1995: Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America

I was searching for video of Newt Gingrich unveiling Thomas and stumbled upon this instead. I had forgotten this had happened but it is a very interesting video. People that claim Gingrich is not a conservative need to watch this. - Reggie

And there is this: On January 4, 1995 Newt Gingrich takes the gavel as Speaker of the House.

Newt Discusses the Facts and Florida

On the Record with Greta van Susteren. Originally broadcast on Fox News, January 27, 2012.

George Soros: Not Much Difference Between Obama and Romney

George Soros says if the choice is "Gingrich or Santorum in which case I think it would make a big difference which of the two (unintelligible). If it's between Obama and Romney, there isn't all that much difference except for the crowd that they bring with them."

What else do you need to finally come to the conclusion that Romney should be utterly rejected as the Republican nominee? George Soros is telling the world what I have been saying here for weeks: Mitt Romney is Obama lite! The men are the same in their philosophy and their goal for America is the same progressive goal.

Do you want to see the complete destruction of America? If you do, then select Mitt Romney because it won't matter who the winner is in November. However, if your desire is to see America begin the long journey of turning back over 100 years of progressivism, reject Romney! - Reggie

Romney starts war in Republican Balkans

Posted by William A. Jacobson    Sunday, January 29, 2012

I have been trying, as best I can, to sound the alarm about the damage being done by the scorched earth tactics of the Romney campaign and its supporters in the Republican political and media establishments.

The effort long ago left the political realm and has devolved into a collective settling of decades-old communal scores.  Romney very adroitly has exploited to his advantage some of the deepest intra-Republican personal and emotional grievances and grudges.

As reported by Zeke Miller at BuzzFeed (h/t HotAir):

“It not about winning here anymore,” one Romney staffer told BuzzFeed. “It’s about destroying Gingrich — and it’s working.”

Humiliation, not mere electoral defeat, appears to be the goal.  Much as among warring communities in the Middle East and the Balkans, Romney supporters even have sought to deprive Newt of his own history.

Last night I posted Romney is winning his battles, but losing our war, about how Romney is tearing apart a very fragile coalition which will not easily be put back together anytime soon.

This election did not have to turn so destructive.  As in 2008, going negative was a conscious decision by the Romney campaign in response to an opponent rising on a positive message in Iowa.  The problem, it seems, is not with the opponents, but with the way in which Romney runs campaigns.

Mark Levin, who supports Rick Santorum, has been a voice of decency and clarity as to the attacks on Newt.

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And this...

Legal Insurrection: Romney’s claims about Newt’s ethics charge are false and misleading

Romney Displayed Many Vulnerabilities at CNN Debate

At Thursday’s CNN Republican presidential debate, Mitt Romney won the immigration exchange with Newt Gingrich. But three specific instances again left those who may have been warming to Romney with concern that the former Massachusetts governor may implode against President Barack Obama in the fall. Romney’s camp, earlier in the day, sought to portray Gingrich as someone who was “unhinged” but there is a case to be made that Romney may pose even more of a risk for Republicans in a general election.

Clinton-style trickery with words

Gingrich noted that Romney said he was, in 1992, “donating to the Democrats for Congress and voted for Paul Tsongas in the Democratic primary” and, in 1994, “running against Teddy Kennedy, he said flatly, I don't want to go back to the Reagan-Bush era, I was an independent.”

“Just a short clarification,” Romney jumped in. “I've never voted for a Democrat when there was a Republican on the ballot.”

Basically, Romney was technically right because even though the Republicans had a primary in Massachusetts in 1992 (Pat Buchanan versus President George H.W. Bush), there obviously was not a Republican on the Democratic ballot -- that would be impossible -- that he cast.

This slight trickery in wordplay reinforced the notion that he is a typical politician, devoid of core beliefs, willing to say anything, anywhere in order to get elected. It is also the type of thing that drives people outside the beltway nuts and makes them wonder on what other issues has Romney been too clever by half.

Lack of outrage at RomneyCare

“First of all, it's not worth getting angry about,” Romney said, responding to Santorum’s obvious frustrations about RomneyCare.

Santorum said that if Romney were to face Obama and say that ObamaCare should be repealed, Obama would simply say to Romney, “wait a minute, Governor. You just said that top-down government-run medicine in Massachusetts works well.”

Santorum said that people in Massachusetts are not willing to pay a cheaper fine and get on health insurance instead of paying for more expensive health insurance, which resulted because of the Massachusetts mode.

