Like most people, I've been trying to make sense of Newt Gingrich's rather sudden rise to legitimacy in the Republican primary. You could point to his high poll numbers in December to say that his rise isn't all that sudden, but that was due more to his being the last "Not-Romney" that the GOP elite could tolerate (after all, no party influence peddler is going to side with Ron Paul). But how exactly does a movement that ostensibly despise Washington insiders and political opportunists suddenly end siding with Newt fucking Gingrich? Well, the answer makes more sense than you would like to think.
The most important thing you have to remember about the Tea Party is that it is the final result of decades of Republican attack politics; from The Southern Strategy to Willie Horton to the Switfboaters. And did you ever notice how whenever any right wing figure talks about the left or Democrats they always use words like "cowardly", "traitors", and most popular these days "socialist"? Well, that comes from Newt. Back in the 90's Newt wrote a memo for GOPAC saying they should always use words like the above and other "Contrasting Words]" whenever possible. It was Newt who first started the strategy of making your political opponents out as not wrong or misguided, but illegitimate. So it's no wonder that a movement so obsessed with the Birther theory is embracing Newt with such enthusiasm lately.
What you also want to consider is that Newt is pulling the re-branding of his legacy that Romney has proven to be incapable of doing. That Newt, the 30+ year politician, former Speaker of the House, Fannie May lobbyist and Fox News employee is successfully selling his "outsider credentials", is just fucking absurd. It isn't that Newt has more charisma than Romney, it's just that Newt has no sense of principle to bother him about lying about everything he's done. Take his handling of RomneyCare for example. Romney shoulders all the blame for being the predecessor of ObamaCare, but what nobody mentions (let alone remembers) is Romney based his plan introduced by the Republicans in the early 90's. And who was one this plan's first national proponents? Newt Gingrich! The level of hypocrisy it takes to condemn someone for following a plan you helped bring to prominence is so staggering I almost admire Newt for being capable of doing it.
So honestly, when looking for someone to lead a morally and intellectually bankrupt movement such as the Republican Party, Newt is the perfect man for the job.
The most important thing you have to remember about the Tea Party is that it is the final result of decades of Republican attack politics; from The Southern Strategy to Willie Horton to the Switfboaters. And did you ever notice how whenever any right wing figure talks about the left or Democrats they always use words like "cowardly", "traitors", and most popular these days "socialist"? Well, that comes from Newt. Back in the 90's Newt wrote a memo for GOPAC saying they should always use words like the above and other "Contrasting Words]" whenever possible. It was Newt who first started the strategy of making your political opponents out as not wrong or misguided, but illegitimate. So it's no wonder that a movement so obsessed with the Birther theory is embracing Newt with such enthusiasm lately.
What you also want to consider is that Newt is pulling the re-branding of his legacy that Romney has proven to be incapable of doing. That Newt, the 30+ year politician, former Speaker of the House, Fannie May lobbyist and Fox News employee is successfully selling his "outsider credentials", is just fucking absurd. It isn't that Newt has more charisma than Romney, it's just that Newt has no sense of principle to bother him about lying about everything he's done. Take his handling of RomneyCare for example. Romney shoulders all the blame for being the predecessor of ObamaCare, but what nobody mentions (let alone remembers) is Romney based his plan introduced by the Republicans in the early 90's. And who was one this plan's first national proponents? Newt Gingrich! The level of hypocrisy it takes to condemn someone for following a plan you helped bring to prominence is so staggering I almost admire Newt for being capable of doing it.
So honestly, when looking for someone to lead a morally and intellectually bankrupt movement such as the Republican Party, Newt is the perfect man for the job.