David Brooks Slams Newt Gingrich: 'I Wouldn't Let Him Run a 7-Eleven Let Alone a Country'

Noel Sheppard
March 10th, 2011 3:22 PM
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New York Times columnist David Brooks Thursday took quite a swing at former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

During a videotaped interview with Time magazine, Brooks said, "I wouldn't let that guy run a 7-Eleven let alone a country" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

GILBERT CRUZ, TIME MAGAZINE: People read you because you write about politics. I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions about politics, the first being is Obama beatable in 2012?

DAVID BROOKS, NEW YORK TIMES: He’s certainly beatable. The economy is going to be better, but not in great shape. He's got real problems in the Midwest. Those are states that Republicans have done extraordinarily well in, and so I definitely think he’s beatable. I would still give him a slight odds of being reelected, but he’s definitely beatable.

CRUZ: What do you think of the GOP field for 2012?

BROOKS: I'm not overwhelmed by its quality. Some people are interesting personalities, like Newt Gingrich, but Newt Gingrich is not going to be President. I wouldn't let that guy run a, you know, 7-Eleven, let alone a country. He’s a really interesting guy, no management skills. And, so there are a couple leaders: Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty and Mitch Daniels. I think those are the three. And so I’m not sure there’s a huge number of great candidates, and that’s of the weaknesses that Obama has, the one strength he has is so far what looks like the weakness of the Republican field.

No management skills.

For the record, this is Gingrich's résumé:

  • B.A. in history from Emory University in 1965
  • M.A. in European history from Tulane University in 1968
  • Ph.D. in European history from Tulane University in 1971
  • Taught history at the University of West Georgia from 1970 to 1978
  • Congressman from 1979 to 1998
  • House minority whip from 1989 to 1994
  • Speaker of the House 1995 to 1998
  • Founded Center for Health Transformation in 2003
  • Co-chair of a 2005 task force for United Nations reform
  • Founded American Solutions for Winning the Future in 2007
  • For over two decades has taught at the United States Air Force's Air University
  • Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
  • Fellow at the Hoover Institution

Gingrich has also authored the following:

* The Government's Role in Solving Societal Problems, Associated Faculty Press, Incorporated. January 1982
* Window of Opportunity. Tom Doherty Associates, December 1985.
* Contract with America (co-editor). Times Books, December 1994.
* Restoring the Dream. Times Books, May 1995.
* Quotations from Speaker Newt. Workman Publishing Company, Inc., July 1995.
* To Renew America. Farrar Straus & Giroux, July 1996.
* Lessons Learned The Hard Way. HarperCollins Publishers, May 1998
* Presidential Determination Regarding Certification of the Thirty-Two Major Illicit Narcotics Producing and Transit Countries. DIANE Publishing Company, September 1999.
* Saving Lives and Saving Money. Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, April 2003.
* Winning the Future. Regnery Publishing, January 2005.
* Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation's History and Future, Integrity Publishers, October 2006.
* A Contract with the Earth, Johns Hopkins University Press, October 1, 2007.
* Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works, Regnery Publishing, January 2008.
* Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less: A Handbook for Slashing Gas Prices and Solving Our Energy Crisis, With Vince Haley. Regnery Publishing, September 2008
* 5 Principles for a Successful Life: From Our Family to Yours, with Jackie Gingrich Cushman, Crown Publishing Group, May 2009
* To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular-Socialist Machine, With Joe DeSantis. Regnery Publishing, May 2010

Gingrich co-wrote the following with William R. Forstchen:

* 1945 Baen Books, August 1995

* Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War Thomas Dunne Books, June 2003
* Grant Comes East Thomas Dunne Books, June 2004
* Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant: The Final Victory Thomas Dunne Books, June 2005

* Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th Thomas Dunne Books, May 2007
* Days of Infamy Thomas Dunne Books, April 2008

* To Try Men's Souls: A Novel of George Washington and the Fight for American Freedom, October 2009
* Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory, November 2010

Here's Obama's curriculum vitae:

  • U.S. Senator 2005 through 2008
  • Illinois State Senator 1997 through 2004
  • Lectured at University of Chicago Law School 1991 through 2004
  • Harvard Law School graduate 1991
  • Community organizer 1985 through 1988
  • Graduated with a BA from Columbia University in 1983

Obama became president with those qualifications, but according to Brooks, Gingrich doesn't have the "management skills" to even run a 7-Eleven.

Readers are reminded that this is what the Times and its readers consider is a conservative.