Posts Tagged ‘Gingrich’

The buzz about Pelosi under fire continues.  As expected, Republican leadership had her in their sites for the weekend shows.

In a fascinating piece, former Hill leadership staffer John Feehery lays out how the whole episode has the makings of a coup against Pelosi.  He lists five components of a coup: a leadership rival, a disaffected base, a political liability to the majority-makers, micromanagement and press pile-on punctures credibility.  He adds great examples from Gingrich, Lott and what Pelosi faces today and then concludes:

With Pelosi, the press assumes she is both a hypocrite and a liar. Her various explanations of what she knew of waterboarding and when she knew it have been unconvincing at best. Her news conference was a complete disaster, and her credibility is in tatters.

Should Pelosi continue to mishandle this current crisis, and should she continue to make wild statements about the veracity of the CIA, don’t be surprised if somebody in the House says enough is enough. The conditions are ripe for a coup.

The one element that Feehery didn’t mention was that Pelosi does not have the backing of her President.  That’s not a good thing for her.  This will be interesting to  watch.

Newt Gingrich spoke to a packed house at CPAC.  He came in, through the crowd, with “Eye of the Tiger” blaring.  Newt is a pretty low-key guy - he never yells during speeches or gets all that emotional, so it was a bit of a cognative dissonance for me.  The crowd was huge - this is the largest CPAC in history – more than 8,500 attendees.

Gingrich still has rock star status with conservatives, particularly young conservatives.  He is a great speaker – smart, witty, descriptive and very funny.

I have mixed feelings about him, having watched him first-hand as Speaker.  I’m probably too critical – because there is no doubt that he is inspiring thousands upon thousands of conservatives into action, and that is a very good thing.

And, as he left the stage, “We will rock you” blared.  Conservatives are pretty pumped up right now.

Go to www.cpac.org to see the speeches.