Newt Gingrich, 1978, in a speech to College Republicans:
The great strength of the Democratic party in my lifetime has been that it has always produced young, nasty people who had no respect for their elders. Jimmy Carter, who, at 51 thought that Hubert Humphreys at 66 was over the hill. Jody Powell and Hamilton Jordan, who at 29 and 30 thought they could beat the pros. And I think that one of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don’t encourage you to be nasty. We encourage you to be neat, obedient, and loyal and faithful and all those Boy Scout words, which would be great around the camp fire, but are lousy in politics.
So, Republicans need to learn to be nasty? Noted.
Newt Gingrich, today, reacting to those attack ads in Iowa that are deflating his campaign’s bubble.
During the Q&A session of his event at a T-shirt factory in Hiawatha, Iowa, a man asked Newt Gingrich a question to which he surely knew the answer: Who is this Restore Our Future — the Romney-boosting super PAC — that is flooding Iowa’s TV and radio airwaves with ads slamming the former House speaker?
“I don’t know,” Gingrich soft-shoed. “It’s somebody’s superPAC but I don’t know which one is which.”He then used his phone-a-friend, calling out to spokesman R.C. Hammond.
“I think that’s Romney,” Hammond called from the back of the room.
“Well, that makes my point,” Gingrich said. “If you see Romney, ask him to take them off the air. I mean, you know, it would be nice if candidates were responsible for the things being done by the people who know them personally who are trying to help them get elected.”
He later closed his 37-minute session with this: “Ask (your friends) if they run into one of these candidates, to tell them they ought to be ashamed of themselves, to take this junk off the air. And don’t hide behind some baloney about the superPAC that I actually have no control over that happens to be run by five of my former staff. That’s just baloney.”
Back to that 1978 Gingrich speech:
And you have got to stand the heat. If you can’t stand the heat, you ought to get out of the business.
Gingrich is playing a political game. He’s portraying himself as being above all the nastiness in the Republican primary. Politicians being politicians is a source of neverending faux outrage for professional pundits.
I have to side with Gingrich on this. Nasty does not mean underhanded. Romney’s people are doing all kinds of things to work the system, like manipulating the NV caucus date, in order to promote him. I don’t mind if they do so, as long as Romney says that he endorses it.
“Politics ain’t beanbag. I am using legitimate means to influence the election. It isn’t just about the votes. There are political processes involved. I am not going to leave those unaddressed, nor shall I apologize for using them. I think it is imperative that Republicans learn to do this, because the Dems have been beating us all over the schoolyard in this area. No apologies.”
I could totally respect such an approach. I want folks who’ll brawl. We need some brawlers.
But Romney is not like that. He won’t dare to get his hair messed up. He gets others to do his dirty work, pretends to be above the fray. Eff that, you plastic mf!
Here is my rule: “I want them to hit hard, just not below the belt.” (TM)
And providing cover for Freddie Mac (for a nice salary) while fellow republicans were trying to rein in its dangerous policies wasn’t underhanded? I’ll save my sympathy for someone else.
Newt is as nasty as they come. Anyone who believes he’s suddenly Mr. High-Minded is a fool. He’s just whining because he has neither Romney’s (or Paul’s) money or organization. If he did, you’d better believe he’d be returning fire. Like with his smug anti-Bain dig at Romney. The capitalism-hating Obama couldn’t have said it better himself.
Newt is panicked because there is so much dirt–shall we call it scorched earth?–out there on him. No wonder he’s now against going negative. Wouldn’t want the voters to find out about his past transgressions, and especially his progressive, big-government ideas and solutions. He’s got to pull the wool over their eyes and convince them he’s a true conservative.
I’m pleased to see Romney get mean. Didn’t think he had it in him. And a mean streak will be absolutely necessary to counter the garbage that Axelrod and Obama are going to throw at the eventual Republican nominee.
There is a difference in being nasty and demonizing and being hard hitting
Newt is correct now and back then as well
Why the hatred towards him, dont we see we need a hard nosed person to turn the ship of state around?