I don’t like his ideas… and those were his only real draw.

Newt just lost me as one of his longtime newsletter subscribers & overall supporters. What the hell kind of answers were those if you really consider yourself a conservative? I didn’t like all his baggage before and now I don’t like his ideas… and those were his only real draw.

Unsubscribing… above.

Newt is already the nominee in his mind and running to the middle. He is the enlightened conservative that understands that the educated elite must manage the unruly masses. Solutions, not principles.

Make sense now?

…you seem to have an awful habit of pooping in your own nest !

…you seem to have an awful habit of pooping in your own nest !

Newt served his purpose in 1994. He got the Contract With America in front of the voters and showed them an alternative to the Democrats.

He was an energetic spokesman for conservatism. He had lots of ideas and was able to articulate them to the average voter.

Now he’s lost touch. He’s swallowed the Potomac Pond Scum and become “one of them”: A statist social conservative hypocrite.

…just showed us he is (1) Not a Republican or even a Conservative, (2) Loves a tyranny government, (3) Has no problem enslaving the citizens, (4) All the Above.

Able to cross two names off the list in just two short days…one by his own choice and one because of a severe case of hoof and mouth disease. Didn’t want to have to vote for either one of them and now I won’t have to. Thank you!

Able to cross two names off the list in just two short days…one by his own choice and one because of a severe case of hoof and mouth disease. Didn’t want to have to vote for either one of them and now I won’t have to. Thank you!

What’s the difference? The difference is huge.

I strongly oppose the individual mandate that will be part of Obamacare (if not happily struck down) not so much because the government would be requiring people to purchase a product but because they would be requiring many people to purchase a product at a vastly unfair and inflated price.

Liberals always bring up the (false) parallel of government requiring people to purchase car insurance but without ever closely examining the argument. Most states require drivers to purchase liability as well as uninsured motorist insurance — and yet, despite the purchase being mandatory – car insurance rates have not soared.

The reasons for this would be worth examining, I would expect that it has a lot to do with government interfering a lot less in the car insurance industry. Good drivers can be given much cheaper rates, bad drivers can be gouged appropriately. For e.g. a driver with a DUI(s) can expect his or her rates to double, triple or even quadruple.

Most people ( I would presume ) don’t have a problem with expecting drivers to carry some minimal insurance. I haven’t heard many people claiming it’s Unconstitutional and a massive overreach by the state governments.

IF, however, drivers who had never caused an accident or gotten so much as a ticket were suddenly required to carry full coverage insurance even if they owned their car outright and to pay vastly higher premiums so as to pay the same rate as those who are an ongoing menace — there would be outrage.

And that pretty closely parallels the situation with Obamacare.

There could potentially be a form of individual mandate — or required bond — that would not be offensive. If, for example low risk candidates were allowed to purchase major medical only insurance – with a deductible of $20,000 – and either they or (for example) their parents were expected to sign a pledge and show some means of paying the first $20,000 – would anyone object?
And would anyone need to be coerced into paying it.

I haven’t read Judge Vinson’s entire decision (though I should) but I do remember him saying (among other points) that one of the problems he had with the individual mandate that is proposed as part of Obamacare, was that (and I’m paraphrasing) a young person in their twenties would not have the option of buying inexpensive catastrophe insurance whose cost was commensurate with their genuine risk level.

So, I disagree with Erick’s interpretation of Newt’s remarks (which he quoted)

As for Newt not agreeing with Paul Ryan’s exact proposal on how to reform Medicare. So what? Is agreeing with every single aspectg of the Ryan Proposal (not feeling inclined to modify, improve on, or propose a different approach towards any of it) now a requirement for being a conservative.

There’s nothing to suggest Former Speaker Gingrich is Anti- Ryan. He has been very much in step with Paul Ryan at other times. (For example, currently with regard to the debt ceiling.)

Newt’s big mantra is making government work more efficiently not reducing the size of government. Since his speakership he has become a solid Washington insider and show no interest in returning power and freedom to the states or the people.

I also have reservations about his leadership abilities. Several House members under his speakership considered him too scattered and unfocused when it came to getting the agenda accomplished. Delay was not a big fan of his leadership style.

