A common tactic. They used it against Goldwater. With Goldwater, they enlisted psychiatrists to declare Goldwater as too unstable to be trusted with the responsibility of the Presidency.
I hope you are not equating Newt to Goldwater.
Newt lost me with his attacks on Romney’s wealth and jumping on the anti-”self-deportation” bandwagon.
There is plenty of room for argument and disagreement w/o joining in the class warfare.