Santorum added: “Folks, we can't give this issue away in this election. It is about fundamental freedom.”

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Allen West Speech at the Palm Beach County GOP Party Lincoln Day Dinner

Congressman West gave this speech last night. - Reggie

Paul Ryan on Fox News Sunday

Character Matters and Romney's Worries Me

I am posting Mark Levin's complete Facebook post from earlier today. Also see: Romney using lib media tactics against Gingrich - Reggie

Mark Levin

by Mark Levin on Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 11:57am

I am beginning to think that the nature and level of attacks being launched by Mitt Romney against Newt Gingrich, which he would surely use against any conservative threatening his nomination, are going to make it very difficult for Romney to unite the different factions of the GOP and the conservative movement behind his candidacy should he win the nomination.  While I have said that I would vote for Rick Santorum, I am appalled at the "anything goes" assault on Gingrich. See here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/us/politics/the-calculations-that-led-romney-to-the-warpath.html?pagewanted=all? 

Romney is not a conservative in the traditional sense, and he has a record of big-government Republicanism. Even many years after the success of the Reagan administration, he sought to distance himself from Reagan and the GOP, self-identifying as a progressive and independent. Thus, he resorts to spending multi-millions of dollars trashing his opponents, rather than providing thoughtful arguments on conservatism and constitutionalism. Lest we forget, it was Gingrich who was trying to run a positive campaign and who offered to debate Romney one-on-one, asking Romney to stop with the millions in unanswered ads attacking him. Romney declined. I have no doubt that Romney would do the same thing to Santorum if Santorum was rising in the polls, albeit on different issues.

I have said that Romney is in many ways Richard Nixon, and that Romney would not successfully lead efforts to repeal Obamacare but, in fact, would grow the federal government in many respects. Romney's advisor, former senator Norm Coleman, has now said as much. That is Romney's record. Despite having been a businessman, he was not a defender of free market capitalism while governor. Romneycare is, as Santorum pointed out, a top-down government health care system with an individual mandate that is breaking Massachusetts' treasury and destroying private health insurance. It is a disaster. Romney also backed cap-and-trade and TARP (as did Gingrich).

My great fear is, however, that he is the weakest candidate who can face Obama and will go into the general election with a fractured base, thanks to his own character flaws, which are now on display, and his tactics of personal destruction. Moreover, while Romney can swamp his Republican opponents by 3 to 1 or more in every state with his spending advantage, Barack Obama will be raising more and spending more to beat him in the general election, meaning Romney's financial advantage will be non-existent.

We better start paying a lot more attention to holding the House of Representatives and winning the Senate with a bunch of solid conservatives. I have spent a year on my radio show identifying and interviewing these candidates, and will continue to do so.

Rick Santorum’s Daughter Hospitalized

DESOTO, Fla. — Rick Santorum's 3-year old daughter has been hospitalized in Philadelphia, his campaign said Saturday.

"Rick and his wife Karen are admitting their daughter Bella to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia this evening," Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement.

The reason for the hospitalization was not provided.

Santorum's Saturday campaign schedule was canceled, and he was forced to miss an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday.

Late Sunday morning, in a media advisory the campaign said Santorum would participate in two tele-town hall meetings in the evening. The candidate's eldest daughter Elizabeth Santorum was also scheduled to attend a rally in Sarasota, FL joined by the Duggar family, stars of a reality show, Sunday afternoon.

Santorum had been taking a break from campaigning in Florida and had a Saturday fundraiser scheduled in Washington before news broke of his daughter's illness. He had been due to return to Florida to attend church Sunday morning in Miami before heading to a rally in Sarasota, Fla. and a dinner in Punta Gorda, Fla.

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Sarah Palin: Beautiful Bella Santorum

Note: The video, below, is from Rick Santorum's campaign site where he talks about his little girl, Bella. - Reggie

UPDATE, 10PM ET: Santorum says his daughter is recovering

January 29, 1981: The President's News Conference

As you watch this, you will recognize some of the reporters asking questions of President Reagan. The first question asked is by anti-Semite Helen Thomas about our relationship with Iran. - Reggie

YouTube description: President Reagan's remarks at the President's News Conference on January 29, 1981.

