404 Not Found

Vander Jagt: If you measure insider by the skill with which you can operate in the process, Newt was a consummate insider. He understood the process and he knew which buttons to push and how to make things happen. If you measure outsider by what you're bringing from out of the establishment or outside the Beltway into the process, then he was a consummate outsider. He was both. He was an outsider, fresh from the grassroots people, bringing into the establishment and bringing inside the Beltway an insider's consummate ability.

He was masterful when he first became Whip, serving under Bob Michel. He didn't just charge in and say, 'Now, Mr. Leader, you got to do this and that.' He would kind of direct the meetings and finally the group would reach the conclusion that Newt wanted us to reach and then he'd say, 'Well, I take it then, Mr. Leader, that there's no objections, this is what we'll do.' I mean he would take a long, long time to make sure all of us, including the leaders, thought it was our idea. He was very, very good that way and he, in addition to the qualities I mentioned, he had the tremendous capacity for growth. The backbencher Newt in the early days was not the same Newt that was Whip. He had a different role, a different mission.

Now, Speaker Newt is not going to be the same Newt that was Newt the Whip. You saw that in his Inaugural Address, when he was sworn in as speaker. It was very much a conciliatory reaching out sort of speech. Now once in awhile, the old effervescent Newt will pop up, probably to the chagrin of his advisors. You can't repress him forever. But he does have this tremendous capacity for growth and I think he will continue to grow and will go down in history as a great speaker.

Q: The person whose name and face and presence is the one that negotiated with this group of individuals who collectively became part of the Congress, that he now leads -- it helps to have that loyalty, doesn't it?

Vander Jagt: Yes. And Newt has the tremendous overwhelming loyalty of his troops, and especially of those 73 freshmen who came rolling in, having all signed the Contract With America and it was Newt who was travelling at 3 o'clock in the morning to get to a 6 o'clock breakfast. He was out there raising money for them and they were listening to his tapes. There was a tremendous loyalty and it goes back to what a skilled insider he was in a way. As you know, he replaced some of the committee chairmen. Now again, he could dictatorially, brutally go in and say to this one who was in line, 'You're out. Somebody else is in.' They would go to some of the old bulls that are some of my dearest friends, and he would call them in and they would make their case that, 'Hey, Mr. Speaker, I've been waiting here 16 years for my turn and I've been loyal and I voted right and I've done everything I've supposed to. You can't just skip over me.' And Newt would say, 'Well, maybe we're right. I tell you what we'll do. We'll take it to the Conference. And we'll let the Republican's Conference vote on it.' And the old bull would know that there were 73 freshman Republicans ready to vote however Newt told them to vote and they would say, 'Well, let's not do that, Mr. Speaker. Let's see what we can work out.' He is a consummate leader.

Q: It reminds me sort of the way that you were talking about what you felt with the leadership when he first arrived.

Vander Jagt: No. In his triumphal entry into the Speakership, he went out of his way to praise Bob Michel and to tell how much he had learned from Bob Michel. It was always my feeling while he was there, that Newt as Whip made Bob Michel a better leader than he was and certainly Bob Michel as leader made Newt a better Whip. They were a tremendous team. Leadership is more than just imposing your will or your agenda, which most people associate with Newt. Perhaps Newt's greatest strength is his ability to listen. He has a sign on a wall in his office that read 'Listen. Learn. Help. And Lead.' Lead comes last. And that isn't just a slogan to Newt. Newt really, truly listens and therefore has a capacity to grow.

Q: The last Congress when he was Whip and was basically running the show for the Republicans, when he was organizing the opposition to the Clinton Crime Bill, and yet there was still sort of a deference there. Can you tell me about that?

Vander Jagt: That's a very astute observation. Before the last election, Bob Michel announced that he was not going to run again. And from that moment on, Newt became the de facto leader. And I don't believe the triumph in November of 1994 would have been possible if Newt for two years hadn't really been the leader, because it galvanized and made the Contract With America real and the issues real. And so I think it was a tremendously gracious and generous gesture for Bob Michel to allow Newt to become the de facto leader. But it was also a great and generous thing from Newt to never then impose on Bob Michel the surrendering of any of the trappings of leadership. They were two big giants in how they handled that transition, both of them giving up a great deal.

Q: I have the impression that you believe that Newt is exactly where he should be at this particular time. Do you think that he means to be, or wants to be President of the United States?

Vander Jagt: I'm all alone in this and I know nobody watching this would agree with me. My closest friends, my wife doesn't agree with me. But I believe Newt doesn't care if he's speaker or not. Newt cares about renewing American civilization. He cares about saving America. Changing the direction that we're traveling. And if there was somebody as speaker who could do it better, Newt would just as soon have that person. What he cares about is that his agenda is going forward.

Now, I think the reality is that there isn't anybody else who can do the job that Newt can as speaker, but in all of his years as head of the Conservative Opportunity Society, he never led the meetings. He always sat in the back and looked. When he was Whip, he never chaired a meeting of the Whip Organization, he'd just sit there and let somebody else chair it. He would see how the conversation was going, drink it in and then would step in and kind of bring about a consensus. Now, since I know nobody is going to believe me in considering the fact they think he really has this huge ego, I do believe that Newt recognizes that where America needs him right now is as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and I therefore believe he will stay there.

Another reason I believe he'll do that is, though I think he is so humble, that he wouldn't necessarily have to sit in the speaker's chair. I believe his ego is big enough that as the speaker he can shape the agenda of a Republican President, whoever that Republican President is. Now, I also have the theory that, in spite of everything I've said, Newt might be our Presidential nominee, because who presides over the Republican Convention? And if it's an open convention, the presiding officer is the Speaker of the House. And who as Presiding Officer will give the Opening Night 45 minute speech, a speech that I predict will absolutely turn the convention into bedlam because Newt stands head and shoulders above anybody else with his ability to communicate with an audience. And it is possible that a stampede could occur without Newt ever having campaigned for the Presidency.