It’s totally self-serving for Rand Paul to take to the Des Moines Register to blast Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, but he does deliver a devastating argument against them. His premise is that the Tea Party arose in reaction to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and that it became a political force because of its opposition to the Affordable Care Act and its individual mandate. Because Romney and Gingrich supported both TARP and the individual mandate, they are completely ineligible for and undeserving of any Tea Party support.
I thinks that’s an unassailable argument. I have to note that Rand Paul doesn’t mention that TARP was designed and signed into law by the Bush administration, but he’s right that Romney and Gingrich supported it. He’s right that both Romney and Gingrich have strongly endorsed the individual mandate as a “conservative” approach to health care reform. Sen. Paul dismisses Romney as a “moderate, northeastern, don’t-rock-the-boat Republican,” but he thinks everyone understands that. His main concern is that Gingrich is selling people a bill of goods.
Gingrich began his career as a Rockefeller Republican from the liberal wing of the party. And though he has often spoken and occasionally acted like he left that wing, it is clear from his flip-flops and multiple “apologies” that his heart is still there.
He blasts Gingrich for supporting the Department of Education, and for voting for gun control bills in the early 1990’s. He nails him for supporting Cap and Trade and for doing a climate change commercial with Nancy Pelosi. And he tears him apart for getting rich as an advocate for Freddie Mac.
All in all, I think Sen. Paul does an excellent job of explaining why Newt Gingrich should be seen as an enemy by the Tea Party movement. The problem is most Tea Partiers don’t give a shit about any of that stuff. They just want some white dude to talk shit about the president. And, for that, Gingrich is clearly their guy…as the polls clearly verify.
