WASHINGTON — How long have I been saying it? At least for 15
years, but in private I have been aware of it longer. Newt Gingrich
is conservatism’s Bill Clinton, but without the charm. He has
acquired wit but he has all the charm of barbed wire.
Newt and Bill are, of course, 1960s generation
narcissists, and they share the same problems: waywardness and
deviancy. Newt, like Bill, has a proclivity for girl hopping. It is
not as egregious as Bill’s, but then Newt is not as drop-dead
beautiful. His public record is already besmeared with tawdry
divorces, and there are private encounters with the fair sex that
doubtless will come out. If I have heard of some, you can be sure
the Democrats have heard of more. Nancy Pelosi’s intimations are
timely. Newt up against the Prophet Obama would be a painful thing
to watch. He might be deft with one-liners but it would be futile.
There are independent and other uncommitted voters to be cultivated
in 2012 — all would be unmoved by Newt’s juggling of conservative
shibboleths.
Newt and Bill, as 1960s generation self-promoters, share
the same duplicity, ostentatious braininess, a propensity for
endless scrapes with propriety and the law. They are tireless
hustlers. Now Newt is hustling my fellow conservatives in this
election. The last time around he successfully hustled
conservatives in the House of Representatives and then the
conservatives on the House impeachment committee. He blew the
impeachment and in fact his role as Speaker. He backed out in
disgrace. He now says Republicans in the House were exhausted with
his great projects. Nonsense, I knew many of them, and they were
exhausted with his atrocious leadership. He is not a leader. He is
a huckster. Today Mitt Romney has 72 Congressional endorsements.
Newt has 11. Possibly the 11 have yet to meet him.
Now he has found his key for the hustling conservative
electorate. He is playing the liberal media card and saying he
embodies conservative values. Like Bill with his credulous fans,
Newt is hoping conservatives suffer amnesia. Possibly some do.
Perhaps they cannot recall mere months ago when this insufferable
whiz kid was lambasting the great Congressman Paul Ryan for
“right-wing social engineering” — more evidence of Newt’s
not-so-hidden longing for the approval of the liberal
media.
After his Ryan moment Newt’s campaign was a death wagon,
and it will be so again — hopefully before he gets the nomination.
Conservatives should not climb onto his death wagon. He is a
huckster, and I for one will not be rendered a contortionist trying
to defend him. I did so in his earliest days and learned my lesson.
After Newt’s and Bill’s disastrous experiences in government both
went on to create empires, Bill in philanthropy and cheap thought,
Newt in public policy and cheap thought. As an ex-president Bill
has wrung up an unprecedented $75.6 million since absconding from
the White House with White House loot and shameless pardons. I do
not know how much Newt has amassed, but he got between $1.6 million
to $1.8 million from Freddie Mac, and he lobbied for Medicare Part
D while receiving, according to the Washington Examiner’s
Tim Carney, “Big Bucks Pushing Corporate Welfare.” Now after a
lifetime in Washington he is promoting himself as an
outsider.
Contending with Newt for the Republican nomination are Ron
Paul, Rick Santorum, and Mitt Romney. All three are truer
conservatives than Newt. I like them all. But John Bolton, former
ambassador to the United Nations, and John Lehman, Ronald Reagan’s
secretary of the navy, are for Mitt, and they are solid
conservatives. Governor Chris Christie and the economic pundit
Larry Kudlow laud Mitt on taxes, on spending, and on attacking
crony capitalism. Kudlow calls Romney “Reaganesque.” Ann Coulter
seems to loathe Newt.
Back in 1992 I appeared with Chris Matthews on some
gasbag’s television show. Was it Donahue? At any rate, I said
candidate Clinton had more skeletons in his closet than a body
snatcher. It was a prescient line then, and I always got a laugh. I
can apply the same line today to Newt, though he has skeletons both
inside and outside his closet. Conservatives should not be
surprised by the scandals that lie ahead, if they stick with him.
Those of us, who raised the question of character in 1992, were
confronted by an indignant Bill Clinton, treating the topic as a
low blow. To listen to him, character was the “c” word of American
politics. It was reprehensible to mention it. By now we know.
Character matters. Paul, Santorum, and Romney have it. Newt has
Clinton’s character.
