The GOP conservative establishment has the long knives out for Newt Gingrich. Since his win in South Carolina and strong showing in the Florida polls, a number of big-name Republicans have gone on the attack against the former speaker of the House.
This week, the National Review, which has been going after Gingrich for weeks, published twin attacks on Gingrich by former senator and presidential nominee Bob Dole and former Reagan aide Elliott Abrams,
The Washington Post reported.
“If Gingrich is the nominee it will have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state, and federal offices,” Dole, who is supporting Mitt Romney, wrote, according to the Post. “Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has endorsed him and that fact speaks for itself.” He said Gingrich’s nomination “could result in a landslide victory for Obama.”
Abrams wrote that “Gingrich was voluble and certain in predicting that Reagan’s policies would fail, and in all of this he was dead wrong.” In a radio interview, former Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, went after Gingrich for being erratic and undisciplined, and commentators including George Will, Charles Krauthammer and Ann Coulter have also gone after Gingrich.
“His win in South Carolina focused everyone’s mind,” National Review Editor Rich Lowry told the Post. “If he wins in Florida, he’ll be the front-runner and he’ll have a serious chance to be the nominee. If someone has been on the sidelines about him, they’re running to get on to the field now.”
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.