Gingrich bows out

September 29, 2007

On Thursday, Newt Gingrich told supporters that if “they pledge at least $30 million to his campaign over a three-week period starting Monday and ending Oct. 21, he will compete for the nomination.”

Today, the effort is over before it begins.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will not run for president in 2008 after determining he could not legally explore a bid and remain as head of his tax-exempt political organization, a spokesman said Saturday.

“Newt is not running,” spokesman Rick Tyler said. “It is legally impermissible for him to continue on as chairman of American Solutions (for Winning the Future) and to explore a campaign for president.”

Gingrich decided “to continue on raising the challenges America faces and finding solutions to those challenges” as the group’s chairman, Tyler said, “rather than pursuing the presidency.”

Gingrich must not have had too much confidence in his chances; he’s ending a likely presidential campaign to stay on as chairman of a non-profit that no one’s ever heard of. (American Solutions is, apparently, a lucrative gig.)

As for the GOP presidential field, Republicans hoping for a credible, compelling presidential candidate, who can swoop in and save the party from electoral ruin are just about out of time. Fred Thompson was supposed to be that guy, but he’s proven to be a surprisingly awful candidate — prompting the party faithful to give Gingrich a look.

So much for that idea.

I wonder if Fred Thompson is attempting to emulate GW Bush’s stupid, ignorant, uneducated, and uninvolved relationship with public concerns?

Or is he really as stupid, ignorant, uneducated, and uninvolved with public concerns as he projects?

Too bad Gingrich isn’t going to run. I think Republicans might gather round and support him but he’d lose the election anyway.

Actually, the Republicans have shot their wad. None of their candidates has a chance at the presidency.

  • Bwa ha ha ha!

    I’ll play concern troll and give the GOP some friendly advice:

    If you guys would concentrate on substance and on policy instead of demagogic theatrics and having the political operatives run everything, you might not be in such bad odor when you’ve actually had power for awhile. People want their government to work. Think about that and you might not end up being electoral poison.

  • I think that Gingrich would have been a credible candidate. He’s very smart, he’s got lots of experience, and he has at least as much name recognition as any of the others.

    But nobody likes Newt except the Republican faithful. His crossover appeal is zero. I think he’s one of the least likable people on the planet.

    Nevertheless, I think Newt would have been the strongest candidate that the Republicans have to offer. This means smoother sailing for the eventual Democratic nominee.

  • Newtie had only the same talent as Karl Rove, which isn’t saying much. He was a vicious political operative whose only advantage was that he was a little shrewder and more savvy than drooling frat boy Karl.

    But when he was in office he just phoned it in like the rest of them, the only objective being to maintain and increase personal power and the rest of the country be damned.

    He was never serious about this come-back bid anyway. If he had been he would have known he couldn’t keep his cushy political cash cow job long ago. But it’s making him tons of money without having to do any real work so it’s no surprise which way he’d jump when he found out the bad news.

    Good riddance to bad rubbish.

  • I’m really shocked. Really really really shocked. No one wanted to pay for Newty Toot’s self absorbed campaign of really really dumb and toxic ideas?

    Heh.

  • Was he ever in?

    Was there ever a chance he could raise ten million bucks a week for three straight weeks?

    Does anyone really believe, with all of the hints he’s dropped over the past few months, that he didn’t already know whether he could or could not continue to lead his America Dissolutions group?

    I think he was expecting all the GOP Groupies to scream “Our Saviour!” and start throwing underwear and cash and got miffed when they didn’t.

    Whatev. Back to sniping from the sidelines for the wife-hopping amphibian.

  • Newt was NEVER going to raise $30M by October 23rd and you can take that to the bank. This is bowing out gracefully by a grandstander.

  • What? You mean to tell me that there is actually a Republican left on this continent who decides not to do something—because it’s “legally impermissable?”

    Sounds like red meat for the Unaware Fred Fan Club….

  • Pingback: Where’s the Outrage? » Newt’s out

  • Update: That mean old McCain-Feingold made me do it!

    It would be “irresponsible” to “give up and kill an organization we spent a year on and that had 2,000 sites around the country where people had now invested their time and effort just to look at whether or not you could run,” Gingrich said.

    Speaking on Fox News, Gingrich said the 2002 campaign finance law known as McCain-Feingold that would have forced him to sever ties with his advocacy group, which also raises money, is a “censorship and anti-citizenship act.”

    “If you’re a middle class candidate, you get to raise $2,300 a person and if you’re rich, you can write a $100 million personal check,” he said.

    Because it would have been impossible to say, hand control over to someone else while he saved the GOP and America.

    He said he already had commitments for “several million dollars” in donations for his own presidential run. “But what hit me was it would have been an underdog campaign,” Gingrich said on ABC, adding, “I think we would have had a chance to win.”

    I had the money, but I didn’t want to be the underdog even though I think we had a chance to win!

    Christ, please put this man back in mothballs.

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