Nasty Newt, the choice of the Republican Party

By Richard K. Barry

Here's an entirely unscientific thought about Newt Gingrich's chances of winning the GOP presidential nomination. Up until now I really thought Romney could not lose it, but he has proven himself so consistently unpopular as the Republican base has tried out just about every other credible option. We know this, which begs the question, what are they looking for? It's not simply an aversion to Romney. It's a quest for something specific that Romney lacks.

We know that Gingrich has massive negatives, even for conservatives. But Republicans are running out of time and they know it. Gingrich's past is no secret. It's out there. GOP voters understand the problem with him. I am just starting to think they won't care.

They want someone they think vicious enough to take on Obama and see Gingrich as the person who can get in the President's face. I think this is the key. In the first instance, there is no one else left. In the second, having a pit bull for a candidate who will, they think, be able to tear at Obama, is more important than all of the transgressions that dot Newt's past.

They are looking for someone to embody their anger, holding aside for now precisely what the object of their anger is.

I guess part of what I'm saying is that it isn't just that Romney is perceived as too much of a centrist, though he is, but that he is perceived as too milquetoast. Conservatives want blood and they have run out of options as to how to get it, so they are turning to Gingrich.

In a way, he was always the best option if this is what is being sought. They think he is smart and they think he is nasty, and they are half right.

If they go with him, they will surely lose the general election. But they are blinded by hatred, and are not thinking clearly.

At this point, I still call it even odds between Gingrich and Romney, but I'm starting to think the momentum is with Newt and that the Republican power brokers won't be able to do anything about it. The very thing that makes Romney attractive to the GOP establishment, his perceived reasonableness, is the thing that damns him with the rank-and-file. 

(As a footnote, it's what knocked Pawlenty out so early.)

Okay, I'm just riffing here, but I could be right.


(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)