Tag Archives: Newt Gingrich

NEWT: Virginia-no votes for Gingrich

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November 8: Republicans gain control of Congre...

NEWT: Image via Wikipedia

Lead

Newt Gingrich did not qualify to get on Virginia’s primary ballot. To make matters worse, state law does not allow write-in votes. Without Virginia primary votes, can Newt capture the GOP nomination?

CNN Article (Quote)

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich failed to collect enough signatures to appear on the Virginia primary ballot, the Republican Party of Virginia announced Saturday morning, leaving the longtime Virginia resident without a place on the state’s ballot and raising questions about his campaign’s organization.

“Voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates,” campaign director Michael Krull said in the statement.” * * *

* * *Virginia state law specifically prohibits voters from writing in candidates not on the ballot in primary elections.

Source: Steve Brusk,“Gingrich, Perry fail to qualify for GOP primary ballot in Virginia,” CNN POLITICS

Our Take

Virginia’s primary election could be pivotal. It’s an early primary which usually signals how the South will vote.

So, if Newt is out in Virginia, who’s in, and will the Virginia win propel another GOP candidate forward on the road to winning the GOP Presidential nomination?

Around the Web

GOP PRIMARY: is it all about white male privilege?

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Lead

Were the GOP Debates  both “interesting and important?”

Source: THE WASHINGTON POST

At the end of the day, have the Debates been, and will they be, about the players, the losers, the ratings or the visual?

Image

GOP Debates: The Visual

Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, the GOP’s all star cast, the “iron men” of GOP politics,  ”Back Together Again!”

Is this the visual America has been waiting to see in the GOP Presidential nomination contest? Will it fire up the GOP electorate?

Has the contest been, and will it reflect the image, a contest for white boys only? Bye, bye Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain?

Does not the visual say it all?

You decide.

Read More Around the Web

Related articles

OBAMA: Chris Matthews-thrill is gone: are liberals concerned about President Barack Obama?

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Chris Matthews at presidential debate in Dearb...

Image via Wikipedia

Are liberals [really] concerned about President Barack Obama?

VIDEO Lead

Source: See, “Thrill is Gone,” VIDEO, uploaded in News Videos, Sidebar, in which MSNBC‘s Chris Matthews sounds off!

Issues

Is the “thrill [really] gone?”

Or, is the commentary by Chris Matthews, a high profile MSNBC media personality, intended as a strategic diversion to deflect attention and media coverage away from the coverage of Newt Gingrich and the GOP contest?

Also Reads

GINGRICH: Are liberals concerned about Newt Gingrich?

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Lead

“Liberals should fear Newt Gingrich.”

Online Quote

The opening quote comes from Tyler Mills, a young writer on the Yahoo Contributor Network, who said further:

Why? The man can put a sentence together. Newt has taken a lot of positions over the years that may be anathema to true “Constitutional conservatives” on education, healthcare, environmental and foreign policy. I would argue that Gingrich is a conservative for the 21st century, one that understands that an ocean is not going to always be able to protect us from a globalized, and sometimes volatile, world.

My liberal friends (I consider myself to be fairly left-wing) are not used to facing conservatives who understand complex policy questions, or at least that is the way they like to portray things. Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain and Rick Perry are all talented people, but they are performers and hype people–they don’t have a serious grasp on policy

Source: YAHOO STORY

Issue

Are liberals concerned about Newt Gingrich?

Related Coverage & Web Links

GINGRICH: Newt Gingrich: the GOP candidate of the moment; can Newt break away from the pack and take the GOP nomination?

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Lead In

The GOP Presidential candidate of the week, of course, by virtue of the scope and volume of political media coverage without doubt is Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives.

Newt surged in the polls this week. That raises the question whether is he is now positioned to break away from the pack, and to take the GOP nomination for President?

Newt’s surge came about just in time to capture and dominate the media coverage this weekend on the Sunday Talk TV Shows. The hosts were interviewed by POLITICO on VIDEO this week to talk about and share their views about Newt and likely success of his candidacy.  That VIDEO is uploaded under MJB News VIDEOS, Sidebar, Title: “11-18: NEWT Rises-Sunday TV hosts talk about it.”

His surge also is in time for the CNN GOP Debate scheduled next week on 11-22-11, one day before the anniversary of the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Debate will focus on national security and the economy.

And, in the segment of the Journal Editorial Report TV show entitled: “Is Newt the Real Deal?” a panel of journalists from the Wall Street Journal have a lively roundtable discussion about Newt and his candidacy. The show is a featured program of FOX News. The VIDEO of that panel discussion is uploaded under  MJB News VIDEOS, Sidebar, Title: “Newt’s Poll Numbers Surge.”

The media coverage in the coming news cycle for next week is likely to be intense, something that Newt is well aware of and is likely to play into.

