Gingrich readies ‘back to the future’ plan for 2010 elections

It is axiomatic in Hollywood that if a film fails, the last thing you want to do is invest in a sequel.

Somebody should pass the word to Newt Gingrich who, in an effort to return to his glory days, is going retro with a new plan to re-introduce his Contract with America in time for the 2010 elections. Speaking to students at the C-SPAN’s Cable Center Class, Gingrich revealed he’s been working with RNC Chairman, Michael Steele, to create the ‘first principals’ towards a plan that will allow the GOP to run on ‘positive’ ideas rather than remaining stuck as the party of ‘no.’

Having a positive set of things that say, ‘if you elect us, these are the positive steps we will take. This “may well be the key building block to really become the alternative party, not the opposition party.”…
If the Democrats stay stuck over on a very left wing program and if they continue to have a job-killing record in Congress, I think by September and October you could suddenly have a very exciting election.”
Via The Swamp

So far, Gingrich has laid out his first four contract points – jobs, energy, clawing back whatever health care reforms may pass the Congress and education.

For those who may not recall, Newt’s Contract with America, with an assist from Tea Party leader Dick Armey and discredited politician and “Dancing With the Stars” loser Tom Delay, led the way to the GOP House victory in 1994 intended to block the agenda of first term president Bill Clinton. Newt and friends might have gotten somewhere if they hadn’t overplayed the hand by trying to balance the budget with cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, education and environmental controls. Clinton, who disagreed, called Gingrich’s bluff leading to the shut-down of the federal government in the budget standoff of 1995 – a shut down that was blamed on Gingrich as Clinton went on to balance the budget without hurting the nation’s seniors and those dependent upon Medicaid.

But this time around, Newt’s plans will encounter a new, unexpected enemy as it won’t be the Democratic progressives standing in the way of Gingrich’s new deal. It seems that ‘Mr. Republican’ of the 1990’s has fallen out of favor with the rising tide of GOP fanaticism, in no small measure the result of Gingrich’s failure to support the Tea Party candidate in the 23rd Congressional District of New York. Gingrich now finds himself in the bizarre position of having been placed on the Tea Party list of Republicans known as RINOs – Republicans in name only.

Who would have ever thought that Newt Gingrich would not be conservative enough for America?