I Hear Dead People

This seems to be the month for obituaries of one form or another, one of them describing the brief Presidential run of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.  Having so brusquely and carelessly dimissed the Paul Ryan budget proposal as radical, he like so many other gaffers is trying to walk it back.  Since few ever took his campaign seriously to begin with and since his remarks clearly were anything but taken "out of context" as he first pleaded, even the normally reserved Bill Bennett on his radio program told Gringrich "to his ear" that he's done.

For whatever the reason, Rush Limbaugh granted Gringich another 30 minutes to salvage - what I don't know.  Rush later hinted that 18 months out, everyone's a long shot, not just Newt, even now, Newt.  So maybe Rush is just being careful.  And maybe he's right.  Four years ago, who knew that John McCain, baggage and all, would rise like cream to the top, and of course, then sour?

So what did Newt Gingrinch do with the gift of 30 minutes on the EIB?  Duck and weave, lapsing into a wonkish lecture on health care policy that somehow was to reveal that he and Ryan are really on the same page.  Rush was courteous, but you could tell he really wasn't buying it.  A prisoner of his prior positions, Gingrinch still sees the government as able to pay for health care without meddling in health care.  It was like listening to Al Gore wax excitedly over the Dingell-Norwood bill in 2000.

Good bye, Mr. Newt.

 

Comments

[Hiram]

The problem is that Newt comes from a time when the individual mandate was a Republican idea. He just hasn't shifted mental gears yet.

[The Big Stink]

You can't change the stripes on a Newt. He is what he is. He has probably stuck a fork in himself.