Republican Establishment Trying to Accept the Candidacy of Newt Gingrich – NYTimes David Brooks Tries His Hand at Rehabilitating Newt

Building a Case for The Case That Cannot Be Built; Newt Gingrich is a Qualified Candidate

As the year ends it appears that against all odds it is possible that Newt Gingrich could be the Republican Presidential nominee.  The reason for this is that after flirting with other candidates and rejecting them, the standards of the anti-Romney camp have fallen so low that they are now willing to consider an individual who has no other qualifications for the nomination other than the fact that he is not Mr. Romney.

The Republican establishment has several voices.  One of these is David Brooks who has the coveted (we’re not a liberal newspaper, we allow a Conservative space on our editorial pages) New York Times token right wing slot.  Mr. Brooks is one of several Republican establishment figures who is now trying to put the best face forward on the prospect of Mr. Gingrich being President, or as it has been stated in the past, putting lipstick on the pig.

Of all the major Republicans, the one who comes closest to my worldview is Newt Gingrich

Really, to quote Mr. Brooks here are some of the “worldview” of Mr. Gingrich.

For example, he has called for “a massive new program to build a permanent lunar colony to exploit the Moon’s resources.” He has suggested that “a mirror system in space could provide the light equivalent of many full moons so that there would be no need for nighttime lighting of the highways.”

So Mr. Brooks may soon be labeled a crackpot New York Times columnist, like anyone else who would advocate a permanent lunar colony or space mirrors to illuminate highways.  And there are other "worldviews" of Mr. Gingrich that Mr. Brooks doesn’t even mention, like repealing child labor laws, putting children of welfare recipients in Boys Town and eliminating an Appeals Court circuit that issues opinions Mr. Gingrich disagrees with.

Mr. Brooks concludes with this

Gingrich, who seems to have walked straight out of the 1960s. He has every negative character trait that conservatives associate with ’60s excess: narcissism, self-righteousness, self-indulgence and intemperance. He just has those traits in Republican form.

This is just another example of where Mr. Brooks is wrong.  The characteristics he cites, narcissism, self-righteousness, self indulgence and intemperance are the traits of Conservative Republicans.  Really, watch as much of any Republican debate as you can tolerate or listen to any Conservative commentary on current affairs and policy, that is exactly what you will see.