Say Anything Blog

Newt Gingrich got it wrong in the now-infamous New York 23 race initially backing Republican nominee Scozzafava before coming around to Doug Hoffman.  Gingrich has since acknowledged his mistake, but now there’s another primary battle shaping up in Utah and Gingrich is back to…sticking with the establishment Republican.

Washington (CNN) – The conservative Club for Growth is hitting back at former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for criticizing the small government group during an appearance in Utah for Republican Sen. Bob Bennett. The Club is actively working to defeat Bennett, who is seeking re-election in November.

Several Republicans are challenging Bennett from his right flank as he seeks a fourth term, largely because of his vote in favor of the Wall Street bailout in 2008. While the Club has said they will oppose Bennett, they haven’t said which candidate they will support instead.

But Bennett has the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee - which as a rule supports Republican incumbents - and on Wednesday Gingrich showed up in Salt Lake City to lend a hand.

“I wish the Club for Growth would spend as much time and energy to defeat liberal Democrats as they do dividing Republicans,” Gingrich told a crowd at Bennett’s formal campaign launch, according to the Deseret News. “I try to defeat liberal Democrats. I don’t spend much time trying to defeat Republicans.”

The problem with that last statement is that politics isn’t a football match.  It isn’t “our team vs their team.”  It’s about advancing certain ideas and governing philosophies.  And if the candidates from a certain party stop supporting that party’s platform of ideas and philosophies than those candidates should be opposed by the base of that party every bit as much as the candidates from the other parties.

Granted, there are always shades of gray.  Issues where members of the party don’t get along.  And that’s fine.  But there are also moments when so many in the party have departed the basic philosophies of the party that it’s time for a “house cleaning” within the party.

Gingrich clearly doesn’t think Republicans are at that point.  Unfortunately, he’s wrong.