Romney Campaign Press Release - An Overdose of Grandiose

Over The Weekend, Speaker Gingrich Linked Himself To Both Of President Reagan's General Election Victories And Took Credit For Rescuing George H.W. Bush From Defeat In 1988. GINGRICH: "In 1980 I worked with the Reagan campaign. Ronald Reagan ended up beating Jimmy Carter by a bigger number of states than Franklin Roosevelt beat Herbert Hoover by. 1984, I worked with the Reagan campaign, he carried 49 states. In 1988, when Bush was down by 19 points, I got involved in defining Dukakis and that was in May and by November, Bush won by 6 which meant that one out of every four Americans switched between May and November." (Newt Gingrich, Remarks in Winter Park, FL, 1/28/12)

More Gingrich on Gingrich:

• "I Have Been An Active Public Citizen Since I First Ran For Congress In 1974. I Have Written Books. I Have Given Speeches. I Have Been On Television." (CNN's "John King, USA," 1/24/12)

• "[I Am] A Really Important Guy Who Really Knows A Lot And Who Really Has Lots Of Information." (Philip Rucker and Dan Eggen, "Gingrich Welcomes Scrutiny As Front-Runner," The Washington Post, 11/18/11)

• "I've Had A Broad Enough Base Of Activities, And Written 24 Books, 13 New York Times Bestsellers, Made Seven Movies. We're Doing Tons Of Stuff." (Fox News' "Hannity," 12/15/11)

• "I Will Probably Do Better Than [President Reagan]. My Coattails Will Help Him." ("Conservative Rising Star Feeling Secure These Days," The Associated Press, 9/21/84)

• "I Want To Run As The Candidate Of The Declaration Of Independence, The Constitution, And The Federalist Papers." (Newt Gingrich, Remarks in Naples, FL, 1/24/12)

• "If You're Not In The Washington Post Every Day, You Might As Well Not Exist." ("The World Of Congress," Newsweek, 4/24/89)

• "I've Been Studying Health Policy Since 1964 ... I've Been Listed I Think For Four Or Five Years In A Row As One Of The Top People In Modern Health Magazine's Rating." (Philip Rucker and Dan Eggen, "Gingrich Welcomes Scrutiny As Front-Runner," The Washington Post, 11/18/11)

• "The Speech I Made Yesterday [Is] Based On Having Looked At Space Issues Since The Late 1950's, When Missiles And Rockets Was A Separate Magazine." (GOP Presidential Debate, Jacksonville, FL, 1/26/12)

• "I Am A Cultural Teacher, With A Political Campaign To Change A Government. And That's How I See Myself." (Trip Gabriel, "Gingrich, Ahead in Polls, Is Still Selling Books," The New York Times, 12/9/11)

• "I Really Am Public Enemy Number One In The [Clinton White House]. They Just Go Nuts." (Lloyd Grove, "Eye Of Newt," The Washington Post, 10/25/11)

More Historical Figures to Whom Gingrich has Compared Himself:

A Combination Of Presidents Lincoln And Kennedy And The Wright Brothers: "You know, I was attacked the other night for being grandiose. I just want you to know, Lincoln standing at Council Bluffs was grandiose. The Wright brothers going down to Kitty Hawk was grandiose. John F. Kennedy standing there saying we'll get to the moon in eight years was grandiose." (Newt Gingrich, Remarks in Cocoa, FL, 1/25/12)

Both Presidents Roosevelt: "'So, we're gonna help the poor?' [Gingrich] asks. 'Truth is, we don't know how to help the poor. We're gonna experiment and experiment and experiment until we break through.' That may not please the ear of a small-government conservative, but it is the essential Gingrich. 'It makes me, in some ways, like the two Roosevelts,' he says." (Peter J. Boyer, "Inside Newt's Stunning Comeback," The Daily Beast, 12/10/11)

Washington, Adams, Franklin, Madison... "I think I am an effective government conservative, which is what the Founding Fathers were." (Bill Bennett's "Morning In America," 1/25/12)

Bill Clinton: "Entering the debate season, Gingrich focused on his advantages, and he began to see his near implosion as a gift. Among other things, the departure of the political professionals left Gingrich to become his own strategist. 'Just as [Bill] Clinton was,' Gingrich says. ... 'People forget,' he says, 'that we are both very tough.'" (Peter J. Boyer, "Inside Newt's Stunning Comeback," The Daily Beast, 12/10/11)

Alexander Hamilton (h/t Adam Smith): "What I said was exactly what Alexander Hamilton wrote ... This is pure Hamilton ... which itself is drawn directly from Adam Smith's 'The Wealth of Nations.'" (Newt Gingrich, Bill Bennett's "Morning In America," 1/25/12)

A Celebrity: "In Bluffton, S.C., he told voters that he didn't need to lobby because after he left Congress, 'I was charging $60,000 a speech, and the number of speeches was going up, not down. Normally, celebrities leave and they gradually sell fewer speeches every year. We were selling more.'" (Frank Bruni, "And Now ... Professor Gingrich," The New York Times, 12/3/11)

Again, President Lincoln: "Tonight is the first time, I think probably since Lincoln's debates — his inaugural in 1861, that you've seen a presidential candidate in this kind of a setting talking in depth about the need to rebalance the judiciary ... and talking in a very serious, sophisticated way." (Fox News' "Hannity," 12/15/11)

Ray Kroc And Sam Walton: "[Gingrich] created what he called 'a substance-based, volunteer-centered, Internet-based system.' He boasted that he was inventing a revolutionary new model of campaigning. 'I told somebody at one point, "This is like watching Walton or Kroc develop Walmart and McDonald's.'" (Politico's "Playbook," 11/30/11)

Thomas Jefferson: QUESTION: "Several years ago you described yourself as a 'Jeffersonian populist.' Could you please explain that?" GINGRICH: "It's one of the points I make to conservatives who often describe themselves as 'Jeffersonian conservatives.'  It usually means they want passive, lean, inactive government. That I would never favor, nor did Jefferson." ("A Conversation With Newt Gingrich," The Ripon Forum, 5/89)

The Allied States Of The Second World War: "In the wake of the Virginia Republican Party's Saturday morning announcement that Newt Gingrich had not secured the required 10,000 valid signatures to run in the state's March 6 presidential primary ... [Gingrich campaign director Michael] Krull then invoked the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor ... 'Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941: We have experienced an unexpected setback, but we will regroup and refocus,' Krull said. '[I]n the end we will stand victorious.'" (Michael Leahy, "Gingrich Faces Long Odds To Compete In Virginia Presidential Primary," The Washington Post, 12/25/11)