CEI Today: Newt's Lunar Plan, Mega-Highway Bill, Energy Subsidies
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 07:49AM 
Monday, January 30, 2012
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CEI, Dept of Transportation, Energy Subsidies, NASA, Newt Gingrich Press Releases
Entries in Newt Gingrich (73)
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 07:49AM CEI, Dept of Transportation, Energy Subsidies, NASA, Newt Gingrich Newsmax - Herman Cain Endorses Newt Gingrich for President
Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 08:31AM 
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Breaking News from Newsmax.com |
Former presidential candidate Herman Cain has endorsed Newt Gingrich for president. Cain joined Gingrich at a Republican Party dinner in West Palm Beach, Fla., Saturday night to make the surprise announcement.
Cain urged his supporters, tea party members and other conservatives to back the only true conservative in the race, Newt Gingrich.
Election 2012, Herman Cain, Newsmax, Newt Gingrich NRO editorial says Gingrich inspires backers … and opposition.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 09:24AM A new NRO editorial, "Hour of Newt," says, "For Republicans to choose Gingrich . . . would be a gamble, with everything from the Supreme Court to Obamacare to our nation’s alliances riding on the outcome."
It can be found on National Review Online at http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/289051/hour-newt-editors.
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By The Editors
South Carolina Republicans delivered what former president George W. Bush once called a “thumpin’” to Mitt Romney. Republicans have too many misgivings about Romney — misgivings we share — to give him a shortcut to the nomination. He will have to earn it, if he can. So far he has been content to deliver lifeless platitudes, apparently under the impression that saying he “believes in America” is the way to clinch an argument rather than begin or summarize one. Instead of projecting strength, he has wilted under challenge. For a while there, his position on releasing tax returns was starting to look as convoluted as the tax code itself. He has done little to persuade conservative voters that he will fight for our priorities.
But attention must now turn to South Carolina’s big winner, Newt Gingrich. If the question before South Carolinians was whether to declare the nomination contest over by choosing Romney, the question before Floridians is whether to make Gingrich the front-runner. Romney is now running a sharply negative campaign in order to capitalize on this distinction. Since neither Gingrich nor Romney can make the case that he is a purebred conservative or a world-beating political talent, both are now essentially relying on a negative argument: The other guy is unreliable and unelectable. There is enough truth in both indictments to explain the continued appeal of other candidates’ joining the race.
Among the present candidates, we continue to prefer Romney and Rick Santorum over Gingrich and Ron Paul. Our opposition to Paul is based on our disagreement with a foreign policy based on what we consider a dangerously naïve and narrow conception of U.S. interests. Our opposition to Gingrich, by contrast, is not based on any philosophical disagreement. Among Gingrich, Romney, and Santorum, we find only minor ideological differences. None has been a consistent small-government conservative in office; all are running on conservative, and similar, platforms this year.
Thus it seems to us that the key question is which candidate can best make that platform a reality by first beating Obama and then governing successfully. Exit polls suggest that South Carolina Republicans considered Gingrich the most electable candidate. He argues that he would make the strongest Republican nominee because he would be able to beat Obama in debates — a claim that his strong performance in the Republican debates so far reinforces.
Gingrich’s best moments in the debates have come when he has hammered the press for liberalism and triviality. Republicans have responded positively, in part because they think, as we do, that the mainstream media has had too much influence over the Republican nomination contest because of all of these media-sponsored debates. The general election will be very different. It is unlikely that the debates will be as numerous or will matter as much; they rarely do.
The public at large dislikes the media too, but not with the same intensity that conservatives do: Gingrich as nominee would have to train his fire on Obama, who will be able to fight back as John King could not. Nor will the public at large be as impressed by Gingrich’s willingness to attack Obama as a clueless radical as Republicans are. (If voters decide in 2012 to reward the most slashing or sardonic debater before them with the presidency, it will be a first.) When Republicans found themselves in tight spots during the Reagan presidency, they waited for their leader to give a speech to show them the way forward and rally the troops. When Gingrich was Speaker, Republicans never sought him to intervene in legislative debates to turn the tide.
There is much more to general elections than debates, and there is much more to the presidency than giving speeches. On an intellectual level Gingrich knows this, but he has little experience either in contesting elections with large numbers of voters of varying views or in running large organizations. Romney has executive experience, unlike Gingrich or Santorum, and in past elections voters have seemed to value that experience. But at least Santorum, like Romney, has been elected to statewide office before, and like Romney has shown himself able to reach beyond the Republican base in doing so. Santorum’s record in this regard beats Romney’s, since Santorum won statewide in Pennsylvania twice. Only Gingrich has never been elected to office from anything larger than a congressional district; only Gingrich has never had to reach beyond the Republican base vote to win an election.
