Newt the Bloviator Beached Whale is the New Anti-Mitt. Oy, Veh!

BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Say what you will about Newt Gingrich (and many are saying what they will these days as he emerges at the top of, or close to the top of, the GOP presidential pack), but one thing remains indisputably clear: With his infinite ubiquity, Gingrich has developed an enormous staying power. Despite his unlikability, the ethics scandals, the affairs and divorces, the 24/7 wall-to-wall self-promotion, Gingrich has soldiered on. And, of course, most importantly to conservatives at this juncture, he is not Mitt Romney.

While not being Mitt Romney may be enough for many conservatives, Gingrich's debate strategy during the current campaign for the Republican Party presidential nomination, appears to have been flawlessly designed and executed.

Forget the mass resignation of his staff early on, and put aside flaps over the million-dollar line of credit at Tiffany & Co. and the expensive cruise to Greece, and the fact that his online Newt Shopping Network never hurts for product and never shuts down, and think for a moment about how he has conducted himself during the debates. He doesn't trash his opponents; he tries to deflect moderator questions from intra-party squabbles; and he presents himself as an elder statesman. During these debates he's the guy that sounds like he knows what he's talking about. However, upon closer examination, his assertions turn out to be meaningless rhetorical flourishes.

Yet despite the collective noise, Gingrich soldiers on. And he has moved up in the polls at an amazingly rapid pace. Even Gingrich acknowledged on Fox News that "it's all coming together in way that is much faster than I thought it would be."

"You think back, Sean, to the funeral announcements of June and July. It is a pretty remarkable thing," Gingrich told Fox's Sean Hannity. "Here in Iowa, there's a poll out that has me in first place. You know, I don't know that all of that is going to continue - there will be ups and downs and counter attacks, but it certainly is a long, long way from June and July."

He still may have a mean streak, as David Corn of Mother Jones put it the other day on MSNBC's Hardball, and he still may be the most unpleasant person in the room (although Michelle Bachmann and Rick Santorum give him a run for his money). And, to onlookers - outside the GOP and maybe even to some insiders, his affect is still one of the smarmy smarty-pants, know it all you'd rather not spend too much time with. A recent poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, found that Americans overall view Gingrich more unfavorably than favorably by 43-32 percent.

According to ABC News, "Unfavorable views of Gingrich exceeded his favorable scores consistently in ABC/Post polling from 1995 to 1998, during his tenure as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. His unfavorable rating reached 59 percent in 1997, and never dropped below 43 percent, same as it is today."

But the negatives could be subject to change. After all, Americans like comeback stories, and what could be more of a comeback than a frumpy-looking older guy making a run for it.

However, in the spirit of what could be a political comeback for the ages, I present for your consideration "The Almost All-You-Need-To-Know-About-Newt-Gingrich" primer.

Gingrich's Character and Hypocrisy

"In matters of character, family values, and affairs of the heart, Gingrich has always been more douchebag than tough guy. As Max Blumenthal recently reported, in the late 1990s, after Gingrich political strategies failed dismally, he 'promptly ... dump[ed] his second wife, Marianne Ginther. He announced his intention to divorce her just as he had done with his first wife, Jackie Battley -- while she was lying in a hospital bed, immobilized after a major medical procedure. (Battley was recovering from cancer surgery; Ginther's appendix had ruptured). He never bothered to tell his wife in person that he was leaving her for another woman. He called her on the phone, delivered the news and hung up'". (Source: "'Douchebag' or 'tough guy' - The incredible heaviness of being Newt")

In an article in the conservative evangelical magazine The World titled "Has Newt Gingrich changed?" Marvin Olasky, "claimed that during Bill Clinton's impeachment hearings, the then Speaker of the House met with President Clinton, and Clinton intimated that he knew about Gingrich's indiscretions and would use them if Gingrich got overly involved during the impeachment process."

