Newt Gingrich Open to Presidential Run

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Newt Gingrich Open to Presidential Run

Posted: 1/8/2005 9:55:44 AM EDT

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Newt Gingrich Open to Presidential Run

By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer

WASHINGTON - Newt Gingrich is taking steps toward a potential presidential bid in 2008 with a book criticizing President Bush (news - web sites)'s policies on Iraq (news - web sites) and a tour of early campaign states.

1 hour, 14 minutes ago

The former House speaker who led Republicans to power a decade ago said he soon will visit Iowa and New Hampshire to promote his book, try to influence public policy and keep his political options alive.

"Anything seems possible," including a White House race, Gingrich told The Associated Press.

The quotable and controversial former Georgia congressman, who now runs a consulting firm in Washington, is promoting, "Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America." He seemed to welcome the thought that a book tour will increase speculation about his political aspirations.

"It never hurts to maximize opportunities. That's the American tradition," Gingrich said. "If I can influence the reporters and political activists in Iowa and New Hampshire, they will influence the candidates."

Asked if he might be a candidate himself, Gingrich said. "For an Army brat from Pennsylvania who became the only Georgia Republican in the House and the first Republican Speaker of the House in 40 years, anything seems possible. I don't think it's very likely. On the other hand, if I have an impact on public policy and do it in a way that is exciting and positive, why wouldn't I want to do that?"

Gingrich said he hopes newspapers in Iowa and New Hampshire seize on issues raised in his book. "If that means that every candidate will be hit by those questions, at a minimum I have helped shape policy," he said.

"And, at a maximum, other things might happen," he said.

Republicans close to Gingrich said he privately has mused about potentially running for president in 2008 or beyond. These officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Gingrich would not approve of public speculation, said odds are against him seeking and winning the White House.

If nothing else, they said, Gingrich understands that talk could help sell his book, which goes on sale Monday.

Gingrich, who helped develop the "Contract with America" and end four decades of Democratic power in the House, built the book around a post-Sept. 11 update to the 1994 political manifesto.

He says America's early-century goals should be to defeat terrorism, stop driving God from public life, develop "patriotic" immigration and education policies, harness modern science and technology and establish personal Social Security (news - web sites) accounts.

While giving Bush credit for recognizing the threats posed by terror, Gingrich said U.S. intelligence capabilities are one-third of the size needed. On Iraq, he writes that the Bush administration erred by creating a U.S.-led provisional authority instead of quickly creating an interim government as it did in Afghanistan (news - web sites).

He also accused the administration of underestimating the effect of anti-U.S. propaganda from the Arab rule and lacking a strategy to deal with insurgents. "This lack of strategic planning led to the tragedy of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal," Gingrich wrote.

In the AP interview, he said Bush had signed off on an adequate postwar plan, but it was abandoned by former Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer.

"When Bremer arrived, he thought he was (Gen. Douglas) MacArthur in Japan" during post-World War II reconstruction, Gingrich said. "He thought he had five years to build an Americentric model. He just basically amputated the entire postwar plan."

Bremer, in an opinion column in The New York Times in October, said it was no secret that he had tactical disagreements with military commanders and others while in Iraq. But he said he underscored his "constant public support for the president's strategy in Iraq and his policies to fight terrorism."

Despite his criticism of Bremer, Gingrich said the official should not be a scapegoat for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) and Bush. "Whatever mistakes Bremer made were not corrected by his bosses, who were Rumsfeld, Powell, Cheney and the president," Gingrich said.

Those men were apparently too exhausted or focused on Bush's re-election campaign to curb Bremer, he said. Bush recently awarded Bremer the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work in Iraq.

Had the president stuck with an Afghanistan-style postwar plan, his public approval rating would be sky-high "and the Arab world would be closer to democracy," Gingrich said. "But that is history now, and we must work our way out of it."

The man who sent me to Federal 'prison' (United States Air Force Academy) for 4 years. Newt is a bang up guy (pardon the pun). If he could have kept it in his pants a few years back, he would probably waltz right in the front door. I would probably still vote for him anyway!!!

Posted: 1/8/2005 9:57:27 AM EDT

[#1]

No

Posted: 1/8/2005 9:59:55 AM EDT

[#2]

"If he could have kept it in his pants a few years back"

all the while Villanizing someone for the same. how trite.

newtie can drop dead for all I care.

