By Charles Mitchell
By “he,” I mean Speaker Gingrich. And by “it,” I mean supporting the individual mandate–this time, in 2009:
You’ll recall that the other would-be conservative messiah, Sen. Santorum, also supported the mandate back in 1994.
I’ll say it again: It isn’t true that one of these guys (Speaker Gingrich, Sen. Santorum, and Gov. Romney) is meaningfully more conservative than the other. They’ve all disappointed. The only real difference is that only one can beat President Obama.
I would like to see Mitt remind Newt and Rick in upcoming debates that they also once supported the individual mandate. Rick really pushed Mitt on it in the last debate, while completely ignoring Mitt’s promise that he would, as president, repeal ObamaCare. Rick used the term “top-down government mandated” system, several times, but that’s exactly what he supported in 1994. If it’s mandated, it’s government.
Newt has announced that he’s in the race all the way to the GOP primary. I have to wonder: if he loses, will he throw his support behind Romney, or will he pout and just sit this one out?
I think he’ll pout and sit it out. He has to be one of the most arrogant and prideful politicians out there. He’s calling himself the “Raegan Heir” these days! Gingrich has yet to handle a loss with class. When Romney lost S.C., there was no whining; only a new determination to work harder. When Newt loses, we hear whining and excuses ad nauseum. The audience was too quiet, the audience was too loud, Romney is lying, yadayadayada… I don’t think he will support Romney. I just hope he doesn’t take too many poor innocent folks down with him.
Actually, Mitt Romney congratulated Gingrich like the honorable man that he
is. Gingrich would never do that. He truly is a crybaby.
Newt just blamed his low poll numbers on Romney’s advertising wealth.