“[W]ith Newt Gingrich finally set to give up the presidential race and endorse Romney,” Steve Benen writes today in The Maddow Blog, “the Obama campaign put together a video highlighting some of Gingrich’s recent comments on the candidate he now supports.”
Pretty devastating stuff. Thanks for providing it, Newt.
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Meanwhile, in The American Prospect, Bob Moser looks back at Gingrich’s broader (and negative) influence on U.S. politics, which began well before the present presidential race:Belying his Michelin Man looks and those fabulously nutty notions of moon colonies and such, it’s worth remembering that Gingrich did more damage to the tenor and substance of American politics than anyone alive. Leading the impeachment of President Clinton while he was also having an affair was just the ticket for deepening the public’s cynicism about the hypocritical rottenness of politicians (as is trading on your former office to get filthy rich). As House speaker, Gingrich also brought us government shutdowns as a political tactic--just one of the ways that he [made] political polarization and dysfunction the defining characteristics of the way Congress operates. Jonathan Chait sums up the legacy well: “He redefined the Republican Party as an ideologically disciplined, parliamentary-style party. And, in particular, he made it a party of anti-tax fundamentalism.”Moser’s full post is here.
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