Newt!

Hammered by the Republican establishment after his first surge, and driven back to fourth place in Iowa, Gingrich is back, winning an impressive victory in normally crucial South Carolina. I'm afraid, though, that it can't last. The attack dogs of the Republican machine will turn their teeth on Newt again, and the Congressmen who once worked with him will be back on the airways reminding everyone what a dangerous creep he is, and this will put people off him as it did in Iowa. But at least he has made the nomination fight interesting.

Speaking of establishment criticism of Gingrich, here is a gem from Joe Scarborough:

If New Gingrich is the smartest guy in the room, leave that room.

David Bromwich has a piece in the NY Review about the emptiness of Gingrich's political books, which are full of gems like, "you should only get disability if you really deserve it." Lately his main enemy has been "secular socialism," which he seems to think is 1) Obama's political program, and 2) a major threat to American civilization. The old lefties who run the NY Review must find it strange that while they spend their days mourning that the Democrats no longer support socialism, Republicans constantly attack the Democrats for espousing it. The notion that Obama is a dangerous leftist would be laughable if so many Americans didn't believe it. I wonder if Newt does. Does he think that Obama is a secret socialist who longs in his heart to nationalize the banks and send their executives to Guantanamo? Or that his sort of moderate center-leftism is the leading edge of some dangerous idea?

My money is still on an Obama-Romney election, but I suppose we'll see.