Dear Fellow Conservatives,
In our previous letter, we discussed the general character of Newt Gingrich. In this final piece, I want to focus in one particular aspect of Gingrich’s character and that his pride and what Senator Santorum has called “grandiosity.” Gingrich grandiosity can be divided into two areas: 1) grandiosity about himself and 2) grandiose ideas.
Gingrich defends his grandiosity. “I accept the charge that I am an American and Americans are instinctively grandiose.” It’s a great line, but somewhat off-base.
As Washington Post’s Leadership Columnist Jena McGregor wrote, that Santorum’s use of grandiosity was in its most common meaning: “characterized by affectation of grandeur or splendor or by absurd exaggeration.” Gingrich seems to have re-interpreted grandiosity in the less common meaning of, “impressive because of uncommon largeness, scope, effect, or grandeur.”
To be clear America has grand ideas, but it is not grandiose in the most common understood meaning, but Newt Gingrich is.
Gingrich’s exalted view of himself is reminiscent of President Obama. Over the years, Obama and the media have made grand comparison of Obama to great past leaders. At some point, you begin to wonder why Obama has to be FDR, Lincoln, or Reagan. Why can’t Obama be Obama? And why can’t Gingrich be Gingrich? It suggests an ego that far outstrips ability, and an insecurity to command adulation that has not been earned.
Perhaps, the most dangerous type of men in political life is those who view themselves as not only great men, but figures of historic magnitude. Politics has never been a magnet for humble people, but when someone thinks so much of themselves they can’t help but share the magnitude of their greatness with the human race. Such leaders think they are not ordinary mortals, are not bound by rules which others must follow.
According to Marianne Gingrich, after she found out about Gingrich affair, he came home to talk about it after delivering a speech in Erie, Pennsylvania that dealt with the survival of civilization and values. She confronted him with the contradiction between the speech and how he was living to which (according to Mrs. Gingrich), the Speaker replied:
”It doesn’t matter what I do. People need to hear what I have to say. There’s no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn’t matter what I live.”
This is not the type of leader we need. We need leaders who are comfortable with themselves, not full of themselves. We need leaders who don’t try to make themselves into Lincoln or Reagan, but rather are comfortable in their own skin. They don’t compare themselves to great men of years past. They are willing and able to be themselves.
When it comes such as epic historic comparisons, candidates would do well to heed the advice of Proverbs, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.”
When it comes to ideas, Gingrich has many good ideas and many bad ones and he flits from idea to idea. In one debate, Senator Santorum described working with Gingrich this way, “An idea a minute, no discipline.”
This is an apt comparison. It is true that America has serious problems that require big ideas to fix, but we need a President whose ideas are on-point to the problems the country faces and who will have the discipline to push the right ideas and deliver a consistent message to the American people.
Perhaps, the most glaring example of Speaker Gingrich’s tendency to stray off the beaten path with his big ideas is his rush push for a lunar colony: an idea that failed to blast off with Florida voters. Voters saw expensive boondoggle. The colonization of space is not necessarily a waste of money for a disciplined country with fiscal house in order, but in a time when Americans are concerned about economy here on Earth, jobs, and an annual deficit well in excess of $1 trillion a year, the big idea was a big distraction.
The problem with big ideas is that they’re not all good. Certainly having the federal government mandate everyone purchase health insurance is a big idea that gives the federal government an unprecedented amount of control in people’s lives. Support for this mandate from the Federal Government was part of Speaker Gingrich’s menu of big ideas for nearly twenty years, and he urged that it be included in the federal health care legislation that became Obamacare.
The problem with “big idea” men like Gingrich is that they forget that American liberty and opportunity is the biggest and most successful political idea the world has ever known. Americans have enjoyed prosperity and opportunity the world has ever known. Our ancestors lived lives where their paths were more or less dictated to them from birth, where books and learning where rare, and where diseases that are virtually unheard of today or can be cured with a simple shot. Throughout our history, we’ve attracted the best and brightest from around the world in search of opportunity, and by doing so we’ve built America.
This idea is imperiled due to out of control spending and cultural decline. Is it threatened by politicians and “big idea” men who have sought to establish new and exciting government programs to build their own legacy. These political leaders have been little different than the kings of old who built their monuments to ensure their long-term legacy.
What America needs is not a grandiose idea man, but a focused dedicated and disciplined leader who will push for common sense solutions to our nation’s most pressing problems. I believe that leader is Senator Rick Santorum and I’d strongly encourage conservatives to give him their vote.
January 31st, 2012 at 8:09 am
Another good post Adam.
Below is another link to an article describing how Grigrich is again “reinventing” himself mid campaign.
Now, he’s the “Tea Party warrior hero” who is going to lead the angry pitchfork carrying mob to sack Washington.
This stuff has me worried.
Unless the sane people in this country step up and put a lid on the OWS and Angry Tea Party loonies, things would really get out of hand.
We need to bring the country together under conservative principles and turn things around.
Venting our anger by
Newtinglooting the country is not going to make life better for any of us.Listening to Rush, Palin, and Newt remind me of the campaign of Huey Long…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long
January 31st, 2012 at 8:11 am
Sorry, here’s the link to the article.
http://news.yahoo.com/bracing-loss-florida-gingrich-reinvents-himself-grassroots-insurgent-100500848.html
January 31st, 2012 at 8:34 am
Newt released his Freddie/Fannie paperwork. Not a lobbyist, yikes. Do they do 10 pinnochios?
January 31st, 2012 at 8:40 am
Such a solemn pomposity, Adam.
