Gingrich says Obama "has dumb ideas"

By Ernie Suggs

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

If the whispers are true that Newt Gingrich will run for president in 2012, the campaign against Barack Obama has begun.

To a room full of Georgia Republicans, Gingrich, the former U.S. speaker of the House, called Obama a socialist and the “most radical president” the country has seen in decades.

“By any standard of government control of the economy, he is a socialist,” Gingrich said. “That doesn’t mean he is evil. He just has dumb ideas.”

Gingrich said the current administration was “weak and wavers under the pressure of the day."  He received one of his biggest ovations when he called for the firing of current attorney general Eric Holder for the handling of the Christmas Day bomber.

“We should do what is necessary to defeat our enemy, protect our families and ensure that freedom survives,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich was the keynote speaker at the Georgia Republican Party’s President’s Day Dinner. In grand party style, Democrats in Washington and locally were roundly blasted.

“Everybody has had enough of Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama,” GOP Chairman Sue P. Everhart said.

Speakers also recognized the Boy Scouts and on several occasions invoked the name of the late and former President Ronald Reagan, a GOP heavyweight. Sen. Chip Pearson of Dawsonville mentioned that Reagan’s 100^th birthday, if he were still alive, was coming up. During a video presentation, Sen. Johnny Isakson reminded his colleagues, as election season heats up, “to win one for the Gipper.”

The evening theme appeared to be transition. The party offered its first goodbyes to Gov. Sonny Perdue while laying a foundation for the November elections.

Getting Isakson re-elected is just as important as the recent Massachusetts election of Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate, Gingrich said.

Barely mentioning him by name, party members threw constant jabs at Democratic gubernatorial candidate Roy Barnes, even revising images of “King Roy” with a video and Web site, which Everhart said would be updated weekly to deter the efforts of the former governor.

“We are about to be tested like we have never been tested before,” said David Ralston, speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives. “We are working to preserve that majority.  We are not going back. We stand on the shoulders of you, who have worked in this party, who have labored in this party, who believe in this party and all it stands for. We are going to govern this state with honor and like Republicans.”

Gingrich, known for his battles with former President Bill Clinton, predicted sweeping victories in the fall, but cautioned his party.

“I think we are going to win a majority in the House and the Senate in the fall,” Gingrich said. “But if we win, history is not going to go on vacation.”

Gingrich said if the GOP takes control of both chambers of Congress, it will have to embrace bi-partisanship and can’t afford to be the “party of no.”

“We have to think positively about principle, responsibility and bi-partisanship,” Gingrich said.

He said that the next few elections would be among the most important in the history of America.

“The left has shown us who they are,” Gingrich said. “If we have the moral courage and discipline and drive to take up the case, we can win a sweeping series of victories.”