Patriotic  Moms
  • HOME
  • PURPOSE
  • TEACHING OUR CHILDREN
  • HOLIDAYS
  • SONGS
  • ARCHIVES
  • CONTACT

"Gingrich Is Inspiring--and Disturbing"

12/10/2011

0 Comments

 

by Peggy Noonan
From the Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2011
"The first potential president about whom there is too much information."

Picture
"I had a friend once who amused herself thinking up bumper stickers for states. The one she made up for California was brilliant. 'California: It's All True.' It is so vast and sprawling a place, so rich and various, that whatever you've heard about its wildness, weirdness and wonders, it's true.

"That's the problem with Newt Gingrich: It's all true. It's part of the reason so many of those who know him are anxious about the thought of his becoming president. It's also why people are looking at him, thinking about him, considering him as president.

"Ethically dubious? True. Intelligent and accomplished? True. Has he known breathtaking success and contributed to real reforms in government? Yes. Presided over disasters? Absolutely. Can he lead? Yes. Is he erratic and unreliable as a leader? Yes. Egomaniacal? True. Original and focused, harebrained and impulsive—all true.

"Do you want evidence he's a Burkean conservative? Start with welfare reform in 1996. A sober, standard Republican? Go to the balanced budgets of the Clinton era. Is he a Tea Partier? Sure, he speaks the slashing lingo with relish. Is he moderate? Yes, that can be proved. Michele Bachmann this week called him a 'frugal socialist,' and there's plenty of evidence of that, too.

"One way to view this is that he is so rich and varied as a character, as geniuses often are, that he contains worlds, multitudes. One senses that would be his way of looking at it. Another way to look at it: In a long career, one will shift views, adapt to circumstances, tack this way and that. Another way: He's philosophically unanchored, an unstable element. There are too many storms within him, and he seeks out external storms in order to equalize his own atmosphere. He's a trouble magnet, a starter of fights that need not be fought. He is the first modern potential president about whom there is too much information.

"What is striking is the extraordinary divide in opinion between those who know Gingrich and those who don't. Those who do are mostly not for him, and they were burning up the phone lines this week in Washington.

"Those who've known and worked with Mitt Romney mostly seem to support him, but when they don't they don't say the reason is that his character and emotional soundness are off. Those who know Ron Paul and oppose him do so on the basis of his stands, they don't say his temperament forecloses the possibility of his presidency. But that's pretty much what a lot of those who've worked with Newt say...."

Read More:  Wall Street Journal





0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Archives
    Blog posts from May 2011 to June 2013 are here.  Click HOME for more recent posts. 


    Dates

    November 2020
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011


    If the category you are interested in is not listed, try using "Search" below.
Photos used under Creative Commons from norwichnuts, miamism, Јerry, nukeit1, rob_rob2001, terren in Virginia, Nadia Szopinska, makelessnoise, slagheap, ProComKelly, DonkeyHotey, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, KAZVorpal, Randy OHC, Mankamundo PhotoArt, Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It. World Tour, Mark & Marie Finnern, ArtBrom, chimothy27, chany14, Sweet One, srslyguys, cliff1066™, p_c_w, Dave Dugdale, MCS@flickr, Randy Son Of Robert, richiec, woodleywonderworks, MCS@flickr, |vvaldzen|, JLStricklin, Coolstock, James Jordan, BenedictFrancis, StockMonkeys.com, analogophile, sheilaellen, Jeff Kubina, chrisbastian44, Kelly Schott, LeSimonPix ★, Congressman George Miller, benfff85, Marxchivist, Sunset Parkerpix, Mr. T in DC, merfam, cliff1066™, bingbing, tyhatch, David Paul Ohmer, pwbaker, uhuru1701, Jeff Kubina, kps186media, saccodent, Parvin ♣( OFF for a while ), Paul Lowry, Karen Roe, lucianvenutian, DTWpuck, srish, dailymatador, loco's photos, Governmentality, Base Camp Baker, Obama-Biden Transition Project, shalf, Ashborne Bristol Photography, losmininos, billjacobus1, laura padgett, Tracy O, ElvertBarnes, El Bibliomata, riptheskull, srqpix, vishwaant, longislandwins, How I See Life, mhaw, AlphaTangoBravo / Adam Baker, roger4336, Lisa Andres, Octavian Cosma, garlandcannon, Rambling Traveler, PBoGS, rkramer62, milan81, thivierr, Ernst Vikne, phil wood photo, jonfeinstein, Pip R. Lagenta, A. Strakey, charlesfettinger, a.drian, Beverly & Pack, Danny Novo, cliff1066™, Monticello Society, idntfd, Stinging Eyes, Jonathan Thorne CC, bigbirdz, DonkeyHotey, siegertmarc, bill85704, ourbethlehem, The History Faculty, ginnerobot, JoshuaDavisPhotography, Fort Bragg, turtlemom4bacon, VictoryNH: Protect Our Primary, Allie_Caulfield, KAZVorpal, Paul J Everett, Austen Hufford, The Sagamore Journal, Lars Plougmann, joiseyshowaa, radiant guy, cliff1066™, Congressman George Miller, post406, Tambako the Jaguar, Fifth World Art, heipei, stan.faryna, Red Barnes, marshalltownpubliclibrary, NASA Goddard Photo and Video, Scott & Elaine van der Chijs, Raúl A., Scott & Elaine van der Chijs, ConspiracyofHappiness, maz hewitt, seannaber, Zion PhotoGráfico, Casey David, Eli Hodapp, roberthuffstutter, seannaber, yaquina, Vladimir Yaitskiy, CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture, mark sebastian, Marxchivist, aNgeLinRicHmoNd, MPD01605, steven.y, R/DV/RS, erix!, Ernst Vikne, katmeresin, Gage Skidmore, Poetprince, rawmustard, Svadilfari, Sweet One, George Vnoucek, cambodia4kidsorg, markn3tel, UggBoy♥UggGirl [ PHOTO // WORLD // TRAVEL ], Marion Doss, Korean Resource Center 민족학교, Octavian Cosma, lilivanili, krossbow, DonkeyHotey, LizMarie_AK, Matt From London, Vote Marc Moffitt, soundfromwayout, comedy_nose, Worldizen, phileole, Siena College, thivierr, edalisse, Muffet, r w h, betancourt, Obama-Biden Transition Project, MelvinSchlubman, L.C.Nøttaasen, vicki moore, North Charleston, stephane333, srslyguys, acornchief, 28misguidedsouls, Peter McCarthy, Lucid Nightmare, AlicePopkorn, C_Baltrusch, Alex E. Proimos, Robby van Moor, Bengt Nyman, Loren Javier, dfred, Wendy Piersall, dgj103, stevegatto2, Mitya Kuznetsov, Ivy Dawned, gregwest98, Chris_Short, Bob Jagendorf, B Mully, Palinopsia_Films, Thriving Ink, jvoves, spakattacks, technoevangelist, CJ Sorg, h4ck3rm1k3, DonkeyHotey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, kerryvaughan, Minette Layne, Matt Neale, roberthuffstutter, Muslimology, Tony the Misfit, jamiejohndavies, Fibonacci Blue, S.MiRK, Јerry, adria.richards, archer10 (Dennis) Busy, LenDog64, billaday, Lazurite, pablo.sanchez, saccodent, Elvert Barnes, Lida Rose, avlxyz, arneboell, Valerie Everett, @ANDYwithCAMERA, istolethetv, MPD01605, deeleea, markwainwright, Kevin Goebel, TrishaLyn, ellenkabellen, Krysten_N, jurvetson, Minnesota Historical Society, showbizsuperstar, brainchildvn