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24.01.2012 in Elections 2012, Featured, Politics by Adam Bitely 6

Newt Gingrich is a member of the GOP establishment and is a D.C. insider

Newt GingrichBy Adam Bitely — If I told you that I had been the Speaker of the House of Representatives, author of numerous books on public policy, paid $1.6 million by a government sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac for my “services” and a special contributor to Fox News, would you believe it if I then said I am not a part of the D.C. establishment or a Washington insider?

Probably not.

In the past week, Newt Gingrich has probably had one of the most roller coaster experiences of his entire life. He had a come-from-behind double-digit victory in South Carolina, evaded a potentially campaign-ending interview from his ex-wife, and appears to be consolidating the anyone-but-Mitt crowd behind his campaign. In other words, Newt Gingrich had the best week of the campaign cycle so far and is beginning to turn this primary season in a direction that no one thought was possible.

Newt pulled off this miraculous feat by whining and screaming at CNN’s John King for being biased against Republicans. While Newt is probably right about that, it does nothing to change the fact that Newt is biased against limiting the powers of government. Yet it appears that many voters are ready to forgive Newt for a career of compromising the principles of limited government.

I wrote back in December that I was surprised that many considered Newt Gingrich a reasonable alternative to Mitt Romney. It made sense that voters who sought real change to the Obama administration would want someone that had a different history than Mitt. But when Newt became the poster boy for opposing Obama for a brief few days a month before the Iowa caucuses I was blown away.

These folks must have forgotten that Newt Gingrich supported an individual mandate on healthcare—a mandate that would force people to purchase health care or pay a fine to the government. On this issue, Gingrich and Romney would have agreed, if they both hadn’t changed their stances for their 2012 presidential campaigns.

On climate change, Newt and Gingrich are again in agreement. Newt, the non-Washington insider who is not part of the establishment, infamously sat on a couch in a commercial with the Speaker of the House at the time Nancy Pelosi calling on America to take action against global warming. Of course, Newt and Mitt changed their positions again for their 2012 presidential campaigns.

And who can forget the 2008 bailouts? Some apparently forgot that Newt Gingrich stood in favor of the bailouts. Of course, as is habit with Gingrich, he has changed his mind on that matter just as he began his 2012 presidential campaign.

Gingrich is entitled to change his mind on any position he wants. And so are the voters. Perhaps Newt is a different person. Perhaps he really did, in the course of just a few months, gain a firm understanding of economic policy and why it is wrong for the government to legislate environmental policy. And perhaps he isn’t just saying what polls are telling him the conservative base of the GOP wants to hear. He may just be sincere this time.

Nonetheless, any claims that Newt Gingrich is not a part of the Republican establishment, the same Newt who endorsed the ACORN and union backed Dede Scozzafava in the nationally watched NY-23 election just over two years ago, are to be dismissed outright. If Newt isn’t a part of the establishment, then there is no such thing as the establishment.

Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com. You can follow Adam on Twitter at @AdamBitely.

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  • Anonymous

    Adam, you are absolutely right about Newt Gingrich.  Mitt Romney is a progressive Republican, the son of a progressive Republican governor and presidential candidate, a big-government guy, and a Washington insider too, so where does that leave us?  It leaves us, Adam, with no viable GOP presidential candidate (again…) that represents a strict interpretation of the Constitution, will work for a smaller, less intrusive federal government, is serious about deficit reduction and strict border controls.  In other words, Adam, why should those of us who used to be Republicans and who quit the Party in disgust and now self-identify as Conservatives, Libertarians or Independents care whether or not either Gingrich or Romney defeat Obama in November?  I, for one, am sick and tired of being forced to vote for “the best of the worst” to beat the Democratic alternative.

  • Acarrington

    The fact of the matter is, Newt did not win much votes.  But as you mentioned he is part of the establishment.  if people have not yet figured this out the voting system like the gov. has been hijacked and controlled by the very same people.  It’s all a show by which we are suppose to believe that we are actually selecting our president.  The fact of the matter is our president like all presidents before this one, was long selected. As you may have noticed a so-called private company as purchased all the voting machines in the U.S.   Therefore, casting a vote is not a show of power, but those who count the votes, have real power.  We need a new system and we must get rid of the entire system of government as it exist today.

  • Wayne

    Kinnison, you’re ALMOST exactly right. You may have to hold your nose when you vote this time. But what is the alternative…more of Obama? If you’re waiting for the perfect candidate to emerge, you’re in for a long wait. The only really good solution is the one most voters don’t want to hear: Vote for the candidate most likely to defeat Obama, and once he has done so…hold his feet to the fire. That requires citizens to be  continuously vigilant, not just on election day.

  • Anonymous

    Wayne, there is another option.  So long as we continue to “hold our nose” and vote for the Bushes, the McCains, the Gingriches, the Romneys, the GOP elites will continue to offer them to us, secure in the knowledge that the Democrat is worse.  I loathe Obama and all that he stands for, but I am tired of this.  There is an alternative.  The alternative is that we former Republicans who the Party has deserted and belittled simply spend our time and our money electing Conservative Republican candidates to the House and the Senate, taking the Congress over not only from the Democrats but from the smug GOP insider elites who currently inhabit the Capital that have tried to marginalize and ignore our candidates from last November.  Lets’ see Obama try to rule as a lame-duck president with a majority Conservative Republican Congress investigating, impeaching and indicting his “Czars”, his Cabinet heads and his White House staff.  We don’t need a RINO in the White House to do that.

  • Wayne

    Kinnison: Excellent response!! Here’s a twist you may want to consider. Regardless of who replaces Obama, unless that person is forced to stand up for conservative values, similar thinking members of the legistative branches will be reluctant to take a stand simply because they won’t get the exposure that the president has. In other words, they will feel more isolated. It is imperative that we show a united front. We can do that by holding EVERYONE accountable. Sadly, it seems that many Americans have short memories. Campaign rhetoric gets them excited, but only for a short time. Then when the fervor dies down, the politicians start getting ‘comfortable’. All too often they revert to a ‘go-along-to-get-along’ attitude. They succumb to pressure from within. We can’t let that happen! We have to keep the pressure on from the OUTSIDE.

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