The Gingrich That Stole Romney's Christmas

One of my readers has commented that he thinks I'm wrong about the mainstream media's love affair – or, should I say, non-hate affair – with Mitt Romney, AKA Rockjaw Goodhair. He thinks they are definitely swinging over to the Gingrich side (while ignoring Ron Paul, of course – as well as those they have already succeeded in shooting down), and the question is why? Especially considering the roasting they gave Newt back in the “Contract with America” days. Remember then? Ah yes, those bygone times before 9/11 “changed everything” -- and, wouldn't you know, it happened on the watch of a Republican president, or we might never have gotten the Patriot Act, the war in Iraq... maybe not even the war in Afghanistan. But that's all a pipe dream at this point. Besides, we're “getting out” of Iraq, aren't we? By the end of the month! Well... anyone who has a one-square-mile embassy in Baghdad isn't exactly what you'd call “out” of Iraq. And as I've said before, what about the CIA's private army? They'll be over there until this country sinks into the ocean... and probably beyond.

But I digress. As I said, if you go back to 1994, the Contract with America, honchoed by Newt Gingrich, was described by the MSM (and comedians everywhere) as the worst thing to ever come down the pike – pure hate speech on paper. And of course it lies, unused and neglected, on the ash heap of discarded ideas, just like everything else that accompanies elections. All it takes to derail good ideas, and set the country back decades, is another war... and, sure enough, the events of 9/11 were just what the doctor ordered in this regard.

So Gingrich left Congress in 1999, under a multi-layered cloud... and that cloud remains; not a jot or tittle of it has been washed away. In fact, new layers keep getting added... and yet here he is, the apparent beneficiary of “newfound respect” by the media.

Well, it's all nonsense, of course. The media are no more interested in having Gingrich as our next president than they were having Romney. But here's the difference. The idea now – or so I'm told – is that the media are starting to worry that Romney might just be able to beat Obama next year. Unlikely, true... but not impossible. See, the rationale for supporting, or at least not pillorying, Romney was a classic case of bet-hedging. The media are sure Obama's good to go for a second term, but in case there is a shadow of a doubt, they want the least-threatening (to their agenda) Republican candidate to be nominated, so that if he (or she) gets in, he'll be easily co-opted... or, more likely, already be co-opted upon taking office. But again, it's based on the premise that he doesn't have a chance; otherwise they'd put their full weight behind a less-likely candidate who couldn't be elected in a million years.

So if Romney has become too threatening, then the media have to shift the limelight onto Gingrich – once again hoping that he'll win the nomination but be unelectable... but if elected (one chance in a million) wouldn't be all that much of a threat. Forgotten are all the fears, hysteria, and condemnations of 1994... but, I guess, if the alternatives are the likes of Michelle Bachmann and Rick Santorum, Newt is going to look like a cute little fuzz ball. Gingrich is, at least, someone they can “work” with, since he's a known flip-flopper, compromiser, and “pragmatist” -- i.e. a politician. Whereas some of these others... well, who knows? They might turn out to have principles, and surely we can't have that.

So anyway... perhaps we've identified a trend here, or maybe it's just an anomaly. But it is striking how a guy who was Pure Evil back in 1994 almost seems acceptable now... that is, until you realize what the agenda is. And if Gingrich is the MSM's second choice, imagine how they must feel about the other candidates! And with many months still to go before the convention, what happens if Newt develops some blatant, non-ignorable fatal flaw... some political sucking chest wound? Do they switch back to Romney? Do they finally discover Huntsman? Who knows? I'm glad it's not my problem.