Former congressman Joe Scarborough, writing in ‘Politico’ (yeah, yeah...) on the wishy-washy, unreliable Newt he remembers:
In 1997, ten of my fellow classmates had led a coup attempt against Gingrich, shutting down the House over the speaker’s efforts to violate the Contract with America by swelling the number of committee staff members.
Conservative stalwarts like Steve Largent, Tom Coburn and Matt Salmon joined me and seven others to demand a cut in spending and a promise to hold firm on tax cuts.
Newt did not take the rebellion lying down. He immediately summoned the sergeant of arms to drag the 11 rebels down to a Republican caucus meeting in the bowels of the Capitol basement…. Gingrich then began screaming and demanded that the 11 of us account for our behavior. ...Steve spoke softly about how he signed a contract with the Seattle Seahawks and remembered shaking the hand of the team’s owner after the deal was done. A few years later, the NFL Players Association went on strike. But Largent told the mob, who were now transfixed, that he crossed those picket lines because he signed a contract and gave his word. Largent told the group that a few years later, the NFL players went on strike a second time and he was once again one of the few NFL players to keep reporting for work. For Steve, it was a matter of principle. …
Turning to the Speaker ... Largent said, ‘Newt, you were the one who drafted the contract and then told us to sign it. Now, you’re the one pressuring us to break it. But Newt, if I wasn’t intimidated by the thought of 250 pound linebackers who wanted to kill me every time I crossed the field, why would I be intimidated by you?’
And with that, the speakership of Newt Gingrich was over. A year later, he would be driven from power and sent into a political wilderness from which he emerged 14 years later on a Saturday night in South Carolina.
Wait a minute: Gingrich thought Joe Scarborough was too conservative? Jesus, I've seen his show on MSNBC, and Joe ain't no conservative Has he changed?
But read the whole thing. And yeah, Scarborough does seem a bit in love with Largent. It's no worse than Joe Buck's batting eyelashes for Troy Aikman (give it up, Joe), but eww!
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