I suppose I could rant about Newt Gingrich but smarter people than me all over the internets have already said pretty much everything I've thought of ranting. So instead, some random thoughts and questions. It's hard for me to believe Gingrich will actually end up being the nominee. With such high unfavorables, low favorables and almost no one not having an opinion about him already, just how is that supposed to work out? I've heard people saying that the GOP powers-that-be (whoever they are... speaking of things that are hard to believe, are there actually any adults left in the room at GOP-land?) will figure out a way to keep Gingrich from getting the nomination. And the response to that seems to fall into two parts: first, who are these people (see earlier question about adults in metaphorical room)? and second, we've already seen all the dirt and no one cared. I don't know the answer to the first question, exactly. Basically, though, go turn on Fox and see who's talking shit about Newt. So far I've seen everyone from Rudy Guiliani to Tom Coburn to John (swear to Grom I thought he was dead) Sununu. But as for part two. I can only say "haha." I have no idea what else might be out there. The ethics report from his Speaker days is public record. But no one has really started picking thru it for the juicy bits. And there's no telling what kinds of things never made it to the public record. As an opening salvo though, here's Chris "dammit, I'm not running for President" Cnristie

"We all know the record," Christie said. "He was run out of the speakership by his own party. He was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. This is a guy who has had a very difficult political career at times and has been an embarrassment to the party ... I don't need to regale the country with that entire list again except to say this: I'm not saying he will do it again in the future, but sometimes past is prologue"

I'm conflicted. The longer Gingrich stays in, the worse things get for the GOP. And the weaker the GOP brand is, the better the chances that President Obama gets re-elected. So long-term positive. But in the short-term I think it's really bad for the country to have Gingrich fanning the flames and stirring up people in such baldly racist ways. So I wanna get the popcorn out but I feel bad about wanting that.