Newt the Liberal?

Newt Gingrich did a spectacular job engineering the 1994 Republican takeover of the House of Representatives. He can articulate conservative ideas and the failure of liberalism better than anyone in the Republican party. His track record as Speaker was great, from welfare reform to NAFTA to a capital gains tax cut.

But who is he? What does he really believe? Is he, as Bob Kerry said about Bill Clinton, simply "an unusually good liar"? Personally, I have had real problems with him even before his marital history became public. We all are human. We all fall short of the ideal. But shouldn't we try to reach higher, and how many times can voters turn their back on such vulgar behavior as his treatment of two spouses?

But my earlier problem was with his continuous references to the greatness of FDR. FDR was a lot of things, and mostly a socialist. No president did more to change the course of the US, from his New Deal (resulting in an unprecedented expansion of taxes, spending and government,) to his willful blind eye to the plight of the Jews in Europe, to an administration that employed and defended vigorously large numbers of communist spies. Roosevelt destroyed much of what makes America great, and should not be an idol of any conservative.

About 5 years ago Newt showed his failings once again. He is an absolute opportunist. Who knows what he really believes? Remember, David Brock, Arianna Huffington and Davis Souter all claimed for years to be conservative, at least until opportunity presented itself on the other side of the aisle. A few years ago Newt Made a commercial with Nancy Pelosi, certainly an arch villain by any standards, supporting the need for climate change legislation. I will assume you know man made climate change is a complete fraud. The theory would not stand for one second under any measure of scientific scrutiny, and Newt knows it. It is a Trojan Horse seeking to form a world socialist government. Watching him sit there with Pelosi advocating for this was jaw dropping. It extinguished any shred of hope I had for the man. .

His recent reference to the Ryan budget and Medicare reform as radical just confirms for me I had drawn the right conclusion earlier. I won't yield to the temptation to try to explain why he would do this. Besides, I'm not licensed to practice armchair psychology. It is enough to know he is not the right spokesman for conservative ideals.