Who would have guessed that one of the most divisive personalities in American politics would, upon emerging from his cushiony, cable commentator lair, divide the very party whose nomination he is seeking? It’s shocking, I know.
But enter Newt Gingrich, stage right, who turned his eye to the GOP presidential nomination and turned the entire GOP political landscape upside down. Newt didn’t just disagree with the Paul Ryan plan to dismantle Medicare. He did it in a decidedly Gingrichian fashion, not satisfied to merely express disagreement but needing to shatter the veneer of GOP intraparty civility so as to land himself at the forefront of the debate. He is and always will be the proverbial bull (or elephant, as the case may be) in the china shop. In calling the Ryan proposal – which has been supported by many prominent Republicans -- “right-wing social engineering” that imposes “radical change,” Newt set ablaze a firestorm of intraparty tongue-lashings normally reserved for Democrats in disarray. A sampling of the headlines he spawned:
Medicare Revamp Exposes Divisions Within the GOP
Ryan’s Medicare Plan Finished?
Gingrich Still Getting Pounded
Newt is a problem of the GOP’s own making
Gingrich to House GOP: Drop Dead
Paul Ryan defends Medicare plan in wake of Newt Gingrich's slam
Newt Gingrich Becomes Democrats' Weapon Against GOP Medicare Plan
The most common observation is that this controversy is all just "Newt being Newt." But as our own Greg Dworkin writes in Politico’s Arena, Newt's comments are “tinder for the GOP civil war over the Ryan budget between the ideologues like Ryan and the Republicans who actually want to be reelected."
Peter Grier at the Christian Science Monitor asks the question: “Has Newt Gingrich been on TV too long to get elected?” The answer is probably yes. As Grier points out, Newt's long television career has yielded a cornucopia of policy positions, all captured on tape and ripe for opposition research.
But his television career has also saddled him with another flaw. In the world of cable news – and especially in the wild west of Fox News – pundits are given carte blanche to be wrong and to oscillate between positions from one segment to the next. One recent study found almost 75% of surveyed pundits are no more accurate than a coin flip. The river of insane cable babble roars forward, regardless of yesterday's false prediction.
Yet in a campaign, Newt is facing something he hasn't faced in a long time: accountability, both for his daily words and his actions. The same flashy phrase or wacky policy position that wouldn't cause an TV host to bat an eye as they cut to commercial is now hung like an albatross around his neck. It's not just the press that's making Newt feel the weight of his own words. In a chaotic frenzy, his own party is lining up to tear him down.
Newt is kicking off his Iowa tour this week, trying to transform "his perpetually growing, always-evolving recitations on policy into the simple and coherent message of a White House contender." He has an uphill battle.
The question then isn’t whether Newt been on TV too long to get himself elected. It’s whether his penchant for unaccountable, firebrand TV punditry will cause such continuous pandemonium in the GOP that "Newt being Newt" will stand in the way of other Republicans getting elected. As members of Congress are forced to defend or agree with Newt's comments, it's clear that the having the "candidate of ideas" enter the debate may not have been such a good idea after all.