Hi everyone! As you can tell due to my lack of blog posts, school is back in session and my classes are keeping me quite busy. This week, though, I had a little free time and decided to do some research on a candidate that I haven’t discussed on Present Day Patriots yet—Newt Gingrich. He won South Carolina with 40.4% of the vote, and has continued to maintain something of a lead, close to Mitt Romney. Until now, I’d only heard bits and pieces of Gingrich’s political views and his past record. I took some time to do a little in-depth research, so I’ll share what I found.
Newt Gingrich was born in 1943 in Harrisburg, PA and grew up in a military family. He went to Emory University and Tulane, and got a Ph.D in Modern European History. For several years, he worked as an assistant professor of history and geography and West Georgia College. He married his first wife in 1962, divorced her—married his second wife in 1981, divorced her—and married his current wife, Callista Bisek in 2000.
In 1978, he won a House seat after losing in 1974 and 1976, and was subsequently reelected to Congress ten times. Gingrich is credited with energizing the “Republican Revolution” in 1994, when the GOP won back a majority in the house after decades of a Democrat majority. Gingrich was named Speaker of the House in ’94.
http://www.biography.com/people/newt-gingrich-9311969
In debates and in the news, I’ve heard quite a bit about the “Ethics Violations” that Gingrich was supposedly guilty of. The whole situation seems to have been a complicated, partisan mess. While serving in Congress, he taught a class from 1993-1995 called “Renewing American Civilization” at two Georgia colleges; it was funded by a tax-exempt organization called the “Progress and Freedom Foundation.” Critics said the class “had little to do with learning and was in fact a political exercise in which Gingrich abused a tax-exempt foundation to spread his own partisan message.” A Georgia Congressman who was defeated by Gingrich, Ben Jones, brought the whole ordeal to the public sphere and requested that the House Ethics Committee investigate it. Gingrich eventually made a “limited confession of wrongdoing in 1971 for not getting advice on a tax lawyer for the funding of the course, and for providing “inaccurate and incomplete” information to the House Ethics Committee. He was fined $300,000 and reprimanded. A quote from his attorney at the time regarding Gingrich’s confession: “The atmosphere at the time was so rancorous, partisan, and personal that everyone, including Newt, was desperately seeking a way to end the whole thing.”
Later, the IRS further investigated the situation to see if the class was political or educational in nature. They reviewed student evaluations and listened to recorded classes, and eventually, it was determined that it was purely educational; Gingrich was exonerated of the charges.
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/what-really-happened-gingrich-ethics-case/336051
The GOP lost a great deal of House seats in 1998 and Gingrich received much of the blame—for this, he resigned as Speaker and from his position in the House in 1998.
From 1999 to 2008, Gingrich associated with Freddie Mac—the infamous mortgage lender. The released contract specifically indicates that Gingrich position is not that of a lobbyist, but he “advised the company’s chief lobbyist on business and public policy issues.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71930.html
There you have a basic summary of Gingrich’s past. Something that particularly caught my attention with the former Speaker is his apparent admiration—or obsession?—with the Roosevelts. He identifies himself as a “Teddy Roosevelt Republican” and really, really loves FDR. Numerous times, he’s expressed his belief that FDR was the greatest, most effective President of the 20th century. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was certainly “effective,” but I, personally have never been a huge fan of FDR because of his contributions to the growth of government and entitlement programs. Here are some of Gingrich’s statements on FDR:
In researching his past and current political views, it was at times difficult to pinpoint his opinion because his opinions on many things have changed. I’ve heard people say that Mitt Romney has “flip-flopped” on many issues, but I think it’s fair to say that Gingrich has, as well.
Here are few notes on the issues—past and present— that I found pertinent:
• Gingrich is pro-life (except in the cases of rape and incest) and opposes same-sex marriage.
• He appeared in an ad with Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi saying how our country needs to take action to address climate change. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi6n_-wB154). He was, at one point, for cap-and-trade, and then later said it would lead to corruption and would harm the economy.
• He was for the formation of the U.S Department of Education.
• Supported the TARP Bailout
• Wants to replace the EPA with an “Environmental Solutions Agency” to “incentivize green technology” rather than regulate it.
• At one point he was for a federal mandate on health insurance, but then later called it unconstitutional
This article has a few more of Gingrich’s “flip-flops”: http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/11/newt-gingrich-flip-flops.html .
During one of the many, many debates that have been held thus far, Gingrich said this regarding how the United States should handle Iran and their efforts to go nuclear (beginning at 2:37):
Personally, that aggression does not sit well with me. I don’t think that kind of aggressive foreign policy would be in the best interests of the United States. But Gingrich has a sort of “aggressive” air about him at all times, especially in debates, and especially when he is going after Mitt Romney. (It got pretty ugly in last night’s CNN Debate!)
I hope this has given you a little more insight into GOP candidate Newt Gingrich. I don’t know if he can honestly run as a “Washington outsider” as he’s clearly been in politics for most of his career. Further, I question whether Gingrich is capable of beating Obama—nearly every Obama vs. Gingrich poll I’ve found indicates Obama leading by a huge margin. (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/general_election_gingrich_vs_obama-1453.html)
Your thoughts on Newt Gingrich?
I have several more topics I want to address on Present Day Patriots—some political, and some not political in nature, so keep checking back for updates! Thanks for reading, have a nice weekend! ☺
http://www.newt.org/solutions/protecting-life-and-religious-liberty
http://www.salon.com/2007/11/10/gingrich_4/
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/12/gingrich-feels-heat-global-warming-ad-pelosi/
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