Quotations from Speaker Newt Gingrich: on Foreign Policy


Al Gore: OpEd: compares U.S. to a dysfunctional civilization

[In Al Gore's book Earth in the Balance] there's a paragraph where, having explained dysfunctionality for about six pages, he then explains the worst-- he describes this terrible century as compared to Reagan's vision of the American century. He then compares the US to a dysfunctional civilization. Astroturf, plastic flowers, air conditioning, & frozen foods from microwave ovens. I mean, it is just the sort of nutty left-wing goo-goo stuff.
--US News & World Report on RNC Convention, Aug.19, 1992
Source: Quotations from Speaker Newt, by A.&P. Bernstein, p. 51 Jan 1, 1995

Newt Gingrich: Threats to civilization are real, & fight needs leadership

Visiting Verdun literally changed my life. I came to the conclusion. that threats to civilization are real, that the quality of leadership is a major factor in whether civilization survives. So I sort of changed my goal from zoo director or vertebrate paleontologist to being a leader. My father was a solider then, and the house we lived in was right across from the Seventh Army Headquarters. Late at night he would get a call, and in the early morning hours the entire headquarters would move into the field. I could see it all from my bedroom window--tanks, trucks, armed personnel carriers. It gradually dawned on me that this wasn't a game. In a sense, my mother, my sisters, and I were being held hostage to world power. Faced with this, I began to wonder what it was all about, why my father was risking his life, why my country was in danger.
-- Recalling at age 14 on the army base in Stuttgart, West Germany. Campaign Profile (Ingram Library, West Georgia College) 1976
Source: Quotations from Speaker Newt, by A.&P. Bernstein, p. 7-8 Jan 1, 1995

Ronald Reagan: Knew "evil empire" would polarize but felt forced to use it

Reagan says with humor that [Pat] Buchanan says with anger. I think Buchanan is almost by definition a polarizer. Reagan accepts sadly the polarization you force on him, but he does not accept it. And "evil empire" he knew would be a polarizing phrase. And Reagan was quite clever in the Napoleonic sense of a strategic offense and a tactical defense. He would lunge out here somewhere and then be unbelievably pleasant while people screamed at him. Buchanan's technique is to wade into the middle of a barroom brawl.
--Unpublished interview with Newt Gingrich in U.S. News & World Report at Republican Convention in Houston. August 19, 1992
Source: Quotations from Speaker Newt, by A.&P. Bernstein, p. 87 Jan 1, 1995

  • The above quotations are from Quotations from Speaker Newt
    The Little Red, White and Blue Book of the Republican Revolution
    by Newt Gingrich and Amy D. Bernstein.
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  • Click here for more quotes by Newt Gingrich on Foreign Policy.
  • Click here for more quotes by Ronald Reagan on Foreign Policy.
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