Yes, you are right that there is no purity. There are things about Newt that I am not crazy about. But, if the conservatives hadn’t thrown him overboard when things got hot with Clinton in the 90’s, I think Newt would have held the conservative line and not gone soft. He is the reason we had balanced budgets and welfare reform and stood up in the face of constant press attacks.
He has learned a lot and in my view is the best person to be our next President.
Conservatives didn't throw him overboard. An attempted coup within the GOP caucus to remove Gingrich as speaker was thrawted pretty easily in 1997 and the dissenters were taken to the woodshed. Newt had just been re-elected in 1998 would have continued to have firm control over the Republican majority had he stayed on in 1999. He threw himself overboard and quit when the going got tough and Clinton kicked his butt: