If only Newt had less baggage, he would be a lot of people’s first choice for the Republican presidentail nomination, myself included. Consider his observations as reported in Thursday’s Atlanta-Journal Constitution:
Taking questionns after a medical forum, the former GOP congressman from Cobb County said four c’s- an absence of competence in Republican performance, an absence of candor, corruption and the bad advice of consultants — led to Tuesday’s defeat.
He then said this, which for me, fingers the number one concern that should over-ride all others:
"We need candor, we need directness," said Gingrich, a potential 2008 presidential candidate."We need to understand the threats we faced with are so frightening and so real, the danger that we’ll lose two to three American cities so great, that we cannot play games with each other, cannot manipulate each other, we have to have an open and honest dialogue, and I found yesterday’s staments at the press conference frankly very disturbing." [emphasis by Doug]
He was, of course, refering to Bush’s reasoning for waiting till after the election to relieve Donald Rumsfeld, arguing that doing so prior to the election may have caused different results. He also, more importantly, spanks Bush and others for playing politics with the frightful reality of the threat we face.
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Newt is definitely a person to watch as we move into the ’08 presidential campaign. I think his chances are that of a long-shot at best, but when he speaks, and people get to hear him articulate his ideas, they often like what they hear. Why, even my parents, who aren’t all that political, usually mention him to me if he’s been on the network Sunday talking-heads shows.
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