Nostalgic image courtesy of American Elephants' Caption Contest: Newt and His New Running Mate Need a Clever Campaign Slogan
The aspect of a Newt on the Republican horizon has filled most with a seething revulsion. A "Wonkish Rogue" at AceOfSpades sums up the almost instant trainwreck of a Newt offering as:
How tone deaf do you have to be to not understand that attacking the one guy that is actually offering something to pull this country back from the brink is political suicide? Ryan has been out there fighting, taking hits and counter-punching with a vengeance. He (along with Christie and Scott Walker) is one of the few elected figures that the Right can point to with pride in his actions. What the hell has Newt been doing besides appearing on Hannity and writing historical novels? And now you want to pop off about "right wing social engineering" you arrogant prick? Here's an idea. Take your flabby ass back to Georgia and start working on your next divorce or historical novel. Maybe you could combine the two. -- Gingrich Heckled:
What can this man be thinking? Can it be he believes he's viable because he's Donald Trump with a thicker combover? We think not.
And then there's the name,"Newt." We've already got a reptile in the White House. A faux-conservative salamander is simply not a suitable replacement. In fact, a
Google image search for "Newt"turns up thirty reptiles, one comic strip, and an emo male before getting to Gingrich. His current effort is not likely to improve that situation.
If this goes on, I'm for renaming the Fox News "Road to the White House" series "Send in the Clones."
And if there was any lingering doubt, Krauthammer brings out the "Say Goodnight, Newt" sign:
Posted by Vanderleun at May 16, 2011 8:44 PM
Shortest presidential campaign in history.
Posted by: ahem at May 16, 2011 9:28 PMI knew he was prone to mistakes of judgment, but so soon?
Posted by: Jimmy J. at May 16, 2011 9:55 PMAmazing for a pro-life candidate: he just aborted his own candidacy, AT conception!!
Posted by: JewishOdysseus at May 16, 2011 10:04 PMWas there any clamoring for Newt to run? There sure as hell wasn't any that I had ever heard.
Posted by: Mumblix Grumph at May 16, 2011 10:04 PMthefasttalkingpolysyllabicserialphilanderer ?
O.U.T.
Posted by: OhioDude at May 17, 2011 5:40 AMOh why the hell not? Look what we have in government now. On a serious note, Vaseline and barf bags should be sent to every citizen in this country if this scenario happens.
Posted by: Cilla Mitchell, Galveston Texas at May 17, 2011 6:27 AMNewt needs to crawl under a rock or a rotten log and stay there. His criticism of Ryan's plan only provides the opposition with ammunition.
Posted by: Dave J at May 17, 2011 7:21 AMHow can Newt run when he has shot himself in both feet??
Look, Trump, and Huckabee are already gone. Now Newt has (thankfully) early on shown his true colors, and it appears Ron Paul is not too far behind in sticking his foot into it as well (Check out the last 30 seconds of this).
On the plus side, having the dead wood removed early on, might allow for some interesting candidates to emerge. Perhaps a Cain, or a West, or even a Bachmann or Bolton could leap to the forefront.
Posted by: Guy S at May 17, 2011 8:09 AMHappy trails, Newtie, O thou self indulgent baby boomer windbag. Time for some new blood in the party.
Posted by: bill at May 17, 2011 8:20 AMHopefully the shockwave from the explosion manages to frag everyone with "I'll break Reagan's eleventh commandment and be showered with compliments and everyone will love me" written in their playbook. Or at least prompt a badly needed rethink.
Seriously, if I didn't give a rip which side won, I'd still say: This is getting old and boring. The country is not that terrified of right-wing extremist zealotry. Quite to the contrary, a larger portion of it would like to see some.
More problematically, if Newt were elected, he would join the group of presidents with no sense of humor: Obama, Carter, Nixon.
Posted by: Gagdad Bob at May 17, 2011 9:11 AMI was trying to remember why I didn't think he would do very well, and then he reminded me.
STFU, Newt.
Now go over there and sit down and be quiet.
Posted by: Fat Man at May 17, 2011 12:10 PMLast week in a sidelines post I said that:
"I think Romney put an official end to his campaign today. Between the WSJ editorial and his own refusal to throw Romneycare under the bus, he is now toast.
"Also today, Mitch Daniels family issues were aired publicly in the NYT and WSJ. I do not think that they discredit him, most likely, they are the fault of Mrs. Daniels. But, given that the Democrats will engage in the politics of personal destruction without limit. I doubt that Gov. Daniels should put himself forth.
"Ron Paul self-destructed by declaring that he would not have approved the raid that killed Ossama bin Laden because it infringed on Pakistan's sovereignty.
"Trump self-destructed last week via his F-bomb laden tirade.
"Huckleberry, Gingrich, Palin, and Santorum are, in my mind, not qualified."
Add Gingrich to the self-detonation list. Huckleberry and Trump have exited stage left.
I am doing pretty well so far. I will add for the benefit of all: Ryan, Rubio, and Christie are names often floated. The reason they are floated is that the give leg tingles to the punditariat. Ignore the puditariat. They are all too young, and too inexperienced. So what if they are more experienced than BO was when he ran. Look what a disaster he has been. None of them are PTPers, baby. 2016, maybe, 2020, more likely.
Posted by: Fat Man at May 17, 2011 12:26 PMI barely finished that post before I saw this:
"Newt Gingrich owed six figures to Tiffany's"
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55125.html
Get Thee Away From Me, Newt.
Posted by: Fat Man at May 17, 2011 1:01 PM"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated to combat spam and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.
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