By Adam Bitely — If I told you that I had been the Speaker of the House of Representatives, author of numerous books on public policy, paid $1.6 million by a government sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac for my “services” and a special contributor to Fox News, would you believe it if I then said I am not a part of the D.C. establishment or a Washington insider?
Probably not.
In the past week, Newt Gingrich has probably had one of the most roller coaster experiences of his entire life. He had a come-from-behind double-digit victory in South Carolina, evaded a potentially campaign-ending interview from his ex-wife, and appears to be consolidating the anyone-but-Mitt crowd behind his campaign. In other words, Newt Gingrich had the best week of the campaign cycle so far and is beginning to turn this primary season in a direction that no one thought was possible.
Newt pulled off this miraculous feat by whining and screaming at CNN’s John King for being biased against Republicans. While Newt is probably right about that, it does nothing to change the fact that Newt is biased against limiting the powers of government. Yet it appears that many voters are ready to forgive Newt for a career of compromising the principles of limited government.
I wrote back in December that I was surprised that many considered Newt Gingrich a reasonable alternative to Mitt Romney. It made sense that voters who sought real change to the Obama administration would want someone that had a different history than Mitt. But when Newt became the poster boy for opposing Obama for a brief few days a month before the Iowa caucuses I was blown away.
These folks must have forgotten that Newt Gingrich supported an individual mandate on healthcare—a mandate that would force people to purchase health care or pay a fine to the government. On this issue, Gingrich and Romney would have agreed, if they both hadn’t changed their stances for their 2012 presidential campaigns.
On climate change, Newt and Gingrich are again in agreement. Newt, the non-Washington insider who is not part of the establishment, infamously sat on a couch in a commercial with the Speaker of the House at the time Nancy Pelosi calling on America to take action against global warming. Of course, Newt and Mitt changed their positions again for their 2012 presidential campaigns.
And who can forget the 2008 bailouts? Some apparently forgot that Newt Gingrich stood in favor of the bailouts. Of course, as is habit with Gingrich, he has changed his mind on that matter just as he began his 2012 presidential campaign.
Gingrich is entitled to change his mind on any position he wants. And so are the voters. Perhaps Newt is a different person. Perhaps he really did, in the course of just a few months, gain a firm understanding of economic policy and why it is wrong for the government to legislate environmental policy. And perhaps he isn’t just saying what polls are telling him the conservative base of the GOP wants to hear. He may just be sincere this time.
Nonetheless, any claims that Newt Gingrich is not a part of the Republican establishment, the same Newt who endorsed the ACORN and union backed Dede Scozzafava in the nationally watched NY-23 election just over two years ago, are to be dismissed outright. If Newt isn’t a part of the establishment, then there is no such thing as the establishment.
Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com. You can follow Adam on Twitter at @AdamBitely.
