I was pleasantly surprised to read and hear Dick Armey's response to his old House leadership colleague Newt Gingrich's enormous campaign gaffe regarding Medicare.
Both in a Wall Street Journal editorial last week, then, again, this morning on CNBC, the former House Majority Leader displayed high contrast with his old Speaker colleague by calling for GOP presidential candidates who are not "timid" on Medicare and general entitlement reforms.
Rather than blast Newt by name, or get into any personal confrontations, Armey simply reminded his readers and viewers of the Tea Party's and independents' desires for fiscal rectitude and sensible entitlement reforms.
For Armey, this means embracing significant reforms, and eschewing hot-button terms like radical or social engineering.
When I consider my own thoughts on electoral dynamics, I find myself in agreement with Dick Armey in that Republicans need to explicitly consider which positions will appeal to the large block of independent voters who will effectively choose the next president.
Timidity and acceptance of the current status quo isn't going to do that. Right now, that means, by virtue of his openining campaign remarks on Paul Ryan's ideas, Gingrich doesn't fit that bill.
Armey went further on CNBC to rather pointedly back Tim Pawlenty, thanks to his gubernatorial record, basic positions and weaknesses of the rest of the field, with Mitch Daniels' decision not to run in 2012.
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