Thread: Scratch Another GOP Candidate off the List for 2012

Newt Gingrich

Scratch Another GOP Candidate off the List for 2012

By Doug Patton
Sunday, October 25, 2009

Newt Gingrich has often shown himself to be one of the great political and social visionaries of our time. A historian with a PhD and the ability to author a couple of books a year (he’s written nineteen so far), the former Speaker of the House was first elected to Congress in 1978, in the middle of the hapless Jimmy Carter administration and from Carter’s home state of Georgia. It was an indication of things to come.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Gingrich developed a will and an ability to lead. When Bill and Hillary Clinton tried to destroy health care as we know it in 1993-94, Newt Gingrich saw a once-in-a-century opportunity to realign power at the federal level. He called it the “Contract with America.â€

Newt, whom I have met a few times, has absolutely no plan of entering any political fray ever again. He writes books about American history (12 at last count) does speaking engagements and does fundraisers. His current pursuits are probably much more lucrative and less stessful than running for public office.