Newt On The Way Out

There is still around a year and a half to go before the 2012 Presidential Election, but the casualties are already mounting up on the Republican side. First, speciality comb-over comedian Donald Trump fired himself. Then Mike Huckabee realised that his nice little earner at Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse) was preferable to campaigning.

And then came the Newt. Former House Speaker Gingrich, who had announced his candidacy on Twitter (to much ridicule) went on Meet The Press last Sunday and turned an agreeable morning’s chat with David Gregory into his own personal disaster area. During the show he trashed Paul Ryan’s budget proposal and guaranteed himself a whole load of grief from his own side.

As if this had not made Gingrich into yet another Dead Man Walking, he then featured in a Politico piece which revealed that he owed Tiffany & Co (yes, the place where Audrey Hepburn looked in the window) between a quarter and half a million Dollars. Then a gay rights activist showered him in glitter at a book signing event.

Could it get worse? As potential fellow candidate Sarah Palin might have said, “you betcha”. Newt’s press secretary responded to the HuffPo about his media coverage by firing off a ridiculously overblown response, apparently trying to paint his man as some kind of heroic figure.

The comedy potential of this was too much for MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow to resist: her team even lashed up some visuals to go with her reading. Gingrich is fast becoming the next hot tip for dropping out, though he could always blow around 30 million Dollars on the primaries first.