The media and, to judge by the polls, Florida Republicans, have settled on a narrative to describe the epic battle between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.
That narrative is neatly summed up in the Miami Herald's headline this morning: Patrician vs. Populist.
Now, stop laughing and pay attention.
The first half of the comparison fits well enough. Mitt Romney fits the bill of "patrician," with his unearned mega-wealth, mealy mouth and perfectly-coiffed do. But in whose dictionary does the definition of "populist" come remotely close to describing Newt Gingrich?
According to Webster, a populist is
Definition of POPULIST
1
: a member of a political party claiming to represent the common people; especially often capitalized : a member of a United States political party formed in 1891 primarily to represent agrarian interests and to advocate the free coinage of silver and government control of monopolies
2
: a believer in the rights, wisdom, or virtues of the common people
Since we know that Mr. Gingrich is a life-long Republican, we can safely rule out the first definition. That leaves us with "a believer in the rights, wisdom, or virtues of the common people," which is how he is attempting to frame himself and his candidacy.
Newt, the straight-talking, unabashed champion of the common man, a Washington outsider unafraid to take on the elites of the media and government. A regular "Meet John Doe" kinda feller.
If the feller yer thinkin' 'bout is D.B. Norton.
Newt is indeed a Washington outsider. He lives in McLean, separated from the District by the waters of the Potomac. And that's about where his "outsider" status ends.
His various businesses--The Gingrich Group, Gingrich Productions, The Center for Health Transformation--all share the same address: 1425 K Street NW, Suite 450, smack dab in the middle of Lobbyist Gulch. 15th and K. McPherson Square.
(That's in Washington, in case you hadn't gotten the point).
Since his shameful resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives, he's had his fleshy fundament parked on K Street, "consulting" and "producing" (never "lobbying," mind you; he's never registered as such, though Center for Health Transformation is most commonly referred to as a "lobby").
His credentials as an "anti-elite" are equally suspect. Though no Romney, his income places him comfortably in the one-percent ($3+ million last year). Simply having him over to expound on government, history or other topics will cost you $60,000, plus lunch, lodging and transpo.
To sustain the narrative of "Newt the Populist," media mouthpieces have strained to parse the distinction between "Cultural Populism vs. Economic Populism," claiming that, while Gingrich's fiscal and tax policies--gutting Sarbanes/Oxley, eliminating the capital gains tax--are indistinguishable from Mr. Romney's, his appeal to blue collar Republicans lies in his status as a "Jacksonian" populist, enemy of the cultural elites of the media and academia.
But this theme runs just as counter to reality as his claims to be a Washington "outsider." Mr. G will gladly tell you of his bona fides as an academic. He boasts of his PhD in history, which has granted him teaching positions in institutions as diverse as the University of West Georgia and the U.S. Air Force Air University. He often boasts of his academic history and the historical books he has co-written, odd habit for someone who has set himself up as the enemy of academic "elites."
The sad truth, for Republican voters, is that Mr. Gingrich is merely an alternative flavor for the nutrition-free ramen offered at the GOP Cafe. As SBucher so eloquently but gently explained to his Surly Republican correspondents yesterday, there really is no choice for GOP voters. The one percent has ordained that their Brother Romney will receive the party's nomination.
The proud, working-class elements of the party are free to vent their frustration with this decision by voting for Newt, but they should not be surprised when it turns out that the positions of the "patrician" and the "populist" turn out to be exactly the same.
As will their own position under either.