As the almost total absence of my posts on the GOP primary demonstrates, I have little interest in the three-ring circus that has been playing out for almost a year.
One thing is clear: Newt Gingrich has struck a nerve. He also annoys a lot of Republicans who are convinced that his high negatives and long-ago political baggage render him ineligible for the nomination.
To this people, I have one word: Hillary.
I seem to recall her being an incredibly unpopular figure, polarizing, grating, tainted with corruption and denounced by both right and left as a Machiavellian manipulator with ice-water in her veins.
Yet somehow, she became a viable candidate in 2008 - so much so that it was only the Democrats' bizarre "super delegate" system that allowed Obama to achieve the nomination. He could win caucuses, but not primarly elections.
How could the woman who brought us the missing Rose Law Firm Billing Records, the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy and a dozen other egregious insults now be considered not only viable but - in many circles - preferable to the current president?
It boggles the mind.
GIngrich has far less baggage in that regard. He is familiar, but comfortably retro as well - a divisive figure with more lines and perhaps a little more wisdom than when he was last in the public eye.
He has a reputation for saying stupid things - which I am sure the man who brought us 57 states and Navy Corpsemen will not really want to bring up.
I carry no water for Gingrich, as I've noted before. I simply wish to point out that public opinion is fluid and often flows contrary to expectations and what the media wants. The fact that Gingrich is already being roasted alive (gotta love the ex-wife being trotted out) and somehow is still in the race shows that all the baggage he's carrying may not be all that heavy.
It also shows that in a campaign certain to be nasty, the guy with the thick skin who can dish it out as well as take it has the edge.
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