Newt Gingritch's failure - botched joke

[Mass]

If I had forgotten why I dislike Kornacki so much (not that I need to remember, his undying love for Scott Brown is enough for me), here is another column that reminds me that he is just a pompous idiot.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/05/18/gingrich_republicans_message

For the past decade, much of the press and political commentariat -- present company very much included -- bought into and advanced a notion that, it has become clear these past few days, was probably never true: That Newt Gingrich, after flaming out as House Speaker and leaving Congress in 1998, had somehow managed to reinvent himself as a freshly relevant Republican leader for the 21st century.

The reality of the last ten years or so, it now seems, goes more like this. After emerging from a brief post-Speakership exile (with a new, much younger wife by his side), Gingrich was welcomed back to the political world and afforded a prominent place in it ... by news and talk-show hosts and producers, political journalists, and other media figures who understood that the former Speaker's title, broad name recognition, polarizing personality, and tendency to alternate between wild bombast and surprising reasonableness were good for business. But actual Republican Party leaders? They tolerated his lingering presence because he generally toed the party line and seemed far more interested in making money than in running for office again or seeking any kind of official role in GOP politics; how much harm could he really do? But that didn't mean they were happy he was "back" -- or wanted him anywhere near, say, a presidential race.

...


In this sense, the GOP's hostile and aggressive response to his Medicare comments can be likened to Democrats' reaction to John Kerry's "botched joke" about Iraq in the days before the 2006 midterms. Was the Kerry controversy mainly manufactured? Sure. But Democrats were in no mood to rush to his defense. For one thing, the midterms were days away and they didn't want to make the story any bigger. But there was something more: Kerry was making it clear that he wanted to run for president again in 2008 -- an idea that most Democratic leaders hated. They wanted him gone from the national stage, and now they had an opening to deliver that message. Kerry, by most accounts, was humbled by the lack of public support his party gave him, and soon decided not to run again. Problem solved.

If anything, Republicans are even more eager to be rid of Newt now. It remains to be seen if, like John Kerry five years ago, he'll get the message.

I would not disagree that the Democrats were not supportive of a Kerry run in 2007, but there are quite a few assertion here that do not float:

1/ Kerry is still very much on the national and international scene.
2/ The botched joke was a fabrication by the right on something that Kerry clearly did not intend to say. Gingrich, in a moment of candidness, admitted the Ryan plan was wrong. It was certainly not a popular message in the party, but it is what he intended to say when he said it.