MyDD :: Newt Gingrich Gives The Pygmies Campaign Advice

Newt Gingrich Gives The Pygmies Campaign Advice

by Todd Beeton, Thu Jul 26, 2007 at 01:12:33 PM EST

After likening his jumping into the field of 2008 GOP candidates to Charles de Gaulle "rush[ing] in and join[ing] the pygmies" (yeah, it's totally like that), Newt Gingrich generously offered the Republican candidates some unsolicited campaign advice, also of French origin oddly, on Hannity and Colmes last night (via Newshounds):

There's a French lesson for Republicans in the election of Sarkozy who called for a clean break from Chirac although he was in the Chirac administration and he ran as the candidate of change. I think Republicans ought to pick five or six big items, I would start with English as the official language of government for example, and draw the line sharply with the candidates of the left.

Gingrich elaborated on the parallel between the French and US presidential elections in an appearance earlier this month (he also betrays a bit of a mancrush):

So Sarkozy comes along and he's brilliant and he understands that [the French] are in a crisis of their culture. And he's in, in terms of the current politics of where we are in Washington, he is in the second term of a 12-year presidency, which has been decaying. Chirac was unpopular. So if you set up the normal political science equation, the left is going to win because after 12 years of the center right they've run out of energy and he manages to put together this magic formula of arguing that the greatness of France requires real change. So even though he is in Chirac's cabinet, he is the candidate of real change and Royale is the candidate of reactionary bureaucracy.

Clearly this advice seems perfectly suited to a scenario in which Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee (as Sean Hannity predicts will happen) but it offers fair warning to all of the Democrats not to allow any of the Republican candidates to run against Bush and portray himself as the true agent of change. Not that we have the maddening brilliance of Sarkozy among the GOP field but it's never a bad thing to remind people that the first term of any of these Republicans' presidencies = Bush's third term.

Tags: 2008 presidential election, Republican primary, Newt Gingrich (all tags)

Permalink :: 5 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: Newt Gingrich Gives The Pygmies Campaign Advic (none / 0)

Well there also was the fact that Chirac and Sarkozy were openly warring for years. Chirac openly kept trying to sabotage Sarkozy's career long before the presidental elections.

The best comparison would be if McCain hadn't sold his soul to the bush machine but had kept his straight talk image and rebel position against Bush instead of caving on torture and the like.

There just aren't any candidates that would qualify for the Sarkozy role. Besides the electorate of France and the USA differ a lot. No way a Bush detractor would win the GOP nomination. This is just not a plausible scenario for them.

"Another problem we have...is that in election years we behave somewhat as primitive peoples do at the time of the full moon." --Harry Truman

by Ernst on Thu Jul 26, 2007 at 01:36:46 PM EST

Re: Newt Gingrich Gives The Pygmies Campaign Advic (none / 0)

You are right. How is someone gonna get the Republican nomination with out the support of the fundies? Besides, Faux will rip apart any Republican who tries to run against "Our Glorious Leader". Look at Rudy after all. He's embracing most everything Bush at this point.

John McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion

by Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle on Thu Jul 26, 2007 at 02:50:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Newt Gingrich Gives The Pygmies Campaign Advic (none / 0)

Stupid thing is ofcourse that if the (former) big three only had stayed away from the fundies they be much more likely to win in the general. And the fundies would have to support them anyway as they wouldn't have had a choice. And it's not as if the republican candidates are really fooling anybody with their pander. It's just making more clear how weak their field is.

"Another problem we have...is that in election years we behave somewhat as primitive peoples do at the time of the full moon." --Harry Truman

by Ernst on Thu Jul 26, 2007 at 03:31:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I agree with Newt (none / 0)

We Dems could be beaten by an attack like this.

What to do?

1) Firmly tie all candidates to Bush.

2) Firmly tie conservatism to Bush/Rove.

3) Ensure that Bush is blamed for failure.

4) If a conservative program is suggested, just say, "We tried those old, tired, conservative programs during the Bush Administration. They don't work. Democrats have better ideas, ideas for making government work as it is intended to work."

There are three places where we could implement new, computerized, sensible solutions:

1) Getting passports quickly and simply

2) Implementing the legal and sensible parts of the immigration system

3) Ensuring that taxes can be filed easily, simply and WITHOUT ADDITIONAL COST through open-source tax software.

by dataguy on Thu Jul 26, 2007 at 03:48:56 PM EST

Re: Newt Gingrich Gives Advice (none / 0)

The Republicans already have a change candidate, one who differs dramatically from Bush in six big areas:

1. He would withdraw US troops from Iraq as soon as possible.

2. He would stop violating the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments as a matter of standard operating procedure.

3. He would stop increasing the budget at the LBJ-like pace that Bush has maintained.

4. He would reverse the dangerous shift of power toward the presidency, back toward the traditional balance of power.

5. He has a thorough understanding of economics and history.

6. He wouldn't fight his own party's base on immigration policy.

Unfortunately for him, their party, the country, and Newt's advice, he's only at 3% in the polls right now.

by Lex on Thu Jul 26, 2007 at 07:50:26 PM EST

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