January 18, 2007 [LINK / comment]

Is Newt Gingrich a "RINO"?

Of course not! He does, however, exhibit a quality that is very rare in the Party of Lincoln these days: forthright, courageous candor. According to GOPUSA.com,

Gingrich blames flawed strategy for the Republicans' loss of both houses of Congress in the November election.

"A base-motivation party inherently, in the long run, drives away the non-base," Gingrich says.

He said he believes the party can build a durable governing majority but first must abandon the strategy of Karl Rove.

If anyone lacking his impeccable conservative credentials had said such words, they would have been driven out of the party. That is simply a reflection of the pathologically thick-headed way of thinking that prevails in the Republican Party at present. (See Nov. 16.) Perhaps Newt's bold words will rouse some docile (or misguided) party loyalists from their dazed stupor before it is too late.