Jay Cost:
Newt Gingrich and the politics of frustration
Conservatives are very frustrated, and rightfully so. Their feeling is that they play by the rules – they work hard, pay their taxes, raise their kids right – but what do they get for it? Their values are mocked on television and the movies, the media castigates them as a bunch of extremists, they pay taxes while half of the country does not, and the Obama administration took to demagouging them virtually from day one of his tenure. I know of what I speak – a few months back I was driving down the road and saw a sign in front of a business lamenting, “Where is the America I grew up in?” I nodded my head in approval.
Enter Newt Gingrich, the person on the debate stage who finally speaks truth to power. ‘Not so fast, John King!’ ‘Hold it just a damned minute, Diane Sawyer!’ ‘How dare you talk to me like that, Brian Williams!’ These are the sorts of thoughts that millions of conservatives have every week. And now here is Newt Gingrich actually saying it right to them. Never mind the fact that he is expressing indignation at liberals while sometimes offering not-so-conservative policies, or using it as a form of misdirection to turn attention away from his own questionable deeds. Conservatives everywhere love to hear somebody finally stick it to the elites.
This explains why they are excited about the prospect of an Obama-Gingrich debate. They love the thought of someone finally standing in front of Obama and saying, “How dare you, sir!”
2 comments:
I follow your blog regularly, and I cannot help but notice that you support Romney at an ever-increasing pitch. In the interest of full disclosure, I support Gingrich (flaws and all) and am certain that either Newt or Mitt will be the nominee.
It seems to me that you are falling into the “shouting the negatives” camp, rather than stressing the positives. It does not aid Romney to attack Gingrich, or vice versa.
Both men have incredible positives, and either would be a vast improvement for the United States. In my opinion, Newt's positives outweigh his negatives by far. I view him as a Churchill type personality and we need someone with that intelligence, force of personality, and skill to set us back on the proper path.
Mitt is in a perfect position to sweep to the Presidency if he begins to act “presidential” by pulling conservatives and moderates to his campaign with a positive, principled, conservative message as in the example Ronald Reagan. That would include getting the negative ads under control and stopped. In fact, that would go for both men. Neither man can do any of us any good as the loser in November.
I saw this today and it struck me….Gingrich forced Clinton to act like a Republican and control spending. Romney acted like a Democrat as the governor of Massachusetts.
If Mitt would give conservatives a strong feeling of his conservatism and intentions in the same fashion that Newt has done, the process will work just fine and we will end up with a candidate who should win my a wide margin, and help carry the House and Senate as well.
The only positive note of the negative ads and speeches, IMHO is the attacks planned by Axelrod have been exhausted in January, not in September or October as is Obama’s MO.
So, deep breath, it is a long run in front of us. I enjoy your work and blog (most of the time)!
thanks!
extremism in defense of liberty is no vice.
if they brings guns, then i bring nukes!
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