I gather that he has some polling data along the lines of ’70-80% of Americans believe that everybody should pay some of their own healthcare’ and extended it to this. He seems to try to vamp on Reagan’s ability to find and focus on issues that the majority of the country agrees on. I wonder whether this just doesn’t reduce to him reading polls and basing his positions on that. Such an unprincipled approach to politics we do not need in a leader.

for the democrats! For the rest of us? HELL no!

Every time someone starts talking about Newt they always preface it with some version of, “Newt’s a smart guy. Probably the smartest gop guy out there.” Frankly,Newt is clueless. I guess the meaning of the 2010 election just whizzed right by him. . Why anyone considers this gas bag a candidate is beyond me.

Incidentally, the unibomber was considered brilliant. The problem was, he was also murderously crazy. Some times smart isn’t enough.

But we knew ye well enough – toodles!

Please tell me we have someone better to choose from.

I am just curious who is left to support him after he alienates virtually everyone. I imagine we will get about the same number of pro-Newt responses as we would pro-Johnson responses…

That DOES it! AS if his support of the human caused “climate change” hoax and propaganda spot with la Pelosi was not enough! Now he’s endorsing the statist unconstitutional individual mandate!

Newt is FINISHED as a GOP candidate. He now joins Mitt “Ronmeycare” Romney as utterly unacceptable to ANY genuine conservative. Shame really. He’s a great speaker-communicator and idea guy. He’d be a great candidate. But he has joined the RINO “socialism Lite” Republicans of the Dick Lugar, Lamar Alexander, Lindsay Graham school; guys we actually have to PURGE in the Republican primaries. Bye bye Newt.

I am the smartest guy in the room-itis, not unlike someone in the white house. True, Newt is the idea guy but it would be good if some of his ideas were good. Oh, and he’s NOT a conservative.

I am the smartest guy in the room-itis, not unlike someone in the white house. True, Newt is the idea guy but it would be good if some of his ideas were good. Oh, and he’s NOT a conservative.

I want all of the candidates to understand this and be able to recite it.

Republican Creed:

I do not choose to be a common man.

It is my right to be uncommon.

If I can seek opportunity, not security,

I want to take the calculated risk to dream and

build, to fail and to succeed.

I refused to barter incentive for dole.

I prefer the challenges of life to

guaranteed security, the thrill of fulfillment

to the state of calm utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence,

nor my dignity for a handout.

I will never cower before any master,

save my God.

It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and

unafraid. To think and act for myself, enjoy the

benefit of my creations; to face the whole world

boldly and say, “I am a free American.”

I can think of is him and Nancy sitting on the couch. If the dems cross over and vote for this guy like they did McCain, I’m voting third party.

I watched Newt on “Meet the Press” and I got a feeling he was trapped by David Gregory’s question and the videotape he played of Newt’s comments a decade ago. I don’t for a second think that a President Gringrich would force an individual mandate on America. The guy is the most connected to the Reagan philosophy of any candidate out there (he actually did some of the heavy lifting for Reagan.)

Here’s how it actually went down:

——

MR. GREGORY: All right, let me ask you about another hot-button issue in the Republican primary, of course, and that’s health care. Mitt Romney having to defend his proponent–that he was a proponent of universal health care in Massachusetts, and specifically around this idea of the individual mandate where you make Americans buy insurance if they don’t have it. Now, I know you’ve got big difference with what you call Obamacare. But back in 1993 on this program this is what you said about the individual mandate. Watch.

(Videotape, October 3, 1993)

REP. GINGRICH: I am for people, individuals–exactly like automobile insurance–individuals having health insurance and being required to have health insurance. And I am prepared to vote for a voucher system which will give individuals, on a sliding scale, a government subsidy so we insure that everyone as individuals have health insurance.
(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY: What you advocate there is precisely what President Obama did with his healthcare legislation, is it not?

REP. GINGRICH: No, it’s not precisely what he did. In, in the first place, Obama basically is trying to replace the entire insurance system, creating state exchanges, building a Washington-based model, creating a federal system. I believe all of us–and this is going to be a big debate–I believe all of us have a responsibility to help pay for health care. I think the idea that…

MR. GREGORY: You agree with Mitt Romney on this point.

REP. GINGRICH: Well, I agree that all of us have a responsibility to pay–help pay for health care. And, and I think that there are ways to do it that make most libertarians relatively happy. I’ve said consistently we ought to have some requirement that you either have health insurance or you post a bond…

MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.

