Flip, Flop, Don't Stop: Newt Gingrich Comes On Strong

Sheesh, the fickle public - complain about the unwavering surety of George W. Bush, the President Who Harbors No Regrets, and along comes the I'll-Try-Anything-For-One-Voting-Cycle claque of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, and still we complain.

Well.....certainly. Iron clad opinions often encase little more than mirthless ideologies, which is why many of us continually push back against the puritans. It's one thing to admire Rand Paul's stance on any given matter, applying basic follow-the-libertarian-arrow directions from Point A to Point B. Comforting as an old sweater. It's another to actually put such principles into place, or to even find them appealing (I mean, any ne'er-do-well can have their principles). Questioning minds coming face to face with the slack-jawed glaze of the utterly convinced is what partly sustains the myth of the Independent Voter - non-wonks who think one thing and maybe think another and just might hear you out on the debt ceiling or Libyan firefights.

Given the unimpeachable offense of political figures changing their mind, why do so many of us throw up our hands when political figures do just that - prove in real time that opinions or stances may shift to either the left or right column? Why do we squirm in embarrassment for Mitt Romney as he attempts to distance himself from one of his most lauded political achievements, or roll our eyes as Newt Gingrich doubles back with gymnastic agility from a decree thundered out just weeks or days prior, or pound the table when John Kerry refuses to cop to the "liberal" tag because he isn't sure it will go over in Indiana? It must be because in each instance, we can almost smell the carbon burn from the klieg lights just out of view - that sinking realization that our political class is once again barfing up a line of well-oiled weathervanes.

Both Gingrich and Romney strike me as rational individuals who probably occupy a centrally-located aisle of political theater when not running for president. But if Romney has long suffered from the disdain of GOP faithful who can't forgive any politician for working with the Massachusetts legislature, may I humbly suggest we begin paying more mind to the thrice-married adulterer currently hawking his wares outside the evangelical camp? At least Romney has the decency to let a few years elapse before returning as a Changed Man. Gingrich seems to be under the mistaken impression that simply because he announced his run for the Oval Office via Twitter that his many pronouncements can drop with the eerily foreshortened half-life common to social media tools. The poor fella can barely wait out a single news cycle - be it one month or even a single twenty-four hour span - before showing off his latest breakthrough.

I'm an ideas man myself. Coherent theories come together slowly, sometimes sloppily. Take your time, I say. Don't be afraid to change your mind, reverse direction, even rip up the design. Even great political theorists double back on themselves. Maybe only the great ones do. But somebody please prescribe Mr. Gingrich some Ritalin. ADHD is obnoxiously over-diagnosed, but I think we've got the real deal here.

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Newt Gingrich on Paul Ryan's GOP Budget Plan, April 5, 2011

"Paul Ryan has stepped up to the plate. This is a very, very serious budget and I think rivals with [what] John Kasich did as budget chairman in getting to a balanced budget in the 1990s, just for the scale and courage involved…..

Paul Ryan is going to define modern conservatism at a serious level. You can quibble over details but the general shape of what he's doing will define 2012 for Republicans."

- Bill Bennett interview, April 5 2011

Newt Gingrich on Paul Ryan's GOP Budget Plan, May 15, 2011

REP. GINGRICH: I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate. I think we need a national conversation to get to a better Medicare system with more choices for seniors. But there are specific things you can do. At the Center for Health Transformation, which I helped found, we published a book called "Stop Paying the Crooks." We thought that was a clear enough, simple enough idea, even for Washington. We--between Medicare and Medicaid, we pay between $70 billion and $120 billion a year to crooks. And IBM has agreed to help solve it, American Express has agreed to help solve it, Visa's agreed to help solve it. You can't get anybody in this town to look at it. That's, that's almost $1 trillion over a decade. So there are things you can do to improve Medicare.

MR. GREGORY: But not what Paul Ryan is suggesting, which is completely changing Medicare.

REP. GINGRICH: I, I think that, I think, I think that that is too big a jump. I think what you want to have is a system where people voluntarily migrate to better outcomes, better solutions, better options, not one where you suddenly impose upon the--I don't want to--I'm against Obamacare, which is imposing radical change, and I would be against a conservative imposing radical change.

-Meet The Press interview, May 15 2011

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Newt Gingrich Discussing Mandates in Health Care, 2005

"You have the right to be part of the lowest-cost insurance pool and you have a responsibility to buy insurance. ... We need some significant changes to ensure that every American is insured, but we should make it clear that a 21st Century Intelligent System requires everyone to participate in the insurance system.....

People whose income is too low should receive Medicaid vouchers and tax credits to buy insurance.....Large risk pools (association health plans are one model) should be established so low-income people can buy insurance as inexpensively as large corporations. Furthermore, it should be possible to buy your health insurance on-line to lower the cost as much as possible."

-from his book "Winning The Future," 2005

Newt Gingrich Discussing Mandates in Health Care, May 15, 2011

"I've said consistently we ought to have some requirement that you either have health insurance or you post a bond or in some way you indicate you're going to be held accountable."

-Meet The Press interview, May 15 2011

Newt Gingrich Discussing Mandates in Health Care, The Next Day

"I am for the repeal of Obamacare and I am against any effort to impose a federal mandate on anyone because it is fundamentally wrong and I believe unconstitutional."

-video message posted to Gingrich website, May 16 2011