No reinvention of Newt

Newt Gingrich is working hard to position himself as the GOP non-candidate that can swoop in late in the year and rescue the party from a disastrous presidential candidate selection.  The way he sees it, none of the front runners can meet the needs of the core conservatives.  McCain is just a slimy politician that will say anything to get elected.  Rudy is a crossdresser, soft on social issues and a three-time married man (divorcing twice would put into question one's "family values").  Romney is a Mormon and has reversed his liberal social stance to run for president.  Even new non-candidate Fred Thompson has his problems with the Christian Right when James Dobson labels him a non-Christian.

So Newt's plan is to let the front runners slug it out with each other, and when the are all good and bloodied, come swooping in with his name recognition and time away from DC that wipe away the images of his past sins, and brandish his conservative credentials to walk his way to the nomination. 

Here is the problem with that scenario.  It only takes one or two stories like this to jog the memories of the American public and remind them why Newt is such a nimrod.  Newt has gone on record for the abolition of bi-lingual education.  Repeating that same trite, fear-based, GOP talking point that real Americans only speak English and that foreigners come in here demanding that the government serve them without them making the appropriate sacrifice to become Americans (their culture and language).  He also, and not by accident, uses the printing of ballots  to make his case.  Forget that if the GOP had their way, all elections would be done electronically with zero paper trail so I am not sure what they would be printing but provisional ballots that usually end up getting tossed anyway. 

Of course not providing a citizen a ballot they can understand would be akin to disenfranchisement.  But come to think of it, I believe it is  a core tenet of the GOP to disenfranchise as many voters as possible that aren't white, wealthy or social conservatives.  This way when they count the votes and a majority of them are for the GOP the claims of mandate have some statistics to back them up.  It is easier to get that mandate when the largest part of the population that aren't voting would never be served by the ideals of the GOP. 

It will be nice watching Newt go down in flames.  A couple more of these stories will start the descent, but when he finally announces and is sitting in the first presidential debate, I am anxious to see how Newt answers this question:

"Mr Gingrich, you are undoubted conservative with the support of the Christian Right for your tireless effort to advance the agenda of social conservatism.  Many of your supporters will look no farther than your role as Speaker in the impeachment of Bill Clinton for getting a hummer in the oval office.  How do you reconcile that fact with this one?  During the impeachment of Bill Clinton for his extra marital affair, you sir, were also engaged in one yourself.  You have two minutes to respond." 

What ever his response is, there is only one appropriate label for him --- Hypocrite.

I'm finished with this guy.