REP. GINGRICH: …or in some way you indicate you’re going to be held accountable.

MR. GREGORY: But that is the individual mandate, is it not?

REP. GINGRICH: It’s a variation on it.

MR. GREGORY: OK.

REP. GINGRICH: But it’s a system…

MR. GREGORY: And so you won’t use that issue against Mitt Romney.

REP. GINGRICH: No. But it’s a system which allows people to have a range of choices which are designed by the economy. But I think setting the precedent–you know, there are an amazing number of people who think that they ought to be given health care. And, and so a large number of the uninsured earn $75,000 or more a year, don’t buy any health insurance because they want to buy a second house or a better car or go on vacation. And then you and I and everybody else ends up picking up for them. I don’t think having a free rider system in health is any more appropriate than having a free rider system in any other part of our society.

============================

That’s a different than just “endorsing an individual mandate.” That’s a master politician dodging the issue.

Newt Gingrich is the only one who could outfox Obama and the media – the rest of the Republican field (so far) is D.O.A. in the voting booth. Check out his ballsy reply to David Gregory’s hint that he was being racist in calling Obama the first “food stamp president” (referring to the fact that a record number of people are on food stamps, due to Obama’s policies.)

=========================

MR. GREGORY: First of all, you gave a speech in Georgia with language a lot of people think could be coded racially-tinged language, calling the president, the first black president, a food stamp president.

REP. GINGRICH: Oh, come on, David.

MR. GREGORY: What did you mean? What was the point?

REP. GINGRICH: That’s, that’s bizarre. That–this kind of automatic reference to racism, this is the president of the United States. The president of the United States has to be held accountable. Now, the idea that–and what I said is factually true. Forty-seven million Americans are on food stamps. One out of every six Americans is on food stamps. And to hide behind the charge of racism? I have–I have never said anything about President Obama which is racist.

MR. GREGORY: Well, what did you mean?

REP. GINGRICH: Well, it’s very simple. He has policies–and I used a very direct analogy. He follows the same destructive political model that destroyed the city of Detroit. I follow the model that Rick Perry and others have used to create more jobs in Texas. You know, Texas two out of the last four years created more jobs than the other 49 states combined. I’m suggesting we know how to create jobs. Ronald Reagan did it. I was part of that. We know how to create jobs. We did it when I was speaker. And, and the way you create jobs is you have lower taxes, you have less regulation, you have litigation reform. When the New York Stock Exchange puts its headquarters at Amsterdam, Holland and, by the way, follows 40 other companies in the last year; when General Electric pays zero in taxes; there’s something fundamentally wrong with the current system. The Obama system of the National Labor Relations Board basically breaking the law to try to punish Boeing and to threaten every right-to-work state. The Environmental Protection Agency trying to control the entire American economy by bureaucratic fiat. The Obama system’s going to lead us down the path to Detroit and destruction. I think we need a brand-new path. It’s a path of job creation. And one of the central themes of this campaign is going to be paychecks vs. food stamps.

==================

We need more Republicans like him who can slap down the stupidity of the media. And for you people who think Newt’s prior marriages make him unelectable:

Remember, Ronald Reagan was divorced, too.

Get real – Newt is no McCain-like R.I.N.O.

I think Newt’s goal is to be “Obama-lite” – he still aims to allow the progressives to move the government towards the Left, but at a much slower and subtle pace. I believe his thinking is that he’ll win the White House by garnering votes via name-recognition, the “Republican” label, and by presenting himself as a more experienced, not so socialist version of Obama. His rallying cry will be “Vote for me because I’m closer to the center than anybody else.” Unfortunately, the center has moved decidedly left. Here’s to hoping that Newt hamstrings himself trying to pull his foot from his mouth.

In January he tells us how good Ethanol subsidies are. Now he thinks Federal Mandates to buy insurance are a good thing. We’ve had enough of this kind of leadership.
Sorry, Newt. NO!

My mom is eligible for Medicare. She likes her private insurance coverage better. I am something over a decade,(closer to two), from retirement and, if needed, all I think I’d need is a voucher to offset the expense of health care coverage. (emphasis on IF needed.)

Two factors are against this kind of coverage.

