Newt and "niche issues"

A recent Washington Post story highlights Newt's focus on what the columnist Philip Rucker calls "niche issues."

So at a private fundraiser last week in Newport Beach, Calif., he devoted much of his speech to the disease.

In the audience, it turned out, were four members of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Orange County chapter.

“This is great,” they later told Gingrich, according to an aide. “You get it!”

Texas U.S. Representative Michael Burgess, who has endorsed Newt for President and who wrote an article with him about the flat tax, said that Newt "probably" understands Alzheimer's better than anyone.

From Rucker:

After Gingrich announced his candidacy in May, his first speech was to a convention of Alzheimer’s advocates. There, he warned that the disease could cost the government some $20 trillion over the next four decades. He told the industry group that Alzheimer’s research is “grotesquely underfunded,” and he pledged to invest more public money in finding a cure.

Rucker:

But as Gingrich sees it, Alzheimer’s, as well as other niche topics such as military families’ concerns and pharmaceutical issues,are priorities for passionate patches of the American electorate. By offering himself as a champion of pet causes, Gingrich believes he can sew together enough narrow constituencies to make a coalition -- an unconventional one, yes, but a coalition nevertheless.

Of course, the implication is that Newt is only now paying attention to those issues in order to gain a political advantage.

Tony Blankley, Newt's Press Secretary when he was Speaker, wrote a column in order to disprove that.

From that article:

To read the article in question, one would think Newt had thought up this little “niche” Alzheimer issue a couple of weeks ago -- just in time for his revived campaign. Well, in fact, I remember Newt talking to me about the coming crisis in Alzheimer’s back in the 1990s. And in 2007, the Alzheimer's Association along with the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease called for the creation of the Alzheimer’s Study Group. Newt was named co-chairman, along with former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey.

As to the issues and costs of taking care of our military families, anyone remotely familiar with the projections of the defense budget knows that if we don’t improve the attitude toward and better manage the costs of taking care of our military and veterans and their families, we will risk lower volunteer rates and unsustainable cost increases. Once again, Newt has been advocating shrewdly about this matter at least since the 1990s, when he used to discuss it with me and others. Of course, Newt came from a military family, so he had an unfair advantage in understanding the issue.

Here is the aforementioned speech to the Alzheimer's Association:

Former Representative Robert Walker: Newt "an agent of change"

Excerpts from The Washington Times:

Such leadership is a Gingrich legacy. In 1995, the idea of balancing the federal budget was not only a pipe dream but was the subject of ridicule in sophisticated Washington circles. President Clinton’s budgets showed deficits of hundreds of billions of dollars as far out as the eye could see. It was Newt’s strategy and leadership as speaker of the House that not only changed the terms of the debate that year, but within three years produced real balanced budgets.

When Newt tried to reform the welfare system, Mr. Clinton vetoed those efforts on two occasions. But the persistence of a real leader kept the pressure on, and Newt produced one of the most significant changes in government policy in the latter part of the 20th century - welfare reform.

The American military often holds exercises in which the troops simulate real national emergency situations. On many occasions, they have asked Newt to take the role of president in those exercises. One of the most respected institutions in America, our armed forces, has recognized the capability of this leader for good judgment.

...

A Gingrich presidency holds the promise of real change. For some, that phrase has been a political tool for maintaining the status quo or moving us further down the road toward European-style socialism. Change under a Gingrich White House would be based on values first articulated by our forefathers -- individual liberty, entrepreneurial enterprise, devolved government power and spiritual fulfillment.

Fiscal discipline, good jobs, a government that works, responsible global leadership, world-renowned science and technology, and winning the future would all be featured in a Gingrich administration.

With Newt, the concept of change in the face of adversity is not just a political promise; it is the reality of his entire career. When choosing a president, the American people may want to look at the mess inexperience has produced and decide that a new generation of leadership requires someone who bears the scars of winning in an arena that is tough and unforgiving. Winning the future will require the kind of courage in the public arena that Newt Gingrich has demonstrated before and once again has stepped forward to provide.