As I mentioned the other day, last week didn’t seem like a very good week for Newt Gingrich, and mainly because the week was about two things: his proclivity to keep coming up with stupid ideas, and his longstanding record as a serially unfaithful husband.
So is this really the best time for him to be reminding people of sexual improprieties?
“I know that Speaker Gingrich is running for president and going through this sausage grinder,” Cain said. “I know what this sausage grinder is all about.”
What’s the message here? Philanderers for Gingrich?
In a week where he’s already taking heavy fire for his own sexual peccadilloes, does Gingrich really need this?
Talk about an injudicious choice of euphemisms! 😉
Well, even someone as self-deluded as Newt can see the handwriting on the wall. Poll numbers collapsing, the entire Republican establishment shouting him down, his vaunted debating skills abandoning him*. The only thing that’s kept him in the race beyond the usual Clown Car Candidate Expiration Date is the $10,000,000 grubstake he got from Sheldon Adelson.
Soon, he’ll fade away into the sunset, his brief moment of actual relevance to be endlessly retold in the clubby enclaves of the Washington Beltway. (“Did I ever tell ya’ about the time I won South Carolina?” he slurred, taking a gulp from his third tumbler of Macallan.) Poor ol’ Newt, sentenced to a lifetime of lucrative consulting contracts, three-hour expense-account lunches, the respectful attentions of the Sunday talk shows**, expensive vacations, playing Hide-the-Sausage with his current wife***, and the endless scam-a-licious variations of the Newt Gingrich Vanity Project, his life’s work since leaving the Speakership.
*Actually, Gingrich has a long history of shrinking from real confrontation. He’s only a “skilled debater” when he’s punching down or battling a straw man.
**As we all know, a loser Republican will be invited on the Sunday shows forever and ever, while a loser Democrat is immediately excised from the networks’ Power Rolodexes.
***And, if Ex No. 2 Marianne is telling the truth about Calista’s acceptance of non-exclusivity, also playing H-t-S with the more nubile staffers at the N.G.V.P.
As a practical matter I wish The Newt all the best through August, as I do Dr. Paul. I really enjoy a good horse race, especially if spending by the participants does so much to stimulate the economy.
Thought Arlo turned Republican. And excellent fellow to jump in the race. With a song: “Alice’s Motel–Hourly Rates.”