Newt Gingrich circa 1978:
Do you like the state of the Republican Party? Do you think you ought to respect Bill Brock because he has done such a great job? Or Richard Nixon, or Gerald Ford, the only incumbent president since Herbert Hoover to lose an election? They have done a terrible job, a pathetic job. In my lifetime, literally in my lifetime, I was born in 1943, we have not had a competent national Republican leader. Not ever! We?ve had some guys who weren?t too embarrassed. But what?s the primary purpose of a political leader, above anything else? In this system, it is to build a majority capable of sustaining itself, because if we don?t do that, we don?t make the laws, we don?t write the taxes, we don?t decide how to start a war, we don?t keep the country strong, we don?t do nothing except carve from these people?s ability. And in my lifetime, we have not had a single Republican leader capable of doing that. Oh, they?ve had opportunities: The Korean War, rapid inflation, the racial crisis of the 50?s and 60?s, the Vietnam war. We?ve had tremendous opportunities and we?ve blown it, but we?re all nice people.
Replace names like Brock, Nixon, and Ford with Hastert, Cheney, and Bush and you’d think he was talking about today. The only difference is, this time, the GOP had a chance to lead, did well for awhile, and then 2000-2006 came along and they blew it.
H/T: Shaun Kenney
