How could you not love this guy?
One of the oft-spoken-of but as of yet mostly untapped issues with Newt Gingrich: A lot of people in his own party
really hate him. Representative and general conservative crazy person Peter King (R-NY) is among them, and
isn't afraid to go on the record about it:
"I thought he was condescending," King said. "I used to see him on the floor, even with his staff, it was like a presidential entourage having to follow him. And 'I want this done, and I want this done.' That type of thing.
"I thought he was somewhat dismissive. I was never on his staff, never part of his circle, but in my dealing with him it was very professorial—not even professorial—very pedantic. He would come in with like four books under his arm and telling us to read these during the break, and all that. I just found him to be too much putting himself at the center of whatever he was trying to do."
And:
"And then, just his style. I thought it was very, not just abrupt, that's the wrong word, because I don't mind guys being tough. It was just a very superior complex—a superiority complex—and I don't think he had that much to be superior about."
And:
"And I would say Ryan has real intellectual substance, unlike Newt who is sort of superficial on a lot of stuff. You can mention so many books you've read and all that. But any guy who talks about it that much isn't usually as smart as he says he is."
Yowza. I think I detect a wee bit of bad blood between those two.
It does bring up the obvious, though, which is that Newt Gingrich is in irritating fellow that nobody really likes, even if they respect him, which a lot of times they don't. As another report puts it, in an article centered around Newt's "unpredictability":
By any measure, stability is scarce on Gingrich's resume. During his speakership there were two government shutdowns, a well-publicized snit over his seating on Air Force One, his push for Clinton's impeachment while in an extramarital affair of his own, and lieutenants plotting his overthrow.
In 1998, shortly after winning re-election, Gingrich announced in a closed GOP caucus meeting that he would "bench" himself, and left Congress.
Throughout, there's been petulance, policy wobbles, and a tendency to cast himself in outsized terms.
More recent policy "wobbles" include daring to insult conservative poster child for "ideas" Paul Ryan, that whole Tiffany's thing, that whole cruise ship vacation to Greece instead of campaigning thing, the mass resignation of his campaign staff, citing his unseriousness, and the latest horror of horrors, Newt Gingrich sounding suspiciously like he was not ruling out amnesty for undocumented immigrants in some situations, which is the exact same hint of compassion for brown people that quickly did Rick Perry in. Even as we speak, GOP politicians and pundits are debating whether that in and of itself will doom Gingrich, since one of the central tenets of conservatism is that you have to really, really hate immigrants with a passion. It's a hazing ritual, at this point. On the other hand, Newt's recent musings on how children need to be put to work, and how poor children are miserable little slackers, is reminding non-Republicans of just how much of an unmitigated jerk this guy can be.
None of that exactly works to polish away memories of Newt's past record as a narcissist, a self-indulging smarter-than-thou pedant and an all-around remarkable ass. Both of the aforementioned articles, in fact, bring up the infamous story of Newt's fury over President Clinton supposedly not talking to him during a plane flight to Israel, an episode that at the time made emo junior high school girls look positively stoic compared to Gingrich's wounded blubbering.
I do worry that Gingrich is peaking far too soon. The number of knives that are going to be out for this fellow, just among members of his own party, is going to be something to behold. I think we'd all rather they hold off on their Brutus moments for a bit longer, so that we can get maximum enjoyment from the Republicans being so hard up for serious candidates that even Newt Gingrich, of all people, is now being considered presidential material.
