Old-Line Republicans Unite in Gingrich Hatred: Margaret Carlson
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Yes, Virginia, there is a Republican establishment and, like Santa Claus, it works quietly. After it convinced reluctant conservatives to nominate Senator John McCain for the presidency in 2008 -- and he lost spectacularly to a rookie senator from Illinois -- its members went to ground.
The chastened old guard put what was left of its power in a blind trust and turned the machinery over to the Tea Party insurgency. The result: a historic win in 2010 that passed the House gavel from Nancy Pelosi to John Boehner.
The grateful graybeards have kept mostly quiet ever since. Yet faced with the terrifying prospect of Newt Gingrich winning the party's presidential nomination, the loose congregation of White House veterans, members of Congress, fundraisers, pundits, party apparatchiks and the like creaked into action. The establishment couldn't create a candidacy -- Governors Chris Christie and Mitch Daniels refused to answer the call -- but in the week and a half after Gingrich won the South Carolina primary, sounding alarm bells throughout the capital, it proved it could still smother one.
The establishment's first line of attack was to reclaim the mantle of Ronald Reagan, which Gingrich had swiped in broad daylight, citing the Republican saint about 60 times over the course of 19 debates. According to Gingrich, he helped Governor Reagan become President Reagan, then worked alongside the president to create 16 million jobs.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/02/01/bloomberg_articlesLYORHI0D9L3501-LYORH.DTL#ixzz1l94Bdt4m
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