Conservatives Without Conscience

People who knew Gingrich early in his political career have described him—and because he is a man who still wants to be president of the United States such assessments remain relevant—in less than glowing terms. David Osborne spoke with many of them when he was preparing his telling profile for Mother Jones magazine, and he was given information descriptive of an authoritarian leader. Osborne reported that Gingrich was dominating, opposed to equality, desirous of personal power, and amoral; he can be a bully, hedonistic, exploitive, manipulative, a cheater, prejudiced toward women, and mean-spirited, and he uses religion for political purposes; he also wants others to submit to his authority and is aggressive on behalf of authority. A number of Gingrich observers described his nature:

Lew Howell (a former press secretary): “Gingrich has a tendency to chew people up and spit them out, and when he doesn’t need you anymore he throws you away. Very candidly, I don’t think Newt Gingrich has many principles, except for what’s best for him.”

Chip Kahn (who managed Gingrich’s first two campaigns): “Ambitious bastard.”

Mary Kahn (a reporter who covered Gingrich before marrying Chip): “Newt uses people and then discards them as useless. He’s like a leech. He really is a man with no conscience. He just doesn’t seem to care who he hurts or why.”

L. H. Carter (once a close friend and adviser) on returning to Georgia after Newt was elected: “[H]e turned in my car and looked at me and he said, ‘Fuck you guys. I don’t need you anymore.’” Carter added, “The important thing you have to understand about Newt Gingrich is that he is amoral. There isn’t any right or wrong, there isn’t any conservative or liberal. There’s only what will work best for Newt Gingrich. He’s probably one of the most dangerous people for the future of this country that you can possibly imagine. He’s Richard Nixon, glib.”[3]