Newt Gingrich Insists on Encore

Wasn't once bad enough?

If Americans decide they're gluttons for punishment, they may decide to give the Newt Gingrich show another look in 2008; if the voters detect a rerun of the same failed Republican politics, they can be congratulated for an astute observation.

I wasn't planning a post on Gingrich—he gets enough free publicity as it is—but something struck me about the first sentence in Debra Rosenberg's Newsweek article on the former House Speaker:

His e-mail newsletter reaches more than 200,000 subscribers—and another 1,000 sign up every week.

I'm not on Newt's mailing list, but sometimes I like to take those online political surveys you see now and then. Guess what? If you're not careful, you wind up on a right winger's mail list. (Are they that desperate?)

Maybe those 1,000 sign-ups a week are real but there are others out there on the right whose lists are somewhat padded. Let's hope Newt Gingrich's integrity has improved since he brought in the right wing Republicans who now dominate Washington.

If I'm hard on Gingrich, it's because I'm grumpy about the high price of gasoline and the lack of a real energy policy. Back in 1995, Gingrich did everything he could for the oil companies.