On Newt the bully
By Norman Leahy | Monday, December 5th, 2011 | PoliticsEleven years ago, I ghosted a book for then-Rep. Mark Sanford titled “The Trust Committed to Me.” The theme was the importance of having citizen legislators, and at the time, Sanford was one of the few who had made — and kept — a self-imposed three term limit.
One of the occasional stars of the book was then-Speaker Newt Gingrich. And with Mr. Gingrich’s steady rise in the GOP presidential polls, I keep coming back to an episode I took from Sanford’s notes in which we get a look at the way Newt ran his caucus, and why so many older conservatives have a hard time embracing him on the presidential trail.
…in 1997, at the beginning of my second term…we voted on whether to increase committee funding by 14.5 percent. A number of us said we didn’t think it was such a good idea. The leadership pulled us aside and applied intense pressure to get us to change our minds, insisting we really needed to vote for this measure.
After 11 Republicans voted against the funding hike, Mr. Gingrich unleashed a charm offensive on the recalcitrant members:
Newt Gingrich was steaming. He said first, everyone is going to be here [at a mandatory GOP House conference meeting]; if necessary the sergeant at arms (policemen) would be sent out to round up any stragglers. The member sitting next to me leaned over and said, “In the eight years I have been here, I have never heard of a mandatory conference meeting.” I was thinking, “Great timing, why now?” The Speaker then said, “The eleven genuises who thought they knew more than the rest of the Congress are going to come up and explain their votes.” My colleague leaned over again and this time exclaimed, “I have never heard of anyone having to explain their vote.” Finally the Speaker said, “Those of you who had planned to go to John Kasich’s wedding on Saturday are not going. No one is going anywhere until we get the votes we need to pass this rule.”
…
I wasn’t thrilled about going up to the podium, and mercifully, I didn’t have to go first. Instead, Steve Largent, an NFL Hall of Famer who probably liked butting heads, walked straight up. Some 230 members were jammed into the room, not very happy with us for having delayed their trip home. Steve’s first words were addressed to Newt Gingrich, not ten feet away. His tone was matter-of-fact, even pleasant: “Mr. Speaker, I am not intimidated.”
They all made their way to the podium eventually, but Largent’s direct challenge to Gingrich’s bullying got Newt to back down.
Thus is usually the case with bullies of all stripes. Remember that as this presidential campaign moves forward.
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About the author
Norm Leahy has written about Virginia and national politics online since 2002, beginning with One Man's Trash (OMT), and continuing through Bacon's Rebellion (both the blog and the e-zine), Sic Semper Tyrannis, NBC12's Decision Virginia, Richmond.com and Tertium Quids. He is the chief blogger at "The Score" and a producer of "The Score" radio show as well as being a Washington Examiner contributor.
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17 Responses to "On Newt the bully"
Being a bully won’t hurt Gingrich in the least. Remember the people who cheered the number of executions in Texas, the ones who cheered having emergency rooms not treat sick people without insurance, the ones who cheered the ocp pepper-spraying defenseless, non-violent protesters, the ones who root for the bosses over the workers? The GOP wants a bully. And unlike Bachmann, Cain and Perry, Gingrich appears to be a bully who can talk for ten minutes at a time without shooting himself in the foot.
So, Norm, were those Rep. Sanford’s words, or were they yours?
Frankly, I’m still waiting to learn why 11 out 230 GOP members “didn’t think it was a good idea.” So yes, please explain.
Frankly, I’m waiting to learn why 219 GOP members wanted to spend more money.
I like Newt’s intelligence, knowledge, and many of his views. However, I just don’t like the guy and this is one more reason. I have learned that you don’t have to like someone to get a job done, but I do have to respect them and he is on shaky ground there with me as well.
I think that the point of the story is not whether or not the caucus needed to raise the committee budgets. The point is how Newt went about it. Those of us who were appalled at how ObamaCare got jammed through the House in 2009 under Speaker Pelosi, who literally threw her majority under the bus by bullying the Blue dogs to vote for it, righteously chortled when the Wicked Witch of the West went down in flames in November 2010. Do we want the same kind of bare knuckles politics coming from the Oval Office in the next administration? This story reminds me too much of another cowardly bully–Richard Millhouse Nixon.
