Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Who does Newt Gingrich think is "the greatest president of the 20th Century"?


posted by John Althouse Cohen on Tuesday, December 13, 2011
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6 comments:

Jason (the commenter) said...

How does Romney define himself ideologically?

December 13, 2011
John Althouse Cohen said...

"Progressive" is a flexible adjective. It seems to have gotten more and more popular in the past few years as a replacement for "liberal." But it doesn't need to refer to being left of center; it could just mean you stand for progress.

As for saying he's a "moderate" Republican, that's actually a plausible description of how he's positioned himself in the current campaign, let alone in his campaign for Governor of Massachusetts. His answers in the debates have tended to avoid the extremes of some of the other candidates. Of course, back in 2002, he was pro-choice, so he was even more moderate then.

December 13, 2011
Jason (the commenter) said...

Don't you see that all the candidates are doing is destroying each other?

I don't hear anyone discussing their policy proposals very much, which means if they do have any, they probably suck.

December 13, 2011
John Althouse Cohen said...

In any primaries, there end up being a lot of attacks, which always raise concerns that the candidates will destroy each other. That never seems to end up happening. So I'm not too worried about that. I think they'll all be fine in the end.

And I wouldn't say the candidates haven't been discussing their policy proposals. I'm watching Saturday's debate right now, and although Gingrich and Romney may have gotten the most attention for sparring over Gingrich's jab about how Romney would have been a 17-year career politician if he had won his Senate race, I was much more interested in the 3 other differences they covered in that exchange: capital gains taxes, the space program, and child labor laws. (It starts at 19:30.) Romney says he wants to cut taxes for the middle class, not the rich; Gingrich says Romney is even more liberal than Obama on the capital gains issue, and that we should cut taxes for the rich in order to spur growth. So, yes they're criticizing each other, but it's also a substantive policy discussion. In fact, that exchange clinched my preference for Romney over Gingrich.

December 13, 2011
Jason (the commenter) said...

JAC: In fact, that exchange clinched my preference for Romney over Gingrich.

Not that it ever existed before. LOL.

December 13, 2011
John Althouse Cohen said...

I've always preferred Romney, but since Gingrich has surged to the #1 spot I've had to give him a closer look.

December 14, 2011

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