1968 was 43 years ago. I think that Newt is allowed to change his mind over a 43-year period; I’m sure that he’s not the only Republican who learned the error of his ways and switched from supporting liberal Republicans who he mistakenly deemed more “electable” to supporting conservative Republicans. By comparison, Reagan was a New Deal Democrat and supported the Dem presidential candidate as late as 1956 or maybe even 1960, and we all know about Perry supporting Al Gore in 1988. Heck, I don’t know for whom Herman Cain (towards whom I’m currently leaning) voted in 1968 (the year after he graduated from college), but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he voted for Humphrey.
I’ll vote for Newt if I have to. It is just that I don’t look at him as the poster boy for Conservationism. Recently he has played footsie with Hillary on health care issues, Pelosi on global warming BS and just a couple years ago he said that the era of Reagan was dead and to get over him. He routinely says insulting and stupid stuff about the Conservative movement on Sunday news shows only to have to hit Hannity on Monday for a mea culpa. In my mind he is a closet Rockefeller Repub who acts Conservative for convenience.