Gingrich comments on Wright and wrongs

Insight on the News, Jan 2, 1995

Success doesn't always bring popularity. After winning control of Congress for the first time in 40 years, the Republicans are finding themselves under attack.

Already, Newt Gingrich -- the new speaker of the House and, some would say, the Lenin of the Republican congressional revolution -- has been the target of blistering media attention. Within days of the GOP ascendency, the new speaker's first marriage (and divorce) became grist for the cartoon strip "Doonesbury," while the Tonight Show's Jay Leno suggested that to Gingrich, Santa Claus "is just another liberal with a giveaway program."

But Gingrich and new majority leader Dick Armey say the media's attitude is not surprising. The recent election was a contest "between populist media and the elite media," Gingrich said during a recent interview with Insight. "The elite media lost." Gingrich and Armey cite the growth of alternative media -- such as talk radio -- as a way House Republicans were able to get their message out during the campaign; Armey, in fact, says he has averaged 15 radio call-in shows per week since mid-June as he promotes his goal of a flat rate for income tax.

Still, the press seems to be broadly critical of the new GOP leadership. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram published an op-ed piece by Jim Wright, a former House speaker who resigned in 1989 as a result of ethics charges brought against him by none other than Gingrich. The new speaker, claims Wright, "has nothing in common with Karl Marx but much in common with Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up the British Parliament."

Gingrich seems unabashed. "I went after Jim Wright because he was a crook. He resigned because it turned out he was corrupt," Gingrich told Insight. "I have expected for my entire career for Democrats to dig around. I don't know anything I've done that's illegal, I don't know anything that I've done that's unethical and I don't know anything that's wrong."

Of course, some take issue with this statement. The House Ethics Committee is considering whether the weekend course, "Renewing American Civilization," which Gingrich taught at Kennesaw State College in Marietta, Ga., was educational or constitutes political activity. Former Rep. Ben Jones, whom Gingrich defeated in November, claims that telephone calls were made from the college to GOPAC, the political action committee founded by Gingrich, and to Gingrich's congressional office. But Gingrich is amazed that anyone would have a problem with that. If a section of his course deals with crime, he says, then naturally he would ask a member of his staff to examine the issue. "I would defend that forever. If the argument is going to be that the course I'm teaching for free and that is focused on ideas can't be shared with my congressional staff, then what in the devil do these people think is the job of a congressman?"

In the Star-Telegram, Wright complains that during his speakership, "I was a constant target of [Gingrich's] intrigues, tantrums and petty harassments." There is, Wright admits, a positive side -- sort of. "He is surpassingly ambitious, self-confident, glibly articulate, crafty as a coyote and doggedly determined in pursuit of these goals. In a leader, all of these can be positive qualities if tempered by tolerance, sympathy for those less fortunate, a regard for fair play and respect for the rights of other people. These traits, unfortunately, Gingrich has not often displayed."

Wright generously asserts that there is hope. "If the conservative Georgia firebrand could tame his sadistic streak, cultivate a less meanspirited attitude toward his fellow men and turn his destructive genius to constructive ends, he would have the capacity to be a fine speaker," concludes Wright. "He's smart enough. At heart, Gingrich is a nihilist."

Gingrich said that compared to the "sleaze" that has characterized Congress under the Democrats, "we are by any standard impeccable." At the same time, he said that he understands that opponents will "grotesquely exaggerate" his activities.