.... "Olasky pointed out that during an interview last fall with former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, who heads up FreedomWorks, one of the most powerful national Tea Party organizations, Armey told him that during the impeachment hearings, 'President Bill Clinton "found out about the Gingrich affair and called Newt over to the White House for a private meeting between the two of them." Armey argued that Clinton pressured Gingrich to go easy on that year's impeachment drive 'or I'll start telling your story.' He claimed the two leaders 'had many meetings that we didn't know about where they'd drink wine and smoke cigars and talk about their girlfriends'" (Source: "Former George W. Bush "Compassionate Conservative" Religious Guru Accuses Gingrich of Betrayal")

Rhetoric Run Amuck

"Three days before the 1994 mid-term elections, Newt Gingrich decided ... to link the case of Susan Smith - the South Carolina woman who had been accused of murdering her two sons - to the upcoming election. As reported by Norman Solomon, then Congressman Gingrich, responding to an Associated Press reporter who asked him to assess the campaign, stated: 'Slightly more moving our way. I think that the mother killing the two children in South Carolina vividly reminds every American how sick the society is getting and how much we need to change things.' Gingrich concluded, 'The only way you get change is to vote Republican. That's the message for the last three days.'" (Source: "Gun-related murders? Blame it on the gays")

"During a July 2006 fundraising trip to Washington State, Gingrich used the term 'World War III' in describing the war on terror, the Seattle Times reported. He maintained that using the phrase might reenergize the GOP's base, suggesting that public opinion could change 'the minute you use the language' of World War III. The message, he said, was, 'Okay, if we're in the third world war, which side do you think should win?'" (Source: "Gingrich at the Gate".)

"He can as bombastic as he ever was, after the passage of Proposition 8 -- the California initiative amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage -- when asked about demonstrators protesting against the passage of Prop 8, Gingrich told Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly that '[T]here is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us'." (Source: "Newt Gingrich - Drilling for Power")

Finding and Capitalizing on Religion

"Gingrich [has] hit the religious sound bite trifecta: America is 'too secular a society,' 'religious belief ... [is being] challenged by a cultural elite,' and 'God is [being] driven out of public life.'"

...."To be sure, Gingrich has ploughed this ground faithfully over the past few years. Perhaps his most famous mea culpa came during Dr. James Dobson's radio program a few years back when he apologized for his marital infidelities. In May 2007, Gingrich told graduates of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University that 'this anti-religious bias must end.'

"'In hostility to American history, the radical secularists insist that religious belief is inherently divisive,' Gingrich said, claiming secularists used 'contorted logic' and 'false principles.' At the time, veteran journalist Robert Parry, whose website is called Consortium News, pointed out that 'Gingrich, known for his worldly ways and a hedonistic past, has detected a political opening if he can come across as the defender of God-fearing Americans resisting their oppressors, the 'radical secularists'." ( Source: "Gingrich Is a Whale of a Candidate If You're Into Recycling Garbage")

Shaking the Gingrich Money Tree

"In 2007, [Gingrich] said that if he could raise $30 million, he would run for president. This time around, he hasn't stated a specific figure. But last year, Gingrich's 527 group American Solutions for Winning the Future raised almost $14 million, outpacing most of his potential rivals for the Republican Party's presidential nomination. In addition, 'His political action committee, American Solutions PAC, which is subject to tighter campaign finance regulations, raised roughly $425,000 during the same period,' CNN recently reported."

.... "[W]hen Gingrich first founded American Solutions, he received his first major donation -- $1 million dollars - from casino kingpin Sheldon G. Adelson, Chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and the 3rd richest man in America according to Forbes magazine. Historically, Religious Right organizations are extremely opposed to gambling. Not only did Ralph Reed's ties to uber lobbyist Jack Abramoff help sink his quest for political office a few years back, it was also the fact that he had received substantial amounts of money from organizations heavily involved with gambling that alienated Christian conservatives" (Source: "Gingrich Is a Whale of a Candidate If You're Into Recycling Garbage")