A ‘cheap hawk’: What would Newt Gingrich’s foreign policy look like?

"I don't do foreign policy," Newt Gingrich, then the Speaker of the House, told the New York Times in 1995, adding that the proportion of time he spends thinking about domestic policy, compared with foreign affairs and defense, is "90/10." The line was meant as a light-footed dodge from the latest rhetorical bomb he had lit, saying that the United States should recognize Taiwan as a country independent from China. "I was trying to rattle their cage, to get their attention," Gingrich would later say. "I don't think we should recognize Taiwan."

Throughout his political career, Gingrich has demonstrated this pattern--basking in the shocked controversy after a provocative remark and then retreating, when necessary, by dismissing the seriousness of his words. And while he focused on domestic issues during his time in the House, he has positioned himself in the Republican presidential race as a bold leader on the world stage. ...