Former House speaker Newt Gingrich appears on the latest episode of Conversations With Bill Kristol:
“Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich sat down with Bill Kristol to discuss the 1994 Republican Revolution, when Republicans took control of both Houses of Congress for the first time in forty years. Gingrich also recalls his first political campaigns and how he began to influence Washington in the 1980s. Finally, the former speaker offers a personal take on mentors, allies, and rivals, including Gerald Ford, Jack Kemp, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton—as well as his reflections on presidents from Eisenhower to Obama. This is a must-see Conversation for anyone interested in contemporary American history and the origins of our current political landscape,” writes the Foundation for Constitutional Government, the sponsor of the series.
The Foundation for Constitutional Government passes along key quotations:
GINGRICH: The heart of the Republican establishment is to get as much as it can without being disruptive. The heart of the Republican insurgents, whether it’s Goldwater or it’s Reagan or it was Gingrich, is to be as disruptive as necessary to get what you want.
On his political agenda in the 1980s:
GINGRICH: I basically had three goals. Defeat the Soviet empire, replace the welfare state, and replace the Democrats as the majority party in the House. And that’s what I arrived with. I spent my day on those three goals.
On shaking up Washington:
GINGRICH: I went to see Nixon at one point to get his advice. And it was very funny. He said “The House Republicans are boring. The House Republicans were boring when I was there in the 40s and unless you quit being boring, you’re not going to attract enough energy to become a majority.” So what I would do is I’d get a group together every week and I would try to think about how to be interesting.
On George H.W. Bush:
GINGRICH: A very decent human being. Very patriotic and very courageous…[But] he didn’t understand…the power of the presidency to define reality.”
On Clinton and Obama:
GINGRICH: Arthur Link wrote about Woodrow Wilson that he never understood the sinews of good fellowship which bind men unbound by any other tie. And a friend of mine wrote that down for me when I was in graduate school and said if you want to be successful in politics, think about this all the time. And I think Clinton understood it. That if you and he could laugh, you were halfway to a deal. And I don’t think Obama has a clue about the human side of the business.
