On Newt Gingrich’s careless right-on-right attack
All manner of conservative lawmakers and conservative opinion makers are declaring Newt Gingrich’s presidential chances dead after his Sunday morning bad-mouthing of the House Republicans’ plan for reforming Medicare. A few thoughts of my own:
- Not 48 hours before his ill-advised remarks on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” in which he described the Medicare plan as a “radical” form of “right-wing social engineering,” Gingrich gave a hard-hitting speech at the Georgia GOP convention in Macon that made attendees think the former Speaker was back at the top of his game. This kind of inconsistency, compounded by two days of back-pedaling since Sunday, is one of Gingrich’s biggest problems.
- If anything could redeem Mitt Romney’s otherwise stupefying decision to stand by his Massachusetts health reforms, Gingrich’s inconsistency just might be it.
- As I mentioned in another comment thread earlier today, this episode also gives one the impression that he’s an “ideas man” who doesn’t put much thought into how he talks about ideas. That’s a bad habit to have for someone seeking an office that comes with intense scrutiny of every word uttered by its holder.
- This episode further lends credence to the idea that Gingrich is about Gingrich first, foremost and last. A Republican candidate interested in becoming president so that he can work with a GOP majority in the House, and perhaps the Senate, would not even be tempted to paint those fellow Republicans’ plans in a way that practically writes the opposition’s campaign commercials. That doesn’t mean he has to endorse every Republican idea out there, or even that he can’t openly disagree with some of them. But a critique is not the same thing as slander. It shouldn’t have been too hard to say, instead, something like, “I think the American people might well accept the House GOP plan down the road, but I think our first priority should be to take measures X, Y and Z, while we work on fine-tuning the House GOP plan and educating the public about it.”
- The specific confrontation this episode sets up between Gingrich and Rep. Paul Ryan, the budget chairman who authored the wide-ranging plan, a clear contrast between yesterday’s face of GOP thinking and today’s face. And I don’t think that’s a comparison that favors Gingrich. After all, if Republicans wanted a chance to distance themselves from Ryan and his plan, Gingrich’s remarks gave them that opportunity. The fact that no one is jumping on it says a lot about which man’s vision is more embraced.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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130 comments Add your comment
Bart Abel
May 17th, 2011
8:11 pm
Without reading the entire thread, I’m going to take my chances and wade into this discussion about whether health care is somehow unique and should somehow be priced according to market logic. The fact is that health care IS unique.
1. In a free market, there is complete transparency of both pricing and services. If such transparency is even possible in the health care market, health care providers are going out of their way to hide that fact. Try comparing services and prices for a non-emergency surgery. I’ve done it, and you simply can’t get that information. Providers either wouldn’t give me any information or they were vague because they can’t. Maybe that’s the nature of the beast. I don’t know. But the point is, if no transparency, then no free market.
2. In a free market, the buyer has the option of not purchasing the product or service. Of course, that’s not a reasonable option when it comes to health care.
3. In a free market, a user has the option of purchasing a less expensive and/or lower quality product or service. Of course, that’s not a reasonable option when it comes to health care.
4. In a free market, buyer and seller have equal bargaining power. Deriving from the points above, that’s not necessarily true when it comes to health care.
To some extent, the points above apply to health insurance too.
Some have compared health care/health insurance to food. The price of food is transparent. The buyer can and does choose lower quality and/or lower priced options. And unlike a necessary health care treatment or procedure, buyers can say no to a particular food item if the price climbs too high.
No. The ingredients are not in place for health care to work in a free market. I wish they were, but they’re not.
Government intervention is necessary to seek to increase the supply of quality health care providers, find ways to prevent providers from gouging customers who don’t have the option of saying no or going with a lower quality product or service, and to bargain on behalf of the health care consumer to give us the buying power we need to have access to health care at affordable prices.
Obama Supporter to the end
May 17th, 2011
8:48 pm
You ask – Anybody siding with Newt?
His mama and his fake blond wife
Obama Supporter to the end
May 17th, 2011
8:51 pm
Newt practices dog whistle politics and he is a professor of idiocy!!!
Linda
May 17th, 2011
8:56 pm
Obama Supporter, What is your very favorite Obama policy? I can’t help but notice that the Obama supporters just spout whereas Obama opponents have credible reasons to oppose his policies. Do you know the difference between progressives & Democrats?
