somehow set back the conservative movement? we re not sure what the iowa, new hampshire and all these voters will do and what mix will look like. are you holding out for huntsman? this is mitt romney s problem right here? are you holding out for jon huntsman? i endorsed romney myself. the magazine and colleagues are split. please not gingrich. we ve seen this movie before. you have covered newt gingrich when he was the outspoken minority whip. covered him as speaker back in the atlanta paper. we ve had a georgian on earlier today who said it was easy to get press if you said something bad about newt because he loved to banter back. are you seeing a new newt yet? no. i think that he s more disciplined than he was back then. but there are many, many echos of newt. we are who we are. people don t change dramatically once they are grown up. he s all grown up. and so, you know, he s newt and
against newt. your magazine founded by conservative populist anti-establishment guy william f. buckley writes this. to nominate former speaker newt gingrich front-runner in the polls would be to blow this opportunity. gingrich said he wants to transform the country and is unable to transform or govern himself. we urge republicans to have the good sense to reject a hasty marriage to gingrich which would risk dissolving harmony. we reserve the right to endorse him but our main concern right now is to warn republican primary voters about the front-runner who is a flawed candidate even though we ve had good things to say about him in the past and have some sympathy for. i just don t understand why not rally around romney? why not help lead in that charge if you believe gingrich will
done. that s what we need right now. speaker boehner had this to say about gingrich s ideology. he s neutral in the race. here s what he said. they have great ideas and then they have other ideas. it would be hard to describe newt as not conservative. i m not sure he s as conservative as some people think he is but newt is a conservative. congressman kingston, let me get you to respond to that. speaker boehner said not as conservative as some people think, fair? lifetime american conservative union rating of 90%. that s conservative. and while newt dabbled off the conservative talking points here and there and look at new ideas, yes, he will. a 90% lifetime american conservative union rating to me ends the discussion. is it credible for governor romney to be saying newt gingrich is not a consistent conservative? well, i think at the end of the day what s important is who
came from arkansas, i ll take the governor from massachusetts. a democratic state who can get things done. that s the kind of bipartisan leader we need in washington d.c. congressman kingsman, did you choose to support speaker gingrich because he s a georgian? i have known newt for a long time. having served with him in congress led to my decision as much as anyone else. aaron mentioned ronald reagan. what two figures in the last 20 to 30 years have really changed the face of our country? newt gingrich speaker of the house, ronald reagan as president. we did the contract with america. we balanced the budget when we came in and there were deficits of over $2 trillion. when he left surpluses of over $2 trillion. four years of balanced budget. reformed welfare, reformed medicare. these are not small achievements especially with bill clinton as president. so while newt can ruffle feathers, he can get the job
dealt with us on the hill on a daily basis, and i think every one of them was there. i don t know anyone that jumped out saying i don t like this guy. as a republican, particularly a republican from georgia, i can tell you if you want press, just jump up and say something bad against a fellow republican particularly newt gingrich and thin you can become the hero of the day and media or those critical of newt. i understand there s a big temptation with our team on it. i m comfortable with mitt romney. i think. second choice. no problem if he s the nominee. yes. i would say all of them will have better ideas and be more conservatives than current occupant of the white house. newt gingrich has gotten things done in washington. the republican establishment won t like him because they don t like change. when he came out with a contract with america, not every member of congress would sign it. and the senate pooh-poohed it. washington doesn t like a