Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was the easy winner of a straw poll Friday night that tested 2008 presidential candidate support at the Minnesota Republican Party state convention. Gingrich got about 40 percent of the 540 votes cast, putting him far ahead of Virginia’s Sen. George Allen, who got about 15 percent. Next were Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Arizona Sen. John McCain, each with about 10 percent.
You know that the wingnuts are out in full force when John McCain and Rudy Giuliani are cast aside for being “too moderate”. That’s like saying Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader is too smart to be President. Well, he may be too “something”, but I don’t think an overabundance of native intelligence is the issue here.
The good thing about the Minnesota straw poll is that it confirms just how out of touch the committed party wingnuts faithful are with mainstream Republican voters. The minority True Believers tend to be significantly more committed to their “Morning in America” Conservatism and more likely to wrship at the altar of Ronald Reagan than most everyday sheeple who vote Republican ‘cuz that’s what Daddy did.
The Party that Ronald Reagan built is slowly becoming a party at war with itself. The problem is that the candidate the True Believers want in the White House is not the candidate that most mainstream Republicans will feel comfortable voting for. Newt Gingrich?? Give me a &(+%$#@ break, willya? This is the man responsible for the 1994 Contract on with America…and then proceeded to demonstrate that Republicans could be and were every bit as corrupt, venal, mean-spirited, and self-interested as any Democrat? Yes, Santayana WAS right…those who do not know history really ARE condemned to repeat it.
“This shows activists think that Gingrich has the cachet to help set and drive the conservative agenda, just as he did when he led the Republican takeover of the House in 1994,” said Tony Sutton, a Gingrich supporter and secretary-treasurer of the party. “He and Ronald Reagan were the two most important conservatives in the last 30 years.”
The results also confirm once again that party activists are considerably more conservative than Republican voters and the public in general. McCain and New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who are considered moderates, typically lead in public opinion polls.
It will be fun to watch Republicans eat their young during the 2008 Primary season. Of course, no one should delude themselves that this infighting will prevent the GOP from putting up a viable Presidential candidate. Then again, the party’s anchor (and biggest albatross) is Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader, who doubtless will be left cooling his heels in Washington during the campaign while Republicans try to distance themselves from him and his failed policies.
Even so, I still can stop salivating at the prospect of a Democrat, say Hillary Clinton, running against Newt Gingrich. Hmm…the symbol of a failed and corrupt Republican regime vs. the first truly viable female candidate. Sounds like a recipe for an embarrassing Republican defeat…but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. If a mediocirty like George W. Bush can steal an election (or two) get elected and then re-elected to the Presidency, why not Newt Gingrich…who actually is a very intelligent, well-spoken intellectual?
Ultimately, I doubt Gingrich has a realistic chance of winning the Republican nomination, but then four years ago who would have predicted John Kerry would win the 2004 Democratic nomination? A lot can, and will, happen in the next two years. Stay tuned, y’all…
