Pat Buchanan: Reagan White House saw Newt as ‘something of a political opportunist’

Interesting article by Pat Buchanan.  When it came to light in the last few weeks that Newt Gingrich was the Chair for Rockefeller in GA against Barry Goldwater, it was a shock since President Reagan was a huge Goldwater supporter and conservative while Rockefeller was a liberal:

Reading this article by Pat Buchanan it struck me that he is correct that Gingrich is an opportunist and his attempt to try and carry the Reagan mantle is hollow like everything else he touches.  He brags about the Contract with America but then turns around and tries to get Republicans to abandon certain of its principles like raising taxes.  When 11 conservatives had the audacity to tell him no, he hauls them before the caucus to subject them to ridicule.  At the end of the day, history shows Gingrich lost the war with conservatives in Congress who were elected in 1994.  Joe Scarborough has been quite vocal that Gingrich has tried to rewrite history about what he (Gingrich) had to say about President Reagan and now along comes Pat Buchanan adding his voice to those of others on Gingrich.  

Gingrich, Palin, and others attacking other candidates and the media for negative campaigning is getting really old.  Detest the thin skin of some Republicans and looks like Rush Limbaugh has now weighed in as well. 

I am getting tired of the whining about 'negative' campaigning.  What in the world is campaigning if it is not this?  It has always been this way.  Romney is outspending Gingrich by $15million to $3million. He doesn't have a microphone like I do, but I just ignore critics.  

I am not a huge fan of Rush but in this case he is right.  All this whine about the media and the negative campaigning shows that Gingrich is another one of the Republicans who can dish it out but cannot take it just like Sarah Palin and her refusing interviews because she might get asked a gotcha question.  I don't remember Reagan complaining about the media.

Successful Republican politicians learn to use the media to their advantage instead of complaining about it.  Like Ronald Reagan.  He was a master at using the media.  Ever hear Reagan whine about the media?  Here is a pretty extensive list of Reagan quotes.  None of them are about the media.  Complaining about the media in politics is like complaining that water is wet.  Stop complaining and start swimming

When I read that paragraph above at Red State, I burst out laughing as it is so true.  Love the "Stop complaining and start swimming" part.  That was one of my biggest complaints about Palin when she couldn't answer a question was her immediate response of blaming the media which makes a candidate look weak and whiney which is what we have been seeing out of Gingrich for the last week.

Pat Buchanan: Reagan White House saw Newt as ‘something of a political opportunist’Published: 3:48 PM 01/28/2012 | Updated: 11:44 AM 01/29/2012

Over the last week, several people that worked in the Reagan administration have come forward and countered former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s claim that he is a “Reagan Republican.” These people say Gingrich “wasn’t on board with a lot of what President Ronald Reagan tried to accomplish during his two terms.” 

And although that claim has been disputed by other Reagan administration officials, former Reagan communications director Pat Buchanan told “The McLaughlin Group” this weekend that Gingrich wasn’t seen favorably by those in the administration. 

“[I]n the Reagan White House, Newt Gingrich was considered quite frankly by a lot of folks to be something of a political opportunist and who was not trusted and who had played no role whatsoever,” Buchanan said. “He was a Rockefeller Republican in the great Goldwater-Rockefeller battle, where conservatism came of age.” 

Buchanan also theorized that Gingrich stumbled in two debates this week because he was caught off guard by all these people who turned on him. 

“I do think this, though. Newt has been pounded merciously,” Buchanan said. “He had people he worked with basically turn on him and dump on him down there in Florida, which somehow I think may have had some role in the fact that the great fighter and battler of South Carolina had no fight in him whatsoever in the Monday and Thursday debates in Florida.’ 

“He let Mitt Romney punch him silly. And he has lost all his momentum. And John, I’m not going to make any predictions because I thought the battler of South Carolina would win Florida, but Romney is surging and it looks like Romney may win Florida. And if he does, it’s all over.” 

Later Buchanan reiterated his criticisms of Gingrich, recalling his opposition to Reagan’s 1986 veto of a South African anti-Apartheid sanctions bill and about how Gingrich used it to score points against Reagan. 

