Why Republicans like Newt Gingrich

By Kathleen Parker,
WashPost
Published: December 2

Things sure do change fast around here. One week it’s Rick Perry, the next it’s Herman Cain. Now it’s . . . Newt Gingrich?

The Republican voter is like a starving man at a free buffet. He gorges on this, then that, then spies a steaming plump pork roast at the far end of the table. Charge! (No anatomical parallels intended. I’m a little hungry myself.)

The Newt Surge, deserving as it is of Uppercase Respect, has thrown everyone off — except, that is, Gingrich, who seems to be savoring his own inevitability. But of course he’s leading the polls. He dominates in debates. He’s been there, done that. He’s even nice to his opponents, refusing to criticize them or play along with moderators, who, in addition to being members of the loathed mainstream media, are intellectual chicken hawks trying to stir up a fight that they can then smugly condemn.

Brilliant.

The conundrum for the heretofore unmentioned front-runner, Mitt Romney, is to determine whether Gingrich’s rise is a mere appetizer to Romney’s eventual banquet or a serious threat to his presumed nomination. Romney may have a more serious problem than is conceivable, given the trolley of baggage that Gingrich has to drag around. The largest pieces include: taking huge sums in consulting fees from Freddie Mac; ethics violations from his days as speaker of the House; an extramarital affair with a Hill staffer — now his wife, Callista — while he was trying to impeach Bill Clinton for lying about his extramarital dalliance with an intern.

(More here.)