Mad as Zell
May 17th, 2011
9:22 pm
Something really must be done about this right on right violence. It’s getting out of hand. Some say it’s all the fault of the left but I think it’s time the right community took responsibility for their actions.
midtownguy
May 17th, 2011
9:28 pm
Newt cooked his own goose. The criticism of fellow Republicans (what was Ronnie Reagan’s number one rule?), the multiple divorces/wives, the Tiffany’s bill. He, in a sort of opposite way, reminds me of Bill Clinton, smart but flawed. Only Bill Clinton’s flaws didn’t come to light until after he was elected.
MrLiberty
May 17th, 2011
9:50 pm
How do you know she’s a witch?
Well she turned me into a Newt!
She turned you into a Newt?
Well I got better.
America will be a lot better as soon as we get rid of this Newt and realize that Ron Paul has always been the best candidate for president that any party could put forth.
Linda
May 17th, 2011
10:08 pm
Ron Paul is 74 & will be 76 on election day.
Mari
May 17th, 2011
10:13 pm
Now Sarah, do you understand why President Obama uses the teleprompter? Newt should try it sometime. Tee, hee, hee!
Obama Supporter to the end
May 17th, 2011
10:19 pm
@Linda May 17th, 2011 8:56 pm
Don’t try to insult my intelligence. I would not be on this blog if I were am idiot.
I don’t have to prove anything you. I know enough that I would not vote for a Republican. So don’t try that old trick on me, trick!!
Mongo
May 17th, 2011
10:21 pm
It doesn’t really matter who the Cons nominate anyway. There will still be FOUR MORE YEARS!!!
Home School Drop Out
May 18th, 2011
12:18 am
Mr. Speaker Newt and President Clinton had a plan to save Social Security.
It is supposed to be on The History Chanell in the future.
But they both got caught eating MAN CANDY and lost their POLITICAL CREDIT.
Zadoc Paet
May 18th, 2011
1:33 am
I love Newt’s comments. I think he accidentially let the truth out. Oops.
Poll: Is Newt Gingrich correct that Republican plan for Medicare is right-wing social engineering?
Link: http://www.wepolls.com/r/433476
Michael H. Smith
May 18th, 2011
3:42 am
When someone finds this “Free Market”, let me know please? When government isn’t regulating the market, corporations and businesses are manipulating the market. So now tell me, what undue interference is the market free from, or of: It surely is not managed by a puritanical rule of supply and demand enforced by the element of competition alone that determines the results and outcomes, the winners or losers.
Then there is this wrong headed idea the left espouses that says “they are going to replace medicare”. Yeah, right! Has the left marked the words transition or transform out of their dictionaries? Funny how the left was so taken with these words when their messiah spoke them. They were real words then but not when it applies to healthcare and a departure from government over-dependence they no longer exist or have any meaning.
I’m still convinced the concept of healthcare/mutual healthcare insurance member owned and administered Co-ops are the best choice for the majority of people in this country.
USMC
May 18th, 2011
6:53 am
I WOULD STILL VOTE FOR NEWT GINGRICH OVER OBAMA 8 DAYS A WEEK
HDB
May 18th, 2011
7:51 am
“This episode further lends credence to the idea that Gingrich is about Gingrich first, foremost and last.” — YA THINK??
Lil’ Barry Bailout
May 17th, 2011
12:52 pm
“Wrong, Sounds. The only workable solution is the free market solution, in which the price mechanism balances the unreasonable demand for health care with the delivery system’s capacity. In a free market system everyone is able to purchase all the health care they want, and no one gets stuck with someone else’s bill.”
LBB…free market economics CAN’T work with health care! You nor any conservative have given the proper counter to this example; what say you??
Example: A person in NY buys a policy from MS (note insurance purchased across state lines). Person discovers that he has cancer and is treated at Sloan-Kettering. Insurance company will only pay at MS rates…which is only 15% coverage (that’s all the person can afford). How do you spell BANKRUPTCY?
Expanded example: Same as above…..but to fill in the gap, person is able to afford additional coverage. Insurance companies argue over WHICH is the PRIMARY coverer…and NEITHER pays!!!
Extra: Person buys coverage in GA and while on a trip, uses the family doctor in IA…GA insurance WON’T pay…even though the family doctor is on the same system as the GA doctors…..(this has happened to ME!).
What say you???
infinite demand
May 18th, 2011
8:17 am
Food and shelter? WRONG
I have shelter. I am not seeking more shelter in order to save my life.
I have a full belly. I am not seeking more food.
I have cancer. I have insurance or medicare and I am seeking EVERY possible solution, no matter the cost to save my life.
