Gingrich Goes For the Gusto

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY REMAIN THE SAME

Newt Gingrich has made it official: He is in it to win it.

Announcing that he will run for president is not the surprise associated with the announcement, The real surprise is how much forgiveness Gingrich is banking on receiving from the American public and particularly the Republican Party's conservative wing.

Gingrich is and has been full of ideas, some of which have been pretty darn good. The issue is that they were good for the past. The present is a whole new world that seemingly has passed him by....at least from a political vantage point.  Yet old ideas die hard, as has many of his Georgian ways.

Many will question whether he has the moral rectitude to present himself as a man who would be a realistic presidential role model. His personal life is certain to be highly scrutinized. On his third marriage (he married his girlfriend, McCain style), the real question is can he be rehabilitated as a politician while being what some would call a habitual bad husband. With all due respect to Tina Turner, his marital record proves that love, or better yet, the lack of it, has everything to do with it.

Known as the guy who shut down the government, Gingrich is sure to be raked over the coals for not fessing up to the hypocrisy of his campaign of condemnation targeting Bill Clinton's infidelity while he was doing the same thing at the same time with a congressional aide.  Later on he blamed his wandering ways on the weight of his job as speaker of the house; makes you wonder what the power of the presidency might portend.

Gingrich has spent a great deal of time building up a donor base and putting together a national campaign infrastructure.  Heck, he's even been known to hang out with Rev. Al.  At the end of the day, his announcement may really be more Trumponian (to be full of oneself's grandiloquent bluster---yes that is my new synonym for 2011).


Let's follow the money.