It’s hard to imagine that Newt Gingrich’s barely-started presidential campaign can survive many more weeks like the one he’s just had. He’s been roundly trashed – and almost entirely by Republicans. Democrats are not finding it necessary to say much of anything; rather, they are (sensibly) content to watch Gingrich try to outdo Donald Trump with the outlandishness of his comments and his behavior.
Just the last couple of days have brought us these delightful tidbits.
- George Will: “This is just not a serious candidate.”
- Rep. Allen West (R-FL), the only Republican member of the Congressional Black Caucus, on Gingrich’s proposal to institute a “poll test” before allowing people to vote: “Well, I don’t think people [laughs] I mean, that’s going back to some times that my parents had to contend with.”
And specifically on Gingrich’s hilarious commentary on Paul Ryan’s Medicare Destruction Act of 2011, there has been no end of consternation on the right.
- Wall Street Journal editorial page: “The episode [over Ryan’s budget] reveals the Georgian’s weakness as a candidate, and especially as a potential President—to wit, his odd combination of partisan, divisive rhetoric and poll-driven policy timidity…. Mr. Gingrich speaks loudly but shrinks from hard choices.”
- Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC): “Terribly disappointed … What he said was absolutely unfortunate…. When you have a conservative fighting for real change, the last thing we need is a presidential candidate cutting him off at the knees.”
- Iowa voter: “You’re an embarrassment to our party. Why don’t you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself?”
Honestly, I can’t see him lasting much more than a month, since I don’t detect any groundswell of support for the guy, and a lot of internal opposition. What do you think?
UPDATE: Charles Krauthammer piles on: “He’s done. He didn’t have a big chance from the beginning, but now it’s over.”
Over at First Read, there’s this observation, which I think is correct:
It’s remarkable that a genuinely radical plan (Newt is actually right about that), which is turning out to be deeply unpopular both with the Republican congressional leadership and with the American people, is now apparently untouchable if you want to run in the GOP presidential primaries.
Gingrich, I think is running to bring what he considers to be an important voice to the discussion (his own). He thinks he has something to add as a matter of policy. Trump, by contrast, was simply there to self-promote. Since the former Speaker of the House is driven by principle, I think he will stay in as long as possibly can (i.e. as long as his money holds out) and certainly until the first states vote if at all possible. He’ll have to be forced out to leave sooner.
…72 hours arguing with himself about medicare and the ryan plan, and if that’s the “important policy voice” good luck with that.
truthfully, consider the possibility that he’s looking to fundraise, which is consistent with his past pattern – and with that in mind, i agree with you: he’s going to hang in as long as the money is coming in.
and in fact, he could be looking at ron paul and saying “that’ll work.”