"By the end of my second term," Newt Gingrich once said, "we will have the first permanent base on the moon, and it will be American."
Well, he didn't quite make it to that second term. But Newt’s a young-ish guy (69)—maybe he can run again in 2016, and then again in 2020. In his recent reflections about his bid for the Republican nomination, Newt talked about the rise and fall of his campaign.
Newt’s campaign had a slow start. After taking a two week summer vacation with his wife Callista, Newt’s entire senior staff resigned, causing many to think his campaign had "imploded." "The way they quit," Gingrich said, "and the news media announced my campaign was over meant I was literally in a desert." Or, perhaps, literally on the moon.
But his campaign didn’t end there, thank goodness: "When the Republican debates began to kick in, we went through Pawlenty, Bachmann, Cain’s first surge, Trump’s near surge, Perry’s surge, and Cain’s second surge. By December, I was the front-runner. It was everything I hoped for." Everything? All he wanted was to have his own, brief surge in the polls? That’s good, then. He got what he wanted.
So why was he so upset? Because Romney ruined everything. Literally everything: "Then, frankly, the Romney people did the only thing they could," Newt reminisced. "They used their strengths—which were money and the super PAC and a willingness to go after me very aggressively—to offset my strength, which was an ability to define a larger, better future."
LOL. There were plenty of people who pegged ideas to be among Newt’s biggest redeeming qualities. Let’s take a look a couple of the large ideas and characteristics that defined Newt, setting him apart from the other GOP hopefuls.
There’s the space station, of course:
"I wanted every young American to say to themselves, 'I could be one of those thirteen-thousand. I could be a pioneer,'" Newt said, referring to his planned mass migration to the first US based lunar colony. That is certainly a big idea. Is it a good idea? Probably not.
There’s also the fact that he was not a Washington elite. In January, Newt boasted that he was somehow set apart from the "elites in Washington and New York." He explained that those elites were trying to "force us to quit being American." Truer words have never been spoken. Am I right, guys? High-five! Guys? So what if Newt is a professional politician living in McLean, Va., making millions consulting for Freddie Mac? That isn’t exactly the definition of elite.
There’s also his tax reform, which would permanently extend the Bush tax cuts, create an alternative 15 percent flat tax system. The results of this big idea: a deficit increased by $1.3 trillion. Not bad, Newt. That is big. You're staying true to your words. Only a Washington outsider could do that.
See, poor kids have no work ethic because they are surrounded by poor parents who don’t work. Therefore, the government should create programs in schools, whereby poor students can work as janitors in order foster a sense of community and work ethic. Eliminating child labor laws is certainly an idea the other GOP hopefuls didn’t approach. (I wonder why?)
Newt never claimed to be a pragmatist; he was an idealist and a romantic. "I was probably naïve in forgetting that your opponents have every right to try to clutter your message." If the "Romney People" (meme coming soon) hadn’t cluttered his big-as-space ideas, Newt probably would have become the nominee:
But then there’s the question of tossing kitchen sinks, isn’t there? "The Romney people felt they’d have to throw the kitchen sink at me or they’d lose, so they did. I responded, but they had a lot bigger kitchen sink than I had." The sink, if you didn’t catch it, is a metaphor for spending and aggressive campaigning.
Good metaphor, though. It might even make a great meme someday.
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment!