COLUMN: Newt Gingrich campaign gone from positive to negative


Since his defeat in Iowa, where he finished distantly behind Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, the attitude from Newt Gingrich has gone from that of a positive campaign to extremely bitter.

In a recent interview, he blamed negative ads against him as the reason he performed poorly in Iowa.

He pledged not to run negative ads, and said he would focus on contrasting himself to others in the field, but he then went on for several minutes contrasting only his pros with Romney’s cons.

It would be one thing if he truly compared and contrasted his stances with Romney’s on various issues, but he carried on for several minutes comparing Romney’s “worst” with his own “best,” and doing so made him look even more negative and more desperate than if he would have just run a negative ad against Romney.

He may not be running any negative “ads,” but when he criticizes negativity against him and goes on to blast Romney with negative comments in every speech and interview, he looks like a hypocrite.

Later in that same interview, he said there is a split in the Republican Party between “people who worry about the safety of America versus people who don’t care about it” and that Ron Paul falls into the latter category.

Many in the GOP may disagree with Paul’s foreign policy, but Gingrich would be hard-pressed to find even 1 percent of the GOP who truly does not care about the safety of America. From those who agree with Gingrich’s foreign policy, Paul’s foreign policy may seem like it makes America more vulnerable to countries like Iran, but that does not mean people like Ron Paul do not care about their country.

What made it even worse is the context of who was on the giving and receiving end of the statement. Paul served this country as a flight surgeon for five years. Gingrich avoided going to Vietnam through deferments but has since admitted that “a large part of me thinks I should have gone.” Paul’s concern for our safety should not be in doubt.

Why Gingrich has had such a turn of attitude is a mystery. If it was to win over voters, it has had the opposite effect — people have noticed his anger and are being driven away from supporting him.

If he wants to remain a relevant figure in the conservative movement and the Republican Party, Newt Gingrich needs to tone it down and lighten up a bit. At the very least, he can have faith that his fellow candidates care about America’s safety.

Editor's note: Nathan Inks is the president of College Republicans.

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