IMHO, Gingrich is the the anti-Palin. The whole renewing America philosophy that he gave birth to was all about detail.
However, and this speaks extremely well of John McCain. McCain is obviously much, much smarter than I am. I would have never thought that his ticket needed something as superficial as I percieve Palin to be, but the cult-like following she’s developed just proves that he was right, and I was wrong.
Exactly, and that philosophy inspired one of the greatest landslides we've seen in decades.
The problem with the Republican party is it's done very little to appeal to educated (or even critically thinking) voters. People will say I'm being elitist--which is now the worst possible insult on this site--but Reagan and Gingrich managed to appeal to (among others) these voters without being elitist by effectively articulating compelling, conservative philosophies that anyone could reasonably adhere to.
Since Bush, Republicans have done a terrible job at either communicating or acting on any coherent philosophy, which is why despite Rove's short-term political skill in building a successful coalition, the party's support has collapsed in the past few years. McCain, with his generally populist rhetoric, does nothing to change this. And Palin only further continues the trend.
You can see the same trend in the popularity of conservative media figures like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. They can repeat conservative slogans, but I doubt they could intelligently discuss most issues at a deeper level and explain why the conservative position actually makes more sense, and as a result they do little to convince anyone actually undecided on an issue.
In terms of their personal lives, Gingrich, who was married three times, is most certainly the anti-Palin.