Count me among the very, very few people – like, the we-can-fit-in-the-same-Volvo number of people – who doesn’t find this Newt Gingrich answer to David Brody totally risible.
To understand this, you need to understand
Kenyan anti-colonial thinking
what John Dickerson pointed out
on Monday. Gingrich is embracing his biggest problem with both hands. He said this in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network; he knew both his immediate audience and his potential audience. (David Brody and the Weekly Standard’s Andrew Ferguson, because they don’t actually try to nail their subjects, always get the most/damaging revealing quotes from 2012ers.) But he’s not credible-sounding when he gets all gooey about religion. So he talked about his divorces (blandly, without the ugly details) in the context that ambitious Christians can understand. He used to prioritize his work over his relationship with family and God, and now he doesn’t.*
I guess you could argue that the “Newt Sez He Cheated Because He Loves America” soundbite will haunt him anyway, but really, has coverage of Gingrich up to this point come with the assumption that he can actually be elected president?
*I’m not saying this was pure brilliance! At least part of Gingrich’s problem right now is that he’s spent the last decade on the softball circuit at Fox News, and he and other potential 2012ers who’ve been catering to conservative media are struggling a bit as they realize that Media Matters can hear that stuff, too.
