Who Is Going to Be Our Newt?

W. James Antle III at The American Spectator:

I don't often cite Richard Lugar as an authority on the Republican Party's future, but he asks some of the right questions here.

"The question is, how creative will Republicans be in the face of this? If we get the majority, will there be the sort of negotiations that occurred between Newt Ginrich and Bill Clinton, for example?" he said. "And if so, who is going to be our Newt?"

Lugar was asked whether Republicans such as House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky can fill that role.

"Probably not," Lugar said. "But it's a very important question."

And even Gingrich largely fizzled out after 1996. To me, the Republicans' biggest problem is a lack of leadership ready to take over should they regain the majority. The leaders who took over after 1994 had been planning and had an agenda in place for quite some time. That strikes me as much more worth worrying about than a few Tea Party primary victories.

That's what the TEA Parties are trying to tell Republicans, we are looking for leadership - and still not  impressed with what we see.  Antle is right - today's GOP is still listening to consultants who tell them to stay away from issues that don't poll well.  That's not leadership, it's just more of the same.  We do need a new Newt - the old one doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting elected.  He's still got good things to say but he is unelectable.  Where is the new one and WHERE THE HELL IS THE NEW AGENDA!!   The GOP is about to blow a golden opportunity.- SP