The Speaker Doth Protest Too Much

The Speaker Doth Protest Too Much

Thursday, June 19th, 1997 -- House Speaker Newt Gingrich went wild this week when he learned that 50-plus Republicans were to gather in a meeting at which his ability to lead would be on the agenda. Sources say the tension within the Speaker's suite was thick as Mr. Gingrich and top aides scrambled to squash "rumors" that he was DOA as top Rep.

The Speaker was not invited to the meeting, but by twisting a few ears he wangled an invite an gave a talk to the disgruntled Republicans -- the subject of which has not yet been revealed.

But the Speaker's tactic to inject himself where he wasn't wanted may have backfired, and seems to have further alienated him from a growing band of GOP lawmakers who want to see him disappear from the Speaker's rostrum post-haste.

The now less-rotund Gingrich, flanked by a bevy of top aides, had to stoop so low as to inform the press he was "still in charge" yesterday.

"I went into the conference as speaker... they called me Mr. Speaker as I came out,'' the slightly flustered Gingrich said after a two hour long closed-door meeting of House Republicans.

Gingrich was flanked by House Budget Committee chairman John Kasich and Majority Leader Dick Armey as he tried to convince the nation -- and himself -- that he was still the Republican choice. Ways and Means Committee chairman Bill Archer rounded out the circus of "support" for the battered Speaker.

Kasich, one of those mentioned to succeed Gingrich once he falls, was not earthshatteringly supportive when he told reporters, "Newt's fine."

One wonders at the spectacle of the second most powerful man in Washington holding a press conference to tell the nation that he's "still in charge."

To most Capitol Hill observers such a move signals the beginning of the end.

Ditto.