Lunch with Newt ...

I just came from a briefing with Newt Gingrich for conservatives. Of course, there was lots of talk about his WW III comments and the current state of the world.

I also got the feeling he believes the president needs to be doing a better job of rallying the nation. He frequently quoted Thatcher's maxim that, "first you win the argument, then you win the war." He said of Reagan, Roosevelt and Lincoln: They're not great communicators -- they're great educators." He is reading several books on Lincoln right now (he believes studying Lincoln might shine some light onto the times in which we now live) and recommended several, including: The Eloquent President, A Portrait of Lincoln through His Words.

For more info on the briefing, Mary Katherine Ham has a good post up about it and so does Ivy Sellers of HEO.