Newt is out but does it matter? Well, John McCain is breathing a sigh of relief that Newt rather than this will be the news of the day. (His campaign spokesperson insists McCain simply referred to America as founded on Judeo Christian principles but in the actual audio tapes McCain says the Constitution founded a Christian nation and that all immigrants are welcome but must understand America is a Christian country. This is the ultimate please no one type of comment — McCain will back pedal and apologize to some degree leaving everyone on both sides of the debate annoyed and irritated.)

As for Newt ( could Arlen Specter talk him out of getting out?) all the remaining candidates should be somewhat relieved that cash and attention won’t be diverted to Newt. For now he can continue to hector from the sidelines which unfortunately feeds the MSM line that the GOP field is weak and defective –after all Newt keeps saying the debates are a farce and none of the contenders have “new ideas.” I’ll side with Teddy Roosevelt on this and give credit to those in the arena. And as for policy specifics, at least Romney and Rudy have plenty of those.