Your Daily Newt: Crack Negotiating Skills

Then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich photobombs Bill Clinton's 1997 swearing-in ceremony.Globe Photos/ZumaPress.com

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As a service to our readers, every day we are delivering a classic moment from the political life of Newt Gingrich—until he either clinches the nomination or bows out.

One of Newt Gingrich’s most compelling arguments on the campaign trail is that as president, he’ll be able to win converts to his policies through sheer intellectual force and powers of persuasion. Put him in a one-on-one debate with Barack Obama and he’ll wipe the floor with the president. Let him deal with Congress and he’ll find a way to break through. Newt’s been in the trenches with Bill Clinton, the thinking goes, and has the legislative victories to show for it. But as Robert Draper reported for GQ in 2005, Gingrich’s negotiating skills often left his conservative colleagues shaking their heads:

The Clintons are never far from Newt’s mind. They’re like the Kennedys were to Nixon: glamorous, charismatic, brazen power-grabbing elitist amoral lying dream killers. Wrong on health care, wrong on the budget, wrong on the military…and so goddamned clever! Newt’s staff and the class of ’94 had seen it time and again: Every time Speaker Gingrich galloped into the Oval Office with his musket loaded for Slick Willie, he shuffled out holding his own gonads. “It got to the point where the Republican freshmen were afraid to send him in there alone,” remembers Newt’s archivist and friend, Mel Steely. “By the time Newt would get back to his office, Clinton’s press secretary had already announced the opposite of what they’d agreed on. I’d say, ‘Newt, how did you get suckered in?’ And he’d say, ‘Clinton would come up from behind his desk, put his arm around me, and say, “Newt, you’re absolutely right.” Just charm the pants right off of you.'”

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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