MJB’s collaborative partner, X9TV, uploaded in the first module on its site a FOX News VIDEO featuring a 6 minute clip of a FOX News Watch panel  talking about media bias and coverage with respect the Newt’s campaign. See VIDEO: at  X9TV.COM   Also click:  tab for X9TV on the Menu Bar of this Blog.

Media Quote

Newt Gingrich calls it giving advice. Most people would call it cashing in on his prominent name.

The former House speaker has raked in millions of dollars since leaving office more than a decade ago. Now as a rising GOP presidential candidate he’s facing renewed scrutiny of the intricate network of consulting firms, advocacy organizations and other businesses that, taken together, some have called Newt Inc.

“I do no lobbying of any kind. I never have. A very important point I want to make. I have never done lobbying of any kind,” Gingrich told Fox News Channel this week, defending himself over questions about his time since he left the speaker’s office under a political cloud in January 1999.

Source + Read:  HUFFINGTON POST

MJB’s Take

Newt Gingrich is now taking his turn being in the limelight as the putative front-runner for the GOP Presidential nomination. And, it seems that unlike the other contenders, including Mitt Romney, he’s ready for it, but more importantly, he relishes it.

Newt knows that his government affairs work as a “strategist” will be controversial.

The difference between a lobbyist and a strategist for most voters is a distinction without significance. As far as the court of public opinion is concerned, Newt is no more and no less than a high paid lobbyist who became rich by exploiting the honor and prestige of high office, Speaker of the House, to line his pocket with millions of dollars, irrespective of the history lessons and other consultations on politics and policy he has provided to clients.

Controversy fuels media coverage. And, it is that coverage which draws interest, which Newt is getting in spades, and attracts viewers, political money and votes. Newt loves it.

So he’s getting all the ego stoking attention he wants. If his calculations and projections are correct, in the end he will be the only GOP Presidential candidate having an image of a take charge leader who can assume the reigns of leadership as President on day one.

Newt has packaged himself as a “true conservative.” That’s music to the ears of the multi-billionaire conservatives who are prepared to unleash a torrent of political money, in the billions of dollars, to fund and fuel his campaign for President.

As for now, it’s clear that Newt may be the only true conservative who has the potential of breaking away from Romney and the other contenders, and then dominate and lead the field until the Republican National Convention to take the nomination for President.

That’s our take on it.

Leave a comment, and let us know what you think.

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GINGRICH: GOP’s Million Dollar Baby-Is the Bubble (NEWT) already in trouble?

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“Gingrich acknowledges benefiting from Freddie Mac fees, defends his work for mortgage giant”

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NEWT

Quote

URBANDALE, Iowa — Rising in polls and receiving greater scrutiny, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich found himself on the defensive Wednesday over huge payments he received over the past decade from the mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

Gingrich, who now is near the top in polling on the GOP race, said he didn’t remember exactly how much he was paid, but a person familiar with the hiring said it was at least $1.6 million for consulting contracts stretching from 1999 to early 2008. The person spoke on condition of anonymity in order address a personnel matter.

Source: THE WASHINGTON POST

Can’t Remember? 

Newt’s “Contract With America” perhaps?

And, he was not even lobbying?

But, Newt’s presidential timber?

MJB’s Take: Give me Herman or give me Mitt!!

Web Reaction

If you can’t remember pocketing over $1 Million in “consulting fees,” for strategy, of course, not lobbying, I suppose you go brain dead if you pocket a $Billion!

Is Georgia Politics, Religion, Gay Bashing Or The Eddie Long Mess On Our Mind?

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The Bishop Eddie Long alleged sex scandal is now on an incredible news media roll that could run into the November midterm elections and even beyond. But, is Long’s high-profile mess really about his alleged illicit sex, relations with gays or gay bashing; the power and influence of black churches, mega churches, television ministries or black ministers in general; or, the rough and tumble of Georgia based politics and political campaigns?

For bloggers, public affairs, politics and media junkies, it’s interesting and engaging what’s going on in Georgia these days.

The Democratic candidate for Governor, Roy Barnes, who cancelled an upcoming political campaign fundraiser to be hosted by Bishop Long, is in a tough election contest with a Tea Party supported opponent. And, Newt Gingrich, the former Georgia Congressman, U. S. House Speaker and leader of the conservative Contract With America movement that influenced mid-term House elections in 1994 under President Clinton, is making rumblings about launching a candidacy for the upcoming Presidential Election. With all that going on, there is renewed national debate about the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy affecting gays in the military, on the heals of a court decision declaring the policy to be unconstitutional, while Reverend Long takes a hit about his gay bashing.

WOW!!! What a mess, what a scandal and what a blast for politics, current and future Georgia based political campaigns, religion, gays, television ministries and black ministers all rolled into one!

Perhaps it’s all a coincidence; perhaps not. It will be interesting to see who gets paid out of all this at the end of the day.

But, one thing is for certain.

Georgia will certainly be on our mind for a while.