[Trentamj]

I have been paying attention to Newt since his participation in the very popular "Contract with America" campaign during the 1994 midterm elections, which made him Speaker of the US House of Representatives (and third-in-line to the US Presidency). What I especially liked was the fact that Newt Gingrich was NOT one-tooth hillbilly that all leftists always described conservatives as being (despite the existence of Milton Friedman and William F. Buckley). Newt existence destroyed the Left's pretense of intellectual superiority. Since Newt, the Left has ceased trying to be intellectual, and has resorted to schoolyard name-calling tactics. In other words: Newt defeated. the Left on the intellectual front (albeit that the war on the Cultural Front is still very much touch-and-go).

That's why I am so disappointed when I read about Newt talking like an elitist, or when he makes out on a loveseat with Nancy Pelosi in order swap saliva over Globull Warming. The nemesis of all intelligent people is Arrogance, and I am afraid that Newtie has totally succumbed to it!

[Jim W N]

Agreed. Excellent post and comments.

I call it “academia elitism” and it is highly contagious in the academic and political world. I like Newt but as I said, the elitism “klingons” are hard to scrape off.