From his embarassing past to his poisonous public speaking, Newt Gingrich has few grounds for complaint about negativity
Newt Gingrich still sits second in national GOP polls, but
is trailing in the key early states of Iowa and New Hampshire. The fall in
Gingrich’s fortunes over recent weeks has been put down to the enormous amount
of money spent on negative attack ads, particular by groups connected to Ron
Paul and Mitt Romney, leaders in Iowa, and seemingly Gingrich’s main contenders
nationally.
The response of Gingrich has been characteristically
petulant, apportioning the blame on these ads which, whilst negative, do raise
the key issue with Newt Gingrich’s campaign: the candidate’s past. The only
serving Speaker to be ethically censured by the House of Representatives,
Gingrich also pocketed huge sums of money as a consultant for the mortgage
trader, Freddie Mac, which was given a huge public bail-out following the
mortgage crisis of 2007-8. The man who famously forced a Federal government
shutdown in part because of receiving a substandard seat on Air Force One,
Gingrich’s record is one of doubtful character, self-promotion and questionable
ethics. These stories and the qualities they show are issues he needs to
confront, and, thus far, he has failed to do so.
Furthermore, though Gingrich has refused to take out
negative ads, his rhetorical style has been of a thoroughly unattractive bent.
The man who told Mitt Romney that “the only reason [Romney] hadn’t become a
full time politician was because he lost [a senate race] to Ted Kennedy in 1994”
and has dismissed Ron Paul, who has support of around 20% in Iowa, as little
more than “a good protest vote”, can have little to complain about when
negativity comes his way.
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