Gingrich has been a nationally known figure for a long time: when the economy was booming and when it has been in a slump; when Republicans were on top and when the public disliked them; when the national mood was sunny and when it was sour. Amid all the tumult of the last 18 years there has been this constant: Gingrich has never been popular. Polls have never shown more than 43 percent of the public viewing him favorably at any point in his career. Gingrich backers say that he is inspiring. What he mostly seems to inspire is opposition.
It should go without saying that Gingrich also offers more material than the other candidates for Democrats to drive his numbers in the wrong direction. Any Republican nominee will draw criticism for being too biased toward the rich. Not every Republican nominee will be attacked for cruelty in his personal life.
None of these candidates can be guaranteed to beat Obama (or run a successful White House), and under the right circumstances any of them could. For Republicans to choose Gingrich, though, would be a gamble, with everything from the Supreme Court to Obamacare to our nation’s alliances riding on the outcome.
Election 2012, National Review, Newt Gingrich, Republicans GOV. GARY JOHNSON: GINGRICH WOULD HAVE TAKEN WAR ON DRUGS TO A LETHAL LEVEL
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 07:41AM 
Former Speaker Proposed Death Penalty for Bringing 2 Ozs. Of Marijuana Into U.S.
January 23, 2012, New York, NY -- Appearing on MSNBC Saturday, former New Mexico Governor and presidential candidate Gary Johnson reminded viewers that former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich sponsored legislation (text below) in 1996 that would have imposed the death penalty for Americans caught bringing as little as 2 ounces of marijuana into the country. Video here:Gary Johnson Talks About Newt Gingrich Proposing Death Penalty for Carrying 2 Oz. of Marijuana In a statement released today, Johnson elaborated, “Ideas are important, especially in a presidential campaign. But some of Speaker Gingrich’s ideas over the years are nothing short of scary. Under his legislation, anyone coming home to the U.S. and caught carrying enough marijuana (2 oz.) to distribute would be sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole – or if caught twice, would be sentenced to death. “This from someone who has admitted his own past marijuana use, saying ‘it was a sign we were alive and in graduate school’. And in 1981, Mr. Gingrich actually introduced legislation providing for the ‘therapeutic use of marijuana. (HR 4498, 97th Congress) “On drug policy alone, I am beginning to see what Rick Santorum means when he talks about the former Speaker having an idea a minute. We are talking about millions of Americans’ lives here, and having positions ranging from embracing medical marijuana to the death penalty for possessing a small amount of that same substance is astounding both in its hypocrisy and its inconsistency. “The War on Drugs is a failure, and bold steps are in order to align drug policy with reality and humanity. But Newt Gingrich’s notion of bold is not what we need.”About Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson: Gary Johnson, two-term Governor of New Mexico from 1994-2002, has been a consistent and outspoken advocate for limited, efficient government and personal liberty. # # # # Text of Gingrich Legislation: H.R. 4170 (Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1996) to the House of Representatives sought to “provide a sentence of death for certain importations of significant quantities of controlled substances”. Section 2: Increased Penalties For International Drug Trafficking Section 1010 of the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 960) is amended by adding at the end the following: (e)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the court shall sentence a person convicted of a violation of subsection (a), consisting of bringing into the United States a mixture or substance-- (A) which is described in subsection (b)(1); and (B) in an amount the Attorney General by rule has determined is equal to 100 usual dosage amounts of such mixture or substance; to imprisonment for life without possibility of release. If the defendant has violated this subsection on more than one occasion and the requirements of chapter 228 of title 18, United States Code, are satisfied, the court shall sentence the defendant to death. (2) The maximum fine that otherwise may be imposed, but for this subsection, shall not be reduced by operation of this subsection.' September 25, 1996, 104th Congress (1995 - 1996), H.R.4170
For more information, please visit www.garyjohnson2012.com.
Drug Policies, Election 2012, Gov Johnson, Newt Gingrich Newsmax - Romney Has Charlie Crist's Aides Running His Campaign; Rasmussen: Gingrich Leads Romney
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 07:21AM 
Breaking News from Newsmax.com
Romney Campaign Run by Charlie Crist's Political Aides
Mitt Romney’s “Charlie Crist” problem is this: Romney’s chief campaign strategist and several of his most senior campaign staff were Crist’s top political advisers — the same ones who crafted Crist’s moderate, ignore-the-tea-party strategy epitomized in Crist’s famous “hug” of President Barack Obama. Marco Rubio defeated Crist in the U.S. Senate race, and now GOP voters may soon turn against Romney and his moderate message.
To Read the Full Story — Go Here Now
Rasmussen: Gingrich Leads Romney 41 to 32 in Fla.
InsiderAdvantage: Gingrich Leads Romney 34 to 26 in Fla.
Special: Major Obama Donor Tried to Ban This Video, But We Think You Deserve to See it.
Campaign Staff, Election 2012, Mitt Romney, Newsmax, Newt Gingrich, Polls