DBWI: Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich?

In a recent interview with C-SPAN, former Secretary of Education Newt Gingrich recalled that in 1989, he almost decided to run for House Minority Whip after Dick Cheney became Secretary of Defense but changed his mind at the last minute, preferring a committee chairmanship when Republicans won back the House. Instead, he encouraged Tom DeLay to run for Whip.

When the GOP trounced the Democrats in the 1994 midterm elections and won control of Congress, Tom DeLay became Speaker of the House and Newt Gingrich became Chairman of the House Education Committee.

DeLay went on to become the most unpopular politician in the country. Polls often showed his job disapproval at close to 60 percent. Many Republicans running for Congress and reelection in 1996 avoided DeLay like the plague.

Then, there were the stories that lobbyist Jack Abramoff had so much access to DeLay that he even had his own office next to the Speaker's.

Had Gingrich become Speaker, would he have done a better job and be more popular than DeLay?
 
With Gingrich's intellect and political suaveness I imagine that he would have made an excellent speaker. There was much going on in his personal life during those years, which came out during his subsequent confirmation hearings when he became SofE, that would have made him a lightning rod for criticism. On the other hand his intellect could have been a negative as well.
 

JoeMulk

Banned
I wonder if he would have investigated the Clinton sexual harrasement alligations more vigerously. A lot of hardcore conservatives OTL were disappointed with DeLay for not pursuing an investigation and that might have sunk him in the 2000 primaries.
 
I wonder if he would have investigated the Clinton sexual harrasement alligations more vigerously. A lot of hardcore conservatives OTL were disappointed with DeLay for not pursuing an investigation and that might have sunk him in the 2000 primaries.

You think Newt would have made a big deal out of Clinton´s affairs?

Do you realize that this man had 4 wives and cheated on them all?:confused:
 
You think Newt would have made a big deal out of Clinton´s affairs?

Do you realize that this man had 4 wives and cheated on them all?:confused:
He would not have been the first to bring hypocrisy to Washington, nor the last.

Not to run off on a tangent here, but if he had gone after Clinton in some way, would that have any effect on later scandals, like Edwards?
 
He would not have been the first to bring hypocrisy to Washington, nor the last.

Not to run off on a tangent here, but if he had gone after Clinton in some way, would that have any effect on later scandals, like Edwards?

I still find the idea of Gingrich going after Clinton sort of ridicilous. It´d make himself look pretty bad by comparison.

Well, I´m quite happy his carrier in politics never made it that far anyway. Some of his books although ASB are quite fun.

What do you think about his moon colony series? The president in the novels is obviously somewhat based on the author himself, but my personal favorite is the wacky VP.
 
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