Thanks for sharing it here, Norm. BTW, what ever happened to Rep. Mark Sanford?
“Eleven years ago, I ghosted a book for then-Rep. Mark Sanford titled “The Trust Committed to Me”. “I keep coming back to an episode I took from Sanford’s notes
Doesn’t this answer your question Brian?
Mark Sanford has a new book in the works, ghosted in various parts by Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, Jim Moran and Herman Cain. The working title is, “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.”
Hard for me to get past Newt trying to get Clinton impeached for doing the same thing he was doing. He used his power to poke out the splinter out of Clinton’s eye when he had a log in his own. Clinton got help with his problem and has stayed married.
Newt has good ideas and a way with words no doubt. Will he use his power to destroy others while not being perfect himself again in the most powerful position in this country?
I hope he’s changed in his character if he is elected. For his sake and America’s.
Gee, here all this time I thought Clinton was impeached for perjury before a Federal judge.
The big difference between Newt and Clinton was he lied under oath.
Turbo,
No, the biggest difference between Newt and Clinton was that he had enough shame that he felt he had to lie about his transgression. Newt, on the other hand, freely admitted that he was balling a younger Congressional staffer on the side while sharing a bed with his second wife.
Such arrogance.
Jay Leno’s Headlines tonight: “Gingrich rising in the polls–41% of his ex-wives now support him.”
“No, the biggest difference between Newt and Clinton was that he had enough shame that he felt he had to lie about his transgression. Newt, on the other hand, freely admitted that he was balling a younger Congressional staffer on the side while sharing a bed with his second wife.”
Uh, did Newt ever go on National Television and say “I had never had sex with THAT WOMAN!” ?? No. But that wasn’t the perjury Clinton was impeached for. That was just a lie to the entire American Public on national television.
With respect to Newt. Now do you know for a fact he was sleeping with his second wife while “balling” a his current wife who was indeed a staffer at the time? Were you there? Do you know all of the circumstances? Is it even any of your business?
The only time I ever met Newt was in 1992 and that was over a very long weekend in Savannah, GA where he was the highlight at a fundraiser and he brought wife #2 with him. She was perfectly nice and perfectly boring, useless and did nothing but stay at the nice Inn reading books, smoking cigarettes and drinking lots of alcohol. She didn’t even go the fundraiser. In other words, she was a slug. Certainly not a good a “good political wife.” I can easily see how that marriage split up.
I may as well fess up on this and explain a little more. The weekend in question was in 1992 in Savannah, as I said. The candidate in question was current congressman Jack Kingston (GA-1). I had just arrived in town as his campaign manager about a week before this. The campaign was on life support. A major big-donor ($250)fundraiser with Newt was scheduled in one week. Not one ticket had been sold. At that time, Newt was not Speaker but one of the most influential Republican leaders in Congress. This was not a good thing.
The first order of business to whip the fundraiser into shape, and it raised $20,000 which wasn’t bad. But other than that, Newt stayed over the weekend for a series of meetings with the core group of Kington’s team. This was not any sort of public town hall, this was serious business and a closed two closed door sessions.
Let me tell you something, after that, everybody got into line and got to work and guess what? What had been a 35 point DEFICIT when I got there turned into a 57% win on election day. That didn’t happen without some serious organizational and political and financial advice from Newt from that week-end, let me tell you.
I’ve been a fan of his ever since.
If there needed to be a picture in the dictionary of hypocrisy, that honor should bestowed on “Grinch” (Gingrich).
Mark Sanford….sigh. I wish he hadn’t taken those hikes. He would have been a better candidate than any of the current bunch.
Nick,
You haven’t heard the whole story. Mark was very up front about his activities. He just had a bad cell phone connection. He called his office from the airport and they thought that he said, “I’m hiking the Appalachian Trail,” when he said, “I’m getting some Argentinian tail.”
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