GottaHaveNewt, Political Blog, Conservative Bloggers, Republican Blogspot, Political Blogs

Featured Posts

The Case for Newt By Got Newt? at 4:17 AM on 7/26/2006

News and Opinion

About Me

Name: Got Newt?

Comments

Blog Roll

Get Townhall :: Get Your FREE Copy of the Townhall.com Magazine

The Case for Newt

Posted by Got Newt? on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 4:17:17 AM

There will be much debate in the next two years in both political parties over who deserves to be nominated for the chance to compete in the Presidential election of 2008. Both Democrats and Republicans have several leaders from which to choose.

On the Democratic side, the front runners are all well-known Party insiders from the past few years: Hillary Clinton, Senator from New York, Al Gore, former Vice-President, John Edwards, former Senator from North Carolina, and John Kerry, Senator from Massachusetts. Each of these four has a strong following within the Democratic Party, and any of them could potentially be the nominee in 2008. Conventional wisdom says that Hillary Clinton is the candidate to beat, but that is for the voters in Democratic primaries to decide (pollingreport.com).

For the purpose of this essay, we will focus on the Republican contest. As a Conservative, and one who has been voting Republican in Presidential elections since 1992, I have a vested interest in the outcome of the contest to decide the next Republican nominee for President.

For the sake of time and expediency, we will focus only on the Republican primary, and only on the candidates who actually have a chance to win the nomination. There are currently 12 names being discussed as possible candidates, but only four or five have any realistic chance at winning the Party’s nomination. The others run either as a means of getting their favorite causes some national exposure, or as a way to get themselves considered as possible candidates for a Vice-Presidential selection once the nominee for President has been decided. The four hopefuls, Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, John McCain, Senator from Arizona, Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, and Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, are the realistic candidates who have enough name recognition and support to win (pollingreport.com).

Each of the four has positives and negatives. We will take a minute to look at the evidence for and against the three who should not receive the nomination, and then we will discuss the reasons that former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is the right person for the job.

Rudy Giuliani was mayor of New York City from 1993 to 2001. When Giuliani took office, the nation’s most populous city was in drastic decline. Crime, for which the city was notorious world-wide, was out of control. Mayor Giuliani enacted a plan that resulted in a quantum leap toward safety and restored order. The revitalization of the city’s economy, infrastructure, welfare system, and tourism industry were all directly relatable to Giuliani’s influence. There can be no argument that Giuliani is an effective leader and talented politician (nyc.gov). The problems involving a Giuliani run at the Republican Party’s presidential nomination come not from Giuliani’s credentials as a fiscal conservative, but from his stances on social issues. Giuliani is pro gun control and has given speeches to that effect, a position that gains him no friends within the base of the Republican Party. The Second Amendment is highly regarded by Conservatives, and statements by Giuliani in a 1997 speech where he exploited a shooting death, aligned himself with President Clinton and called for a nationwide “uniform policy” of gun control should put Conservatives on notice that Giuliani is not a friend of the Second Amendment (nyc.gov). This position alone makes Giuliani an untenable candidate for a Republican primary, but when combined with his pro-abortion beliefs and his public statements in favor of gay marriage proposals; his candidacy is doomed to failure. Mayor Giuliani gained respect in the nation’s eyes for his handling of 9/11. There is much to be admired both in the man and in his leadership abilities, but he is not the right person for Republicans, and a Republican majority will not nominate him as a presidential contender. Conservatives must insist on conservative leadership.

John McCain, the Senator from Arizona, is a self-proclaimed Conservative, albeit one who has a tough time convincing the base of his Party to believe him. There are some very good reasons for their skepticism. In his interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Page, Senator McCain stakes out positions against tax cuts, repeating the Democratic mantra that tax cuts are “tilted to the rich”, claims to be in favor of guest worker programs and earned legalization for illegals before security is achieved at the border, and against America’s large corporations (opinionjournal.com). Combined with his disdain for Christian Conservatives, who make up roughly 40% of the Republican Party and whom McCain refers to as “the right-wingers of the Party”, these positions spell trouble for the Senator’s election bid (opinionjournal.com). Only a Republican who can poll well in the Republican-held south can win the nomination. McCain’s lack of conservative credentials hurts his chances. While deserving of respect as a verified war hero and strong advocate of the War on Terror, McCain’s domestic and economic policy agenda items are at odds with a majority of the voters of his Party. Conservatives must insist on conservative leadership.

