i have to say that newt gingrich is one of most befuddling figures in american politics in my lifetime. sometimes he seems to switch positions for political convenience, and sometimes he does it literally overnight or in the course of a single discussion. on the other hand, sometimes he takes positions that are so counter to the consensus of his own cohort that he seems courageous. sometimes he presents creative ideas and programs that are compelling; he makes you go, wow i never thought of that. then again sometimes the stuff seems merely bizarre or it's hard to tell what he could possibly be talking about. sometimes he's immensely likable: fun, smart, more real than the romney-style androids. sometimes he seems almost unbelievably annoying and supercilious, the worst sort of self-important twit. sometimes he's the most conciliatory politician in america, trying to help everyone get along. and sometimes he rains bizarrely extreme insults on his opponents as though inhabited by the spirit of don rickles.
as you may have noticed, i tend to form snap judgments of everyone and everything: it took me less than ten seconds to emplace a lifetime of hate for sting or al gore. but newt just leaves me going: what the fuck?
i guess one thing is that there is a certain sort of intellectual who basically just likes to play, who just wants to throw out or grab some ideas and toss them around, then tires of them and goes on to something else. a lot of grad students are like that, and have to be broken of their unseriousness to go through the tenure process etc. newt strikes me like that.
