You heard it here first.
Newt is entering the race as the anti-Romney. Where Fip Romney is all about the smooth look and feel, shading his message for each audience and even flipping 180 degrees on topics near and dear to the Republican base – Newt is running for the GOP nomination as the unapologetic “bull in the China shop” flame-thrower.
Evidence of the run came fast and furious yesterday. First the politco reported:
Newt Gingrich’s 527 group spent $136,000 in April on travel, aides’ salaries, advice from a prominent Iowa political consultant and other expenses that seem a lot like those racked up by the presidential candidates.
Then came the blanket condemnation of the GOP field:
“We have shrunk our political process to this pathetic dance in which people spend an entire year raising money in order to offer nonanswers, so they can memorize what their consultants and focus groups said would work,” Gingrich said.
Notice how that wording seems to describe Romney.
And finally Newt made a clear break with Bush yesterday. Unlike Romney who is working hard to curry favor with the White House by pledging his support to Bush’s war and declaring his desire to “double the size of Guantanamo”, Newt blasts the Administration:
“Let me be clear: twenty-eight-per-cent approval of the President, losing every closely contested Senate seat except one…that’s a collapse.” Gingrich blames “not only Iraq and Hurricane Katrina but also Karl Rove’s ‘maniacally dumb’ strategy in 2004, which left Bush with no political capital.”
“When you have the collapse of the Republican Party, you have an immediate turn toward the Democrats,”
Add it all up and Newt is going to announce by July 4th. Mark your calendar.
UPDATE: As much as I dislike Newt – I’m glad he is in. He has a sort of Harrison Greely flair to him.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=WCfMgqnq2uo]