Chris

Posted: 1/8/2005 10:00:13 AM EDT

[#3]

Two words
Snowball Hell

Posted: 1/8/2005 10:02:56 AM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:

Snowball Hell

yeppers

Posted: 1/8/2005 10:05:39 AM EDT

[#5]

Fortunately, Republicans aren't as forgiving of character defects as Democrats.

Posted: 1/8/2005 10:07:18 AM EDT

[#6]

I like him and he's smart, but I dont think the public likes him. He's like Dick Cheney that way.

Posted: 1/8/2005 10:09:16 AM EDT

[#7]

Let me clarify:

I would probably still vote for him anyway!!!

means I would vote for him if he was running against

1) The Hilderbeast
2) John Kerry (who may be back in 2008)
3) John Edwards (who has hinted at running on his own)
4) Screamin' Howard Dean
5) any other person who resembles the people above.

Posted: 1/8/2005 10:11:00 AM EDT

[#8]

in other words ABaD right?

chris

Posted: 1/8/2005 10:15:12 AM EDT

[#9]

Put down the crack pipe....

Posted: 1/8/2005 10:18:39 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
Put down the crack pipe....

are you saying that (abaD) isn't a fact?

better let your own hit out before claiming crack pipe.

Chris

Posted: 1/8/2005 10:22:07 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Let me clarify:

I would probably still vote for him anyway!!!

means I would vote for him if he was running against

1) The Hilderbeast
2) John Kerry (who may be back in 2008)
3) John Edwards (who has hinted at running on his own)
4) Screamin' Howard Dean
5) any other person who resembles the people above.

I'd vote for a 2000 year old mummy before voting for those douchebags

Posted: 1/8/2005 10:24:04 AM EDT

[#12]

what's so bad about newt? it would be great seeing the democrats lose their mind when this guy wins.

Posted: 1/8/2005 10:25:46 AM EDT

[#13]

Nobody's perfect, but he's demonstrated that he has some serious character flaws.

I'd rather not have him run for anything.

Posted: 1/8/2005 10:32:53 AM EDT

[#14]

Newt will always be one of my favorite conservatives because of what he did for us running up to the '94 election (acting as an olympic-level bomb-thrower against the dims) but, he screwed-the-pooch personally and would be WAAAY too open to attack from the left to be viable as a POTUS candidate I'm afraid.

Posted: 1/8/2005 10:52:09 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
Newt will always be one of my favorite conservatives because of what he did for us running up to the '94 election (acting as an olympic-level bomb-thrower against the dims) but, he screwed-the-pooch personally and would be WAAAY too open to attack from the left to be viable as a POTUS candidate I'm afraid.

well put

Posted: 1/8/2005 11:13:42 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
I like him and he's smart, but I dont think the public likes him. He's like Dick Cheney that way.

"Nobody's perfect, but he's demonstrated that he has some serious character flaws."

Fact: Gingrich was a person who was NOT afraid to speak his mind truly open without fear of what some candy ass thought about him or his ideas. The press hated him, probably the most hated conservative ever by the "mainstream" media. Everyone now has this idea that he is flawed, bad character, etc etc
which has been totally manufactured by these same media elites. He basically gave them the finger. I will never forget the time he stated "There are reporters in the room so I am going to speak slowly"
That one single comment probably did more to achieve his demise than anything. We need many more like him. You have been bambozled by the PC crowd once again. Please go out and purchase some anti-brainwash, take a double dose and stop watching CNN.

Edited to add: No disrespect intended to fellow ARFCOM members.
Disrepect is intened to mainstream media.

Posted: 1/8/2005 8:44:36 PM EDT

[#17]

Gotta wonder what kind of feedback he is hearing to even think he has a chance. Even the folks most likely to vote for him laugh out loud to hear he thinks it could happen.

How about a 2 way match up - Quale and Newt vs. Ted Kennedy and Sharpton?

Posted: 1/8/2005 8:48:08 PM EDT

[#18]

I wouldn't vote for him in any primary. He would be close to my last choice for presidential material.

Posted: 1/8/2005 8:49:40 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
I wouldn't vote for him in any primary. He would be close to my last choice for presidential material.

+1

Posted: 1/8/2005 8:56:16 PM EDT

[#20]

He has about as good a chance winning the republican nomination in the primary as Dennis Kucinich has a chance of winning the democratic one. It just isn't gonna happen.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Newt Gingrich Open to Presidential Run

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