He may, of course, be the man of drive and energy the country believes him to be and he may be able to speed up our creaking military and industrial machinery; but it is a terrible risk, it involves the danger of rash and spectacular exploits, and I cannot help fearing that this country may be maneuvered into the most dangerous position it has ever been in.
Doesn't that resemble what a lot of good people are saying about Newt Gingrich? I think so, as does Steven Hayward who writes for National Review.
It was written about Churchill in 1940. Hayward cites the diary of John Colville, a Churchill contemporary.
Hayward is making the point that the widely held view of Churchill, when he first became prime minister, is very like what is now being said about Gingrich, and with equal justice.
COTTonLINE has noted Gingrich-Churchill parallels on November 13 and 27, 2011, and again last Saturday. Had Churchill died in 1937, his biographer would have concluded that on balance, his career ended in failure after early promise.
The Hayward article also includes a wonderful Oval Office Reagan quote:
Newt - there are some things you all are going to have to do after I'm gone.
