Anyone who doubts whether Newt Gingrich is a serious contender for the GOP presidential nomination should take a look at his latest television ad, entitled "Rebuilding the America We Love." It's just started to run in Iowa, where two recent polls, including the prestigious Des Moines Register poll, show the former House speaker slightly ahead of the pack, with Mitt Romney trailing by 8-9 points, depending on the poll.
The ad begins, almost David Lynch-like, with scenes of small-town America, panning in slow motion at times, most effectively, when a large hand is shown in close-up gently sweeping over a wheat field, suggesting a wise farmer -- or perhaps the hand of the Almighty himself? -- tending to his precious crop. You may not realize it when you watch this unusually evocative image -- one of several in the ad -- but that's very likely Newt's own hand on camera, and the wind-blown golden harvest beneath it is the proverbial "amber wave of grain" meant to symbolize the resurgence of the American heartland, overseen, of course, by the very white-haired shepherd who once angrily shut the entire federal government down.
But that was yesteryear, of course. A leading Democratic pollster, Peter Hart, recently conducted focus groups with Republican voters and made an astonishing discovery: voters, when asked which family member Newt most reminded them of, said their "good uncle" or their "kindly grandfather." However, when asked who Mitt Romney most reminded them of, it was their "Dad who was never home" And no wonder: Romney has consistently ducked any venue where he might be asked to defend some of his more controversial positions in depth, including a social issues forum several weeks ago where Gingrich, to the surprise of many, outshone the GOP field.
Despite his pointed comments on the need for a more realistic immigration policy, and his more recent equivocations on abortion, Iowans who see both issues as something of a litmus test for conservatives haven't yet punished Newt for his "apostasy." His numbers in Iowa have dipped slightly over the past two weeks, but no one, except Ron Paul, perhaps has managed to capitalize on that opening, and he's done so just modestly.
Gingrich's new ad is bound to remind some observers of another well-known conservative figure who took to the national airwaves with campaign ads that evoked America's enduring national heritage with the same calm and steady reassurance: Ronald Reagan. The Gipper's memorable 1984 spot, "It's Morning in America," contained many of the same scenes and images as the Gingrich ad, but Gingrich does the former president one or two better. His use of women, for example, is especially subtle and effective. A young single mother appears with her child in school nestled around a laptop computer, while female business executives are shown striding confidently through an office building lobby. And later, a stylishly dressed blonde appears at some length as a floral designer, adding what appears to be a high-end, horticultural "grace note" of sorts.
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http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/BillClinton-Pew-ranking-record/2011/03/24/id/390592
THE CLINTONS STILL ROCK - APPARENTLY
A September 2010 Daily Beast article on Bill Clinton's continuing high favorability ratings, relative to Obama, even though, as the article suggests, "they are pursuing the same policies."
A more recent (March 2011) article on a Pew poll noting that Clinton's favorability rating has skyrocketed to 67% with just 29% having a negative opinion. Even 40% of Republicans view Clinton favorably
People are already familiar, no doubt, with polls showing that Hillary is the most popular person in the Obama administration, with much higher favorability ratings.
If history is any judge, voters do tend to view past presidents more favorably than they did when they were in office - but neither Bill nor Hillary has disappeared.
If you had your druthers, and the Constituion permitted it, would you vote for BILL CLINTON for a third term as president?
Yes or No?
Froget about his horndog ways, becauyse the thruth is, I don't care. I've always considered thyat a perk of power, and would gladly welcome a Nikky Haley type on the female saide he may not have finisahed sowing her wild oats, weiother.
Second, don't you think most of the country would gladyl see BIL TAKE ANOTHER CRACK AT IT?
Anthony
http://www.observationpoint.com.au
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/07/opinion/navarrette-newt-gingrich/index.html
"You can say these unemployed black teenagers are helpless victims and the system is working against them. Or you can say that many of these teenagers are unemployable because no one ever taught them the skills necessary to hold down a job.
Gingrich thinks government should have a hand in creating a "pathway to work" so "people get in the work habit and learn the skills to be successful."
I can't imagine Mitt Romney saying these things; he's too busy telling people what they want to hear to tell them what they need to hear. This subject is as important as they come, and Gingrich deserves credit for kicking off the discussion, especially since he was sure to be pummeled for stating the obvious.
Here's the obvious: Americans have lost their work ethic, and some never had one to lose. They grow up -- or put more precisely, they're raised -- thinking of so many jobs as beneath them that they wake up one day not knowing how to do any job.
truth about Newt....stolen hours with Callista in a Buick, meltdown over not being
invited to the front of Air Force One, and quotes like this one:
"I want to shift the entire planet. And I’m doing it. I am now a famous person. I represent real power.”
Apparently, all of newt's adds will draw on "underdog" themes for the music. Expect to hear "Rocky" and others.
Really though 80 years in the wrong direction, that includes Reagan, Kennedy, who were beloved by this country and 80 years ago was the great depression.
Seriously though, the courage comment did give me a little laugh.
I wonder if Newt himself would go back that far - actually I suspect not.
In moral terms, and in political terms, Gingrich is no less of such a servant than say, Bill Clinton? Or Ted Kennedy? Both womanizers, and in Kennedy's case, an alcoholic. Sadly, Kennedy literally killed a woman, and had he not been a Kennedy, might well have done time.
Though even his opponents would describe him as a "Lion of the Senate," perhaps one of the best we've ever had. He met a woman, Vickie Reggio, who helped him clean up his act - at last.
Bubba has Hillary, who did just what she said she wouldn't do - "stand by her man."
So, when you get right down to it, what are you saying? A Republican, by definition, is less of a public servant?
Witness the saga of Weiner, and then Cain.
Clinton and Newt.
David Vitter, Schwarzenegger, Jeff Miller, Ensign, Mark Foley, Jack Ryan, Larry Craig, Bob Livingston, Helen Chenoweth, Bob Packwood, Strom Thurmond, Ken Calvert, Jim Bunn, Neil Goldschmidt, and Mark Sanford vs... Barney Frank?
And who do they talk about, today?
Clinton.
Actually, It's Ron Paul who is the big Ayn Rand fan?
I wonder if he practices yoga.
BTW I prefer the variant 'rapscallion', as it conjures up the image of a fast-talking onion, which though white-headed and many-layered, still stinks up close.
you should be writing for The Daily Show.
What a great visual of Newt the Fast Talking Onion!
F&F.
I think he's also pre-empting, or trying to pre-empt, the expected onslaught against his character. Future ads of his will likely be much different. This is Iowa - and it's the retail aspect he needs to get into more now, the telephone trees, and the establishment of a get out the vote for the caucuses.
Right now, RonPaul, Rick Santorum and Bachmann are all stronger in these areas. Gingrich is out-polling them, Santourm and Bachmann by a mile, but based on organization alone, I suspect Paul would probably win if the caucuses were tomorrow.
It is pretty clear that Gingrich plans to employ the Reagan election playbook in full. It will be interesting to see if it still works in the current mud storm.
I find the response to Gingrich from the mainstream media and career politicians in both parties to be baffling. Most people don't remember Gingrich from the 1990s. Most people don't remember last year's Lost episodes.
Gingrich has all the flair and rebel yell of the Tea Partiers, but his "experience," which Dems seem to think is such a liability, indicating that he's such a "Washington insider," is likely to convince many people that unlike Bachmann or Cain, he actually knows how to get things done.
That's why he's soaring, he's BROKEN THE CODE.