That’s infinite demand.
Alecia
May 18th, 2011
8:53 am
Newt has to much baggage and will more than likely not get the nomination. I would love to see a discussion or thread on Herman Cain.
The Snark
May 18th, 2011
9:31 am
Side with Newt? Which Newt? There’s a new one every couple of days.
Gman
May 18th, 2011
9:52 am
Keep talking GOPers! This gets better and better everyday!
MrLiberty
May 18th, 2011
10:08 am
Ron Paul has actively and forcefully objected to GOP positions on the economy time and time again. In every case he has been correct and in every case he has stood his ground, not appologized, and been found to be correct in the end.
Committed, principled governance is what this country needs, not just another flip-flopping amphibian. And so what if he will be 76 on election day. He doesn’t plan on running the country, just protecting our rights. I’ll take a principled older guy over the cast of idiot neocons running against him anyday, regardless of their age.
Pinche Huevos
May 18th, 2011
10:10 am
More buffonery from GOP ….OBAMA 2012
Say what?
May 18th, 2011
10:11 am
Newt just went on FOX News to say that any ad created by Democrats that quote what he said on the Sunday talk shows about the Paul Ryan budget being “social engineering” would be a lie. What a freaking idiot. At least own up to it Newt… don’t say it, then if someone quotes you call them a liar. Makes YOU look like the liar. But that is what Newt does best… lies to the voters… lies to his many wives… the guy is an ego-driven, pathological liar.
Maybe
May 18th, 2011
10:13 am
Perry/Christie 2012
Pinche Huevos
May 18th, 2011
10:19 am
More rightwing toxic nonsense…GOp……LOSERS>>>>>>>
retiredds
May 18th, 2011
2:56 pm
Here’s Newt’s most recent response:
Gingrich had already sensed Democrats would mobilize to use his words – describing Ryan’s plan as “right-wing social engineering” – against his party. In a Fox News interview on Tuesday night, he insisted: “Let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what I said Sunday is a falsehood. I have said publicly, those words were inaccurate and unfortunate.”
In other words folks I lied. Even though I truly believe them, I can’t justify them and be a conservative Republican at the same time. So please vote for me because I am so smart and I don’t say one thing one day and something else the next.
Lil' Barry Bailout
May 18th, 2011
6:51 pm
infinite demand
I have cancer. I have insurance or medicare and I am seeking EVERY possible solution, no matter the cost to save my life. That’s infinite demand.
———————
I wish you well. Please note, however, that your desire for EVERY possible solution does not constitute a legitimate claim to my property.
independent thinker
May 18th, 2011
10:37 pm
Okay so another GOP bufoon has gotten in the clown car after Trump left with Obama’s foot up his rearend, so whose next? 1/2 brain Bachman?
independent thinker
May 18th, 2011
10:53 pm
BS Aplenty said:
“I will have to say that Newt clearly offers far less of the smarmy, used-car-salesman banter of, say, an Obama. With Gingrich, you’d get the car you thought you were buying, but with an Obama you can count on the engine falling on the pavement as you leave the lot.”
I am sure Newt’s first two wives would dispute they got the husband who promised to honor obey and cherish them. The Bimbo he is currently married to made sure to get plenty iof nsurance since she did not trust the Newtron -$500,000 plus in jewelry from Tiffany’s. Newt sponsored in 1983 a single payer health care system which was pure socialism but yet he calls Obama a socialist. Both oxycotton king – Rush Limbaugh and Paul Rryan lambasted Gingrich for his comments in the last two days but yet you consider him more trustworthy than Obama-
Now I see why the Republicans screw up the country every time they are in the White House- Watergate 1972, fall of South Vietnam1975, debacle in Lebanon in 1983, Iran-Contra 1987; no WMD found in Iraq-2003, Tora Bora-2001 but you think Gingrich is the man- I can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge for $10,000.00 if Gingrich signs the agreement???
independent thinker
May 19th, 2011
8:47 pm
Is it remotely possible Kyle and his Repub buds realize they have a circus on their hands with one clown after another claiming to be the Repub savior? Now lets give Palin and Bachman their chance in the three ring cicus to show what dimwits they are. Anyone who thought that philandering hypocritical “has been” gasbag who used to be Speaker of the House could open his mouth for more than five minutes without offending 3/4 of the country, has got be a village idiot too. What sensible politician spends 1/2 million in jewelry on some plastic bimbo because he wants to “reinvent” himself?