tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813579275777872686.post3850537754798120767..comments2023-12-14T14:35:14.537-08:00Comments on MUST READ!: The Return Of Newt GingrichEDITORhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04813476568301834233noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813579275777872686.post-61629406842252016822011-11-30T01:03:53.305-08:002011-11-30T01:03:53.305-08:00Thank you Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye for this great piec...Thank you Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye for this great piece on Newt Gingrich. I wish to call attention to this article which appeared in the New York Times of May 18, 2011, to further underline your very forthright assessment of Gingrich.<br />---------------------------------------<br />Can Newt Gingrich Control Newt Gingrich?<br />By MICHAEL D. SHEAR<br />The problem for Newt Gingrich does not appear to be a lack of self-awareness. But self-awareness is not the same thing as self-control.<br />During his appearance on NBC‘s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Mr. Gingrich, the former House speaker, clinically diagnosed what he called his own “great weakness” as he pursues the presidency: a lack of personal and political discipline.<br />“One of the most painful lessons I’ve had to learn, and I haven’t fully learned it, obviously, is that if you seek to be the president of the United States, you are never an analyst, and you are never a college teacher because those folks can say what they want to say,” Mr. Gingrich said.<br />And yet, the frank admission was even more striking because it came at the end of an interview in which Mr. Gingrich proved himself completely unable to follow his own advice. He slammed the Republican Medicare proposals in Congress, declared the city of Detroit “destroyed” by food stamps and implied that he supported the individual mandates at the heart of President Obama‘s health care overhaul. What was supposed to be the beginning of a conversation with the American people about Mr. Gingrich’s big ideas became a nightmare of political damage control. And on Tuesday the week got worse, with reports that Mr. Gingrich — who urges fiscal discipline for the country — owed as much as $500,000 to Tiffany’s.<br />On Monday, as he began a 17-stop introductory tour of Iowa, Mr. Gingrich was forced to retract his comments about the individual mandate by condemning “Obamacare” in a hastily prepared video statement. That was followed by repeated apologies for undercutting Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, the architect of the Republican Medicare proposals. Late Tuesday, Mr. Gingrich apologized directly to Mr. Ryan in a phone call, an aide to Mr. Gingrich said.<br />Also Tuesday, his spokesman was reduced to a “no comment” on the Politico article about Mr. Gingrich’s jewelry debts. In less than three days, Mr. Gingrich’s lack of discipline cleared the way for a torrent of criticism, most of it from members of his own party.<br />“He’s done. He didn’t have a big chance from the beginning, but now it’s over,” said Charles Krauthammer, the conservative columnist, adding that Mr. Gingrich appeared “contradictory and incoherent” during the NBC interview. “It’s deadly.”<br />Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, a Republican, chided Mr. Gingrich on Tuesday for the criticism of Mr. Ryan’s budget proposals.<br />“When you have a conservative fighting for real change, the last thing we need is a presidential candidate cutting him off at the knees,” Ms. Haley said.<br />Bill Bennett, the conservative pundit and radio talk show host, offered Mr. Gingrich the following blunt advice during his show on Tuesday.<br /><br />LINK To the Full Piece<br />http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/can-newt-gingrich-control-newt-gingrich/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com