Condoleezza Rice, the current Secretary of State, is a powerful symbol of how far the political climate has come in the United States. The fact that an African American woman is mentioned as a serious candidate for President, and in the Republican Party, is a testament to the power of the American Dream. Secretary Rice is to be commended for her considerable talents and the effort she has applied to get to where she is today. The main problems for a Rice candidacy are threefold: first, she refuses to say whether or not she will run, second, to date she has very little governing experience and therefore no solidly conservative track record, though her time as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State is valuable, and third, and most importantly, she is self-described as “mildly pro-choice” (washingtontimes.com). Unfortunately, abortion is the only hot-button issue Secretary Rice has taken a position on, and on this one she has come down on the side opposed by a majority of Republican voters. Until she takes other verifiable positions on crucial issues, and unless Conservatives are convinced that she will actually govern as a Conservative, it will be hard to convince a skeptical Party that Secretary Rice should be drafted. Conservatives must insist on conservative leadership.

The fourth person in the race, and the one who at this point comes in third or fourth place in polls, is former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (pollingreport.com). Speaker Gingrich, like Secretary Rice, declines to say whether or not he will run for the nomination in 2008. Gingrich, a hero in the South, though less familiar to voters nationwide, is the man most responsible for the Republican Revolution of 1994. As more and more voters become aware of the brilliance of his ideas, the effectiveness of his actions, and the bedrock Conservatism of his principles, Speaker Gingrich will begin to gain ground in the hearts and minds of America’s Conservatives.

As the author of the book Contract with America, Gingrich ushered in a Republican majority in Congress for the first time in 40 years. His groundbreaking ideas on government reform, national security, personal responsibility, crime reduction, fiscal responsibility and social progress give a glimpse into the mind of this once-in-a-generation visionary. Not since Ronald Reagan came to national prominence with his speech “A Time for Choosing” in 1964 has a figure in American politics burst onto the scene with such brilliance and eloquence (americanrhetoric.com). Reagan’s ideas shaped the debate of American politics for 25 years. Now a new champion of Conservatism has emerged. There could be no more fitting heir to the Reagan legacy than Newt Gingrich.

To understand the effectiveness of Gingrich’s 1994 strategy, one must only list the facts: “we increased the Republican vote by 9 million from 1990 to 1994,” “60% of those on welfare at the beginning of 1994 went to work or school” as a result of the Contract with America, “we cut taxes for the first time in 17 years,” “we balanced the Federal budget for four years in a row, paid off $405 Billion in Federal debt, the largest debt repayment in American history,” “we put Congress under the same laws as small business,” “we created the Thomas system, we put Congress online for the world,” and “we had the first successful audit of the U.S. Congress in history” (newt.org).

Now, 12 years later, Speaker Gingrich is back with fresh ideas, new strategies and a 21^st Century Contract with America. It is often said in American politics that those citizens most qualified to hold public office never aspire to it. This can never be said of Newt Gingrich. Once in every generation there is a man whose ideas separate him from the pack, a man who rises above the fray and leads. Newt Gingrich is that man.

Speaker Gingrich’s new proposals for 21^st Century America are at once the continuation of solid Conservative principles and a vision to take America forward for another 25 years. Gingrich speaks knowledgeably of the war against Islamic fascism as the global conflict that it is, confidently defends the roles of God and religion in civic life, challenges America to retain its sense of uniqueness and patriotism, lays down the groundwork of an effective strategy to deal with competition from China and India, and provides ideas for solving the financial woes of Social Security, Medicare and America’s struggling health care system (newt.org). Because of his brilliance, his vision and his solid conservative doctrines, Newt Gingrich should be the choice of Republicans to represent the Party in the 2008 election. Conservatives must insist on conservative leadership.