For more information on the ongoing works of President Reagan's Foundation, please visit http://www.reaganfoundation.org

Fred Thompson Says ‘old score-settling' at Play Against Newt Gingrich

I lived in Tennessee in 1994 when the Republicans won the majority in the House after forty years of Democrat rule and I voted for Fred Thompson for Senate that year. He was a citizen legislator that served a few years and then left Washington to return to the private sector. I have no doubt he would still be in the U.S. Senate if he had chosen to run again in 2004.

I also remember watching C-SPAN, live in January 1995, as Newt Gingrich was sworn in as Speaker of the House. One of the first things he did, as Speaker, was to create Thomas. Named for Thomas Jefferson, it is the website where the public is able to find every piece of legislation online. I saw Gingrich unveil Thomas on C-SPAN and wondered why no one had thought of doing this before.

Gingrich is not perfect but he is a visionary and an agent of change. Instead of these candidates fighting in the arena of ideas Romney and his surrogates have decided on a scorched earth campaign because they know he can not win on the merits. This decision is a huge mistake and Romney will reap what he has sown. - Reggie

The Daily Caller: Fred Thompson: Newt backlash ‘old score-settling’

The Hill: Former Sen. Thompson blasts attacks on Gingrich, says ‘old score-settling' at play

Palin on the Politics of Personal Destruction

Legal Insurrection: Last call for Tea Party in 2012?

video is from last night

SCARBOROUGH: The Newt I know...

This is a very fair and insightful article about Newt and I really recommend that everyone takes the time to read it. My favorite part is when one of my past, childhood football heroes, Steve Largent is mentioned!

- Michael

Yeah, yeah. I know. Newt Gingrich had a lousy week and will probably lose the Florida primary on Tuesday. But for those tempted to once again predict the speedy collapse of his campaign, consider yourselves forewarned. I’ve known this guy long enough to realize that the only three species destined to survive a nuclear holocaust will be cockroaches, Cher and Newton Leroy Gingrich.

I first met Gingrich 17 years ago at a Destin, Fla., fundraiser held in my honor a few weeks after Newt declared that I was too conservative to win the general election. But after I won the primary against the moderate woman he anointed, there he was in Florida looking supremely bored and a little put out that he was having to sit through another politician’s speech.

Read more>>

1,000 Days Without A Budget

via The Heritage Foundation

Santorum Missed His Chance to Land Knockout Punch on Romney

By now everyone has read news and commentary coverage of some of the most exciting debate moments in recent history: the exchange that took place between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney concerning Romneycare. And perhaps many of you, like me, watched the debate and saw the exchange as it happened. If you did, I’m guessing those among you who are conservative found yourselves cheering for Santorum as he took it to Romney on what is surely the most dangerous aspect of a possible Romney candidacy—Romneycare.

It’s dangerous for the reasons Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh have indicated  by predicting that Obama can’t wait to face Romney because Romney WILL NOT be able to go after Obamacare with any moral integrity. As soon as he brings it up Obama will just say: “All I know is that while you were Gov. in Massachusetts, you implemented the plan we followed in designing our Health Care reforms.” And that will end the debate on Obamacare.

Santorum proved this during the debate in Florida on Thursday night, by explaining that just as Obamacare requires everyone to buy health insurance or pay a fine to the government, so too Romneycare requires Massachusetts citizens to do the same or pay a fine to the state. In other words, both plans carry a personal mandate which forces citizens to buy healthcare (or pay a fine) whether they want to or not.  And when Romney responded to Santorum by saying he was proud of what they’d done in Massachusetts and the people of Massachusetts seemed happy with it too, Santorum offered a foretaste of the way Obama is going to take Romney apart on this issue. Said Santorum:

“What Gov. Romney just said is that government-run, top-down medicine is working pretty well in Massachusetts and he supports it. Now, think about what that means.”

Romney’s position here is simply indefensible, and although Santorum is the only one to call him out so clearly to this point, Santorum will certainly not be the last. And this is why Santorum kept saying, “We cannot give the issue of healthcare away in this election.” Dan Riehl made this point clear in his post on Big Government January 27, when he quoted Paul Begala as saying that on the issue of Romneycare v. Obamacare, “Mitt still doesn’t have a straight answer. Rick Santorum skillfully dissected Romney on the topic. If Romney is the GOP nominee, you can be sure Barack Obama will do the same.”

Which brings me to my central point: Namely, that for all the good Santorum did with his line of questions and his relentless regurgitation of the facts against Romney, he still passed on his chance to throw the knock-out punch.

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