Newt: The GOP's Standard-Bearer

This week, The Des Moines Register's David Yepsen had this to say about Newt's trip to Iowa:



Newt: The GOP's Standard-Bearer
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
by DAVID YEPSEN

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich is doing two things that often lead to success for presidential candidates in Iowa's precinct caucuses.



First, the Georgia Republican is spending lots of time in the state. Don't be surprised if you see him in your county soon. Second, he has a strong conservative message.



You may agree or disagree with the ideas he offers, but there's no denying he's been doing more and saying more in Iowa - where the 2008 GOP presidential campaign will begin - than any other potential GOP candidate. (That includes the obligatory photo-op visit to the Iowa State Fair.)



Gingrich told a Rotary Club breakfast in Des Moines last week that the country needs to do things differently if it hopes to have a safe, prosperous future. "Real change requires real change," he said.



There "is an extraordinary danger of terrorists and rogue dictatorships literally ending our way of life" by exploding a biological nuclear device, and the United States lacks the intelligence networks to stop it." In the London bombings, "we didn't know they were coming. . . . We have no effective penetration of the enemy."



Part of national security is control of the nation's borders and coasts, he said, but "real control is going to cost you money."



"We're in a long war against the irreconcilable wing of Islam," he said. "I don't think we've come to grips with how serious and how deep this is going to be. . . . We can probably win in the long run, but the long run is 50 to 70 years." He said the nation can combat illegal immigration by using technology, such as iris scanning, to keep track of people entering the country.



He also said immigrants must become Americans. "There is an important question about America remaining American. America is a cultural society. We don't have a DNA that says you are American. It's history, rule of law, elections, free speech, participating. But for the last 30 or 40 years, we have lost the nerve to teach it," he said. To become a U.S. citizen, "you should have to pass a test in American history, and it should be in English."



Gingrich also said China and India form a unique competitive threat to U.S. prosperity. For the first time since the 1840s, the United States will face competitors with markets as large as ours. To match them, the nation must follow high-growth policies such as lower taxes, fewer regulations, less litigation and more science and math education.



In the future, "China will graduate eight times as many engineers as we do. We'll graduate more lawyers," he said. One way to correct that is to pay students in poor neighborhoods to take math and science classes, which could be taught by people with math and science backgrounds who may not have teaching certificates.



Poor students are sent all sorts of positive messages about football, basketball, rock stars and drug dealing, he said. It's time they are sent positive messages about the value of math and science as a path to a better life.



In addition, he called for a ban on advertising by lawyers, a reversal of court rulings that are scrubbing God from public life and reforms to Social Security and Medicare so they can finance longer lives.



All that came before he caught his breath and went over to Des Moines University to talk about reforming health care. He said computer technology can do a better job of keeping track of patient records, reducing costs and preventing medical errors.



While the nation's problems are daunting, "we can fix it. We've been expanding freedom, expanding prosperity and happiness for 400 years. There's no reason it has to stop, but it does require change."



It's far too early to be predicting winners and losers in the 2008 Republican caucuses. But this is the sort of stuff that Republican caucus-goers like to hear, and Gingrich is spending a lot of time selling it in Iowa. He's setting a high standard for what other GOP candidates need to be talking about - and doing - if they want to win here.



Fair visits and corn dogs are fine. But issue-oriented activists in both parties also look for a different kind of red meat in the presidential candidates they back.




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Bill's Comment: To me, it sounds like the former Speaker of the House is pushing for a grassroots, back-to-basics forum, which I am all for.