My fellow students and future Iowa caucus-goers, I know that this week has been tough. If you’re anything like me, you were pulling your hair out over finals and salivating over the idea of winter break.
But as we head into the holiday season without a care in the world, I must ask one thing of you: Please, for the love of all that is good, if you are going to participate in the Republican caucuses, support anyone but Newt Gingrich.
Why? He’s simply a liar, a cheat, and a fraud. Take a look at www.NewtExposed.com. It is all that you need to know.
The website asks whether Gingrich is a "real conservative," and I can tell you without a doubt in my mind that he is just as progressive as President Obama. A vote for Gingrich would be a vote for the status quo.
Gingrich has claimed numerous times throughout this campaign that he is the most conservative candidate in the race. This is a complete and utter falsehood.
Does a disregard for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights sound "conservative" to you? He supported futurist and critic of the American system Alvin Toffler with promotions of his book The Third Wave throughout his career. He has voted consistently against the Second Amendment and gun ownership. He cosponsored the controversial 1987 "Fairness Doctrine" that would have restricted talk-radio hosts from promoting a lone viewpoint — a near-suspension of the First Amendment.
That doesn’t sound "conservative" to me.
Does Rachel Carson-style environmentalism sound "conservative" to you? He was the instructor of one of the earliest environmental-studies program in the United States. In his time in Congress, he cosponsored the 1989 Global Warming Prevention Act.
He was featured in a 2008 commercial with former House Speaker and staunch liberal Nancy Pelosi promoting former Vice President Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection.
He is also the author of a book titled Contract with the Earth, which outlines an environmentalist manifesto reminiscent of many existing and job-hampering EPA regulations. Oh, and speaking of the EPA, he wouldn’t shut it down as president but would instead rebrand it as an Environmental Solutions Agency.
That doesn’t sound "conservative" to me.
Does support for Keynesian economic policies sound "conservative" to you? He voted to raise the federal debt ceiling numerous times as a congressman. He voted for the highly bureaucratic and financially ineffective Department of Education. He has been an outspoken supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his borderline-socialist New Deal policies. He said in an interview with ABC’s "This Week" in 2008 that he would have voted for the $700 billion TARP bailout package.
That doesn’t sound "conservative" to me.
Must I mention his infidelity and House ethics violations that amassed $300,000 in fines?
That definitely doesn’t sound "conservative" to me.
This list goes on and on. So please, if you caucus on Jan. 3, 2012, do so for anyone other than this ghost of Republicanism’s past.
Happy holidays.