First, there is the insurance industry, that loves the status quo: There is no bargain hunting going on by consumers enrolled into Medicare. The insurance industry is heavy invested in hospitals, HMOs, etc, using the high income generated from these to float the high cost of coverage. A three percent margin of profitability isn’t worth much, (insurance industry average), unless you’re a huge mega-corporation. Viewed another way, rending 3% fat from a squirrel isn’t going to net you much. Three percent from a whale, by comparison, is huge.

Second, Doctors are no different than any other human being. They, like we, want to earn the highest income with the least amount of work required to sustain it. Give the Medicare subscriber a voucher and, the competition is on to attract that Customer’s voucher their way. The voucher customer has a limited budget, so, the best value is going to be the theoretical winner. This competition forces leaner profits. And, competition will have the added benefit of driving down health care costs. (Tax payers and consumers win!)

So, to my thinking, there are at least two lobbies against a voucher system, which, to my thinking is the best possible solution to Medicare/Medicaid budgetary sustainability issues.

For these reasons, Gingritch is way off base on the issue and, is showing himself to be another DC Liberal, in Conservative costume, (RINO). (I think he may really have been a Conservative, long, long ago. It must have died when he decided politics was a vocation instead of an ideological imperative.)

I really hope Mitt does not run. Newt has already lost. Every time he opens his mouth he alienates everyone in the GOP in one way or another. Pawlenty, the media darling, is another blow dried heavily hair-sprayed mama’s boy from the suburbs with no military service or any other record of public service, except taking taxpayer money. Cain is the real Republican, the real conservative, the real deal. Pawlenty should get out and let a man do this. It is no place for a boy. CAIN-RUBIO 2012!

I want to add that, it isn’t by any means necessary to have a government mandate to carry insurance or a bond – as “Mitt” Gingritch insists. (A person with the means and no coverage is still liable to suit – Bankruptcy ain’t the get off scott-free it once was either.)

I don’t know about you but, I’m not hoping my next medical issue is terminal, so I can get away – without paying the bills.

I saw Newt last night on CSPAN, giving hsi stump talk to teh Georgia Republican Party Convention. He sounded good even with a cold. He sounded like the fundamental conservative with bright ideas he portrays until the D.C. in him comes out.

It almost makes me sad that someone who speaks that clearly and handles pointed questions that adroitly has this “Bad Newt” side. But as I mentioned in a response above, he’s lost me.

I saw Newt last night on CSPAN, giving hsi stump talk to teh Georgia Republican Party Convention. He sounded good even with a cold. He sounded like the fundamental conservative with bright ideas he portrays until the D.C. in him comes out.

It almost makes me sad that someone who speaks that clearly and handles pointed questions that adroitly has this “Bad Newt” side. But as I mentioned in a response above, he’s lost me.

If I had heard him say these things it would have ruined my whole weekend. what has happened to one great conservative. Is there something in the water that is turning these people into Zombies. Until I heard this i would have put my entire backing and support to Newt. Now i feel like i have been stabbed in the Heart. ;-(( I guess my only chance now is for Tim Pawlenty. I’m really beginning to get a sick feeling way down deep. I never thought i wuld live to see the end of my country. Obama is looking like a shoe-in for 2012 and if that happens it will be the end of the USA as we know it. He will be a lame-duck with nothing to lose for whatever law he signs into law. ;-((

Obama just couldn’t afford to pay Trump to run…
But Newt can be had for a bargain.

His criticism of Ryan on Hannity’s radio program.He stated that what he meant was that the American people must have “buy in” to all of the big changes that need to be made and that Washington should not just impose things one people. Sounds quite reasonable, BUT unfortunately that is NOT what he said on Meet The Press.

All of his walking back is all spin because he knows he just sunk himself. Gingrich is not new to politics nor the media. He was not ” trapped” by Gregory. He was spewing his establishment beliefs and showing himself to be the old GOP guard.

Not sure how he tried to spin the individual mandate thing.

Glad to see him walk it back but now he’s gotta make good with the party base. What Newt should of done is take a breathe and think for a second rather than feeling pressured to answer quickly. Makes me wonder what Romney will actually do if elected because Romneycare is the exact opposite of the Ryan plan.

I think Newt felt compelled knowing the liberal establishment will beat down on him if he sided with Ryan’s plan. The liberal media have trashed the plan….hell they went negative in less than 30 minutes after Ryan published the plan. Doubt they even read it at that juncture. No need to appeal to liberals, Obama tells them what to think as do his media sheeple.