When you watch former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's attacks on the record and character of presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney, collected here in an Obama campaign ad, it's a reminder of how brutal the Republican primary was for a time.
Yet I suspect the attacks, pointed as they are, won't have much in the way of legs.
[See a collection of political cartoons on the 2012 campaign.]
Remind yourself why GOP primary voters were attracted to Gingrich in the first place. It wasn't so much that they loved Newt himself; rather, it was that they loved how much Newt was capable of loathing. He radiated hostility and indignation toward President Obama, the media, liberals, radicals, progressives, environmentalists, secularists, and, lest we forget, community organizers. Newt was going to take the affirmative action-enabled Enemy of Freedom with his Teleprompter and Lincoln-Douglas-style debate him to a bloody pulp!
[Read The Ballot 2012: Newt Gingrich as Obama's newest campaign weapon]
Needless to say, this is no longer a possibility. Newt lost. Romney will have to do.
Forget about Republicans for a moment. What about independents and Democrats who might never have seen or heard of Newt's broadsides against the former Massachusetts governor and Bain Capital executive? What will they think when they learn that he thinks Romney is a liar with a Swiss bank account?
[See a collection of political cartoons on Newt Gingrich.]
Here's the thing about that: People hate Newt Gingrich. A lot.
As much as Team Obama would like to self-interestedly squeeze just a bit more life out of it, the Gingrich campaign for president is well and truly buried.
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Reader Comments Read all comments (4)
Bill Hedges of MO 12:45PM May 04, 2012
bruce b of NV 12:53AM May 04, 2012
Bill Hedges of MO 12:09AM May 03, 2012