By Horace Williams:

He must stand on record as being the most disliked presidential candidate to ever make a run for the presidency of the United States.

Presently, Newt Gingrich still has a lead over his Republican challengers to oppose President Obama in November's presidential elections, despite a reversal of his fortunes during the last couple of weeks. He may very well win the nomination, and the democrats would prefer him as an opponent, despite the fact that he is a far stronger candidate and debater than Mitt Romney is. The reason is simply this -- Gingrich has too much baggage! Gingrich has so much baggage that even those who know him best are desperately attempting to destroy him before he commits political suicide, and takes the Republican Party with him.

Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House of Representatives when Bill Clinton was president, and Gingrich's performance left much to be desired. As Speaker, he presided over the infamous government shutdown. The government closed most non-essential offices during this shut-down, which was the longest in US history. This conflict between him and President Clinton arose as a result of the Republican majority's promise to slow the rate of government spending on Medicare, education, the environment and public health. During the crisis, Gingrich's public image suffered from the public's perception that his hard-line stance against the budget was purely partisan and nonsensical.

In January 1997, Gingrich was disciplined by the House of Representatives for ethics violations, although a full hearing was avoided. Eighty-four ethics charges were filed against Speaker Gingrich, and by a 395-28 house vote he was sanctioned with a $300,000 charge. This was the first time in history that a Speaker was disciplined for ethical wrongdoing.

Gingrich himself acknowledged, "In my name and over my signature, inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable statements were given to the committee." The House Ethics Committee concluded that inaccurate information supplied to investigators represented "intentional or reckless disregard of House rules."

Special Counsel James M. Cole concluded that Gingrich violated federal tax law and had lied to the ethics panel in an effort to force the committee to dismiss the complaints against him. On November 5, 1998, he resigned from the house under pressure from his republican colleagues.

Newt Gingrich was recently ripped and blasted by his own Republican fellow candidates for his ties to Freddie Mac. He claimed that he never "lobbied" but was merely a "consultant" for the company, which paid him $1.6 million. Ron Paul, who put out a web-ad attacking Gingrich for his ties to Freddie Mac, said that the $1.6 million was "literally coming from the tax-payer." Rep. Ron Paul of Texas was furious, and claimed that "after Gingrich's advice to Freddie Mac, they still went broke, and we had to bail them out."

Gingrich has had a long-standing problem dealing with women, so he simply married some of them. He actually stopped at number three, after divorcing the first two when they were terribly ill. I do not believe there is anything wrong with having three wives, as long as you are not husband to all three at the same time, or their terms being Mrs Gingrich, do not unceremoniously overlap.

This is what his first wife, Jackie, had to say about the end of their marriage: "He walked out in the spring of 1980. By September, I went into hospital for my third surgery. The two girls came to me and said, 'Daddy is downstairs. Could he come up?' When he got there he wanted to discuss the terms of the divorce, while I was recovering from my (cancer) surgery."

The hospital visit wasn't the end of it either. Jackie had to take Newt to court to get him to contribute to the household bills, as utilities were about to be cut off.

Those who know Gingrich best, (even staunch Republicans) do not paint glowing references for him.... and that's a problem. Here is what some of his colleagues have had to say about Mr Gingrich:

Former New Hampshire Governor, and George H. W. Bush Chief of Staff, John Sununu told The Wall Street Journal last week: "Listen to just about anyone who worked alongside Gingrich, and you will hear that he is inconsistent, erratic, untrustworthy and unprincipled."

From 1993 to 1999 Jim Talent served with Gingrich in the house, and in a conference call on Thursday said, "He is not a reliable leader."

Senator Tom Coburn, a member of the house class of 1994, called the former Speaker's leadership, "lacking," and told Oklahoma constituents, "Mr Gingrich is the last person on earth I would vote for for President of the United States."

Senator Lindsay Graham told a reporter that "Mr Gingrich could be a historic president if he has matured as a person, and is, for lack of a better word, 'calmed down.'" That is the closest we got, as far as being a compliment is concerned.

Many who know Newt feel that "he is usually destabilized by success; he becomes dizzy by the thin air at the top; he has an inner urge to be tragic; he goes too far, and his rhetoric becomes too slashing." A common comment is that Newt is actually his own greatest enemy, and one who is actually a human hand-grenade who walks around with his hand on the pin, saying, "Watch this!"

What those who know Newt fear is that he will show just enough discipline over the next few months, just enough focus to win the nomination. And then in the fall of 2012, once party leaders have come around, and the GOP is fully behind him, he will begin baying at the moon. He will start saying wild things, and promising he will bomb Iran.

Gingrich has deservedly received his fair share of criticism, some of which are as follows: he has frequently disregarded the poor; he was criticized for his role in crafting the 1990s’ welfare reform; his vilification of people as shiftless and unwilling to work; and his disgusting suggestions that we bring back child labour.

Despite Gingrich's obvious positive qualities, his problem is that his liabilities massively outweigh his assets. His baggage is just too heavy and overwhelming, and that is precisely why the polls show that presently, there is no way he could defeat President Obama in 2012.

Gingrich is polling well in the swing states, he is a great debater and he has guts, but his down-side is tremendously negative. President Obama's job approval rating is not impressive, but Newt is so abominable, atrocious, deplorable, disgusting, offensive and repulsive as an individual and as a leader, that the president is still leading him by double digits.

December 27, 2011

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