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DEL.ICIO.USGingrich to McCain: Save yourself by dumping on the ‘Bush-Paulson’ bailout
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On the weekend before the first bailout in the House, former speaker Newt Gingrich predicted that Republicans would reluctantly support it.
And in the minutes before the failed vote, the former Georgia congressman said that he himself would hold his nose and cast a “yes” vote, were he still in office.
Apparently, he’s changed his mind. On the Human Events web site, Gingrich says that dumping on the “Bush-Paulson” bailout plan is the only chance Republican presidential candidate John McCain has to win.
That’s a tactic that could have significant repercussions, especially in Georgia — and especially for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Not to mention the fact that it would cause McCain to backpedal on a much-watched vote that he cast only last week.
Writes Gingrich:
Senator McCain now faces the crisis of his career. He is behind. He will not catch up on a state-by-state basis.
He will either win the argument in the national media, suddenly growing stronger in many states or he will lose the national debate and gradually decline further in a number of states.
If Senator McCain is not prepared to separate himself from the Bush-Paulson economic program, he has no opportunity to win.
The country is deeply fed up with the Bush presidency and angry about the Paulson bailout. If McCain is confused or uncertain about how bad this economic performance is, he will never get the country to listen to him.”
Just as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan (as well as the House Republicans in 1994 with the Contract with America) created a large argument which led to a decisive result, so McCain has an opportunity to reach beyond the daily attacks and clever tactics and spend the last 28 days of this campaign making a large argument over America’s future.
If McCain is prepared to declare that it is time for a fundamental change away from the failure of Bush-Paulson and away from the leftism of [Democrat Barack] Obama (a “clean rupture” as French President Nicolas Sarkozy described it in breaking with President Jacques Chirac …or “bold colors with no pale pastels” as Reagan described it in breaking with President Ford in 1976), then he has a huge opportunity….
If you go to the Human Events site, you’ll see that U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Roswell) has taken out a pair of ads on the page, advertising a 45-second video with the topic, “Why We Didn’t Have to Borrow $700 Billion.”
Or you can watch it below:
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Comments
By Copyleft
October 8, 2008 9:39 AM | Link to this
Okay, I have to ask: Why do you keep quoting Gingrich every week, as if he mattered?
Every week there’s another quote from this schmuck on the story of the day, or the week (or the hour). Why? Is he just easy to get access to? Is it a quick way to move an uninformed commented online and get a discussion going?
Seriously, why the repeated exposure for this disgraced loser?
By Andy Steinhauser
October 8, 2008 10:27 AM | Link to this
Newt Gingrich’s change of direction in his views on the bailout is a ploy that he has used in the past. He boldly claims to believe in one issue and then looks at the polls and adjusts his sails. This man needs to develop a compass that is driven by a deep seated philosophy and one that is not so blantly opportunist in scope.
By American Voter
October 8, 2008 12:55 PM | Link to this
I wonder when the last time Tom Price actually pumped gas was…
…or when he actually bought a loaf of bread.
By Mableton Mom
October 8, 2008 1:28 PM | Link to this
Who really cares what the disgraced former Speaker says or thinks? He’s all about generating personal publicity so he can increase his speaking fees and book sales.
Go away Newt.
By Sixth District Democrat
October 8, 2008 4:22 PM | Link to this
Good questions, American Voter. Price made his fortune on the backs of insurance companies. His personal experience in the free market amounts to just about zero. Further, his continuous hollering of “free market” this and that rings hollow; apparently he skipped history class on his trip through the University of Michigan. Just what we need in the Sixth District — a carpetbagging, out-of-touch doctor as our Congressional representative.
By Sixth District Democrat
October 8, 2008 4:23 PM | Link to this
Good questions, American Voter. Price made his fortune on the backs of insurance companies. His personal experience in the free market amounts to just about zero. Further, his continuous hollering of “free market” this and that rings hollow; apparently he skipped history class on his trip through the University of Michigan. Just what we need in the Sixth District — a carpetbagging, out-of-touch doctor as our Congressional representative.