This is the kind of over the top rhetoric that is classic Newt which is why he is unfit for office, and unelectable. Period. "Reactionary socialist" is a term I would think would be more typical of a confused teenager on this site actually, who is just enthralled by all of these exciting new ideological terms that have recently come into his life. Newt, calling people names like that is infra dig, you hear me! Listen!
You should listen to conservative talk radio every now and then, Torie; it'd help you keep a finger on the pulse of your party's base. I'll generally listen to Hannity and O'Reilly for maybe a couple of hours each week, whenever I happen to be driving around while their programs are on the air. I'm pretty sure I've heard them describe Obama policies as "reactionary socialism" before. Or maybe they were calling him a "socialist reactionary," something like that, I don't remember the context exactly. Of course the term doesn't actually make sense, but it doesn't matter- the intended audience knows socialism is evil, and when they hear that word with a big and scary-sounding adjective in front of it, that just means it's extra evil. The Republican base loves this sort of stuff.
I also agree with Wonkish's analysis regarding Newt's intentions here. This is exactly the sort of stuff Newt needs to be doing right now if he wants to win the nomination.
You don't get it! Newt has said that the key to winning to elections and winning votes is to find issues that you either already have a large majority on your side or you think you can easily create a large majority on your side. You then stand with them and smile and your opponents are either forced to join your side and stand in your shadow or take the minority side of the position.
Or, if your opponent is Bill Clinton, be forced to stand in his shadow as he co-opts all of your popular proposals, acts like they were his idea all along, and gets easily reelected because of it.
Excellent analysis in this post, btw. Newt definitely knows what he's doing here.
