Unfortunately, he's gone downhill ever since.
I'm not going to get into his personal life right now, other than to note that I believe that character does matter. (Newt has done things that would shame even Bill Clinton - for a thorough treatment see Why Newt's Personal Life Matters to You.)
No, what has set me off today is his unconscionable and incomprehensible attack on Paul Ryan's Medicare reform plan.
White House hopeful Newt Gingrich called the House Republican plan for Medicare "right-wing social engineering," injecting a discordant GOP voice into the party's efforts to reshape both entitlements and the broader budget debate.I will never support anyone, D or R, male or female, black or white (or other), that has the unmitigated gall to mandate that I purchase a particular good or service.
In the same interview Sunday, on NBC's "Meet the Press," Mr. Gingrich backed a requirement that all Americans buy health insurance, complicating a Republican line of attack on President Barack Obama's health law.
The former House speaker's decision to stick with his previous support for an individual mandate comes days after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney defended the health revamp he championed as governor, which includes a mandate.
Under Roman law, a mandate was "an order or decree by the emperor." Today it means "to order or require" (source), although in their minds there isn't much difference between our elected 'leaders' [*snort*] and the emperors of old - except today's politicians are better paid.
My wife can tell me what to buy, but that's a voluntary arrangement (sort of). I don't need the damn government doing the same thing.
So Gingrich is off my list of acceptable candidates. Romney was never on it. I'm not sure who that leaves, but I'm beginning to worry that the republicans are going to hand the 2012 presidential election to obama by default.
"We have met the enemy, and he is us..."
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