COMMENTARY | The latest attack against Newt Gingrich accuses him of the worst thing a Republican can be. Apparently, despite his assertion that he was a loyal lieutenant to President Ronald Reagan, Gingrich was "insulting" to Reagan on a number of occasions.
Leading the charge on the theme of "Gingrich was an enemy of Reagan" is Elliott Abrams, who was an assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration. Abrams is miffed because of a speech Gingrich made in 1986 criticizing Reagan's foreign policy and says so in no uncertain terms in a National Review article. Mind, Abrams admits that Gingrich voted down the line for Reagan's policies. But the speech, in which Gingrich accused Reagan's foreign policy of being a failure.
To be sure, the speech seems off-putting considering subsequent events, such as the fall of the Soviet Empire. But was Gingrich really an enemy of Reagan?
William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection does not think so. He quotes two people with impeccable credentials that demonstrate that Gingrich was indeed a young supporter of Reagan.
One was Jeffrey Lord, who worked with both Reagan and Gingrich in those years, writing a defense in the American Spectator. Lord asserts that Gingrich was indeed a loyal supporter of Reagan.
However the other person, whose testimony should settle the case once and for all, is none other than Nancy Reagan. In a speech in 1995, Ms. Reagan noted that the torch of conservatism had passed from Barry Goldwater to Reagan and had then passed on to Gingrich. Gingrich is not only Reagan's supporter, but Reagan's heir.
Reagan's son Michael Reagan has also endorsed Gingrich, according to Fox News.
As many have pointed out, while running for the Senate in liberal Massachusetts, Mitt Romney specifically repudiated Reagan and his brand of conservatism. Romney was likely pandering to liberal Bay State voters. But that demonstrates something more onerous than a Massachusetts moderate. Romney is someone who will say anything to be elected.
Gingrich can certainly be accused of a lot of things. He often says things that he later regrets (the 196 speech is a prime example.) Two of his marriages collapsed because of his philandering. His leadership style while speaker of the House was off putting to many of the Republican caucus. But Gingrich is not an apostate where it comes to the support of and admiration for the Reagan legacy.
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