January 31st, 2012 at 8:46 am
Dang, dude, all these words, and at the end we can finish up with “…but Willard wants to kill all the babies, and is lying about it, as with most everything else.”
See, a fever swamp attack on another candidate doesn’t redound well on your boy Willard. It just doesn’t. You of the fever swamp don’t understand why that’s so, I realize. But it is.
January 31st, 2012 at 8:49 am
Hmmm,
Methinks Newt is headed for a grandiose defeat.
January 31st, 2012 at 8:51 am
It’s the blowtorch, kids. Yours and Willard’s blowtorch is aborting him, and he’s plenty enough lifeless as it is.
January 31st, 2012 at 8:59 am
Harold. Can Nooot play hockey? HAHAHA Poor Nooot. He’ll be having a tantrum like a kid on the floor in Toys R Us. I can’t wait to see him boob and cry.
January 31st, 2012 at 9:09 am
You know, I probably shouldn’t be giving you addled youngsters any more to think about, but it should come to your attention that Gingrich is not the guy you want to have go to the mattresses, going up against your boy Willard.
I can pick any dozens, or millions, for whom such a happenstance wouldn’t matter a whit. This fellow isn’t among them.
And this is only coming about because of your blowtorch, kids. You better set up a meeting, and invite the heads of the 5 families and other territories, because Sonny Willard’s shoot-em-up is gonna get him killed, just as surely as Don Barry and Consigliere Axe’s eventual hit.
January 31st, 2012 at 9:15 am
The idea behind this is good, and up until 3 or 4 days ago, it would have been excellent. I concur with the diagnosis that Newt is hypomanic, but he is more than that….or the word has connotations not in the immediate literature. It’s enough to say, as Bob Dole said, that most of Newt’s ideas are “off the wall,” but where does the disregard for the truth come in?
Gingrich has accused Mitt of passing several things he vetoed. The kosher food thing was an item he vetoed, and the legislature passed OVER his veto….just found out about that last night. The $50 for abortions in MassCare was a stipulation from the Courts…..Romney was always against it. The anti-assault ban actually had provisions that LOOSENED gun laws, and gun rights advocates were all for it when Mitt passed the bill…..and yet, Newt says he is against the 2nd Amendment on that basis.
According to Newt, Mitt favors killing babies because he was for keeping Roe prior to his becoming governor. The fact that he was pro-life throughout his Governorship, and has been ever since, is a fact conveniently unmentioned. And Newt’s characterization of Mitt as a moderate throughout most of the campaign ignores that Mitt is more Conservative than Newt is…..and now Gingrich calls him a “liberal from Massachusetts.”
Gingrich is a liar and a liability to the Party.
January 31st, 2012 at 9:21 am
Adam,
Good post.
January 31st, 2012 at 9:24 am
Jerald,
In times of economic uncertainty or cultural shocks, demagogues get an audience they never would have had before. It’s no wonder that over the past 100 years, our worst and most influencial demagogues arose during the Great Depression and in opposition to the civil rights movement.
If the other shoe drops, on the economy, so to speak, I expect we’ll see ever more strident demagogues on both the left and the right.
January 31st, 2012 at 9:30 am
9. All this because you never saw Mitt play hockey? I’d recommend you stay away from any sharp objects tonight. You’ve got problems.
January 31st, 2012 at 9:45 am
Mr. K.G. is just now telling me that Santorum is reporting that while Mitt and Paul personally called Rick Santorum, to express concern over Bella, Newt called to asked if Rick were going to drop out. Has anyone else heard this story?
January 31st, 2012 at 9:49 am
Actually, dude, it’s because I’ve never seen the progressive Willard tell the truth.
January 31st, 2012 at 10:02 am
Harold.15:“Actually, dude, it’s because I’ve never seen the progressive Willard tell the truth.”
So Mitt is lying when he says he loves his wife?
January 31st, 2012 at 10:03 am
#14m if that’s true, it’ll be enough to get Newt to drop out. I wish that Santorum would stay in for a bit, see how newtclear his “conservative buddy” is going, and drop out while endorsing Mitt. Mitt will have a good place for him in the campaign and possible administration. They need to fumigate to get the newtaroaches OUT of this place.
Regardless, I think Mitt wins FL HUGE tonight and also in NV and kills the Grinch’s stupid “the two of us would beat Romney together…assuming of course ALL of Santorum’s votes go with me.”
January 31st, 2012 at 11:52 am
“because Sonny Willard’s shoot-em-up is gonna get him killed, just as surely as Don Barry and Consigliere Axe’s eventual hit.”
You do realize that threatening or implying a hit or assassination on the President of the United States is a felony?
January 31st, 2012 at 12:29 pm
There are three very honorable and good men in this race… and half of the Party seems to choose the evil one! What is wrong with the party of family values and capitalism?
January 31st, 2012 at 12:31 pm
KG do you have a source for that? I’d like to see it.
It is truly unbelieveable if true.
January 31st, 2012 at 12:34 pm
#20 Pet: I asked Mr. K.G. but I couldn’t get a straight answer. He thought he heard it on Fox this a.m. while he was working out. Sorry. It sounds kind of fishy actually. Who would know this? Only Santorum. Now, it’s great for Santorum for Newt to get clobbered, so he might leak it. I guess we’ll see.
January 31st, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Actually, maybe it helps Santorum for Newt to stay in clobbering the heck out of Mitt and vice versa by necessity. Santorum stays above and talks about issues–and how awful it is that Newt and Mitt are killing each other and destroying the party.
January 31st, 2012 at 6:46 pm
You do realize that threatening or implying a hit or assassination on the President of the United States is a felony?
You do realize that you’re a willardbot fever swamper?