Newt is a party man and always has been. You people are crazy if you think a Republican can back a 3rd party candidate against one of their own and have any future in the party. That’s signing their own death warrant. What you’re basically asking then is why Newt didn’t leave the Republican party forever over Dede. Not gonna happen, not worth it. Newt also always believed you have to back some RINOs in districts where there’s no chance a pure conservative can win, which is pragmatic and accurate. Even the Tea Party acknowledged this when they backed Scott Brown.
I will never back or support a RINO - especially a liberal progressive like Romney. Newt is a party man, he has to. I am not a party man. The Republican Party can go to hell as far as I am concerned.