The Gingrich factor

By Michael J.W. Stickings

In his own words, it's now "a great possibility" that Newt Gingrich will run for president. And more power to him. Honestly.

Sure, there's Tancredo (crazy on immigration), Brownback (crazy on abortion), Romney (crazy clean image) McCain (crazy for war), Giuliani, (just plain crazy), and so on, but there's always room for more craziness on the Republican side. Remember back in '00, for example, when Bauer and Keyes were running and Bush was widely seen as the class clown? Good times.

Gingrich would bring to the show not only his massive and shameless ego but some genuine partisan zeal, unironic self-righteousness, ugly arrogance, and a whole lot of hypocrisy and personal baggage. Plus, he's proven his dangerous idiocy time and time again.

I think an apologist for the Confederacy is just what the GOP needs, and it'd be sincerely edifying to have him defend his linguistic bigotry, not to mention his understanding of the word "ghetto," on the national stage. Oh, and he'd be the James Dobson candidate -- he has already confessed his sins to that evangelical maniac and, "mistakes" and all, he could very well turn out to be the darling of the religious right.

Yes, this is sounding better and better.

Run, Newt, run!