“I don’t think he has a core,” Buchanan said. “I don’t think he has a fundamental, ideological and political core. I think, look he moved, he was a Rockefeller Republican, he comes up — I remember meeting him in ’78 when he came to town, you know he is knocking Reagan. … 

Reagan believed that sanctions on South Africa would cripple the economy that the Africans would inherit. So it was a tough decision. Reagan vetoed it. And he scored points off us by you know voting for the sanctions and doing that. I don’t think he has an ideological core. I think he moves from one issue to another to another.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/28/pat-buchanan-reagan-white-house-saw-newt-as-something-of-a-political-opportunist/#ixzz1kyacqnpd

Originally thought I could support Gingrich, but after talking to some people who knew him best and reading about the facts not the rewritten history by Gingrich, I cannot in good conscience support a man that I am not sure where he really stands after traveling around with Pelosi and Daschle on Global Warming and getting on board with Hillary on healthcare when she was in the Senate.  He asks us to swallow too much koolaid like he was an historian for Freddie MAC or that he was a huge supporter of Reagan when the facts speak otherwise.   

Already said that there was no way I could support Mitt Romney and feel that way as much today as I did six months ago if not more today.  He is not conservative and has flipped so much on issues not sure he knows where he stands.  

Will the Republican Party end up with brokered convention or will another candidate step forward that the grassroots can support.  I have seen more people post in the comment section that if any of the four candidates is the nominee they are staying home.  That would hurt our House and Senate candidates.  In fact, the latest generic poll shows the Dems 1% ahead of the GOP for Congressional seats.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 41% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for the Democrat in their district’s congressional race if the election were held today, while 40% would choose the Republican instead.  

There are two things at play here.  First is the lack of good Conservative Republican leadership in Congress and second is the way this primary season has been handled by the RNC who is owned by Bush 41 and the establishment with their surrogates like Karl Rove calling the shots.  This group took out other candidates along the way who were more conservative then any of the four who are left.  Shame on the RNC for having all those debates with liberal moderators which favored Romney and Newt and their prowess in debating.  All of a sudden the debates became the way to weed out conservative candidates.  You can lay a good part of the blame at the RNC and Fox News with their crooked debate in Orlando which started the downward spiral for debates.


For the first time in several years, Democrats are back on top the generic ballot for Congress and can understand why when you see what the RNC has managed to accomplish in this primary -- give us candidates that the grassroots don't like and basically tell us to get on board to beat Obama or we are not Republicans.  Some of the emails I have gotten frankly have made me more against the RNC then ever which says a lot.


Someone better wake up and realize that we could lose a chance at the White House and the Congress if we are not careful.  This may go down as one of the most disgusting Presidential primaries that I have ever witnessed with the RNC calling the total shots and being in the tank for Mitt Romney who is not conservative which has left us with the #2 candidate Gingrich who is only conservative when it is to his advantage or he would not have been paling around with Nancy Pelosi on global warming.  Here is the ad by Pelosi and Gingrich on global warming:





What are conservatives to do about this Presidential Primary?  One path is to vote for one of the candidates like Santorum who is the most conservative or even Ron Paul and hope we end up with no one getting 50% of the vote and have a brokered convention.  Another avenue is to vote for Romney and end this charade and move on to House and Senate races.  Frankly Romney as the candidate would make it easier to Keep the House and Take and Senate because most Democrats are no more enthused to vote then Republicans.  With Gingrich, Clintonites will come out in big numbers to vote against Gingrich and give at least one of the Houses and perhaps both back to the Democrats.  Personally I am voting for Santorum in my state hoping for a brokered convention but even then I would expect the RNC to blow it.


It is time for the RNC Chair Preibus to resign after this debacle of a primary season which we don't expect to happen but it would show that the leaders of the Republican Party understand how mad conservatives are at what we have been witnessing during the Presidential primary.  I am not holding my breath because I think the ethics at the RNC are missing in action with all these debates meant to elect Romney, or we wouldn't be in this mess!