Our political Quote of the Day should be filed in the Great Minds Think Alike File since the Chuck Todd and the folks at MSNBC have now said what I’ve noted for the past week: former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who love him or unlove him was always an idea man, is now well on his way to lose his right to be taken seriously (by anyone other than people who write political bumper stickers or who are predictable bomb-throwing partisan hack trolls in blog comments sections):
*** An Unserious Man: Indeed, for someone who has been admired for his ideas, Gingrich in the last two years has been reaching in the bottom of the barrel in American politics. In addition to his comments at the Values Voter Summit, Gingrich said that the best way to understand Obama was through his “Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior.” And in 2009, he called Sonia Sotomayor a racist. If he runs in 2012, are these comments enough to disqualify him as a serious presidential candidate? Bottom line: He is on his way to forfeiting legitimacy as serious voice inside the Republican Party. In fact, both Powell and Bill Clinton ganged up on Newt on “Meet” yesterday. Here was Powell: “Mr. Gingrich does these things from time to time with a big, bold statement… And he does it occasionally to make news and to also stir up dust.” And here was Clinton: “Well, keep in mind, after the 1994 election, one of the first things that Speaker Gingrich said was that Hillary and I were the enemy of normal Americans.” But at what point is Gingrich no longer excused for this talk with, “Oh, it’s Newt being Newt.” He’s not an unfiltered politician, but someone who is actually very careful about what he says; this isn’t the crazy aunt or uncle in the basement.
Read my comments about Gingrich in a column I wrote HERE. And this post about how he is regarded now by younger Republicans.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.