Say it ain't so Newt

I don’t know why Newt Gingrich thinks he is a viable candidate for president. Once I thought he would be a great president due to his intelligence and debt of knowledge. I have thoroughly enjoyed his series of books on the Civil War and World War II with William Forstchen (one of my favorite science fiction authors). However, a few years ago he proclaimed the era of Reagan was over and incurred the wrath of his fellow conservatives. Of course at the same time he also proclaimed that the era of George W. Bush was over but no one got a rise out of that. That did not bother me as much as his mismanagement of the Contract with America and subsequent downfall as speaker. More troubling to me is his lobbying for ethanol. This is absolutely stunning. Say it ain’t so Newt. How in the world can someone who proclaims himself as a conservative endorse a product that is subsidized by the government, mandated by the government and protected by the government that is bad for the environment, bad for engines, bad for food prices and bad for the economy? As the Wall Street Journal stated:

The Georgian has been campaigning in the tea party age as a fierce critic of spending and government, but his record on that score is, well, mixed…. Some pandering is inevitable in presidential politics, but befitting a college professor, Mr. Gingrich insists on portraying his low vote-buying as high “intellectual” policy. This doesn’t bode well for his judgment as president.