The American Spectator

The Spectacle Blog

In light of some of the virulent personal attacks in the comments responding to my earlier post, let me make clear that my post was not meant as an assault on Gingrich in general, but of his particular decision here, with a little historical animadversion to explain that it is not unprecedented for Gingrich to lose his tactical sense in a bad way. I do not think Gingrich is irredeemably lost to conservatives; I think he is a great resource, a great conceptualizer, and somebody who has done far more good for the country than harm. I disagree with him in the strongest way possible on the Hoffman race, and, more to the point, as an observer I think he is really mis-interpreting the Zeitgeist. I do NOT think that means Gingrich is an enemy or adversary, but just profoundly wrong here, in a way that is likely to jump up and bite him. Newt Gingrich always should be a hero to conservatives; but even heroes have clay feet. His stance on the New York race is a big mistake for his own politics. It's enough to say that without blasting him to Kingdom Come in general.