Goodbye, Gingrich!

Newt Gingrich suspended his campaign yesterday, leaving only Romney and Paul actively running as major candidates in the race for the Republican nomination. This fits the implicit prediction I made last December, when I posted that only Romney and Paul qualified for the ballot for the Virginia Republican Primary, "I guess we know who's serious about continuing their campaigns, who has the organization, and who has already given up." Only Romney and Paul were both serious and had organizations. The rest just didn't have the organization to compete, not even Frothy.

Just like the other two former GOP contenders, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum, who made for such great blogging fodder that I bothered to make special labels for posts mentioning them, I'm going to give Newt a sendoff for ending his bid to challenge President Obama.


First, Newt dropped this little gem, which the Los Angeles Times quoted.

“As to the presidency, I’m asked sometimes, is Mitt Romney conservative enough, and my answer is simple: Compared to Barack Obama? You know, this is not a choice between Mitt Romney and Ronald Reagan. This is a choice between Mitt Romney and the most radical, leftist president in American history,” Gingrich said.

"The most radical, leftist president in American History?" Sorry, Newt, but FDR isn't running in this election (too bad, we could really use him), and if he were, he'd wipe the floor with Mitt Romney. Second, Current TV has a list of all the things people will miss with Newt out of the race. In order, they are:

1. Gingrich's toughest competitor — himself
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2. Breakfast, lunch and dinner at Tiffany’s
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3. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac protesters
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4. Galactic ambitions
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5. This dog
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6. "Newter" jokes on campaign paraphernalia
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7. This woman
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8. The campaign bus
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9. Watching the GOP eat its own
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10. Feeling like it's the '90s again

I've already posted about Newt and his galactic ambitions as well as his contributions to the GOP eating its own, but I have a special place for Newt Gingrich's antagonism to sustainability. This includes his hating on mass transit, the Chevy Volt, and Agenda 21 as well as his advocacy of $2.50/gallon gas. I also have a fondness for Newt's great rhetorical gift.

Newt has a real talent for hitting multiple targets in one sentence. The record so far was in his comment about poor kids in schools working as janitors. In one sentence, he hit poor people, poverty programs, minorities, unions, public education, and child labor laws. Top that for a cluster bomb of conservatism!

On that note, I'll play Newt off with You're a Mean One, Newt Gingrinch.