I am beginning, reluctantly but more firmly as time passes, to lean Mr. Gingrich’s way. It seems a number of us are:
It is not enough to have a “not” candidate. There is a positive case for Newt.
As to Newt’s conservatism, one needs to view his almost 35 years in the public eye as a whole. There are few politicians who have fought as hard over so sustained a period against the false narrative in which an ever-expanding central state is seen as necessary and the decline of the United States is deemed inevitable.
While any of the Republican candidates running can argue against a particular policy or piece of legislation, only Newt has shown the ability to see the historical forest for the trees, to argue for American exceptionalism and greatness founded in history and constitutional principles, not sound bites. This description by Melanie Phillips seems most fitting:
Faced with the apparently overwhelming power of the left-wing media and intelligentsia, weaponised through their Orwellian hijacking of the language of the centre ground and their career-ending bullying and intimidation of all who dare to disagree, many conservatives have succumbed to the cultural mind-bending without even realising they have been in effect captured by the enemy.
The reason why Newt Gingrich is striking such a chord is principally because he doesrealise all this very well, and so delivers a very clear message and the hope of a return to reality. He gives expression, in other words, to an authentic conservative voice. Gingrich is very smart, a serious thinker and a good communicator. He is also extremely tough and resilient. He is without doubt a Big Beast in the political jungle — beside whom Mitt Romney, his chief rival, seems a diminished figure….
Desperate times like these need a Big Beast not just to defeat Obama but to defend the free world.
Newt is uniquely capable of communicating a winning conservative vision in a persuasive and forceful manner, as the positive reaction to his debate performances demonstrates. Obama versus Newt on stage before an audience of tens of millions of voters could lead to a catastrophic defeat for Obama, while Obama versus any other current candidate could have the opposite effect.
I underscored and bolded that last sentence myself because I think it goes to the heart of why I’m left with really no other viable choice than to throw in behind the Newtster.
Yes, there are issues about his past, both personal and political, that bug the crap out of me but in the end, with the choices placed before us, I can’t seem to find sound reasons to go with anyone else.
So yes… today, for the first time, I’m jumping on the Gingrich wagon.
Let’s hope the words he’s been employing during this primary season will match his actions going into the future.
