I’ve got a confession to make.  I’m finding it harder and harder to maintain my concentrated dislike for Newt Gingrich.  For a while now, I’ve kept a list of Newt’s transgressions close to my heart.  Tops on my list was that infamous picture of Newt not only playing cutesy with Nancy on the sofa,  but flirting with the likes of anthropogenic climate change.  This picture would become seared in my memory.
Farther down the list, we run into Newt’s backing of Obamacare’s Individual Mandate in requiring citizens to buy health insurance.  Conservatives referred to his comments…“Sandbagging your fellow Republicans in Congress and offering tacit support for a key (unconstitutional) component of Obamacare is a very strange way to begin a run in a Republican primary. Not a strong start.”  Early in 2011 Newt continued to anger me when he criticized the Ryan Plan for its arbitrary cut-off of those under the age of 55. 

And so it’s continued since the beginning of his campaign.  I know…he’s been said to have walked back those comments made with Nancy on the sofa, but what he really said was, “…only because people ‘misconstrued’ his attempts to start a debate.”  Uh-huh…that’s beltway-talk for, “I’m sorry you didn’t comprehend my genius.”
I think the scales began to tip in Speaker Gingrich’s favor for me, as I watched him lecture the always doe-eyed Maria Bartiromo.  I couldn’t help but feel giddy as this man with his encyclopedic knowledge of history,  his quick and facile recall of facts, chose to use them at just the right moment to eviscerate this clueless moderator.  There’s absolutely nothing better than watching a Conservative make a Progressive member of the media look stupid…absolutely nothing.  I can feel myself swooning.
Try to imagine a debate between our Newt and the the clueless Mr. Obama…aka the intrepid community organizer.  Would any of us have to sit on the edge of our seats, stomach churning, wondering if Newt would be able to recall a certain fact about Libya, or pull up figures for last year’s GDP?  I don’t think so.  That folks has got to be worth something.

The longer these debates go on, the more we find candidate Gingrich inching his way up in the polls.  Could it be Newt will simply wear the other guys down? He’s shown an admirable ability to debate the facts while avoiding diminishing his opponents…an endearing quality that has not gone unnoticed by his fellow Republicans.  He also manages to embarrass one or more of the moderators at just the right time too.  We love that.
I think things are all going to boil down to how well  Speaker Gingrich handles his baggage.  Right now he’s carrying around a pretty nice set of Samsonite…you remember, the ones that chimp in the commercials used to go ape on trying to destroy.  Well,  if Newt can keep his inner gorilla under control, he might just be able to check that baggage in, and make a one-way trip to the White House.