Gingrich has been trying to straddle the fence with the Tea Party crowd and his good old boys movement, but has found himself on the wrong end of it time and time again. He sang the praises of Dede Scozzafava which earned him much ridicule from the far right because he supported an establishment conservative. (Of course, Gingrich promptly turned tail and kissed the feet of Rush Limbaugh, so all was forgiven.
Then he supported Utah's Robert Bennett, who just got ousted. Chris Wallace, to his credit, called him out on it on Fox News Sunday and made him look foolish:
Wallace: Your book has drawn strong criticism. You praised the tea party and when they ousted Utah's Senator Robert Bennett last week you said this: 'It's a sign of the anger of the American people.' But Speaker, just three months ago you endorsed Bennett for reelection.
Gingrich: I did and I think Bennett's a very nice man, but my comment wasn't anti-Bennett. I think Bennett would agree with me. He went back home. I went to Utah for him and what he found was first of all his vote on TARP really signaled people that -- he gave them an explanation for their anger. Second, Bennett is a very reasonable person. I think they wanted someone to come in and fight.
Bennett received a lot of support from the GOP establishment like Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney and still he got booted like it was 2006. The tea partiers supported Mike Lee, and he didn't get enough votes to win either.
Gingrich may try to hide this fact, but he too supported the Bush bailout of Wall Street, or TARP, and that -- along with the stimulus -- has been the fuel to drive the crazy train of right-wing street-theater merchants.
ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich reversed course on Monday, issuing a statement saying that if he were still in office he would "reluctantly and sadly" support the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill.
Gingrich, who led the charge against the bailout last week, explained his change in position by saying that the House Republicans, "reinforced by John McCain," have improved the bill "significantly" so it is "less bad" than the original proposal offered by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Fox News will keep promoting him, but the activist base of the GOP is totally against him. I doubt he'll be a serious contender for 2012 now so he'll probably have to be happy with collecting cash for being a right wing political hit man. Who will he support next? Oh, and how is "Drill, Baby, Drill," working out for ya?
