Newt Fatigue

by Tim Kowal on January 24, 2012

My patience with Newt is about up.  I was willing to overlook the fact that he’s a ball of contradictions with a short temper when he was at least bringing sanity and big, fun ideas to the debates.  And, being a red-blooded conservative American, I do love a good zing on the media.  But when he attacked the free market just to take Mitt down a peg or two, it irked me.  And since then, that mean old political operative turned lobbyist is all I see. 

Sure, I’d rather Mitt had made his wealth as a creative inventor a la Steve Jobs than as a financier (though they are two sides of the same free market coin).  Stacking finance against lobbying, however, I’d take even a Gordon Gekko over a Boss Tweed.  Flitting between public office (which doesn’t pay a lot) and powerful lobbying firms (which do) is the very sort of power brokering, Washington insiderism everyone, myself included, is getting really fed up with. 

In political Rochambeau, Jobs beats Gekko, but Gekko beats Tweed.  

Count me a happy Mitt backer. 

{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Will Truman January 24, 2012 at 4:44 am

I get that a lot of conservatives don’t like Mitt Romney, are hard-pressed to support him, and will look for any reason not to. But to the extent that they felt that way, and given that it was always Mitt’s to lose, they really needed to find a candidate. An alternative. John Thune was ready to go, but for a base of support.

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2 Tod Kelly January 24, 2012 at 5:04 am

I think someone should keep track of all the state-specific pandering promises he makes – promises not to touch corn subsidies in Iowa, teaching blacks how to work in South Carolina, military action against Cuba in Florida.

I’m hoping it’s still a horse race by the time Oregon’s primary hits, because I’m pretty sure he’ll talk about federally subsidized patchouli oil.

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3 wardsmith January 24, 2012 at 6:06 am

I think someone should keep track of all the
Make sure we don’t hire the same chump who’s supposed to be keeping track of all the Obama promises! ;)

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4 Burt Likko January 25, 2012 at 12:03 am

…federally subsidized patchouli oil.

Come on. Your state has a bigger industry than that. He’ll talk about how with just a little bit of deregulation from those freedom-stifling minimum wage and child labor laws, we can afford to bring all of those athletic clothing and footwear manufacturing jobs home.

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5 Tod Kelly January 25, 2012 at 5:52 pm

A most awesome catch, Mr. Likko.

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6 James Hanley January 25, 2012 at 12:48 am

by the time Oregon’s primary hits, because I’m pretty sure he’ll talk about federally subsidized patchouli oil.

+1!

(If you haven’t live there, you really just don’t know.)

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7 Brett Campbell January 24, 2012 at 10:27 pm

There is something Nixonesque about Gingrich (don’t mean Watergate). Haven’t really fleshed it out yet, but I can feel it. Perhaps its an undercurrent of manipulation, like we’re allowing ourselves to be “played.”

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8 Pierre Corneille January 25, 2012 at 4:23 pm

That’s my take, too. Like you, I can’t put my finger on it, but that’s the impression I get.

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9 Tod Kelly January 25, 2012 at 5:52 pm

They are both evil incarnate?

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10 Patrick Cahalan January 24, 2012 at 11:29 pm

“Stacking finance against lobbying, however, I’d take even a Gordon Gekko over a Boss Tweed.”

That might be the best line you’ve written this year.

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11 dexter January 25, 2012 at 12:16 am

It was the lobby industry that is controlled by the Gordon Gekkos of the world that forced the mess we’re in now. A snake is a snake whether it is a cobra or a fer-de-lance. Both will hurt

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12 James Hanley January 25, 2012 at 12:50 am

As my uber-capitalist Democratic Iowa friend said to me yesterday, “Newt’s a statist.”

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13 Jeff January 25, 2012 at 9:40 pm

“And since then, that mean old political operative turned lobbyist is all I see.”

Because Jack Abromhof (sp?) wasn’t enough?

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