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Sec.of Navy John F. Lehman meets with President Ronald Reagan, Dec. 1982. |
Coming off of a debate performance that was widely panned in the press, Newt Gingrich is now enduring a second day of bombardment from various Republican figures who say the former speaker’s time in the House revealed an erratic official who does not belong in the Oval Office.
This series of written and spoken knock-Newt events began Thursday, and today the Romney campaign rolled out four significant members of the Reagan administration to raise numerous questions about Gingrich.
In this case, the subject was foreign and defense policy and Gingrich’s lack of influence on Reagan’s efforts to strengthen the military and win the Cold War. The participants in a conference call with reporters this morning were Reagan-era Ambassadors Rich Williamson and Gerald Carmen, Navy Secretary John Lehman, and Undersecretary Dov Zakheim.
They referred to then-Congressman Gingrich as a “backbencher” and a “sort of a gadfly that criticized Mr. Reagan on occasion”
They specifically mentioned a 1986 “major speech” Gingrich delivered in which he took several shots at Reagan. I don’t remember the speech but apparently Gingrich sharply criticized Reagan’s approach to the Soviet Union (“the Evil Empire”), the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, and other matters.
Meanwhile, one new Florida poll shows Romney opening up a solid lead, 39 percent to 28 percent, over Gingrich. The national polls show the former speaker trails Barack Obama by double digits while Romney is neck-and-neck with the president.
One portion of the newest national poll reveals the extent of Gingrich’s gender gap. Somehow, he is losing to Obama by a solid margin among rural women – a demographic that is overwhelmingly Republican.
You can listen to the entire conference call here.
