His sleight of Paul Ryan was not just gratuitous, it was traitorous. Ryan's plan is the Republican plan, it was passed unanimously by the Republicans. Gingrich not only betrayed his own party, he betrayed his previous statements. This is a flat-out flip-flop. It did not advance his candidacy, it could not conceivably have advanced his candidacy and so it was inexplicable and therefore stupid.
Worse, Gingrich endorsed mandated healthcare insurance and in a stroke undercut the main objection of the Republicans not just in the Congress but in virtually every state in the country to Obama care. He actually supported the worst feature of the Obama plan.
In an eerie parallel to his gaffe about the Ryan plan which was inexplicable and stupid, his support of mandatory insurance was equally inexplicable and stupid because it put him in the same position as Mitt Romney whose campaign is stumbling because of Romney care in Massachusetts. Even judged as a cynical campaign ploy by Gingrich it was stupid because it could not possibly advance Gingrich's own candidacy.
These blunders are all the more dumbfounding coming as they do from the candidate who is supposed to be the smartest guy in the room. My support for Gingrich had been predicated on his relative merits compared to the other candidates. But this performance puts him way below the others and I can no longer justify him on a relative basis.
Sadly, it leaves us with governors Romney, Daniels, Pawlenty and Palin, which I see as two rinos, a conservative with no charisma and another conservative who will not run. We also have a congresswoman, Bachmann, whom I adore but do not believe can win. We have another congressman, not a conservative but a libertarian who has disqualified himself as much as has Gingrich by his remarks concerning Osama, Ron Paul. We have two businessmen, Trump, who will implode because he is not the real Teflon Don, and Herman Cain who has charisma and style but no political record. I could live with Cain but I do not know if he can win. We have a genuine conservative in former Sen. Santorum but he, alas, is tainted with the aura of a loser and he has a serious charisma deficiency.
But this is why we have primaries and we will have to see who emerges. By this time next year I'm sure we will all be enthusiastically behind one of these individuals or someone I have not anticipated. It is discouraging today, however, to consider that our prospects rest with this field.
