In debut, Gingrich threw a bomb

On the evening of Oct. 4, 1990, Newt Gingrich and his then-wife, Marianne, were enjoying a VIP reception at a Republican fundraiser when they were suddenly hustled over to have their picture taken with President George H.W. Bush.

"I thought it was a bad idea," Gingrich said in a series of interviews in 1992 that have not been previously published.

Days earlier, Gingrich had dramatically walked out of the White House and was leading a very public rebellion against a deficit reduction and tax increase deal that Bush and top congressional leaders of both parties - including, they thought, Gingrich - had signed off on after months of tedious negotiations. The House was to vote on the deal the very next day.

"We went over and I said to Bush, 'I'm really sorry that this is happening,' and he said with as much pain as I've heard from a politician, 'You're killing us, you are just killing us.' "

The photo was snapped, Gingrich and his wife took their seats "and both of us just felt like crying," he said.

Gingrich's revolt highlighted a rift that persists to this day within the Republican Party, between a pragmatic establishment open to deal-making and a more rigid conservative base that prefers purity over compromise.

That split has benefited Gingrich at times, including in his current bid for president, as he is tied at the top of the Republican field with Mitt Romney.

Gingrich's actions both before and after his encounter with Bush showed a man willing, if not eager, to weaken the president and, as he put it, "to dismantle the old order."

Then the party whip and No. 2 Republican in the House, Gingrich and his followers took down the deal the next day, severely undercutting Bush and highlighting the betrayal of his famous "Read my lips: no new taxes" pledge. In some respects, Gingrich's revolt set the stage for Bush's demise and eventual defeat, as well as the Republican takeover of the House in 1994.

Decisive moment

Gingrich's defiance and high-visibility debut as provocateur in 1990 was a decisive moment for him. It was the first chance he had to exercise real political power, providing an early glimpse of the complexity he has displayed since.

Bush's budget director, the late Richard Darman, said the White House was not given serious notice that Gingrich would balk at the deal and that his revolt was "an act of political sabotage."

Gingrich was unrepentant, arguing that he had a higher purpose. "It was destructive," he acknowledged, but necessary to stop Bush and others from making deals with Democrats.

Warming to his rebel role, he declared, "I am the leader, insider-revolutionary in this country."

He defined the budget revolt as "a major turning point for the whole society" because it "deepened people's anger."

R.C. Hammond, the Gingrich campaign spokesman, said Saturday that he has discussed past actions such as the 1990 budget deal with Gingrich. "Don't think because he did it one way in the past that is the way he would do it again. He learned things, and you figure out how to do it better," Hammond said.

This account of the 1990 budget deal is based on a series of interviews conducted in 1992 with Gingrich, Darman and Vin Weber, then a House member from Minnesota who now supports Romney.

The 1990 budget deal has also re-emerged as a point of contention in this year's presidential campaign after one of the key players involved, former White House chief of staff and New Hampshire governor John H. Sununu, said that Gingrich's erratic actions back then were disqualifying now.

Bush himself raised Gingrich's role in the budget deal when he announced his backing last week for Romney, whom he described as "mature and reasonable, not a bomb thrower."

"I met with all the Republican leaders, all the Democratic leaders," Bush told the Houston Chronicle about that day in 1990. "The plan was we were all going to walk out into the Rose Garden and announce this deal. Newt was right there. Got ready to go out in the Rose Garden, and I said, 'Where's Gingrich?' Went up to Capitol Hill. He was here a minute ago. Went up there and started lobbying against the thing." (next page »)