Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich has decided he will not run for President of the United States this year, more than 13 months before the election and an estimated $30-million short of the first straw-vote in any state caucus or primary. It will be a less fun and interesting campaign without him. A former Carrollton, Ga., college professor and author of historical novels, Gingrich can not resist actually having an idea. “Contract With America.” “American Solutions.” As a Presidential Candidate, Gingrich would have performed a great public service by making it difficult for all the other candidates to out-do one another in the effort to become the emptiest vessels possible into which the electorate might pour any available dreams and beliefs. Elected to Congress from Marietta, just North-West of Atlanta, outside of I-285, Gingrich now resides in McLean, Va., “about 11 minutes from CIA headquarters and 18 minutes from the Pentagon” he explains.

I regret that there will be no toe-to-toe Hillary Clinton/Newt Gingrich showdown. That might have been better than a Pit-Bull Fight at Michael Vick’s. But Gingrich has launched political tactical nuclear weapons at the Clintons from his own glass house previously, and he certainly knows the consequences. As Speaker of the House, Gingrich oversaw the impeachment of Bill Clinton and shutdown the government twice during the Clinton years in 1995 and 1996. It ought to tell you something; Gingrich was the one who lost his job, and Hillary is the one now running for President of the United States.
“Everywhere I go, people walk up and say we need someone who can debate Sen. Clinton,” Gingrich says. It won’t be you, Newt, I am sorry to say.

When the attacks come against Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York in her quest for the White House, they will be relentless and vicious. Remember, if you dare, the Republican stun to all decency by questioning the patriotism of former Georgia Senator Max Cleland in the absence of limbs he left in Vietnam as a young man answering his country’s call to duty. The attack against Hillary will make the shameful Cleland attacks look like Santa Claus. You can rest assured that when the heat is on for the election against Hillary Clinton, there will be no hesitation, no timidity about words of sexual explicitness, infidelity, and deviation, financial illegalities, and even murder. Remember Vince Foster? The Republicans have a theory. As one of Newt Gingrich’s predecessors as Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neal used to say, “Politics ain’t beanbag.” If everything the Republicans believe about Hillary Clinton is true, even just part true, maybe, just maybe, she may be tough enough to not only survive but to prevail.

(Originally posted 10-1-07)

Copyright 2007 by William C. Cotter