It’s strange to think that a guy who served as Speaker of the House for a mere four years, ending his stint more than a decade ago, has now been able to command such a loyal following in the DC media types that he is making regular national TV appearances and is often mentioned as a potential presidential candidate. But that’s what Newt Gingrich — whose name was last on a ballot in 1998, when he won re-election to his House seat from Georgia and then soon after resigned as both Speaker and a member of Congress — has managed to pull off.
Just look at his Speaker Gingrich Web hub for his views on the issues — its full heading is “The Office of Speaker Newt Gingrich,” a decade after he left an office he held for four years. He’s also become an expert adviser with House Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s National Council for a New America, which is widely seen as a GOP rebranding effort.
Some recent Newt pronouncements include:
⢠Calling on the current Speaker Nancy Pelosi to resign, after she said the CIA lied to her about torture: “She’s made America less secure by sending a signal to the men and women defending our country that they can’t count on their leaders to defend them.”
⢠Declaring that President Obama is endangering Israel: “There’s almost an eagerness to take on the Israeli government to make a point with the Arab world.”
⢠Accusing Obama of waging “war against churches” through proposed changes to the tax breaks on charitable donations: “I think there’s a clear to desire to replace the church with a bureaucracy, and to replace people’s right to worship together with a government-dominated system.”
⢠Criticizing the University of Notre Dame for inviting President Obama to speak at their commencement: “To the degree that Notre Dame still thinks of itself as a Catholic institution, it raises real questions.”
⢠And from a recent column praising the anti-tax movement: “In the great tradition of political movements rising against arrogant, corrupt elites, there will soon be a party of people rooting out the party of government. This party may be Republican; it may be Democratic; in some states it may be a third party. The politicians have been warned.”
He has also stepped in to help the current House GOP leadership raise money — the NRCC is offering a prize drawing for donors to sit with Gingrich at a big party dinner in June. “Newt Gingrich remains an influential voice within the Republican Party,” NRCC spokesman Ken Spain told me today. “He is a solution-oriented conservative whose proven leadership from the time he was elected in 1978 to the Republican takeover he led in 1994 has earned him a prominent place in the history and the future of our Party.”
The thrice-married Gingrich also has a new book with his daughter: 5 Principles for a Successful Life: From Our Family to Yours. And on top of all that, he has recently converted to Catholicism.
During his appearance Sunday on Meet The Press, Newt took a question about a potential White House run. “I’ll be glad to accept an invitation in early 2011 to have that conversation, but I’m not … I’m not going to think about it till 2011,” Gingrich said.
In a New York Times profile from three months ago, Gingrich took a nonchalant attitude, saying his real goal is to build a movement. “If in that process personal ambition leads to the presidency, that’s fine,” he said, “but it’s a secondary achievement, I think.”
But Gingrich also balked at the idea of opposing Obama. “I don’t actually build oppositions,” he said. “I build the next governing majority. I have no interest in being an opposition party.”
