He Fooled Me

For the last year, I have been a fan of Newt Gingrich. No more! When the campaign started last spring, I believed Gingrich when he said that he was a different person than he had been in the 1990's. He was now a grandfather and much calmer and more focused than he had been. The battle to beat Obama was the pricipal goal, and all else fell before it. Now, I see that it was all hype and hypocracy. In the last week, Gingrich has been attacking Romney for ties to Bain Capital and all of the efforts of that company. Gingrich opined on Fox News about what the proper level of profit should have been for Bain, he also discussed the responsibility of Bain to consider the effects of its actions on the communities where it made investments. Boiling down what Gingrich said results in the realization that Gingrich agrees that the state should control the economy and that -- to use Hillary's favorite line -- it takes a village. In other words, the economic freedom and individualism that created America's wealth and greatness is not what Gingrich believes. He is pushing the view that would prevail in any European Social Democratic state.

For six months, we have listened to Newt called Obama a radical leftist who wants to move us to just the position that he was espousing yesterday. I do not think that those statements were just an act. Indeed, I think that Gingrich believes that. So why did Newt suddenly change his stripes. The answer is simple. Gingrich is miffed because he got hit with attack ads in Iowa that dropped him out of first place and pushed him to fourth. The new angry Newt went back to the same form that got him in so much trouble in the 1990's. Remember the uproar Newt caused when he did not like his treatment when he flew on Air Force One with Bill Clinton? Gingrich expects respect and "proper" treatment, and when he does not get it he throws a tantrum.

Well congratulations Newt. Not only have you lost your way in the campaign. You have also alienated many of you prior supporters. You may win a race, but it will not be for president, but for national joke.