5 Minutes with the Candidate Dubbed ‘Chief Media Basher’

I was recently invited to attend a special ‘invitations only’ event featuring former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.  It was a pretty big deal because the following night Mr. Gingrich was scheduled to appear in Round 4 of the GOP Debates at the Reagan Library.

I was glad I got there early because the room was already filling up.  After setting up my tripod and camera I looked around for liberal infiltrators.  Only two stood out like sore thumbs—standing near the back, smirking, wearing liberal-type glasses.  (I later found out my Liberal Radar was correct; someone confirmed that yes, they were smirk-y liberals.)

Just as I was settled in and ready to go, I saw the event’s coordinator, Tamara Colbert, frantically waving her arms at me.  Tamara yelled, ‘Get over here NOW!’ and I realized I was going to be able to interview Speaker Gingrich!

I somehow managed to grab my tape recorder and tried not to kill myself (or anyone else) as I climbed over people and then sprinted—in 4” heels–towards the door.

I got outside to the VIP area and there he was—the former Speaker of the House, author, presidential candidate and friend of President Reagan:  Newt Gingrich.

He was on his way to the podium and knew I only had a few minutes so I got as much as I possibly could.  I even asked him interview questions for my upcoming book.

Near the end, I told him that the American public was literally desperate for honesty from politicians.  I told him the reason I believed he had done so well in the previous debate was because it seemed as if he were sort of resigned and that he had left his ‘politician’s suit’ outside the door.  I asked him to please do that again—to speak openly and honestly with us and treat us like adults.  He said he’d ‘do his best’.

As I headed back to my seat I beat myself up profusely for not having gotten a picture with him.  If by any chance he wins the presidency, that little tidbit will probably drive me insane.

Oh—and my video camera stopped working near the end, too…

The setting for the event was Town Hall-style, with local Tea Party activists and politicians reading statements and asking questions.  Several local high school students asked him questions, too.

Much like the debates, Mr. Gingrich didn’t hold anything back when he spoke to us in Pasadena.

In the first part of Mr. Gingrich’s speech he talked about Obama’s recent “jobs” trip to Detroit and offered some advice as to what Obama should have done to be more effective.  He likened Obama to a “bad king”, spoke of how non-partisan the Democrat Party really is and explained how Ronald Reagan was able to overcome the debacle of the Carter administration.

It was interesting to hear—in person—Gingrich talking about his career and the major accomplishments he helped implement as Speaker of the House during the Clinton years.   It was also refreshing to hear a politician offer viable plans toward offshore drilling, the strange raid on Gibson Guitars and the fact that we’re not allowed to call terrorists ‘terrorists’ in Washington.

Mr. Gingrich also laid out what he calls his ‘Pure Reagan’ jobs plan which he proposes to implement if elected president.  He had very strong words about Obama’s relations with Brazil and the ‘class warfare’ Obama seems to be instigating in America, going so far as to call Obama “the best, most effective Food Stamp president in American History”.

One of the most compelling things Gingrich talked about is a project called “On the First Day” in which he says on Inauguration Day he’ll immediately sign Executive Orders overturning much of the damage the Obama administration has done.  And finally, the Speaker closed by encouraging people to be not only for him but also “with him”.

The next night at the debates (and subsequently the following debate as well) Mr. Gingrich absolutely hit it out of the park.  His comments about how the mainstream media was trying to manipulate the elections immediately went viral.

You’ve got to know you’re doing something right when the ultra-leftists LA Times accused Gingrich of playing the games THEY created.

After calling him the “chief media basher”, the Times said “Gingrich’s huffy reaction to the questions asked at Wednesday’s presidential debate reveals a candidate who’s so far out of the running that he has to resort to old political games.”

Congratulations, Mr. Gingrich.  Win or not, you are one of the most brilliant minds we have in Conservative politics.