Gingrich Threw a Bomb

An article by Bob Woodward gives us a clear picture of the volatility of presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.

by Charlie Leck

Bob Woodward is probably the most famous newsman in America. He’s also the author of a string of wonderful books. When he speaks, people listen. Woodward says things that are sometimes pretty damning; however he always has good source material that backs up what he says. Who hasn’t read the book or watched the film All the President’s Men?

Woodward’s dependability has earned him great distinction. His long article in this past Sunday’s Washington Post was extraordinary. In the newspaper it was headlined: “In his debut in Washington’s power struggles, Gingrich threw a bomb!” [You might want to read it.]

Woodward has at his disposal a lot of interview material from 1992. I’m guessing he was putting together a book about the demise of the presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush. In his Washington Post story from last Sunday, Woodward concentrated on the material he had about the roll New Gingrich played in bringing down his own party’s president.

Richard G. Darman was the budget director during the first George Bush’s administration. He went to war with Gingrich back then and he had lots to say about that battle in his ’92 interview with Woodward.

“Darman was not impressed,” Woodward writes. He continues: “He called Gingrich a ‘neo-media-pop-opportunist’ who is ‘interested in personal power, media attention, aggrandizement.’”

Woodward quotes Vin Weber, a former Congressman from Minnesota, in the 1992 interview as saying about Newt Gingrich: “…a high-maintenance friend and ally, needy… Newt, as you know, views himself as the leader of a vast, national interplanetary movement.”

And, I did a double take when I read the following words that Weber used in that ‘92 interview: “Gingrich is viewed as this hard, tough ideologue, and he’s not an ideologue, but beyond that he’s the easiest guy in the world, if you understand him, for people to buy off.”

Is the emphasis above placed on the word “buy” or on the word “off?” Read it both ways and you’ll see what I mean.

Newt Gingrich is impetuous and that makes him dangerous. Newt Gingrich is self-centered and, perhaps, narcissistic and that makes him dangerous. Newt Gingrich is too self-confident and that makes him dangerous.

I grant that Newt Gingrich wants what is best for America, but, in his mind, that too closely parallels what’s best for Newt Gingrich as far as I’m concerned.

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